MIDI ControllerOverreview

ROLI Airwave

Reviewers found hand tracking that feels like magic; owners found a setup fight — and then the company behind it ran into trouble.

29 sourcesUpdated
$349Typical US price

Score aggregates reviewer opinions across topics.

ROLI Airwave

The short version

What to know.

A gesture controller with a solid aluminium build and a tall frame that takes real desk space. Editorial and video reviewers broadly agree its tracking is accurate and free of noticeable latency, and that it is a niche, occasional-use controller rather than an everyday one. Owners split on reliability: some report flawless tracking, others calibration that never completes, tracking that degrades after minutes, and laborious Windows setup. The bundled software and the value split similarly, and the value case now carries a supply and support risk after ROLI’s 2026 financial trouble.

About this product

ROLI’s camera-based hand-tracking controller, announced in October 2024 and shipping from late 2025: infrared cameras at the top of a 369 mm arch that stands behind a keyboard and turns hand height, tilt, glide, slide, flex and grasp into MIDI. ROLI sells the same hardware as “Airwave for Learners” and “Airwave for Creators”, which differ only in the bundled software. Not the ROLI Piano or Piano M keyboards it is often bundled with.

The Airwave is ROLI’s attempt to make the space above a keyboard playable. An aluminium arch stands behind the keys with infrared cameras in its crossbar, tracks both hands, and turns height, wrist tilt, side-to-side glide, front-to-back slide, a downward flex and a closed fist into streams of MIDI. Paired with ROLI’s own Piano it doubles as a posture-watching piano tutor in the ROLI Learn app; with any keyboard and the bundled Airwave Player instrument it becomes something closer to a theremin you play with your free hand.

It arrived slowly. Announced in October 2024 at €299/$299 and later listed at $349, it reached most pre-order customers only in late 2025, and by mid-2026 ROLI — already through one administration in 2021 — was again in financial trouble, with its store showing a maintenance banner and nothing in stock. That history matters as much to a buyer as the hardware does.

A good fit for

  • Players on Apple Silicon Macs who want hands-in-the-air control of filters, effects and layers
  • Live performers who want their sound changes to be visible to an audience
  • Owners of a ROLI Piano or Seaboard who already have one and can find an Airwave second-hand

Think twice if

  • You’re on an Intel Mac, or on Windows and don’t want to set up virtual MIDI ports
  • Your monitor sits directly behind your keyboard
  • You need dependable delivery, support and long-term software updates
  • You want expression per finger — Airwave’s gestures act on whole hands

The reviewer consensus

Agreement &
disagreement.

4 / 7topics divide opinion
portabilitybuildconnectivitycontrolsintegrationsoftwarevalue
2 Strong agreement1 Mostly agree4 Divided opinions

Common ground4

  • Solid aluminium build
  • The tall frame blocks whatever sits behind it, usually your monitor
  • A niche, occasional-use controller — great for effect and for performance, not something you’d use on every track

Points of contention4

  • Tracking reliability: accurate and lag-free in reviews, finicky or degrading over a session for a sizeable group of owners
  • Setup and DAW integration: easy MIDI mapping on Apple Silicon Macs vs a fight with virtual MIDI ports and drivers on Windows
  • Airwave Player and ROLI Learn: inspiring presets and coaching vs basic, CPU-hungry software tied to ROLI’s servers

A closer look.

7 topics · 4 divided
Left: criticalRight: positiveTighter lines: more agreement

Controls

Leans positiveDivided opinions
Reviewer sentiment12 supporting sources
CriticalNeutralPositive

Band: opinion spread · Dot: weighted average

Sources split: every reviewer and video found the hand tracking accurate and lag-free, while a sizeable group of owners report calibration trouble, gestures that drop out, and tracking that degrades during a session. Reviewers also agree each gesture means lifting a hand off the keys, and that gestures can bleed into one another.

Measured

ROLI specifies infrared cameras tracking 27 joints per hand at 90 frames per second; SoundGuys reports two Ultraleap IR 170 cameras with a 100–1000 mm working depth. ROLI’s FAQ asks for the keyboard to be within 70 cm and centred, with reflective surfaces removed and lighting or clothing adjusted if hands aren’t tracked.

vs. listeners — The positive verdicts come from review loans and demos (SoundGuys used a prototype at a ROLI-hosted session); the failures come from owners’ own rooms and hosts — iPads in the Learn app losing tracking after 5–20 minutes, and Windows machines. ROLI’s own FAQ list of lighting, clothing and reflection conditions suggests the environment explains part of the split.

Where it splits
Accurate, lag-free tracking60%

“the camera tracking is incredibly accurate and also without latency, so everything feels pin-sharp.”

Hollin Jones, MusicTech
Finicky — calibration fails, tracking drops out40%

“Nevertheless, the calibration never completes and the device is pretty limited in the end, although working from an hardware point of view.”

Eric Buist (owner)
Link to this topic

The hardware

Specifications.

Checked

Connection

USB
USB-C
Pedal inputs
Sustain
Audio interface
Built in
Power
USB bus power, Power adapter

Physical

Weight
812 g
Dimensions
221 × 122 × 369 mm

Manufacturer-published figures, not measurements · from roli.com, roli.com, support.roli.com.

Follow the evidence

Sources 29

1–6 of 29 sources

Read with context

Limitations & method.

As of

What to keep in mind 4

  1. A read of where reviews and owners stood in October 2026. ROLI’s situation was changing quickly at the time, so check whether it is shipping and supporting products before you buy.

  2. Most of the glowing verdicts came from review units and demos; owners’ experiences ranged much more widely, and many of the complaints come from Windows PCs and iPads rather than Apple Silicon Macs.