Expressive E announced today in an update to their project backers that the Osmose is now in full production, with initial units set to start shipping in late December of this year.
Pre-ordered Osmose synthesizers will be shipped in the order that they were reserved. Expressive E says that fulfillment of pre-orders will carry on through the end of Q1 2023. As the synths are ready to ship, they will be following up to buyers that pre-orded to complete payment and schedule shipment.
The Osmose is a new synthesizer that 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 sound engine is The EaganMatrix, a modular digital synthesizer invented by Edmund Eagan, utilizing a DSP engine designed by Lippold Haken. It is extremely powerful and is the same engine used in the Haken Continuum Fingerboard synthesizer.
Here’s a demo of some of the keyboard’s expressive possibilities, using a pre-production model:
The Osmose was originally introduced three years ago, with shipping planned for Summer of 2020. Production was delayed by the pandemic, so Expressive E used the additional time to add some additional features and deepen the sound library.
Pricing and Availability
The Expressive E is priced at $1,799.00 USD and the site says that it will be ‘available soon’.
It is not yet available for pre-ordering on their website. Hasn’t been for the last 2 years or so…
Yeah, tried to preorder to no avail, “available soon” and no “buy” button….
It was only available for pre-order during a limited window that was more than 2 years ago at this point. It’s likely to become available once the pre-order sales have been sent out.
Sorry about that – we’ve updated the post to reflect the current status.
Been waiting, what, three years? Very excited to replace my hydra synth and finally dig into the eigenmatrix
Same, bought a Hydrasynth for poly AT whist I waited….probably have to let it go when Osmose shows up as I need the space! Exciting times…would be a great Christmas present!
I’m keen on seeing how it works out. The same issue applies with the instrument as with MPE itself: getting it to catch on with a bigger base. Its coming along, but I dream of a standard MPE interface. The ROLI gear hasn’t been bad, but the Osmose retains more of the keyboard feel. I think that’ll end up selling it, much like early synths needed keys so the idea was clear.
Will pretty sure never own one of these but it seems very impressive (expressive) and fun to play…
Nowadays people are able to achieve something similar using a laptop or even iPad.
Can you elaborate?
I think he means the sound, not the expressiveness of an actual touch interface. The further into the future we go, the more folks will confuse “actual hands” with controlling a virtual interface.
There are some amazing MPE control surfaces available for iPad yeah. For a lot of people that is plenty, you can play notes and bend your fingers in 2 dimensions. You just don’t get any of the velocity, aftertouch / pressure response. It’s a trade-off.
It’s a real shame Apple stopped supporting poly touch pressure on iphones, that worked well for velocity. See the Noise 5D app i coded for ROLI a few years ago.
I love that app!
OP here, someone on this website used my username for the original post, it was not written by me.
I don’t know why someone would do that, I just read this article today anyway.
Nobody owns a username here
You can comment using authenticated WordPress, Twitter & FB accounts, if you prefer.
Synthtopia does not require users to create accounts on the site, though.
Dammit! You’re telling me someone stole our username?!
Will Gregory achieves a similarly expressive result using a wind e-instrument with a Minimoog.
The difference is continuous polyphonic expressive control, which has always been rare on keyboards.
I first thought this would not make much sense in my hands due my lack of keyboard skills. But the video kind of shows that it’s maybe the opposite, because the expressivity can make simple and basic playing much more interesting. Now I am intrigued.
Dacci- There’s a lot to be said for viewing it as a monophonic instrument. I have some keyboard skills, but the Osmose seems at its best when the demo players are carefully massaging two or three keys in real-time. Its like a mutant woodwind or violin. That’s where it shines, IMO. Its pretty $#@!-ing Star-Trek-y.
Good point! I love the Touché SE, and this is like 49 of them.
Star Trek’y is such a great description!!
The Osmose seems like such a gorgeous marriage of maximum-expression-from-traditional-keys, with a fascinatingly powerful synth engine.
The possibilities for it to control other synths with multiple control dimensions is also very interesting.
I truly hope the Osmose is a massive success.
It almost feels assured? I’d say unless it’s horribly buggy at launch *AND* they don’t address it, but a lot of big names interested in this and their funding lasted them through a pandemic. They don’t strike me as a company that will not patch bugs, they worked on mpe arpeggios and that really neat portamento feature just because they had time.
All speculation, and naturally I have hopefuel since I’ve been waiting for an instrument like this for about a decade and I’m a preorder, but I think they’re going to see this project through to success.
The picture in this article is the pre-production model, the production model has the mod and pitch wheels angled towards the player. I can’t wait to get mine after the 3-year pre-order!
can’t believe someone else would use my name. I’m going to get copyright now.