With Osmose, Expressive E presents a digital synthesizer with a completely newly developed keyboard that enables completely new playing techniques. The 49-key keyboard looks familiar at first glance, but the technology behind it has been built from the ground up, with each individual key generating a range of other controller data in a kind of three-dimensional space, in addition to pitch, note length and velocity. With this keyboard, well-known playing techniques including polyphonic aftertouch can be implemented effortlessly, but also novel articulations such as pressing, bending, shaking or tilting allow, especially with the implemented, digital EaganMatrix sound generation, an expressive way of playing that could -if at all- only be created with awkwardly arranged MIDI controllers. Of course, Osmose is also a good recommendation as a fully MPE capable MIDI controller keyboard for controlling plug-ins and external synthesizers. Instead of the familiar handwheels for pitchbend and modulation, there are two sliders to the left of the keyboard for this purpose.

A digital modular system

Osmose's digital sound generation with up to 24 voices is based on Haken Audio's EaganMatrix, which is also used in Haken Audio's Continuum Fingerboards and the EaganMatrix module. The EaganMatrix masters different synthesis models like subtractive, FM, Physical Modelling including modal filter banks with the help of different oscillators, filters, modifiers like waveshaping or ring modulation, several modulation sources like envelopes, LFOs and internal and external controllers. This makes the EM one of the most complex digital sound generation methods on the market. In addition, the sounds created with it can also be exchanged with other instruments with the help of the "hook editor". Ex works there are 500 sounds in the memory, which have been specially adapted to the special playing characteristics of Osmose.