Expressive E Announces First Osmose Shipments & Pre-Orders Open

Expressive E has announced that it’s now shipping initial units of its flagship Osmose expressive synthesizer, and that it has re-opened pre-orders.

Osmose is a polyphonic synthesizer that unlocks new ways to control sound. It features a powerful sound engine, created in collaboration with Haken Audio, creators of the Continuum synthesizer.

Here’s what they have to say about it:

“Expressive E are thrilled to announce the delivery of the first Osmose units to early adopters of the project. The first products had already been delivered in late 2022 and early backers’ shipments will keep flowing continuously.

Expressive E have thus decided to reopen pre-orders on January 5th 2023 for all musicians interested in purchasing Osmose. The pre-order scheme has been reconducted to allow Expressive E to anticipate demand as efficiently as possible and organize their production schedules accordingly.

Despite a tense economical environment driven by inflation, component shortages and the resurgence of epidemics, the company will still commit to guaranteeing a $/€1,799 retail price, within the limits of allocated stocks.”

Features:

  • 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 1/4″ TS pseudo balanced line outputs, 1/4″ TRS headphone output
  • External PSU with lockable connector, 12V, 1.5A, center positive

Expressive E has also released a series of new demo and performance videos, embedded above.

Pricing and Availability

The Osmose is available to pre-order, priced at $1,799 USD.

18 thoughts on “Expressive E Announces First Osmose Shipments & Pre-Orders Open”

  1. The price seems fair enough, but I wish I could find out something more specific about the sound engine. I did a search on the Continuum, but most of what I found concerned itself with the control features of the keyboard. Then there was the Loopop review, that went through it in a Loopop way, but I still wish there were more audio examples of how the matrix controls sound done in a more pedestrian way.

    2. Eaganmatrix Programming on YouTube has some older videos that helped me out with the matrix a lot has changed since the beginner tutorials he did but still worth checking out

      1. Thank you for pointing me to the YouTube tutorials. Those go way beyond what I am looking to find information about. I understand that the big draw of this instrument is it’s “normal keyboard” representation of a flexible MPE controller. That’s great, if that’s what you are interested in. I’ve had my Hydrasynth for almost a year now and my Iridium Kbd for almost five months. The transition to polyphonic aftertouch (when playing polyphonically) and making effective usage of it has taken me some time, and I’m still not 100% proficient with it. To add two additional control elements to that seems like it might be overwhelming for somebody who has been playing normally functioning black and white keyboards for 65 years. Anyway, I fully understand the functioning of an MPE controller, and I would like to have one. It isn’t something that I would shell out $1.8k on for that function by itself/

        That led to my questions concerning the sound engine itself. Even after what I’ve read, I don’t have a clue as to how it produces the sounds it does (or at least what the basis of those sounds are). I watched a few of the introduction to the matrix videos, but they really didn’t answer my fundamental questions about the sound engine. For me, it would be like describing how a K2000 produces sound by talking about how you shape sounds using VAST, without explaining that there are digital waveform generator modules, a sampler (or sample playback capability), a noise generating module, a number of different filter model modules, a number of envelope generator modules, and a multitude of modules that are exclusively included as sound shapers. Maybe I’m missing something, but I really couldn’t even begin to classify this synthisizer except to say that it’s digital (although that is just speculation based on the fact that nobody says anything about analog anything when they describe it.

        Last night I was looking for something on the Sweetwater site and I found a link to their E Osmose sales page. There was a Daniel Fisher video on it, but unfortunately it was a non-talking video which serve me about as much as the non-stop talking Loopop video. I sent a message to Daniel, to ask him to do one of his “talking” descriptions of the sound generator while leaving a discussion of the MPE facility of the keyboard for another video. Hopefully he will produce one, because if the stuff from the Continuum is all that is out there, I doubt my questions will ever be answered.

        1. EaganMatrix is hard to categorize because it’s basically a digital modular synth, with a lot of different module types available, several of them being pretty exotic.

          The “simple” modules include oscillators and filters, and a patch can contain up to five of them. The basic oscillator has inputs for frequency, phase, amplitude and waveshape: with a pair of them you can set up frequency modulation, phase modulation (DX-style “FM”), AM, and/or waveshaping, including feedback loops.

          The “complex” modules (3 per patch) have more inputs and get more out there, providing the building blocks for resonator banks, granular synthesis, oscillator banks, wave guides, physical-model oscillators, …

          Any connection between a module output and a module input can be parameterized. In the simplest case, the parameter is a number, which the gain factor of the input into the output. The expressive control comes in by specifying a Formula, which calculates a potentially continuously variable gain factor based on some combination of MPE-style touch inputs (X, Y, Z, plus W=gate), the setting of one of the 6 macro controls, and some other odds and ends.

  2. The wait for the early adopters / backers (myself included) since 2019 has been excruciating, but it will be glorious once our Osmose finally arrive! What an instrument!! Truly a revolutionary development in expressiveness for synths. The sound designers did a phenomenal job. BRAVO!

    2. I was an early adopter as well. Submitted my deposit in November of 2019, but Expressive E is now giving me an ETA of May 2023. I’ll still wait patiently, but any other backers out there experiencing the same?

  3. I also have mine- it isn’t hype, it is really is special. Its the synergy and integration between the new key bed (multiple Touche!) and the well established Egan Matrix Engine (which is pretty amazing just as a sound module) that makes it unique and special. Expressive MPE with no set up- just turn it on. Premium build quality as well…worth every penny of the full asking price.

    1. That’s great to hear. It blows my mind that this TRULY revolutionary product (and that is not hyperbole)– comes in at this reasonable price, AND has good build quality.

      I hope they are VERY successful with every production run going forward!!

  4. I’m beyond impressed; I wouldn’t have blinked if this was $5K, but its almost cheap. This is where MPE needed to go next. It’ll bring out the real virtuosos. The demos have caught up to the chatter, so I’m keen on seeing its impact a year and more from now. Its a WTH instrument that’ll create some water cooler buzz at the office. `

    1. I completely agree! $1800 for this amazing instrument that does 24 voices of multiple synthesis types using an MPE control surface, compared to 5k for an ancient architecture mono synth… easy choices here.

    1. the op1 has its value though…Just kidding, the op1 is ridiculously priced. And lets not forget that some of us, early buyers bought this for 1200!!! But yeah the op1 has nice animations in the screen, difficult to find elsewhere.

  7. I have to give major credit to this company for using the covid delay to make this product even better than it was originally going to be, instead of collapsing in on themselves. I’m an early backer and very much appreciated the regular, realistic and professional updates about it’s status. Very much looking forward to getting mine soon!

  8. Osmose latest firmware update, crashes keyboard every 20 minutes.
    Keys are very wobbly and very loud clicking
    I don’t think it will last for more than 3 months 🙁
    Requested refund I’m afraid…

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