Weareroli, why do I get the feeling I am watching Star Wars?

[BKK-OZ]

hmmm...
http://www.weareroli.com/

[Shooshie]

I like. I want.
I don't know the price.

Why do companies always make that one little thing, the price, so elusive? Do they just want us to search for ever scrap of info about their product to generate hits for them? I refuse to search the entire web for what should be right there on the bottom of the page with the product info.

My guess is that since they are a new company with one product, they're going to try to price it so as to fund their entire operation on it. And they don't have the economy of scale, so they can't exactly lowball the price, so I'm guessing it's going to be upwards of $5000, which would be a non-starter for me. I could afford it, but that's just too much for something that is starting out as a toy. Let me find out if it's going to replace my Kurzweil, then I'll pay the price. Or maybe I'm totally wrong and it's just going to be $1500. Well, the point is that they should not make us guess and look like idiots when the actual price is finally revealed by someone who had to buy one to find out what it cost.

More importantly, however, this could be the answer to Breath Control for keyboardists, who have been desperately needing an expressive MIDI instrument for many years. It looks wonderful. Sounds wonderful. But there is much to learn before we can consider the streaming continuous data problem solved for keyboardists.

Shooshie

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Fun.

[cuttime]

Doesn't look very durable. Probably costs in the realm of an Eigenharp. I'll master the Theremin first, and then maybe I'll search for alternate controllers to keyboards.

[David Polich]

Good luck doing glissandos and swipes on this thing.

Seriously, has anyone ever made an alternate controller that killed off the conventional piano keyboard? I've seen them introduced at NAMM shows for the last - oh, 25 years, at least.

"Look, we've made a square wheel!"

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Frankly, it seems a little like using a condom to massage your keyboard. A little freaky, frankly, and with the mush it would seem a little too inarticulate for more "precise" styles of music. It's interesting, for sure, but holds no interest for me personally.

[twistedtom]

Cut time said it, and I think it looks like the rubber would not wear well. May be fun although.

[Shooshie]

I think they have some patents on the materials and definitely on the design. I doubt that they'd attempt to sell it if the rubber is just going to disintegrate; that's the whole appeal to the instruments, and that's not going to be a happy company if those kinds of calls start rolling in, not to mention the bad press they'd get. I'm going to trust that they pretty much conquered those concerns, or they would not be trying to get our attention.

That was probably Jordan playing it. I noticed that he's on their board. It didn't seem to present any obstacles to musical playing. The moves are natural, and key spacing appears to be the same as a piano, so any decent pianist should have no trouble learning to play this.

But we're not focusing on the real meat of this stew: continuous data from a keyboard, all from gestures. It could easily rival breath control on a WX-5. Pedals and Aftertouch really didn't work all that well with MIDI keyboards. You can make them work, but they never feel like natural extensions of your expression. It was clear to see that the person playing the Seaboard was having no problems playing it with the fluidity of an acoustic instrument, and I would guess that it's capable of generating a wide range of continuous MIDI data, simultaneously and intermingled as the hands make gestures that feel musical, thus sounding musical.

I'd look at this instrument with hope and anticipation rather than writing it off before you even get your hands on it. There is no MIDI input device for woodwinds and brass that's as expressive as a WX-5. The difference between using the WX-5 or using a keyboard cannot be put into words. I've always felt sad that the average keyboardist is literally handicapped by his instrument when it comes to making musically convincing mockups in a sequencer like DP. The Seaboard may be the breakout tool that suddenly brings the orchestral libraries to life for keyboardists. If that's how they've built this thing, you're gonna want to have one of these.

Shooshie

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Silicon is certainly strong enough. I'd be more concerned about the life expectancy of the contacts. It seems counter-intuitive but I'd really have to play it to make a decision. It is an interesting concept, for sure.

[BKK-OZ]

It will be interesting to see how all these smart materials develop. There are all kinds of new, flexible and smart surfaces that can respond in complex ways...

The rubbery-ness of it all does bring to mind hygiene issues though.

I think that if you were going to let someone else play your instrument, there would have to be a rule that the keys get toweled off between players, especially if you've got clammy hands.

ewww.

[Shooshie]

It will be interesting to see how all these smart materials develop. There are all kinds of new, flexible and smart surfaces that can respond in complex ways...

The rubbery-ness of it all does bring to mind hygiene issues though.

I think that if you were going to let someone else play your instrument, there would have to be a rule that the keys get toweled off between players, especially if you've got clammy hands.

ewww.

Well, if this thing catches on, we can get in on the ground floor of a new business: Keyboard Condoms!

Shoosh

[BKK-OZ]

Well, if this thing catches on, we can get in on the ground floor of a new business: Keyboard Condoms!

Shoosh

... and here I was, thinking that my comment was in poor taste!

Maybe it could be covered by some kind of nano-self-re-generating-snake skin-cyborg material. You could just press a button, and it 'sheds' the skin you just played.

Hmmm.
Guess you would need some sort of vacuum to suck up the skin...
...oh no, I reckon I am over-thinking this.