Roli, the maker of quirky, portable, and expressive digital pianos and keyboard instruments, has a new device that can both teach budding pianists how to play music and provide seasoned musicians with a new way of adding filters and effects to their songs by waving their hands and wiggling their fingers.
The Roli Airwave is a 14.5-inch tall stand with a camera on top. The camera is positioned downward to track the movements of a player’s fingers as they dance across a keyboard sitting at the base of the stand. The movements of a player’s hands that are captured by the camera are streamed in real time onto the screen of a tablet that sits on the easel-like Airwave stand. The visuals can be used as a teaching tool to show the player which fingers should strike which keys, or offer some additional guidance on how to play a song just right. Of course, the Airwave uses machine intelligence and computer vision to track the player’s hands and to offer its advice on where those hands should be placed.
The system costs $299 and should start shipping in February 2025. You’ll also need one of Roli’s keyboards (which range from $249 to $1,399) to pair with it. If you want to use it as a teaching tool, you’ll also need an iPad or other tablet to set onto the stand to supply the visuals.
