Switched On Brandenburg Concerto No.2 On Expressive E Osmose

This video, via BARxMusic, is a full performance of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 on the Expressive E Osmose.

The performance takes inspiration from the groundbreaking Wendy Carlos album, Switched On Brandenburgs, originally released in 1980.

Timings:

0:00 Movement I
4:54 Movement II: Andante
8:41 Movement III: Allegro Assai

Here’s what they shared about the technical details:

“This is a full performance of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 on the Expressive E Osmose, a synthesizer and keyboard control surface capable of an incredible amount of dynamic and tonal expression – a paradigm known by many as MPE, or Midi Polyphonic Expression. In addition to the Osmose, I also used my Nord Electro 4 for the Harpsichord continuo part.

As a lifelong classical musician, the Osmose instantly struck me as having a great deal of potential within the concert music world, being a keyboard instrument with expression on-par with that of a bowed string or wind instrument. I began experimenting with “Switched-On” style interpretations of Bach’s works on the Osmose, and ended up spending a majority of my summer studying, practicing, and sound designing in order to tackle one of his greatest masterworks.

I utilized the Osmose’s built-in physical modeling sound engine, Eaganmatrix by Haken Audio, for all of the sounds in this video (apart from the Nord’s harpsichord sound). I wanted to see how well this physical modeling engine would do at recreating the Baroque instrumentation, and as such decided to use sounds based on Bach’s original intended orchestration.”

7 thoughts on “Switched On Brandenburg Concerto No.2 On Expressive E Osmose”

  1. I am absolutely loving this. Wendy’s SOB was my introduction to electronic music as a kid and it sparked my life-long love for electronic music across multiple genres and styles over the years. Please keep up the good work, it is really good.

  3. This is cool. If BARxMUSIC decided to sell these sounds for the Osmose, I bet they would be popular. The Eganmatrix is a complex, capable instrument. It would be cool to have sound packs available for it.

    1. i agree. i have to admit i have not attempted to create anything from scratch with the engine just because of how complex it can be. i would gladly pay some cash for some sound packs, im not the best sound designer tbh and lots of time is needed to create patches from scratch. hope their working on it

  5. Once again, modern instruments handily pass the Bach Test. This is so well-played, it should be part of the Osmose demo reel. We know the synth can do odd e-things, but here’s proof that it can cover the traditional realm, too.

    BTW, Expressive E sells a couple of software instruments of which you should be aware. Imagine is a stand-alone modeler; the Arche collection offers a violin, viola and cello. Give the demos a listen.

    https://www.expressivee.com/cat/3-software

  6. strange. This rendering lacks dynamics. And also tempo variation. The sounds are not well chosen, too. Wendy Carlos’ version is much better in all those three aspects.

    Another reason to appreciate her work. Imitating acoustical dynamics, imitating a small orchestra of professional musicians, imitating a good director, etc. is very difficult with synthesisers. And her version is not perfect at all. But way better that this attempt.

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