NAMM 2025: “In a few years there will be no piano that doesn’t have a camera”: Can ROLI’s AI-powered, hand-tracking Piano rewrite learning to play? – MusicRadar
Screenshot
Live and direct from the NAMM show floor, we get the lowdown on ROLI’s latest gear on video
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
NAMM 2025: We’re at 2025’s NAMM show – the biggest music show in the world – to find out what’s new and bring you exclusive hands-on videos of everything that you could or should be playing through 2025 and beyond.And appearing at the show is ROLI, with new gear aiming to make learning to play faster and more fun than ever before.The ROLI Piano system comprises a new keyboard and its new Airwave hand-tracking hardware alongside new AI-assisted tuition software.New for NAMM 2025 is the Piano keyboard. A 49-note, more conventional take on the mini-keyed Piano M modules that could be snapped together two-octaves-at-a-time to make bigger keyboards.This latest hardware – which works with ROLI’s existing software – is the latest episode in its ongoing quest to ‘free the music’. The company’s claim is that if you can imagine it you can play it, and the ROLI Piano system has been designed to support anyone from early beginner to advanced learner.Essentially, Piano is a step on from the Lumi keyboard, with illuminated keys ROLI describes (in the video above) as being “larger, brighter and funner” than those on Lumi.Lumi itself was a pivot from ROLI’s first foray into keyboard control, the Seaboard, which, while it found its fans thank to its performance-oriented per-key pitch bend and polyphonic aftertouch, always felt like you were mashing down on a packet of Herta frankfurters…Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. Piano, however, is altogether different. We find out what makes it tick from ROLI’s head of product Tom Ford in our video above.Daniel Griffiths is a veteran journalist who has worked on some of the biggest entertainment, tech and home brands in the world. He’s interviewed countless big names, and covered countless new releases in the fields of music, videogames, movies, tech, gadgets, home improvement, self build, interiors and garden design. He’s the ex-Editor of Future Music and ex-Group Editor-in-Chief of Electronic Musician, Guitarist, Guitar World, Computer Music and more. He renovates property and writes for MusicRadar.com.NAMM 2025: StudioLogic’s new SL mk2 MIDI keyboards promise tight control of both the Numa Player 2 software and your favourite DAWNAMM 2025: Hands-on with Korg’s first ever synth as it comes back to life as the MiniKorg 700SmA new take on Take On Me: 40 years on, an engineer creates his own mix of one of the biggest hits of the ’80s and reveals its hidden audio treasuresMusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.©
Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury,
Bath
BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.
