14 DAY TRIAL // Called Rise, this fine-looking rubbery keyboard that carries soft touch-sensitive keys allows musicians to have absolute controls of the sound based only on their finger pressure.
Being actually the compact version of an older, identical rubbery keyboard called Grand, the Rise comes from the same company called Seaboard. Having a pressure-sensitive touch interface, it allows players to use simple gestures to bend notes, adjust the volume, and modify the sounds, while the keyboard will also send tactile feedback to the musician.
Sliding a finger up and down on each key can increase its volume on the fly, while wiggling a finger back and forth while pressed can help the artist bend and modulate notes. If you think it's too complicated or uncontrollable, you'll be able to configure everything to suit your needs.
But there is much more. The Rise comes with a software synthesizer, called Equator, that will wirelessly connect its interface with the keyboard using MIDI over Bluetooth and is even rechargeable, so it will require no wires whatsoever. Although this might seem nice to some people, others will clearly prefer some limited optical wiring to have the best frequency available when transmitting sounds to amplifiers or other sound pieces.
The Rise sells for about $800 (€710) and is available for pre-order at Seaboard's website. Shipments will begin in October.
