I'm just interested in a real amateur musicians' feedback... there are many videos with gifted pros playing it like gods, but is it worth for normal (middle level) keyboardists?
A second question= could Equator be used with other master keyboards (with at, velocity, pitchbend and mw controlling parameters)?
BR
Pat

 

Yes, it takes some getting used to as far as velocities and learning to be very precise with finger pressure and placement on a key as now those are control parameters, but it just takes a little time and effort.

Yes, it plays well with whatever you give it.

 

Thanks for your answer.

I think, as I'm a guitar player, that learning a new approach of keyboard playing won't be a real pb to me...

It would be fine to be able to test a C...ed version of Equator (via the sister website) in order to review its presets...

Then, it would be easier to make a decision... buy a Roli or not buy a Roli... that's the (rather expensive) question... no error allowed, cause it'll be hard to find a second hand buyer in France...

 

I had a Seaboard Rise 25 for a while
Loved it. Only regret was not holding out and saving money for the 49 key

However... I noticed not long after I obtained it that several areas of the keybed were faulty
Roli support were really good and after a number of tests they said it was a hardware related issue
I got it from Thomann, who I'm usually fine with but not on this occasion.
Had a 2 month long nightmare trying to get my money back. Eventually did.
Didn't get another Rise. I'll pick up a 49 key further down the line (or maybe some other new MPE instrument)


Anyways, yes you can use Equator with other keyboards but it's only available once you already own a Seaboard
So not much point in that. It works best with a Rise anyways. Without it, it's nothing special at all.

As good as Equator is, it's a ball ache to do stuff that should be easy.. like load user samples
I bought it so I could do evolving granular/ sound design stuff which relies almost entirely on my user samples
For me this is where the smooth continuous surface is of most use.
MPE has been slow to catch on and that's a shame on softwares/DAWs
It's probably really easy from their point to implement and include it in the software... but still they don't
Ableton for example... should get the finger out on this and multichannel audio... it's 2017 ffs!
However there is always Max MSP for this also.
And there are a few cool plugins out there too
Madrona Labs make a nice physical modelling/granular MPE synth called Kaivo
You can semi implement MPE in a lot of other software with a few workarounds