Lightpad Block Creator Manual 1 Introduction - Lightpad Block 2 Glossary of selected BLOCKS terms 3 Start 3.1 Charge Your Lightpad Block 3.2 What is BLOCKS? 3.3 What’s in the Box? 3.4 System Requirements 3.5 Product Registration and Setup 4 Learn 4.1 Learning How to Play the Lightpad Block 1 Introduction - Lightpad Block 4.2 Five Dimensions of Touch or 5D Touch 4.3 Playing Techniques Welcome to the Creator Manual for the Lightpad Block.
BLOCKS is the most accessible and versatile music creation system ever made. It is a modular music studio that lets anyone make music whether they’re a professional musician or a total beginner. Each individual Block is powerful and intuitive, offering unique capabilities that let people make music in simple but far-reaching ways. The Blocks connect together to create customizable kits that suit any budget, skill level, and musical style. With a click of magnetic 5.3.1 Drum Kits vs Groove Kits 5.
BLOCKS A modular music studio built of individual Blocks, each with specific capabilities, that connect together physically through BLOCKS DNA connectors and wirelessly through Bluetooth. Block(s) The individual hardware components of the BLOCKS system including the Lightpad Block, Live Block, Loop Block, Seaboard Block, Touch Block, and Developer Kit Control Block.
with the Lightpad Block and Seaboard Block. Equator Player takes advantage of the Seaboard Block’s 5 dimensions of touch, maximizing your ability to express yourself using just the motions of your fingers on your Seaboard Block’s keywaves and Lightpad Block’s playing surface. It features a simplified user interface that allows you to easily modify the most important characteristics of a preset.
A wavelike element of the keywave surface of Seaboards that corresponds to a single key on a standard keyboard. Each of the Five Dimensions of Touch can be accessed on a single keywave. Keywave surface The entire playing Seaboard surface including all keywaves and the ribbons above and below them. The keywave surface corresponds to a keyboard. Lightpad Block A Master Block and the central Block in the BLOCKS system.
Dashboard to transmit MIDI CC messages in order to control digital audio workstations and software synthesizers. Loop Block A Control Block that provides quick access to music production functions so creators can easily layer sounds into a song in NOISE. The Block’s 10 buttons include controls for setting a tempo, recording loops, and quantizing loops so they snap in time with the tempo.
The app’s expressive power can be expanded with BLOCKS. It is at the heart of the BLOCKS system. Pad A square that corresponds to a note in the grid layout of the Lightpad Block and NOISE. Seaboard Block The Seaboard Block pairs the powerfully expressive keywave surface of the Seaboard GRAND and Seaboard RISE with the portability and modularity of BLOCKS. It is a Master Block and includes 24 keywaves as well as lower and upper octave switches.
3 Start 3.1 Charge Your Lightpad Block You should charge your Lightpad Block as the first step before proceeding. When connected to a suitable power source, the Lightpad Block can charge additional Blocks that are connected to its DNA connectors. Plug the included USB “C” cable into the Lightpad Block and plug the other end of the cable into a USB 3 charger or a computer with a USB 3 port. The Lightpad Block requires 5 watts of power to run and charge the battery efficiently.
Note: Please do not use an iPhone charger to charge BLOCKS as it is not a compatible charger. 3.2 What is BLOCKS? BLOCKS is a modular music platform that opens new possibilities for musical expression. BLOCKS starts with the Lightpad Block, a playable surface. Other Blocks such as the Live Block and Loop Block connect to the Lightpad Block and allow easier, faster control of music performance and production.
over-Bluetooth and becomes the software synthesizer and sound engine for BLOCKS. NOISE and BLOCKS are integrally connected, and together they make a modular, mobile music platform. Visit the Apple App Store and download NOISE on your iPhone or iPad. iOS Device NOISE requires iOS 9.0 or higher and can take advantage of Apple’s 3D touch capabilities on the iPhone 6s or higher and the iPad Pro. 3D Touch capabilities are not required as the Lightpad Block offers 5D Touch.
other users and browse additional content all on NOISE.fm (more on this later in this manual). Download NOISE from the Apple App Store Turn on Bluetooth on the iOS device Launch NOISE Within NOISE sign in to register with an existing ROLI ID -ORCreate a new ROLI ID on NOISE.
You do not need to connect additional Blocks via Bluetooth as long as you have a Lightpad Block connected via Bluetooth. Additional Blocks connect directly to your Lightpad Blocks via the DNA connectors. Open NOISE, press the Settings cog in the top-right corner of NOISE and select ‘Connect BLOCKS’. Choose the Lightpad Block from the Bluetooth MIDI Devices screen to complete MIDI-over-Bluetooth pairing.
click “Firmware.” NOISE will look for BLOCKS updates. If there are new firmware updates, you may select “Click to Update.” The update will take a few minutes to process. When the update is finished, your Block will restart. After your Block restarts, reconnect it to NOISE by clicking “OK” and then clicking on the name of your Block. Lightpad Blocks need at least 30% battery remaining in order to update the firmware. If you are not able to update your Block’s firmware, make sure it is charged and try again.
4.1 Learning How to Play the Lightpad Block Once connected to NOISE, you can play the Lightpad Block and hear NOISE responding to 5D Touch. The surface of the Lightpad Block mirrors the NOISE display and can be used to play NOISE. Each NOISE preset features a grid layout, colour palette, and demo phrase associated with it. The demo phrase is a musical demonstration of what can be achieved with BLOCKS. It can be accessed by pressing the ‘Learn’ icon for each preset to see and hear the phrase being performed.
Strike: The velocity and force with which a finger makes contact with the Lightpad Surface. This dimension of touch corresponds to MIDI velocity on a standard keyboard. Press: The pressure applied to the Lightpad Surface after the initial Strike. The Lightpad Block responds to each moment of continuous touch, transmitting minute variations of pressure to sound. This continuous pressure-sensitivity allows for swells, fades, and other detailed expressions.
Lift: The release velocity or speed of liftoff from the Lightpad Block. Many presets in NOISE respond to Lift. 4.3 Playing Techniques Strike and hold: Strike the Lightpad Surface and hold for a duration without adding any additional movement. Glide vibrato: Pressing into the Lightpad Surface and holding the point of your finger there, wiggle your finger from side to side. The pitch-bend effect of vibrato will widen the wider the arc of movement away from the stationary finger.
There are two main views in NOISE: Instrument View and Song View. You can navigate between these two views by swiping between them. From Instrument View, swipe down to enter the Song View. Notice that as you do this the Lightpad Block mirrors the NOISE display. Now swipe back up to Instrument View. This section focuses on the Instrument View, which is one of two main views in NOISE and features two types of Instruments: Multi Instruments and Solo Instruments.
Solo Instruments, which are indicated by an empty square icon (can be any colour) contain a single instrument which can be arranged melodically or harmonically across the individual pads of the Lightpad Block. The lowest pitch and root note of the scale is on the bottom left pad. The notes ascend in pitch, row by row from bottom left to top right. The root note in the first and second octaves are indicated in white on the bottom left pad, direct centre pad, and top right pad.
Octave Transpose up or down across a 6-octave range with the Octave Button. Sustain Press the sustain button to hold notes. Scale Scale allows you to determine the Key and Scale for the Solo Instruments and will affect all three Solo Instrument slots simultaneously. There are 19 different scales to choose from including the modes.
Chord Chord can be turned ‘ON’ or ‘OFF’ and makes it possible to play entire chords with one finger or pad. You may select from 14 different chord types. If Arp is switched “ON”, Chord will directly determine the notes being played by the arpeggiator. This makes it possible to generate some very complex melodies with just one finger. Arp The Solo Instruments feature an arpeggiator per instrument slot.
Time controls the note value for the notes being played by the arpeggiator. Octave Octave determines the range of pitches played by the arpeggiator from 1 to 4 octaves. 5.3 Multi Instruments Multi Instruments, which are indicated by an icon containing a 2X2 grid of small squares (can be any colour) contain multiple sounds arranged across the individual pads of the Lightpad Block. Multi Instruments are made up of 4 or 16 individual sounds which are indicated by the number of illuminated pads.
preset “Hip Hop Groove Kit”, Strike the second pad from the left in the bottom row and lightly hold to hear a synthetic snare on beats 2 and 4. Now use the Press, Glide, and Slide dimensions to hear both the groove and sound simultaneously evolve to be more complex and include fills. Grab the ( ) icon and swipe to the left to access the “Click”. Press the Click icon to turn the click “ON” or “OFF” and change the tempo of the Groove Kit. 5.
Play/Pause Press Play/Pause to begin or stop playback of all selected loops. Click Press Click to control the tempo of the project and to turn the Click “ON” or “OFF”. When it is set to “ON” it will play whenever the Play/Pause icon is touched. If you turn it “OFF” you will still hear the click for the 1 bar count-in during recording. Snap Snap tightens up or “quantizes” your performances so they are perfectly in time.
In Song View the Instruments are arranged in 4 rows from top to bottom starting with one Multi Instrument on top and three Solo Instruments below. There are 12 available loop slots per instrument. On the iPad you can see all 12 loop slots on one screen. On the iPhone you can view 4 loop slots per page and use the slot selection icon ( ) at the bottom of the screen to navigate to the corresponding page. 5.
project. Enter a name for the project and touch “OK”. You now have a new empty project that you can use to record your own loops. 5.7 Recording Loops From the Instrument View select the Multi Instrument icon at the bottom of the screen. Now use the arrows on either side of the Multi Instrument preset name to select “Dance Groove Kit”. Strike and hold different combinations of pads until you find a combination that produces a groove that you would like to record.
Notes toggle to “OFF”. Press the “X” at the top right-hand corner of the screen to exit back to Instrument View. Press the Chord Button and turn it on. Select “Octave” and then “X” to exit. Now press the Arp Button. Turn it “ON”, set Pattern to “Up”, Gate to 80%, Time to 1/16, and Octave to “2”. Press “X” to exit. Now when you play one of the pads on the Lightpad Block you will hear a steady and instant bass line.
6 Share and Discover 6.1 What is NOISE.fm? NOISE.fm is a social platform for sharing and collaborating on music made with NOISE and BLOCKS. It’s directly accessible from within NOISE and also by visiting www.noise.fm. 6.2 Share To share a NOISE project on NOISE.fm, click the back arrow from the Song or Instrument View, which will display your projects. Next click the share icon next to the project you’d like to share. This will share your project to NOISE.fm and allow other NOISE.
Power / Bluetooth Button The power button is located on the front panel of the Lightpad Block. Press this button to turn it on, press and hold for approximately 3 seconds to turn the Lightpad Block off. While on, pressing this button repeatedly toggles between Bluetooth pairing mode on and off.
The Lightpad Block features a USB-C connector for charging the device and for a MIDI-over-USB connection between BLOCKS and a computer. More information about the battery and charging the Lightpad Block are listed below. Battery Indicator The Power LED on the Power / Bluetooth button also indicates the current battery status of the Lightpad Block and when the Lightpad Block is being charged.
Lightpad Block + Live Block Lightpad Block + Live Block + Loop Block 10W——-12W 4 hours ————— 3 hours 10W——-12W 4 hours ————— 4 hours Additional Information Battery Life 4 hours when in use; 6 months when turned off (on firmware 0.2.
eating food. The Lightpad Surface is designed for finger and hand pressure/impact, but NOT for hard objects, such as drum sticks. To clean the Lightpad Surface you may use damp, bleach-free and oil-free cleansing wipes. Do not use any abrasive cleansing agents on the Lightpad Block.
