FM | REVIEWS

Simon Arblaster asks if the long-awaited MPE synth from Haken Audio and Expressive E is your studio’s future centrepiece

CONTACT WHO: Expressive E. WEB: www.expressivee.comKEY FEATURES 24-voice polyphony, 49 full-size keys with three-dimensional control, standalone synthesiser, MPE Controller and classic MIDI controller I/O: Two ¼” TRS pseudo-balanced line outputs, ¼” TRS headphone output, MIDI In, MIDI Out/Thru, USB Type B DIMENSIONS: 894 x 316 x 87.5mm WEIGHT: 8.3 kg

The arrival of Osmose was announced back in 2019 and we remember very well our disappointment at a NAMM show, around that time, when Expressive E brought a non-working version to their booth. To say this was a keenly anticipated instrument is an understatement. We’ll forgive them for the delay as Covid probably put a spanner in the works of development, but fast forward a few years and the Osmose has finally broken through a barricade of red tape and arrived on our test studio doorstep.

Osmose is a collaboration between French company Expressive E, of Touché controller fame, and Haken Audio, makers of the Continuum Fingerboard. While it features the same EagenMatrix synth engine, the Osmose takes a slightly more traditional approach with the keyboard, compared to the Continuum’s bright red neoprene playing surface, instead opting for what first appears to be a standard

piano keyboard with 49 full-size keys. The reality, of course, is far from standard. It is, in fact, a gesturesensitive, semi-weighted keybed with three-dimensional control, which stands rather proud from the chassis in an almost monumental fashion. This height, of course, is to allow for the extra key travel needed for aftertouch, which we will, um, touch on in a bit. Just above the keys are what was initially thought to be a further set of keys or pads, but turned out to be just extensions of the keys themselves. This ‘longboard’ style of key is what gives enough lateral movement to perform pitch bends, along the x-axis. To the left of the keyboard is the control panel with main volume knob, a colour LCD screen, four macro knobs, four menu buttons, a further two knobs for menu scrolling, octave and preset selection buttons, plus pitch and modulation sliders to the far left.