Visitors to ROLI’s room at the NAMM show were transported to a dark blue environment that pulsated with the sounds and the instruments of the future. Glowing Blocks attracted thousands of people, most of them experiencing the modular music studio — winner of “Best in Show” at NAMM — for the first time.
With only one Seaboard RISE 49 and two hands, Marco Parisi turned Prince’s “Purple Rain” into a multi-instrumental marvel that hushed the room, causing many to stare in wonder at the layers of sound that he shaped on the Seaboard’s rippling surface:
Unveiled at NAMM, BLOCKS Dashboard excited pro musicians about the possibilities for integrating BLOCKS with Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, Omnisphere, and many other DAWs and plug-ins. When Dashboard goes live in March, the Lightpad Block will become an even more versatile control surface for NOISE and dozens of other music software programs.
The ROLI stage energized the crowd with live acts from Lido, Deru, Telefon Tel Aviv, Jordan Rudess, PARISI, and others. DiViNCi’s trademark beats found a new outlet on BLOCKS, and his performance was a cool display of how performers are starting to use BLOCKS in live shows.
There were also plenty of improvised jams with BLOCKS & the Seaboard RISE, including this exciting rap battle:
Drawing participants from across the music world, our panel discussions covered New Tech in Hip-Hop, New Tech in Film Scoring, Women in Music Tech, and an on-stage interview with Lido. Check them out below!
In discussion: Erin Barra, Lisa Harriton, Karrie Keyes, Laura Escude, and Alexia Riner.
NAMM was an awesome show for us, and not only because BLOCKS won “Best in Show” from NAMM and “Best New Technology” from Sonic State. The best part was meeting everyone who came in, checked out our instruments for the first time, and listened to the incredible variety of acts on stage.
NAMM marked the start of a very exciting year for ROLI, and we will have more to share soon!
