Roli is teasing two new flagship products to be announced on November 12 and 19th respectively. They're calling it the "Next Big Thing from Roli". Though I'm not sure what the picture of a multi-colored furry thing hints at, I'm hoping for a next-gen MPE controller. Seaboards have been out of stock for quite some time.

https://roli.com/

Well, cool. I hope the Next Big Things from ROLI aren't really two good to be true. They say "almost two good to be true", which implies that they might be game-changers. 2gd2btru. Idk. I hope they hit it out of the park. You go, ROLI! Excelsior!

MPE wind socks for microphones?

I got the email this morning...wondering what the new products will be. I'm guessing ( with zero information ) that it'll be one piece of hardware and one piece of software. I'm hoping they'll come out with a badass IOS MPE synth since Noise is passable but really lacks a lot of editing capabilities. MPE with Ableton Live is workable but not really optimal, so an IOS option would bypass that.

Hardware wise I'm predicting an expanded controller with pads and keys...seems in line with using the tech they already have.

Fuzzy MPE with AI?

MPE MPC 8bit

Well if we're guessing based on the image, I'll say it's a goth punk tribble.

Probably MPE controller gloves.

They've acquired and killed yet another good software company?

Was there a muppet show props massacre?

Roli... yawn. Most overhyped MI brand ever.

I remember hearing not that long ago that Roli were on really shaky ground financially. Have they gotten their house in order yet? A couple of their products intrigue me, but I'd hate like hell to be stuck with abandonware because the company went belly-up or had to put things on the chopping block to reallocate funds and stay afloat.

I'd rather they improved the RISE software package, and finally implemented Bluetooth on windows. I've been waiting for years for this, and they just ignore or even delete the question when i post it on their offical forum.

Can't remember when the last update to Equator and Cypher 2 was. About time we had some improvements.

Didn't they sell fxpansion? Seemed to want to go in a different direction, or just really needed the dough, maybe.

I wonder how the Lumi is doing? If the educational market has been good for ROLI, then maybe this is a continuation of that idea. If it's another hw made to generate in-app purchases, albeit with secondary usefulness, then I'll probably have to pass, again. I could still get a Lumi as a MIDI controller to play chords on, but I have no interest in its primary purpose.

You do have to admire them for getting huge amounts of funding though, I'm sure the top guys will do quite well out of it in the end, damage along the way is expected in this "tech" betting.

Pretty sure Roli still own them.

Huh. I thought I remembered them being sold off at the same time as JUCE (a separate buyer, though?), but I can't remember who I thought they sold them to! I want to say Akai, which makes 0 sense. Off to check, will edit in a min...

EDIT: it seems to be just BFD that ROLI sold (to InMusic, in April), but they still own fxpansion? I guess that means this is unlikely to be a drum-based product...

Juce is now owned by Pace, I'm not sure fxpansion went anywhere that I have heard of.

JUCE went to PACE, BFD from FXpansion went to InMusic, indeed.

Their products are too expensive and have no appeal to me, YMMV tho. But...

FFS I don't care.

Don't care either about this either. <deleted by moderator>

They've killed amazing fxpansion and made people migrate from juce to different solutions. That's what really matters in the end.

I don't think you quite got the tone of what I was saying, I was not being positive!

Things like sarcasm are easy to miss in text, especially on GS -- forum full of people who literally would admire people for getting huge amounts of funding.
This is common problem on internet and to avoid misunderstanding of fine nuances of text people has developed special symbols to mark such nuances

The founder of Fxpansion now works at Roli. The CEO of Roli used to intern at Fxpansion. They're good friends, it wasn't a hostile take over. I think Roli had good intentions but they over estimated the market for their controllers. They thought they'd be the next Apple or Google. But Pro Audio is a small niche market, you will never do huge mass market numbers selling midi controllers.

Based on the numbers I read, I'd call them the most inefficient musical instrument company in the history of the universe.

I'd love it if they could keep improving their MPE stuff.

I wish they'd spent money on an embedded journalist to document these past few years from the inside.

Maybe they spent all that money secretly developing these next 2 products, years in the making, and they'll change they way people make music. Maybe that's what the manic panic tribble means.

Or maybe the colors represent the LED colors in the keys or something, and the "Next Big Thing" first letters being capitalized stands for "No Blue Tooth"? Since I don't have a best guess, all I can offer are my worst ones.

They definitely miscalculated on the squishy keyboard, don't see very many examples of it in actual use.

They're bloody idiots, you didn't have to be Nostradamus to see this coming.

You may not see them but they're being used on the biggest selling/streamiing songs and on cutting-edge TV soundtracks. Before the lockdown, pretty much every studio I visited here in LA had a Roli Seaboard being used. I have a 49 and a 25 in my studio and the level of expression they bring to playing a synth is pretty much unrivaled. I don't know anyone who uses a Seaboard as their main controller...it's an auxiliary tool.

So today's Roli IG says " Be the first to hear about the next big thing"
Hear vs See...is it a hint?

The next big thing better be a solid block of conductive gel I stick my hands and face in

I'm hoping it's a MPE full body Neoprene dance outfit. Just imagine the possibilities

(Or maybe not)