ROLI Seaboard GRAND Wins 2013 SXSW Music Accelerator
Instrument for the 21st Century heralded as a technological breakthrough for musicians.
Wednesday, March 13th, Austin, TX — The world’s best music technology innovators gathered at the SXSW Music Accelerator in Austin, Texas to unveil their most ambitious new products. Among them was British design-led technology startup ROLI, announced today as the 2013 Music Accelerator winner for its Seaboard GRAND.
Debuting at SXSW, the Seaboard GRAND is a radically new kind of musical instrument and digital controller. Based on the piano keyboard, it has a highly intuitive, soft three-dimensional surface that enables unprecedented real-time control of the fundamental characteristics of sound: pitch, volume and timbre. This not only unleashes the capacity for authentic simulation of all other instruments – it also creates a world of entirely new sound possibilities. Piano and keyboard players can instantly transfer their skills to the Seaboard and begin exploring its new capacities.
Upon awarding ROLI with first place in the SXSW Music Accelerator, Evan Lowenstein, Accelerator emcee and judge, said, “The Seaboard is clearly the brainchild of a passionate visionary who found a way to capitalize on digital technology to open up a whole new world of possibility for musicians."
Roland Lamb, CEO of ROLI, commented, “We’re thrilled to have won the SXSW Music Accelerator. ROLI is building new bridges between music and technology, and since SXSW brings together these two worlds in a unique way, gaining this recognition here is a tremendous validation of the remarkable work of the whole ROLI team developing the Seaboard."
A limited edition of 88 Seaboard GRANDS will be available for pre-order worldwide starting in April 2013. Each Seaboard GRAND will be hand-assembled to order in the ROLI studio in London. In recognition of its provenance, each will be named after a particular note on the piano keyboard, from A0 to C8.
About ROLI
Based in London, England, ROLI is a design-led technology startup founded by Harvard graduate Roland Lamb. The ROLI design approach combines simplicity, elegance, and sensuality to create products that enable unique user experiences. The Seaboard is powered by the SEA Interface, ROLI’s own patent-pending platform technology for building pressure-sensitive touch interfaces. ROLI is currently developing applications in music, personal computing, robotics, medical devices, gaming, and vehicular and machine control.
For more information go to
www.weareroli.com
youtube.com/weareroli
