REVIEWED: Roli Studio Player by Roli
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Roli Studio Player comes with 3 sound engines, and over 500 presets including 300 MPE capable ones to work with, but in order to have full control over them, you’ll need to buy Strobe2, Equator and/or Cypher2, similar to what happens on Analog Lab by Arturia. But do not panic! If you don’t own any of the three there’s no biggie as the presets are already very good and by adding modulations such as Macro/XY Control, Smart Chords, Multi-Layered Arpeggiator and Audio Effects you’ll bring the presets even more to life. It is also possible to buy more preset on Roli’s website.
Now let’s talk about the 3 main features:
Smart Chords is truly smart as first you’ll select which scale you are in, then for every note of the keyboard within one octave (it will be applied to every octave you play) you’ll be able to select which type of chord will be played as 5th, Triad, Sus4, 6th, 7th, 9th and 11th making very easy to create chord progressions. The possibility of adding Bass notes and Auto Invert the chords makes it even more fun. To humanize the whole thing a Strum option is available which imitates rolled chords by adding a slight delay to each of the notes.
The Multi-Layered Arpeggiator for me is one of the best features as is much more powerful than a regular arp having 3 arp layers but is still very easy to use.
You can adjust the number of Layers, number of Hits, the Rate, Offset, Pattern Type, Swing and how many octaves up it will play.
And last but not least the Audio effects: A selection of 8 types of effects is available with X/Y control for each one allowing you up to 4 effects at the same time. Keep in mind that to keep the effect on at all times you’ll need to activate the Hold button
Even if you don’t own an MPE controller like me, Roli Studio Player it’s still a great plugin to have with a vast soundbank and is very fun to play with. If you do own an MPE Controller than you’re in for a treat!
