NOISE - new app from ROLI

ROLI launched their NOISE app today to instant acclaim. No wonder - it’s technologically stellar, an intuitive sound-making machine, and unputdownable. It was hard to tear ourselves away from it.

By Kitmonsters Team, Fri, 18 Dec 2015

Tags

 Tech, Synth, MIDI, Kit News, ROLI

NOISE by ROLI

NOISE - an ‘expressive instrument’

Billed as an ‘expressive instrument’, NOISE has been designed to turn the iPhone screen into a continuous sonic surface that responds to the subtlest gestures.

NOISE features 25 keywaves, includes 25 sounds, and has five faders for fine­ tuning the touch­ responsiveness of the surface. The great selection of sounds range from ethereal Breath Flute through to Dirt Organ and Old School House Bass. It is designed to be useable by someone with any level of skills, and includes Strike, Press, Glide, Slide, and Lift controls.

ROLI say that NOISE is the ultimate portable sound engine for the Seaboard RISE and other MIDI controllers. Powered by ​Equator​ and using MIDI over Bluetooth, NOISE lets music-­makers control sounds wirelessly from their iPhones. It is one of the first apps to enable Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression (MPE) through its MPE Mode, so the NOISE mobile sound engine works with any MPE-­compatible controller.

The free app is optimised for iPhone 6s and 6s+ to make the most of 3D Touch sensitivity, but it works with any phone from 5 upwards, and is downloadable from the app store.

You can also buy extra noise packs in app, from acoustic samples through to electronic leads that include theremin. Intriguingly ROLI state that Audio Units will be available soon and you will be able to use it as a synth in your favorite iOS DAW.

ROLI say:

“Building on years of research at ROLI into touch­sensitive musical interfaces, NOISE is the most full­bodied instrument to ever hit the glass surface of an iPhone.

Taking advantage of the new 3D Touch technology of the iPhone 6s, the surface lets music­-makers shape sound through Strike, Press, Glide, Slide, and Lift ­ the “​Five Dimensions of Touch​” that customers and critics have celebrated on ROLI’s award-­winning ​Seaboard RISE​.

Roland Lamb, founder and CEO of ROLI, said: “​On September 9 we launched the Seaboard RISE, the world’s first truly accessible multidimensional controller. At the very same time Apple launched the iPhone 6s featuring 3D Touch. For the past 12 weeks we’ve applied our years of research into multidimensional touch and sound to produce NOISE, an app that transforms the iPhone into a bonafide musical instrument​.”

NOISE is ROLI’s latest breakthrough in making digital music creation more connected and more mobile. With a Seaboard RISE, a ​Flip Case​, and NOISE on their iPhones, music­makers now have a connected set of portable tools for making expressive music on the go.

The release closes a momentous year for ROLI, which launched the Seaboard RISE and acquired Blend.io​, a social platform for music collaboration. ​Critical acclaim​ for the Seaboard RISE has grown in its first months on the market. Already the winner of a ​CES Best of Innovation Award​ for 2016, the Seaboard RISE recently won an Editor’s Choice Award from ​Electronic Musician​ magazine as one of the outstanding music devices of the year.”