ROLI Dashboard allows you to set up and customize your Piano M with various settings.
Piano M can take advantage of the latest firmware and Dashboard updates to achieve per-note pitch bending and polyphonic aftertouch/pressure.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Connecting your Piano M
Turn on your Piano M and connect it to your computer using the supplied USB-C to USB-A cable.
Visualizer
The visualizer shows your Piano M. The keys and buttons in the visualizer will light up as you play your Piano M.
Checking for firmware updates
The Learn app automatically updates the firmware on your Piano M. Additionally you can update the Piano M firmware via Dashboard, following the steps below.
Click on the Piano M visualizer to highlight it. Hover your mouse over the visualizer to see its firmware version and other information, click "Updates" to check for firmware updates.
Piano M Settings
- MIDI Settings
- MIDI Mode - Choose between MPE, Multi-Channel and Single-Channel modes
- More information on these modes can be found in the main ROLI Dashboard article
- Pitch Bend Range - Determine the pitch bend range to match that of the software instrument
- No. of MIDI Channels - The number of MIDI channels to use with the MPE zone
- MPE Zone - Change the MIDI channel for global messages, and the direction of subsequent MIDI channels, based on the value in 'No. of MIDI channels'
- Lower Zone = Channel 1, ascending
- Upper Zone = Channel 16, descending
- MIDI Mode - Choose between MPE, Multi-Channel and Single-Channel modes
- Pitch
- Octave - Shift the notes up or down by 12 semitones at a time
- Transpose - Shift the notes up or down by 1 semitone at a time
- Sensitivity
- Set the sensitivity for Strike, Press, and Lift. See the above video for full breakdown, or read more on What is 5D touch?
- Fixed Velocity - Set a fixed volume (velocity) for all keys when played
- Fixed Velocity Value – Set the volume (velocity) for the notes when Fixed Velocity is activated.
- Keybed State
- Active Mode - Select a mode to change the way the keys light up and respond to note input
- For a full description of the Piano M default modes, see the Modes section below.
- Scale - Set the scale displayed on the Piano M
- Key - Set the root note of the scale selected
- Pressure Tracking - Toggle between Polyphonic Aftertouch and Channel Pressure modes.
- Pitch Bend Tracking - When in Single-Channel mode, choose to have the last played, highest or lowest note affect all notes by pitch-bending.
- Active Mode - Select a mode to change the way the keys light up and respond to note input
- Colors
- Global Key Color - Set the color of the notes in the scale, apart from the root note.
- Root Key Color - Set the color of the root note of the scale.
- Brightness - Adjust the overall brightness of the keys.
- Modes
Your Piano M can store four different Modes at once which can be toggled by pressing the Power button.
- Colour Scheme - Select a preset color scheme to change the way the keys light up
- Pro - Highlights the root note with the factory Piano M colors, sets the global (scale) notes to white. Pressure affects the colour of the key.
- User - Sets the color of the root note and global (scale) notes from the Colors section. When you play a note, all other keys dim down by 50% to highlight the played note. Force of pressure changes the color intensity of the key.
- Piano - Sets the white keys as white and the black keys as black.
- Stage - All keys display a rainbow pallet (below) at 20% brightness until played, at which point they color-max at 100% brightness.
- Rainbow - Only notes in the key and scale set in the Keybed State section display at 100% brightness in the rainbow pallet.
- Enable Pitch Bend - Toggle per-note pitch bending on or off.
- Enable Pressure - Toggle per-note pressure/aftertouch on or off.
Once you have changed a Mode's settings, it will be stored in your Piano M after turning off, so you can use them again another time. For more information about the pro features of Piano M see this article.
Troubleshooting
ROLI Dashboard does not recognize my Piano M...
If ROLI Dashboard doesn't seem to be recognizing your Piano M, make sure that:
- Your Piano M is turned on
- The USB cable is firmly connected on both ends
- The "BLOCKS" tab is selected.
- If you are connecting via Bluetooth (macOS only), check you've correctly followed the MIDI-over-Bluetooth connection steps in this article: MIDI-over-Bluetooth: Connecting and pairing with ROLI instruments
Resetting Piano M to factory settings
If your Piano M is behaving unexpectedly or you'd like to restore it to its original settings, select it in the visualizer and then go to Device > Reset Block to factory settings.
Viewing the Piano M User Manual
For lots more information on Piano M, Learn and advanced features for musicians, check out the Piano M User Manual.