Piano/Keyboard Players, Get Ready To Salivate – Introducing The New ‘Seaboard’

Upon discovering this thing last week, I haven't been able to get it off of my mind. It's called the Roli Seaboard GRAND and is the coolest invention we keyboard players have seen since the keytar came along! I've played 'tabletop' pianos before and with the absence of keys that move when you play, there's absolutely NO expression, but not so with the Seaboard... It's name was likely derived from it's spongy texture and it actually puts the expressiveness of a string or wind instrument literally at your fingertips without the need for separate pitch/mod wheels or joysticks. Watch.

And now the instrument's designer, Roland Lamb describes it and why he invented it, including a glowing endorsement by world-class composer, Hanz Zimmer (and he's not all either)

As if it needed more endorsing than that, he's jazz master, Jamie Cullum putting it through it's paces...

And now for the keyboard wizard himself, Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater taking a turn too and schooling us as only he can...

As far as I can tell this is in production but hasn't quite hit the market yet. You can get a small 3-octave version for $2K, 5-octaves will cost you $3K and the full 88-key flagship that's in all of the videos above will run you just under $9K!! You can pre-order yours and find out more here if you've got some extra scratch lying around or maybe you'll sell all of your gear just to get it! Of course new tech is expensive at first, but c'mon... People have thought of this, but never DONE it before. It is easily the most important development to the keyboard in the last 35 years since I've been alive and although I can't afford even the tiny Seaboard, you can bet I'll follow the development of this with great interest!