I’m no stranger to music: I sing and play bajo and theremin in my band, Ropetrick. I also taught myself guitar (still a work in progress). But there is one instrument that I have not yet conquered: the piano.
Instead of taking private lessons or stumbling across YouTube video tutorials, I went on a quest to see if a new gadget could quickly get me up to speed on how to read and play.
This is where the Roli Piano Learning System comes in. It promises to make piano lessons fun using an iPad app paired with Roli’s Piano – a 49-key midi controller – as well as the Airwave, an instrument and controller that uses camera sensors to track your hand movements.
In this episode of Prove It, embedded above, I’m teaching myself with a high-tech music system.
It’s not just one device: it’s several machines coming together to become your teacher.
At the center is the Roli Piano, a $599 midi controller whose keys light up like a Simon memory game. It has a port for your sustain or expression pedal, as well as a USB-C port for charging and data transfer. You can also connect the piano to your phone or tablet via Bluetooth and access the ROLI Learn app.
Since it’s a midi controller and not a standalone keyboard, it doesn’t have a headphone jack or output for an instrument cable on the piano; its sound comes from the device you connect it to. And if you connect it to your phone via Bluetooth and connect your phone to a Bluetooth headset or speaker, you’ll notice some latency between when you press a key and when you hear the note.
The Airwave costs $349 and is a new type of instrument that Roli calls an “expressive controller.” It has two USB-C ports for charging and data, a pedal input, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It magnetically connects to your Roli Piano and uses USB-C to sync with the Roli Learn app on compatible iPads.
But the real appeal of the Airwave is the infrared cameras it uses to track your hand movements at a rate of 90 frames per second using something called vision technology. These cameras track your hands in real time and Airwave creates an animated version of it on screen. This allows the Roli Learn app to help you correct your hand posture and color-code your fingers to match the color of the keys you need to play with. If you’re an experienced pianist, you can use Airwave to create some really cool musical effects, like layering multiple sounds with a flick of your wrist.
The Roli Learn app ($14.99 per month) is so fun to use. It combines YouTube-style video tutorials with an interactive interface that looks a lot like Guitar Hero. The introductory courses are really easy to follow – anyone can do it. (My colleague Bridget Carey says her 6-year-old loves using the included games to learn to play.)
I really enjoy the diversity of human instructors in the video lessons, and I love that the app offers popular music, like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and MGMT’s “Kids,” in addition to piano classics and skill exercises.
If you want to get started with Roli, there are less expensive ways, like using the iPhone app with the smaller Roli Piano M model for $249 – and you can add on from there.
My biggest problems when learning a new instrument are finding ways to keep it fun and stay motivated to practice it. And after playing with the Roli Piano Learning System for a month, I think I could become a good pianist by learning this way.
Watch this episode of Prove It as I test it out and see if it’s something that would work for you.
