Expressive E Osmose (Sneak Preview)

Expressive E shared this sneak preview of their upcoming Osmose synthesizer.

The Osmose promises to offer a unique level of expressive control, giving you continuous independent control over the synthesis parameters of each individual note that you play.

The video offers a demo of a variety of sounds being developed by Expressive E’s in-house sound designers for the new synth, using an engineering prototype of the new synth.

These sounds range from classic synth sounds, FM keys, cinematic pads, lo-fi experiments to effects. Each sound is designed to take advantage of the possibilities of the Osmose’s Augmented Keyboard Action.

Here’s what Expressive E has to say about the technical details of the demo:

Audio recorded at 44,1kHz, 24bit with a Native Instruments Komplete Audio Mk1 without further processing.

While development of the industrialized prototype is going according to plan, the unit shown is still the same prototype unit that appeared in earlier videos. Creating it involved 3d printing techniques as well as manual labour by our engineers, meaning that you can see some irregularities in the keybed.

The final, industrialized model will certainly not show such tolerances and will feature a flawless, even keybed, compare the renders on our website.

35 thoughts on “Expressive E Osmose (Sneak Preview)”

  2. Personally I think this is the most interesting new keyboard that has come out for many years. It sounds great, but that key bed is a potential came changer for people who can already play keys and want to add some MPE without changing to a different form factor. I look forward to trying the production model.

    1. Well said, @sean. I think this is fascinating not only as a truly new concept in expressive keyboard controllers, but also, that synth engine has shown so much versatility in these few demos.

      @Goobs leaves us to guess whether there is something specific he/she/?? is bored/exhausted by.

      Some people don’t like traditional keys. Some people prefer face-punching demos. Some people prefer a very narrow subset of music. Some people are easily bored, even when something refreshingly innovative comes along.

      Compared to glass rubbing and trying to ilk out music from a polyester mush board, I have a much easier time imagining myself connecting to this.

      1. & some people are easily impressed by centuries old interfaces. because it’s got… added whizmos!! 🙂

        well, if you find this to be an exciting and refreshing performance tool, more power to you i guess. but aren’t there already 100 other mundane re-interpreted keyboard instruments readily available? the roli’s, continuum etc? what does this offer that the others don’t? a little bit cheaper? a couple knobs hacked onto the side of the board in a design-questionable manner?

        on the sound design, i hear nothing unique or compelling about it. i guess a lot of folks around here still get turned on by wiring a few oscillators in series & mapping frequency to pressure. from my point of view its kind of a sad reflection on the global state of affairs in terms of advancement in electroacoustics, digital lutherie, and the electronic arts in general but…..more power to you i guess?

        1. wow dude. Do you have a competing product or something or are did you just wake up on the wrong side of the bare mattress on the floor of your parents basement?

          “that key bed is a potential came changer for people who can already play keys and want to add some MPE without changing to a different form factor”

          Do you know of another traditional keybed with MPE?

          2. Nothing to sell here, except maybe a $40 MIDI board on Craigslist that has many of the same features. I think from an audience perspective, key-pressing gestures are barely more engaging than glass sliding. Maybe Glenn Gould is an exception, but this guy sure ain’t. but YMMV.

            I also sincerely wish the editor(s) would post less of these lousy paid product demo advertisements, and more of the occasional great creative content they are also know for.

          3. Nothing to sell here, unless u wanna buy my $40 MIDI board on Craigslist that has many of the same features. I think from an audience perspective, key-pressing gestures are barely more engaging than glass sliding. Maybe Glenn Gould is an exception, but this guy sure ain’t. but YMMV.

            I also sincerely wish the editor(s) would post less of these lousy paid product demo advertisements, and more of the occasional great creative content they are also known for.

            1. “I also sincerely wish the editor(s) would post less of these lousy paid product demo advertisements, and more of the occasional great creative content they are also known for.”

              Synthtopia has never accepted paid content placement – the decisions we make about what stories or videos we cover has always been driven by what readers are interested in. What interests readers is transparent, because we show the most commented and read recent posts in the sidebar of every page of the site.

              We do often cover company’s product videos for new products, because they are newsworthy. Where possible, we will feature videos that emphasize informing you about a product vs selling you on a product.

              This video is a an example of a company video that’s of interest to many electronic musicians, as the number of comments demonstrates.

        2. Hi Goobs, i’m very interested about what you refert as an «advencement » in electroacoustics, digital lutherie and the electroacoustic arts? Personaly i very like Soma electronic, Haken continuum, and also the new ( not finish) Expressiv E products. So if there is some great stuff out there, please share us you knowlege! It’s exactly what Synthtopia is born to. Thx!

            1. Goobs, if you are interested in gestures in performance, that’s fine, nice video. But it’s safe to say that’s not what the Osmose is for. At all.

        3. @Goobs

          Perhaps you haven’t followed this closely enough to know what it is or what it does. Or you are wanting us to know that this board doesn’t meet your high standards. Or you want to tell some of us that we are getting excited about something that we shouldn’t.

          Yes. It has a traditional keyboard layout. There are people who play keyboards who like the idea of building on their familiar connection to that note layout. One other keyboard that showed similar promise was the TouchKeys sensors. I think that was a great idea that was very well implemented.

          Osmose rather than relying on a touch surface uses the entire key in quite a few interesting ways.

          That synth is also pretty revolutionary, as well.

          I suspect you aren’t looking for a keyboard.

            1. Fair enough. It just struck me as odd, because I’ve been massively yawning at the 100s of same-old-same-old controllers that have been coming out for the past 10 years or so. And FINALLY, we have something worthy of attention that I can actually afford. So the “massive yawn” was a little shocking. I guess someone needed a little extra attention that day, so I gave it. Probably a waste of time, but I’ll stick up for myself, and I’ll stick up for people who are actually doing good design work.

  3. incredible! Something fresh in a world of rehashing retro! I am personally stoked for this, and other innovations it brings to music tech in general.

  4. I think more listeners will have to come to appreciate this to make it really fly. Its easy for synth players to be dazzled by the New, but this thing is so sci-fi, getting a casual observer to grasp it won’t come easily. They need to understand what’s happening to embrace the tunes. It has keys, but its also way more weird than a Chapman Stick.

    IMO, you need a big-balls accessory to play it. There is an equally huge challenge to use it with both traditional acoustic instruments & the mad synth world. I like ROLI Blocks, but the Osmose is an all-or-nothing instrument like a cello or electric guitar. You probably won’t see a cut-down 2-octave version tied to a General MIDI synth. Go deep or just be a trust fund wanker.

  5. This is coming along great. Fun demo sounds. Will be a blast to play. I like that it requires a very light touch like a harpsichord.

  6. I’m digging it. I’m glad I got in on the early bird special. For those that are looking for something new and truly unique, I’d say this and the Hydrasynth are a welcome breath of fresh air. Not only does this sound cool and different, but the control paradigm – while not completely unfamiliar – offers new methods of expression.

    I can’t wait.

    1. CV Outs on an MPE keyboard? There would be dozens. MPE isn’t really for CV applications. It’s be suited for high speed, high bandwidth connections like USB 3.0 or better yet linked directly to hardware for reduced latency. If you don’t want this, we get it. That’s okay. The rest of us waiting on our pre-order units have something to look forward to this summer/fall.

      24 voices * (tap + press + press & tap + pitch + aftertouch + shake + strum)
      24 * 7 = 168 cv outs + 24 gate outs.

      Then you’ve gotta have oscillators, filters, envelopes, arpeggiators, vcas… you can see where I’m going.

      1. That is a gross hyperbole, no one asked for as many cv outs as voices. They could have a set, as they do in touche and it is extremely useful in this day and age. I have also pre-ordered from the very beggining and that feature would make me very happy!

          1. “Being able to control a single synth voice would be fine.”

            An option for this is available in Eurorack format:

            https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2017/06/13/evaton-technologies-%C2%B5cvc-module-brings-powerful-multidimensional-expression-to-eurorack-synths/

            I’d expect more discussion and demonstrations of CV options when the Osmose is released, but they’ve got higher priority items to just get the synth released.

            The built-in engine, Eagan Matrix, is one of the most powerful synth engines available. It’s the same synth engine that powers the Haken Continuum.

    2. Even if you could use some kind of smart MIDI to CV converter, it would be a puzzle to figure out what goes where. I suppose you could think monophonically and convert a few MIDI streams to CV.

    3. They have stated that it is compatible with the Haaken CVC. So you can have 16 16-bit DAC channels at a 400KHz rate, organized as 4 channels over 4 voices or 8 channels over 2 voices. That’s the purpose of the I2C port on the side.

      1. The Haken cvc costs more than the keyboard itself though..But I wonder how it would work. The continuum seems to offer a lot more resolution as a controller, unless expressive are quantizing it for the mpe needs and with the i2c porta you get the whole deal…

        1. > The Haken cvc costs more than the keyboard itself though.

          That is incorrect. It’s reasonably priced for what you get. The I2C DAC sample frame protocol isn’t proprietary. You can hack together your own converter if you prefer.

          People say I won’t get it because it doesn’t have CV outs. Well you can get it with CV outs if you want. Then they say it’s a rip off and costs more than the instrument itself. That’s not true at all. Then they complain the resolution is terrible. Which it isn’t. It doesn’t matter what the facts are. Facts don’t matter. All that matters is whining and spreading fear and fake news, to get attention.

          1. Well i’ve preordered osmosis at 1299 euros, the Haken cvc costs 1160 euros, so I really have no idea what you talking about. Clearly it doubles the costs. p.s the touche offers 4 cv outs.

  9. Is this a keyboard MIDI controller, synth, or both?

    I would want only the keyboard, without built-in synth = less expensive.
    – I have plenty of those as VST’s.

    1. It’s being bundled as a synthesizer that can react will to the technology integrated into the keyboard and MPE+ framework. I wouldn’t say it’s essential, but there’s no better way to make sure your product will also be utilized to its fullest potential then to have both the hardware coupled with software that respects the hardware’s design.

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