Roli’s Airwave Combines AI Piano Tech with Hand-Tracking 

London-based company, Roli has launched its Airwave device that uses AI and hand tracking that offers users an AI piano experience. 

London-based company, Roli has launched its Airwave device that uses artificial intelligence and hand tracking that offers users an AI piano experience. 

The Airwave is an arching device designed to work with Roli’s existing keyboards, including the Seaboard and the newly rebranded Piano M. By utilizing 3D cameras to track hand movements and gestures, it offers a new tool for using AI for learning piano. 

Through its extra layer of customization, Airwave lets users refine their playing in ways that are usually only achievable in-person. 

The system works together with the Piano M, a teaching keyboard with backlit keys that guide the beginning players. Paired with the hand-tracking, that provides a full sense of how one is interacting with an instrument, making it easier to learn piano with AI.  

AI Interactive Music Instrument Learning 

Roli’s latest technology heavily relies on AI, via its Music Intelligence platform (MI). The system includes five components, sound, sight, touch, vision, and voice.  

Trained on large language models (LLMs), the platform allows users to give natural voice commands, such as asking for chord help, song tutorials, or tips on improving technique. The new technology makes AI piano hands a highly interactive and personalized experience. 

It converts learning into an interactive and personalized affair, differentiating itself when it comes to education tools or techniques provided in traditional education from traditional education tools or techniques can offer. 

While Airwave is mainly designed to assist beginners, the musical instrument company believes that it is also a creative tool for more professional musicians. The AI experiments with piano through its hand-tracking feature brings in some interesting possibilities and gives users ways to control their music in ways that don’t involve just pressing keys. 

Five Dimensions to Unleash Creativity 

Similar to an AI-powered theremin, hand gestures can turn a piano into an orchestra or a soft synth sound into a sharp lead with intuitive motions such as raising or tilting the hand. 

Airwave open to musicians five new dimensions of control, such as Air Raise, Air Glide, Air Tilt, Air Flex, and Air Slide and boost creativity

Air Raise allows users to control dynamics and intensity by simply raising or lowering their hands. 

 Air Glide: This dimension enables the musicians to glide between notes, giving a much more smooth and legato sound.  

Air Tilt: The tilting of the wrist can adapt sound textures or change the timbre.  

Air Flex: This dimension provides the ability to turn sounds and modify effects by flexing one’s hand or fingers.  

Air Slide: The Air Slide offers the functionality to smoothly transition and change in between instruments or sounds.  

 With the integration of AI and hand-tracking, Airwave gives hope to people who are looking for a way to learn a musical instrument, as well as to those struggling to do so. 


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