Expressive E Osmose Sound Design Update

Expressive E shared another sneak preview of their upcoming and long-delayed Osmose synthesizer.

The video features composer Tonnerre exploring the current state of some of the Osmose sounds that their in-house sound designers have created, using the EaganMatrix by Haken Audio, Osmose’s internal synth engine.

The sounds include subtractive synth sounds, FM keys, physical modeling pluck, and pads, all taking advantage of the expressive possibilities offered by the Osmose’s Augmented Keyboard Action.

The Osmose features what’s arguably the most expressive synth keyboard ever, supporting continuous pressure control per key, press & tap, left/right pitch vibrato and more:

Pricing and Availability

The Expressive E Osmose was originally intended to be released in 2020, but the pandemic and global supply chain issues have delayed production. The company now says that it will be available ‘soon’, priced at $1,799 USD.

12 thoughts on “Expressive E Osmose Sound Design Update

    1. Same. They claim it will be December, but given the track record, I’m guessing May. Really hope I’m overestimating.

  1. As a happy Roli Seaboard owner, I have been watching this since it was announced. The traditional keybed will make it a lot more inviting for some folks. It certainly took some time to get used to the Roli “keybed” for lack of a better term. I’m curious how the notebending works/feels since you are restricted physically by the keys next to you. The only thing I can see that I would miss is the ability to do longer pitch glides, but perhaps it has a way to do this. This is really cool and I’m happy to see more companies innovating and moving into the MPE realm.

    1. There was a demo a couple months ago, showing this bending mode/method that works where you play a 2nd note and as you slowly press down on note 2 and slowly release note 1, it glides between the pitches (controlled by your slow note actions). I’m not sure I’m describing it correctly. But it solves the issue of long bends.

      The keyboard world has waited a long time for tech like this. It’s kind of not surprising it would be a race between some dream keyboard and the crumbling of society.

  2. I pre-ordered on December 31st,2019 at 11pm, a few minutes before their window closed. Till this day I await my beloved. Will she ever make it to me, it might just be a myth lol

    1. I got in on the pre-order, too, which looks like it may end up being the deal of the century. I can understand being frustrated by the delays, but it’s clear that they’re using the time to invest in the software and sound design, and that this is going to be one of the most important new synths of our lifetimes.

  3. whenever i pre-order something i try to forget i ever did, then one day it shows up it feels like a total surprise. i also pre-ordered this and will be excited for when it comes. it’s a pretty big project though so even without all the crazy stuff in the world i think these things tend to need more time to fine tune anyway. very best to them leading up to the finish line.

  4. Still awaiting. But I have the haaken continuum so sound is the same. Also have Roli. My VAX77 is still great. But looking to see what the keyboard brings – does the surface track moves, is there release velocity, when will it actually be available. Looks like nothing will come until next year. It’s hard to believe when the web site is so very silent ….

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