Renowned artists including Grimes, Steve Aoki, and RZA are already making music on BLOCKS and creating signature sound packs for BLOCKS musicians. Grimes — a composer, producer, and global superstar whose sound is redefining pop music — said, “ROLI BLOCKS will democratise music production. It’s so intuitive and versatile. I’m always on the go, and BLOCKS is the most powerful mobile production tool I’ve ever used.”

Three Blocks launch today. The Lightpad Block features a tactile, glowing surface that lets people shape music through presses, glides, and other natural gestures. The Live Block and Loop Block have controls that make it even easier to perform and produce in real time. BLOCKS is powered by NOISE, a free music app for iPhone and iPad that is now available at the App Store. NOISE connects to BLOCKS wirelessly over Bluetooth, becoming the system’s sound engine as well as a standalone app.

The Lightpad Block, Live Block, and Loop Block are exclusively available at ROLI.com, Apple.com, and Apple Stores around the world. With a Lightpad Block retailing at $179 and the Live Block and Loop Block at $79, BLOCKS is extraordinarily affordable as well as powerful.

The launch caps an important year for ROLI, which has emerged as a leader in music technology innovation. The award-winning Seaboard RISE, a reinvention of the piano that has redefined the expressive capability of electronic instruments, has been adopted by a range of artists from Stevie Wonder to Meghan Trainor. ROLI acquired FXpansion, a London-based maker of audio software and virtual instruments, in September 2016.