Music Instrument Maker Roli Collapses, Leaving Customers Without Orders
UK company Roli, maker of touch-sensitive electronic music instruments, entered administration on October 20, its second insolvency. Customers report unfilled orders and fear their devices will lose software support.
Roli, a UK music technology company that makes touch-sensitive electronic instruments including the Seaboard and Roli Blocks, has collapsed. It entered administration on October 20, the UK process for managing corporate insolvency. This is the second time Roli has become insolvent. On Monday the company emailed users that two licensed insolvency practitioners had been appointed joint administrators. Many customers still do not know whether they will receive products they have already paid for.
Customers without answers
There has been no official announcement, but Roli reportedly removed its CEO and founder, Roland Lamb, earlier this year. In August, a new company called Instrumental Intelligence was registered in the UK under Lamb's name, which may be an attempt to acquire Roli's assets. In Facebook groups and on Reddit, users say they paid for orders months or years ago and have received neither products nor refunds. The sums range from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Owners also worry about the future: Roli instruments rely heavily on the company's software to connect, map sounds and configure settings. The hardware still works, but without software support users fear it may eventually become unusable. The company has not publicly described its plans and did not respond to WIRED's questions, nor did Lamb or the main investors, TriplePoint Capital and Hoxton Ventures.
Earlier difficulties
Roli was founded in 2009 and grew faster after investment from musician Pharrell Williams in 2017 and from Sony's Innovation Fund in 2018. During the pandemic, the British government's Future Fund partly bailed it out, yet it first entered administration in 2021. It continued as Luminary Roli, focusing on learning devices such as the Lumi keyboard and the Airwave. Customers had long criticised poor communication and unexplained delays. Former employees, who asked not to be named, described a company culture built around the founder's wishes.
A user-made fix
Sam Hocking, a UK audio engineer, has built configuration tools that let Roli Grand, Rise, Airwave and Block devices work without the official launcher. He shared them on Reddit and GitHub, and other users are adding their own improvements.
