This crossed my desk today. Looks impressive with built-in chords, synth and other good features. It also looks tightly integrated with several of the big name DAWs. But no AI? Come on engineering team, sharpen those pencils..
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
MPE is the new buzzword. Full support of MPE now in Reaper 7.0
I'm not yet sure how MPE will help my workflow but this is from my AI assistant.
Yes, Studio One is compatible with MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE). Here are some key points: Studio One supports MPE capabilities in its instruments. You can enable MPE on any third-party VST2 instrument in Studio One. MPE hardware can be used for both recording and with MPE instruments
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Yes, I saw Studio One on the list of DAWs supporting this. Cakewalk, Ableton, Digital Performer, Pro Tools, and as mentioned Reaper. I think that’s about half of the list.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Yes, I saw Studio One on the list of DAWs supporting this. Cakewalk, Ableton, Digital Performer, Pro Tools, and as mentioned Reaper. I think that’s about half of the list.
We are fortunate to have this many strong DAWs in the marketplace; as they strive for market share, we benefit from the resulting innovation and added-value. That's one reason I'm a "card-carrying-capitalist"
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
I have the luxury to own both a Linnstrument and a Roli Seabord 2 device. That's when MPE really makes a difference, allowing very natural gestures to add expressivity. Paired with a good softsynth (Surge XT is great as is Roli Equator 2, but my favourites are the Audiomodeling SWAM instruments), it's truly wonderful and brings me endless musical joy.
For a standard keyboard-type keybed, I don't think MPE would make very much difference. But maybe the other aspects of Midi 2.0 (automatic device configuration etc) is interesting enough for some people.
If I would crave for a more expressive, traditional keyboard-style instrument, I think I would prefer the Osmose (https://www.expressivee.com/2-osmose), which looks really nice. I haven't tried it though, and wouldn't trade my Roli Seabord for it either.
I have the luxury to own both a Linnstrument and a Roli Seabord 2 device. That's when MPE really makes a difference, allowing very natural gestures to add expressivity. Paired with a good softsynth (Surge XT is great as is Roli Equator 2, but my favourites are the Audiomodeling SWAM instruments), it's truly wonderful and brings me endless musical joy.
For a standard keyboard-type keybed, I don't think MPE would make very much difference. But maybe the other aspects of Midi 2.0 (automatic device configuration etc) is interesting enough for some people.
If I would crave for a more expressive, traditional keyboard-style instrument, I think I would prefer the Osmose (https://www.expressivee.com/2-osmose), which looks really nice. I haven't tried it though, and wouldn't trade my Roli Seabord for it either.
Just my few cents ... /Björn
Björn, Clearly you have much more experience that I in this area. Do you have an example of your playing to show what the Roli Seaboard gives you that lesser instruments can't provide?
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Here is a good example of what the Roli Seaboard with SWAM violin can do (I wish it was me playing …):
Here is a video of Jordan Rudess trying out the Linnstrument:
I think both videos illustrate the key concept: allowing gestures in all dimensions (up/down for different timbres, left/right for vibrato or bends/glissandos, attack, pressure and release for volume and grit). The gestures feels very natural, just like on a real instrument.
The Roli seaboard looks and plays similar to a regular keyboard, whereas the Linnstrument is a grid of ”strings”, tuned in 4:ths by defalt (just like a guitar). Hence the grid is fully ”isomorphic”, and intervals and chords thereby becomes ”geometrical shapes” that can be moved freely (e.g. a dominant 7 flat 9 has the same shape regardless of key or octave). That’s why I enjoy the Linnstrument the most. It makes me think of intervals and harmony in new ways, which is really refreshing (I’m 57 years old, and suddenly discover that what I learned about harmony during my piano studies in early years was not the whole story). But that, of course, has nothing to do with MPE.
To summarize, I didn’t mean to suggest that MPE wouldn’t bring value using a more traditional controller. But to me, it really became alive when I started using more expressive controllers.
The downside (as usual …) is the rather high price for these controllers (even though to me, they have been worth ever penny). A cheap way of trying out the capabilities is given by Geoshred, an IOS app with the same layout as the Linnstrument (developed by that same Jordan Rudess).
Good luck, I hope you’ll find musical joy in MPE as I have!
I think both videos illustrate the key concept: allowing gestures in all dimensions (up/down for different timbres, left/right for vibrato or bends/glissandos, attack, pressure and release for volume and grit). The gestures feels very natural, just like on a real instrument.
Masterful all around, especially the Seaboard. Thanks for sharing
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
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Come on engineering team, sharpen those pencils.. 
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