musiconline blog

Piano, electronic keyboards and MIDI technology... Now ROLI levels up the music production game with its brand new product: Seaboard. As musiconline, we have taken a closer look at this soon-to-be-industry-standard device.

Starting off with its naming. Seaboard is a hybrid word derived from the two English words "sea" and "keyboard".

"A keyboard with a sea-like smooth surface. Seaboard is the highest level of the keyboard since Bartolomeo Cristofori’s invention of pianoforte."

Velocity is extremely important for both live performance and recording. Almost every piano has the capability of reflecting the pressure of fingers accordingly. However, same is not true for MIDI keyboards. Yes there are some with good sensitivity but it's not even close to a piano.

This inevitably leads producers to focus more on mixing and post-recording operations instead of simply playing, recording and moving on.

Seaboard aims to change this situation. Having a much more sensitive surface compared to other MIDI keyboards, allows producers to use different sounds. You can have an orchestra in your fingertips! Feel free to check out this video if it sounds complicated. Ahhh, what a time to be a home producer...

This revolutionary device is backed up by a young team of engineers and musicians. Although the company is relatively new, the squad is full of experienced and eccentric individuals.

Take a closer look at the founder of ROLI, Roland Lamb:

"Moved to Japan after high school to master Zen Buddhism. Studied Ancient Chinese and Sanskrit Philosophy at Harvard University. Thanks to his different hobbies and skills, got a scholarship from RCA on product design and started working on Seaboard."

Seaboard is totally integrable with music production tools like Ableton Live and GarageBand.

You can try and find your way in making and producing music but there is a smarter way. Get a decent music education and use your time wisely before losing yourself in all the details! Luckily we have the internet and accessing online music lessons is easier than it has ever been.

With musiconline, you can reach online music content anywhere, any time. We are as close as a link click to you!