NAMM 2025: Hear the word ‘piano’ and the chances are that you’ll visualise an acoustic or digital instrument with 88 keys that can be played without the need to connect it to anything else. ROLI, however, has other ideas: its new ‘Piano’ is a 49-note light-up controller keyboard that’s designed to be used with its previously announced Airwave hardware and piano learning software.
The ROLI Piano looks like a larger version of the company’s Piano M, which itself bears more than a passing resemblance to the Lumi keyboard that we first heard about way back in 2019. It’s said to feature “full-sized, full-plunge depth keys that feel and sound phenomenal,” though of course, the actual sound you hear will depend on which software you’re controlling. There’s also per-key pitchbend and polyphonic aftertouch.
