Roli support

[SMcD]

Hey folks. About three months ago I submitted a ticket to Roli's online support system, having noticed a glitch v1.13.0.0 of the Equator software that I couldn't resolve. The automated e-mail they sent me said they were working through a significant backlog of support, but they would respond within eight days.

 

That was three months ago.

 

I tried posting about the issue in their forums, but all posts have to be approved to show up there. There hasn't been a new post of any kind in months. It seems like Roli has all but abandoned customer support. A few posts in the Roli subreddit suggest I'm not the only one shouting into the void.

 

This forum is my go-to place to try and get input from someone better-connected than myself. Does anyone have an "inside track", or know what's going on over there?

 

And on the off chance anyone can help with the actual issue I'm having, here's the text of the ticket for reference:

"I have noticed what appears to be an error v1.13.0.0 of Roli Equator. The manual suggests that each envelope can be triggered in either ADR, ADS-R, ADADR, or ADS-PR mode. However, when I use the software the ADADR mode is not available. Instead, the drop-down list of envelope modes contains "ADS-PR" twice. If I load a preset that's supposed to have ADADR-mode envelopes by default, it initially behaves correctly, although the displayed envelope mode is still "ADS-PR". However, if I change an envelope to a different mode then change it back, it reverts to ADS-PR-style behaviour. In other words, the only way to have looping envelopes is to load them in from a preset.

 

I use the software with a Seaboard Block, although the problem remains even without the hardware plugged in. I've also tried installing the Equator software on a separate computer, and the same problem occurs there."

[Jwave]

Wow, that"s a pretty egregious bug for Roli to ignore. I have Equator 2 and ADADR does show up there (above ADS-PR). Unfortunately I guess most of what support resources they have are going towards version 2. It sounds like you"re getting ADS-PR results from both of the 'ADS-PR' menu items, it"s not just that the ADADR option has the wrong label in the menu?

[SMcD]

I get the ADADR functionality if I load one of the patches that uses that filter mode by default. If I switch the filter mode and then switch back, it reverts to the ADS-PR mode.

 

Honestly, I'm wondering if Roli even *has* any support resources at the moment. I have not heard good things latey.

[Ed A.]

I emailed Roli and asked them why I couldn't purchase any of their products for well over a year. Any music store shows Roli products as either unavailable or backordered. I never got a reply from them, even though I wanted to buy their products. If their marketing/sales department and product support department isn't responding to customers, they're likely having some financial liquidity problems, or possibly something worse.

[El Lobo]

If their marketing/sales department and product support department isn't responding to customers, they're likely having some financial liquidity problems, or possibly something worse.

Yikes. Yeah, well it's seeming like they're non functional. I have a Roli Seaboard but the truth is I never really connected with it and Equator. It was new and novel but I've got other toys that are more fun and easy to make music on. I wonder if the end of Roli is near or if it has already happened.

[Docbop]

For grins I went and checked out there webpage and the News section didn't seem to have any updates since late 2019. I get the feeling they are in same situation a company I worked for was, barely treading water hoping they can stay alive long enough to sell the key products or the whole business to someone.

[EscapeRocks]

Here's what they are saying on their Facebook Page to questions about it, as recently as yesterday

 

We wish we could! Unfortunately, we've had a supply disruption that has suspended our production of Seaboard RISE and Seaboard Block

. We don't have an availability date yet, but we're trying our hardest to make them available as soon as possible.

[El Lobo]

 

... we've had a supply disruption ...

Hmm. I wonder what that means. What's the cause of the disruption? Pestilence? Famine? Cicadas?

[bjosko]

Got a marketing mail from them as late as a few hours ago about the Lumi.

I have no idea of where they are getting their units produced, but there are many supply challenges in this COVID-19 days.

 

I know from the company (Large worldwide company) I am working for. Huge price inflation on steel and rubber ( one of the reasons is that it is a shortage of oxygen used to produce and cut steel, oxygen have been reserved to hospitals). Lack of chips and memory (back orders from lockdown).

Lack of containers. Lack of trucks and drivers transporting.

I heard in my company, delivery time of a vehicle have increased from 1.5 to 7 months. Steel prices increased by 70 %, rubber 50% - this is from about a month ago.

[Dr Mike Metlay]

Lack of material for hardware sale and delivery may well be adequately explained by COVID. Lack of support for software is not adequately explained by COVID, unless the entire support department is now on respirators. Unfortunately this is not unusual for ROLI...

 

Mr. Bryce has told me many times that MPN is one of the few places on the music-tech internet where it's still safe to just blow a gasket and say whatever the hell you want about any company (short of libel), but I still feel uncomfortable about it. So I'm not going to post a huge screed about the years and years of less-than-happy interactions that I have had with ROLI - whether in marketing, hardware design, firmware/software implementation, support of ANY kind, or overall feeling for the company's financial and intellectual health.

 

I'll just say that if I were to be forced into a choice between using ROLI products and never getting to use any controllers ever again, I'd spend the rest of my career running my music apps from my iPad's touchscreen and learn to live with it.

[Docbop]

Lack of material for hardware sale and delivery may well be adequately explained by COVID. Lack of support for software is not adequately explained by COVID, unless the entire support department is now on respirators. Unfortunately this is not unusual for ROLI...

 

Mr. Bryce has told me many times that MPN is one of the few places on the music-tech internet where it's still safe to just blow a gasket and say whatever the hell you want about any company (short of libel), but I still feel uncomfortable about it. So I'm not going to post a huge screed about the years and years of less-than-happy interactions that I have had with ROLI - whether in marketing, hardware design, firmware/software implementation, support of ANY kind, or overall feeling for the company's financial and intellectual health.

 

I'll just say that if I were to be forced into a choice between using ROLI products and never getting to use any controllers ever again, I'd spend the rest of my career running my music apps from my iPad's touchscreen and learn to live with it.

 

Lived through this in the computer world. The Bean Counter type hate Customer Service and Tech Support because they are not profit centers. So if sales are down they are first departments that start laying people off.

[stoken6]

Lived through this in the computer world. The Bean Counter type hate Customer Service and Tech Support because they are not profit centers. So if sales are down they are first departments that start laying people off.

Very true. I'm not sure ROLI are in this "corporate nickel-and-dime" space, they're more of a startup. Fewer people, less bureaucracy, less governance - and *normally* a better customer focus - although the good Dr Mike's experience suggests an exception in this case.

 

Cheers, Mike.