Announcing ‘RISE 42’ by Satri, an Album of ROLI Seaboard RISE 49 Solos

I recently turned 43 and I am proud to give you —= RISE 42 =— , my fifth music album. It entirely consists of improvised solos played live on the innovative and multiple award-winning ROLI Seaboard RISE 49 keyboard. I particularly enjoyed the freedom it provides for exploring and playing with soundscapes in new ways.

I acquired my Seaboard near my 42th birthday. Over the past year, about once in a week when the girls were asleep, I recorded these 42 tracks for ‘RISE 42’  — showcasing for an hour and a half what this modern keyboard can sound like

 

I’m rather happy with the result of these explorations, especially given it’s pure freetronica; electronic music improvised live in a single take, just like my three previous albums made of Animoog and Model 15 solos. Here’s the album cover for RISE 42, leveraging a fortunate photo I took while traveling and getting started with the album.

The Seaboard RISE is a controller and needs a synth to make sound. I leveraged a diversity of presets from ROLI’s Equator synth as well as FXpansion’s Strobe2 synth, the two being bundled with the Seaboard.

Both Equator and Strobe2 offer many impressive presets which provide a wealth of sonic expressivity when connected to a MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) -capable controller such as the Seaboard RISE

Here’s one of my favorite tracks on the album named Snow falling slowly, improvised live on March 14th with the Equator Broomstick preset during a significant snow storm in Montreal. Just like for Animoog tracks, quality headphones are required to fully enjoy the depth of those sounds.

The saturated audio segments present on some of the tracks are a good example that these are indeed live improvisations in multiple sound dimensions, where exploring the edges of live sound manipulation can lead to sound saturation.

At some point I inadvertently had the standalone Equator synth launched at the same time as the Equator Audio Unit plugin version. This unplanned but happy combination resulted in tracks which showcase two presets simultaneously. The RISE 42 track list provided below indicates which presets has been used.

The following track named ‘Confiance’ has been improvised June 17th with Equator’s Little Master Synth preset. It shows how precise the control we have on the Seaboard RISE can be.

The Seaboard RISE’s keys, named keywaves, are made of silicon and are very sensitive to multidimensional pressure, allowing you to glide your fingers not only left and right, but up and down while varying the downward pressure at the mean time. Each finger expression is considered individually, a significant evolution over the classic MIDI standard. MPE-compatible synths and presets take advantage of this potential of expressivity at the tip of our fingers. You’ve been witness of the decision process before I bought my Seaboard RISE 49 when I published last year the article on two popular MPE-compatible controllers, the LinnStrument and the ROLI Seaboard.

At the time I wondered if I would like the Seaboard after trying it, now I know the answer’s yes!

Since then I’ve been lucky to have experimented with the Haken Continuum fingerboard at MUTEK 2017 and I felt it’s quite different to play and full of potential as well.

The next track, ‘Empire‘ has been improvised with Equator’s Dark Hall Synth Lead preset on March 8.

I owe immense gratitude to my wife and daughters for having supported the making of this album, on top of our crowded family schedule. The next picture is work from one of my wonderful daughters who knows well her dad, showcasing a doll with the music gear I play with and love — you’ll recognize Animoog and the Seaboard :-)

The following track named ‘Field trip‘ has been played on February 4th with the preset named TX Saturated Tremolo Texture 5D, the day I started recording FXpansion’s Strobe2 tracks with my Seaboard RISE.

If you like my music, get all my albums for free and do what you want with them! They’re all released under a Creative Commons license. Immense thanks in advance for any support and I hope you’ll enjoy listening and discovering what the Seaboard RISE and those presets have to offer. The CC-BY Creative Commons license means the tracks are free to anyone to copy, use and transform. Let me know if you mix or use RISE 42 tracks for your projects, I’m eager to hear the results!

In addition to being free on Bandcamp, the album is available on all major streaming services and digital stores such as…

Apple Music:

Spotify:

Google Play:

I hope you’ll enjoy RISE 42, thanks for listening :-) — Alex / Satri

RISE 42 tracks

track nametimeimprovisation recording dateplayed with preset
01Diving underwater1:002016-12-10unknown
02Listening carefully2:072016-12-10Equator
Faeries Synth
03Coming back to share3:212016-12-18Equator
Granular Flute & Analog Funk Lead
04Raise the castle2:472016-12-18unknown
05Welcome dead year0:452017-01-01Equator
CLAPS Analog Splash
06Open Passage3:402017-01-07unknown
07Interlude %0:552017-01-07Equator
Analog Funk Lead & Mono Razor Lead
08Aquarium3:152017-01-07Equator
Little Master Synth & Press Control Overtone Series
09Toying around0:482017-01-07Equator
Magic Toy Piano
10Slowly disappearing4:082017-01-14Equator
Antarctic Pad
11strobetwo1:332017-02-04Strobe2
KB Wah Clavinetti 5D
12White flash1:242017-02-04Strobe2
TX Ambient Vocal Steps 5D
13Field trip2:542017-02-04Strobe2
TX Saturated Tremolo Texture 5D
14Offset1:282017-02-17Equator
Tuned Ethno Clave
15Petite pause2:022017-02-17Strobe2
PD Cold Wash 5D
16Cosmonaut suit0:482017-02-17Strobe2
TX Deep Space Communication 5D
17Frontière subite1:572017-02-17Strobe2
WI Soft Woodreed 5D
18Empire3:322017-03-08Equator
Dark Hall Synth Lead
19Snow falling slowly2:472017-03-14Equator
Broomstick
20Volzez1:222017-03-14Equator
Basic Erhu
21Petite souris1:542017-03-19Equator
Dark Dragon Bass
22Sombre forêt2:542017-03-19Equator
Breath Flute
23L'aigle perdu5:022017-03-19Strobe2
LD Mashroom Head Lead 5D
24Serpent1:522017-03-27Strobe2
LD Psychedelic Overdrive Lead 5D
25L'essaim2:292017-03-27Strobe2
TX Saturated Tremolo Texture 5D
26A light3:102017-04-09Equator
Dolce Digital Reed
27Scarred2:302017-04-21Strobe2
KB Fantasy Organ 5D
28L'étranger sous la pluie1:332017-04-21Strobe2
LD Rez Square 5D
29newground1:402017-04-30Strobe2
BA Cheap 101 5D
30Overboard1:282017-04-30Equator
Classic Acid Bass
31The door is open1:192017-05-22Equator
Vintage Mono Lead
32Confiance1:202017-06-17Equator
Little Master Synth
33Thinking about it2:232017-07-28Strobe2
AR Stranger Arp 5D
34One dimension flashlight1:392017-09-01Strobe2
AR Cold Frequency 5D
35Off target0:372017-09-03Strobe2
AR Stranger Arp 5D
36In the 501:442017-09-03Strobe2
AR Stranger Arp 5D
37Inroads5:342017-09-09Strobe2
AR Over The Mountains 5D
38An alternative2:062017-09-16Strobe2
AR Pulse Dream Runner 5D
39A silence within1:562017-09-16Strobe2
SY Sync Or Swim 5D
40
Denizens2:122017-09-16Equator
Little Master Synth
41Little star0:332017-11-03Strobe2 & Equator
AR Punchy Bass Arper 5D & Elektro 2000 Bass
42make a wish1:272017-11-03Strobe2
LD Mashroom Head Lead 5D
Track list for the 'RISE 42' album by Satri

 

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