Geert Bevin contributed to MIDI Polyphonic Expression’s development and helped champion its use. So who better than to try Expressive E’s unique Osmose keyboard and synth?
Everything Geert says is consistent with my experience of Osmose. As Geert puts it, this is a “complete music instrument” – and even a cure for preset-switching-itis, since you’re motivated to explore a single sound and really learn how to play it. (That raises an interesting point: maybe that dissatisfaction you feel scrolling through presets is partly because you’re looking for expression that isn’t there.)
It’s also worth noting that Geert is able to find a complete expressive range. That’s been largely elusive on conventional keyboards prior to Osmose, which is why, typically, instrument designers (Geert included) had turned to other designs. The Osmose really feels like the first instrument to deliver a piano-shaped keyboard that doesn’t have the limitations of the piano – or even necessarily forcing you to use a particular tuning system. (I’ll write more about that later, but I believe the Osmose handles intonation and expression well enough that it might be the first piano to really be usable in alternative tuning systems without feeling like a compromise.)
This being GeertTV, of course we also get use of the awesome MidiWrist app he developed for the Apple Watch, which together with the Shazam app and, uh, the ability to tell time and have your wrist remind you to stand up and stretch, just made the Apple wearable a must-have for musicians.
Now, as is excited as I am about Geert having Osmose, the point isn’t him or me having the instrument but what you can do with it. So I’m really excited to see what CDM readers might do with something like the Osmose; I’m sure you’ll blow us away.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane though to look at the journey here with Geert, alongside early MPE instruments Eigenharp and Roger Linn’s LinnStrumnet. Gaz Williams has chronicled this history:
Geert explains in clear terms what MPE is for:
… and this year talks about the work with Moog:
Of course, he still has time to mess around with hand tracking on Apple’s Vision Pro:
About that watch: