An Introduction to the Seaboard RISE 1.4 - Five Dimensions of Touch Video

let's compare and contrast the seaboard
to other traditional keyboard
controllers you may have encountered
before
usually MIDI controllers and
specifically keyboard controllers are
equipped with a certain number of keys
and two wheels on the left-hand side
which control pitch Bend and some sort
of modulation some have weighted action
to give them a more realistic piano like
feel others come with knobs pads and
faders which can be assigned to do
different tasks here's a comparison as
to how a traditional MIDI keyboard
controller would send information versus
how the Seaboard does so on a
traditional controller when you press
down on a key it sends MIDI data to your
computer that's sending it a number
between 0 and 127 which correlates to
how loud you played a note 127 would be
fortissimo or the loudest you could play
and anywhere between 1 and 20 would be
pianist mo or the softest you could play
this is called no velocity enrollee
speak we refer to this as strike which
is the first gesture we're gonna look at
when you play the C board you press down
on what is referred to as a key wave and
initially it's the same idea depending
on how hard you hit the key wave the C
board will send that info along and this
is an oversimplification of what's
happening and I will go into more depth
shortly but for now let's think of
strike in the same way we hit the key
wave with a certain velocity but now we
also have the option to press which is
the next gesture harder or softer which
will adjust things in real time creating
volume swells and this is also known as
after touch or channel pressure on a
traditional controller when you press a
note it sends MIDI information which
associates to when the note began and
what it ended which is the note on/off
message we lift our finger off the key
and it's basically like flipping a
switch when we lift our finger off of a
key wave we can do so with a varying
force of liftoff which we'll be
referring to as lift so instead of a
switch we can have many varying degrees
between on and off think of lift as a
reverse velocity or reverse channel
pressure
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again more on this soon on a traditional
controller you have two wheels on the
left-hand side and one of them is
typically dedicated to bending pitches
depending on the synth sometimes this
bend will only be a few semitones and in
other instances it can be an entire
octave we play the note with one hand
and we bend the pitch with the other and
it only allows us to move in one
direction or the other all notes being
affected at once which is referred to as
a global parameter on the Seaboard pitch
Bend is approached in a
multi-dimensional way which is referred
to as glide on a regular MIDI keyboard
when you bend the pitch you release the
wheel and the note snaps back to its
original position and on the Seaboard
when you travel from one page to another
pitch as your finger runs left to right
on the key waves you're not being tied
to any starting point
additionally pitch Bend is on a per note
basis and you can bend multiple notes in
different directions on the keys and
also the ribbons on the top and the
bottom here
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if I waiver my fingertip I can create a
very realistic expressive vibrato just
like a violin on a traditional MIDI
controller the second wheel known as the
mod wheel is mapped to another parameter
on your synth which can be adjusted in
real time often the mod wheel can be
mapped to vibrato or cutoff by default
and similar to pitch Bend one hand is
able to play the notes while the other
adjusts a wheel and every single note
being played will be modulated the same
amount which is another global parameter
similar to glide modulation on the C
board is multi-dimensional and you can
apply specific amounts to each note
played this gesture is referred to as
slide modulation occurs as you move your
fingers up and down into G waves
through the different presets an equator
you'll notice that modulation is
typically never mapped to Bob righto
since we can achieve such realistic and
independent emulations of that with
glide or by using one of the LFO s one
of my favorite presets is number 48
which is called string and horns as you
slide your fingers up the key waves the
horn section joins the strings at about
midway and the further we travel the
more the Warrens take over it's almost
as if I'm conducting an orchestra
[Music]
additionally we have an XY pad on the
left hand side which is like having two
more mod wheels which run in two
dimensions moving to preset number 22
phaser attack left to right I'm
adjusting one type of modulation and up
to down I'm adjusting another so if I
move diagonally here
I just pull simultaneously lots and lots
of modulation happening over here we'll
be taking a closer look at each of these
five dimensions as we move through the
course and you can imagine how
interconnected they all are to each
other and also to how your hands move so
as with any instrument practice makes
perfect and the more you play your C
board the more first nature all of these
gestures and movements will feel and in
turn the more expressive your results
will become