Incoming / Expressive E 'Osmose'

[Piet De Ridder]

Expressive E's Osmose was first announced in 2019 and expected to ship a year later, but things having been what they've been, the whole production agenda and process had to be completely revised several times over, and it's only now, at the start of 2023, that the much anticipated release of the instrument can truly be said to be imminent. Expressive E has begun to take pre-orders and is saying that the first batch of units should become available in the 2nd quarter of the year.

Osmose, in case you don't know, is a controller keyboard + synth that offers 'a new standard' of expressive playability thanks to its in-house developed ultra-sensitive keyboard each key of which can be controlled in three directions (as opposed to the one direction of standard keyboards).
The synth engine is something special as well: it's the modular Eagan Matrix engine — combining every synthesis technique you can think of, plus physical modeling — developed by Haken Audio (and which can also found in the Haken instruments but nowhere else).
And for those times when one has no use for the Osmose's advanced MPE powers and sophisticated expressive features, the instrument can function perfectly as a regular midi-controller as well.

Also nice to read: Osmose is designed with sustainability in mind and is made of 66% recycled materials, features a glue-less assembly, meaning Osmose can be disassembled completely with only two commonly-found screwdrivers and has an auto-diagnostic tool developed specifically for Osmose keyboards to help solve customer support requests more efficiently & reduce unnecessary shipments.

- 49 full-size keys with three-dimensional control.
- Standalone synthesizer, MPE MIDI Controller, and classic MIDI controller.
- EaganMatrix, a digital modular engine by Haken Audio.
- Up to 24 voices.
- Color LCD screen, pitch and modulation sliders.
- 2 continuous pedal inputs, assignable to sustain or synth parameters.
- DIN MIDI In, MIDI Out/Thru, USB Type B.
- Two ¼" TS pseudo balanced line outputs, ¼" TRS headphone output.
- 894 x 316 x 87.5 mm / 35.2" x 12.4" x 3.4".
- 8.3 kg / 18.4 lbs.
- External PSU with lockable connector, 12V, 1.5A, center positive.
- Software updater for new firmware and library versions.
- A Mac/PC editor to create and edit sounds.

Retail price: €1799








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[wst3]

I wondered whatever became of that! Glad they will make it to market - they did an awful lot of work, original work, and deserve their day in the sun.

[mr anxiety]

I've been waiting for this release. Ahh, if only it had a ribbon!

Hopefully it will be well received and then they'll add at least an octave to the keyboard.

[Guy Rowland]

Imagine the horror of being a terrible keyboard player sat in front of an Osmose.

[Muziksculp]

Hi,

I like the features, and innovative design of the Osmose keyboard. It's very nice to see new keyboard designs being made.

I'm curious how good it is for playing orchestral instruments very expressively, be it Physical Modeled like SWAM, or traditional Orch. sample libraries. i.e. Kontakt, or other sampler based ones.

I would also love it if the included sound engine it uses can offer Orch. Sound expansions, for solo strings, woodwinds, brass..etc. since I don't really know much about it at this time, and I haven't heard it being used in more purely Orch. application, (not hybrid sounds), but more realistic orch. emulations.

Another popular option for MPE keyboard is the Roli Soundboard Rise 2 . Which has a very different design.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

[Piet De Ridder]

(...) I'm curious how good it is for playing orchestral instruments very expressively, be it Physical Modeled like SWAM, or traditional Orch. sample libraries. i.e. Kontakt, or other sampler based ones. (...)

I suppose that would depend almost entirely on one’s willingness to map all the relevant performance parameters of a library to the various expressive controls of the Osmose, no? And then … learn to play and work with the combination.

Among the Osmose’s current presets are various modeled acoustic (or semi-acoustic) instruments like strings and winds — the Eagan Matrix engine seems to be particularly good at undefined ethnic-like wind instrument timbres — but they obviously lack the instant snapshot realism that the better sample library offers. Meaning, I don’t think it is possible to do what most of us would consider a convincing orchestral mock-up with just the Osmose. But I'm sure that a well-prepared Osmose (one that is configured to talk fluently to your favourite libraries) could make a world of difference when performing mock-orchestral parts. Could prove especially beneficial when working with something like SampleModelling’s Solo and Ensemble Strings, a library which only gives of its best if you bring the various #CC’s (with which the articulations are shaped and controlled) into play.

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[Muziksculp]

(...) I'm curious how good it is for playing orchestral instruments very expressively, be it Physical Modeled like SWAM, or traditional Orch. sample libraries. i.e. Kontakt, or other sampler based ones. (...)

I suppose that would depend almost entirely on one’s willingness to map all the relevant performance parameters of a library to the various expressive controls of the Osmose, no? And then … learn to play and work with the combination.

Among the Osmose’s current presets are various modeled acoustic (or semi-acoustic) instruments like strings and winds — the Eagan Matrix engine seems to be particularly good at undefined ethnic-like wind instrument timbres — but they obviously lack the instant snapshot realism that the better sample library offers. Meaning, I don’t think it is possible to do what most of us would consider a convincing orchestral mock-up with just the Osmose. But I'm sure that a well-prepared Osmose (one that is configured to talk fluently to your favourite libraries) could make a world of difference when performing mock-orchestral parts. Could prove especially beneficial when working with something like SampleModelling’s Solo and Ensemble Strings, a library which only gives of its best if you bring the various #CC’s (with which the articulations are shaped and controlled) into play.

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Yes, I that's very true.

What I wish to see in the future is more software instruments that can provide very realistic emulations of acoustic instruments that are designed from the ground up to take advantage of MPE capabilities of these new controller, i.e. ROLI Seaboard Rise 2, and the Expressive E Osmose Keyboard, and other similar types of MPE controllers. I think new Samplers, and Synths designed to take advantage of the new MPE capabilities of these Controllers is a big change in the way we interact with virtual instruments. More simultaneous real time control of sonic parameters that make them sound closer to the real thing.

i.e. ROLI has their Equator 2 VST Instrument that integrates with their MPE controllers, I think this is a wonderful combo, but I would love to see them take Equator 2 to the next level , and offer expansions for it, that focus on Orch. Instruments. I think the potential is huge, but has not been tapped into at this time. I'm planning to email them about this topic, and see what they have to say about it. They have already released some Orchestral Sound expansions for Equator 2. Not sure how good they are, but it is a good sign for things to come. https://roli.com/products/sound-store/

I also think that this might be a good opportunity for new software developers to enter the area, with MPE focused samplers that are designed from the ground up to take advantage and use MPE to emulate orchestral / acoustic instruments. I think I read that UVI Falcon is a suitable sampler for MPE controllers, but haven't checked how it does this, and what makes it more suitable for MPE compared to i.e. Kontakt.

Audio Modeling SWAM is surely a popular when it comes to MPE controls, but imho. we need more developers to offer this type of sophisticated virtual instruments when it comes to Orchestral sounds, by the way, Audio Modeling are planning to release their SWAM Ensemble Strings this year, which will be super exciting to see how well it does this when it is released.

Cheers.
Muziksculp

[EvilDragon]

I got mine! (I was an early bird preorderer.)

It absolutely delivered and exceeded expectations IMHO. It feels really nice to play, it's super responsive.

As for the built in synth engine... don't expect superbly realistic orchestral stuff. It was never intended to do that, nor it will. It's a very different way of patching up a sound compared to your regular synth or sampler... It's not a multisampler, for starters.

[Muziksculp]

I got mine! (I was an early bird preorderer.)

It absolutely delivered and exceeded expectations IMHO. It feels really nice to play, it's super responsive.

As for the built in synth engine... don't expect superbly realistic orchestral stuff. It was never intended to do that, nor it will. It's a very different way of patching up a sound compared to your regular synth or sampler... It's not a multisampler, for starters.

Hi @EvilDragon ,

Congratulations on your Osmose Keyboard

Thanks for the feedback.

I think it can be used to create quite realistic orchestral performances in real time, once it is customized to use its MPE features to drive more traditional orch. sample libraries, plus PM instruments i.e. Audio Modeling SWAM. I went ahead and reserved an Osmose by pre-ordering one. Expected delivery is during April this year for U.S.A.

I'm also curious to know more about the builtin Modular synth engine of the Osmose, which is the EaganMatrix by Haken Audio. They also have the Arche Collection PM Instruments, i.e. Violin, Viola, and Cello for it, I'm not sure if they are using the EaganMatrix for these PM Instruments, or somethinbg else. . https://www.expressivee.com/21-arche-collection

Cheers,
Muziksculp

[Muziksculp]

[Muziksculp]

So far I have not seen any videos showing the Sound Engine (EagenMatrix) being edited/tweaked via the Software Editor. The video I posted above mentions bugs, and a bumpy road with regards to installing, upgrading firmware, frequent Crashes, ..etc I think the developer of the software is another company, so I'm a bit worried about these details.

[richhickey]

You can search for Haken Continuum to get more hits for the Eagan Matrix and its editor. I think you should have modest expectations about using Osmose to drive other software such as SWAM etc. I own a Continuum and ContinuuMini (and an Osmose on the way), and SWAM, SM etc. A key aspect of the Continuums (and thus Osmose) is that note initiation comes _before_ manual creation of the onset envelope (i.e. at top of travel), and almost all of the builtin sounds expect and leverage this. By contrast, even SWAM does not do very well with this kind of input, instead fabricating an attack with the initial note-on velocity and just shaping dynamics after that. Controlling things like bow change vs legato etc is all still very difficult. You can map Z (key speed/pressure on Osmose) to expression but you really don't have another vector for e.g. bow pressure. If you turn off this note-on-then-envelope feature (which you can), the Osmose devolves into velocity (note on at bottom of travel) + aftertouch + per-key-PB, albeit MPE.

Compared to a Continuum an Osmose has only X and Z control (no Y), plus ordinary wheels, so there aren't a _ton_ of control dimensions in the keybed. The value is that they are at hand, in a fast-playing familiar keyboard layout. I'm hopeful that the success of the Osmose will get more soundbank devs targeting the EaganMatrix - it's a beast to program.

[EvilDragon]

They also have the Arche Collection PM Instruments, i.e. Violin, Viola, and Cello for it, I'm not sure if they are using the EaganMatrix for these PM Instruments, or somethinbg else. . https://www.expressivee.com/21-arche-collection

EaganMatrix is used exclusively in Osmose only, I think Arche is basically repackaged Applied Acoustics stuff (with all inherent limitations, like no MPE!).