ROLI launches soundpacks from Steve Aoki and RZA at CES

Looks like the early concept of MASH (not the legendary medical show) has resulted in gaining the attention of two of music’s most revered creators, RZA and EDM’s Steve Aoki. This season at CES, tech company ROLI dropped a bomb with their “soundpacks” collection from the two producers. The new app for iPad and iPhone allows users to get in the mix with a collection of sound kits right on their smart devices. Oh and MASH is a simply a dashboard that allows you to control stuff remotely. It’s best explained by the commercials that are popping up showing someone locking their house while at the beach…yeah, a whole new Internet of THINGS!

Unlike the ill-fated Beamz DJ controller, this iteration of the technology manages and deploys a bank of soundpacks that make the app user basically a collaborator with the legends who contribute the sound clips.

Check out the official line on the product below

ROLI launches soundpacks from Steve Aoki, RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, and more at CES to expand sonic universe

Hip-hop legend RZA and EDM superstar Steve Aoki have distilled their signature sounds in custom-made soundpacks that were available for a limited time to anyone making music on BLOCKS and NOISE, ROLI’s award-winning music creation system. RZA makes beats with Spoonful of Grit by RZA, his exclusive soundpack, and discusses his inspiration for it in a feature film that launched January 5th.

Whether beginners or professionals, music-makers can now explore a huge range of sounds with the Neon Future by Steve Aoki soundpack, Spoonful of Grit by RZA soundpack, and seven other soundpacks that ROLI releases today including Giant Dubstep, World Colours, Video Games, and Expressive Electronic.

The collection of nine soundpacks triples the number of sounds available on BLOCKS and NOISE. It marks the beginning of a soundpack collection that will grow throughout 2017, as renowned artists and sound designers craft and share their sounds.

Roland Lamb, founder and CEO of ROLI and inventor of BLOCKS, said: “BLOCKS and NOISE are an incredibly accessible and versatile new way to make music. Since we launched BLOCKS we’ve received an outpouring of excitement. But many creators have noted that they need a wider and more diverse sound palette to work with in NOISE and BLOCKS. This release provides just that. I spent several hours on the flight from London to Las Vegas making loops with RZA’s and Steve Aoki’s soundpacks. They are, in a word, awesome.”

Steve Aoki, one of the leading EDM artists worldwide, has packaged a collection of uplifting leads and distorted basses based on Neon Future, his double album of big-room dance-floor hits. “I’ve been a fan of ROLI for years, and I’m excited to share sounds inspired by the Neon Future series. I hope that people around the world can now bring the futuristic sounds of Aoki to their BLOCKS and NOISE creations,” Steve Aoki said.

Rapper and producer RZA’s collection of gritty urban sounds and kung-fu effects is based on Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), the iconic hip-hop album that helped launch Wu-Tang Clan in 1990s. “When I listen to music on the radio today I miss some of the grit, and this soundpack gives back a spoonful of grit. I’m happy to share some of my sounds with the public, so they create a whole new vibe and a new generation of music,” RZA said. CES attendees were invited to the ROLI Booth to hear RZA perform on BLOCKS at 12pm and 4:15pm on Saturday, January 7.

The 5D EDM, World Colours, Giant Dubstep, Video Games, Hybrid Acoustic, Expressive Electronic, and Synthetic Leads soundpacks were created by ROLI’s sound design team. They are custom made for shaping sound through five dimensions of touch on the sensitive surface of the Lightpad Block, the central Block in the BLOCKS system.

BLOCKS is now available at ROLI.com, Apple.com, and Apple Stores worldwide. The modular music creation system launched in November 2016 with the Lightpad Block, Live Block, and Loop Block, three devices with complementary musical functions that connect together to create expandable kits. The system is powered by NOISE, a free music creation app for iPhones and iPads that is also the software engine of BLOCKS. This week at CES, BLOCKS won the IoT Breakthrough award for Innovation Consumer Product of the Year.

Soundpacks are available to purchase in-app in the new Soundpack Store of NOISE. Any pack purchased in NOISE is accessible on BLOCKS. Four of the new soundpacks are exclusively available to BLOCKS owners, and they can be redeemed for free when registering a Block.

Visit ROLI.com to hear demos of the amazing new sounds available for immediate download on NOISE.

About ROLI

ROLI is a London-based music technology company with a mission to extend the joy of music creation to everyone. ROLI BLOCKS and NOISE is a new modular music creation system that lets anyone shape music through easy-to-learn gestures on powerful devices that connect together. The award-winning Seaboard RISE and Seaboard GRAND instruments — adopted by world-renowned artists like Stevie Wonder and Meghan Trainor — are an evolution of the piano keyboard that open new dimensions of expression. Professionals and people who have never played an instrument are making music in new ways through ROLI’s ever-growing ecosystem of Connected Music products.

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Tags: #MediaStop, #TheHypeMagazine, RZA, Steve Aoki, The Hype Magazine, Wu-Tang Clan

About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.