There’s been off and on discussion about upgrading one’s keyboard playing skills in preparation for the Osmose, or even just laying down a basic foundation.
A review of one “teaching keyboard” by Yamaha - I learned mostly the old school way but this might be a better fit for others:
It would be so nice to see this before Q4 this year. I totally get that things are hard for them, but it would be nice to have just one realistic projection. I’m sure their intentions are good, but everything they have said re. timings so far has been wrong, so it is quite hard to believe anything they say.
On another note, I was thinking today, the Osmose with the Eaganmatrix is a bit like a modern Nord G2. Which is cool.
I just wonder if after covid and all the other things happening right now there will be a mindset change and we will start to do factory work again “locally” - and how much more this would cost … maybe 30% more?
Eastern Europe has lots of space and low wages. Still slavery. But at least we don’t need to deal with weird states like China who seem to like to have so much power over worldwide supplychains / other countries / world.
I think it’s pretty unfair to compare the two companies.
a) Medeli is a chinese company
b) they have their business relations probably for decades
c) it’s not their first keyboard
It’s not the 1000th keyboard with only a few diversifications for Expressive E. And dealing with chinese people is probably tenfold easier since the langauge barrier is not there for Medeli. Also … visiting the factory is a lot easier (even during pandemic).
I really want to try something with the Eaganmatrix. I have been holding out for the osmose, but I am really thinking about just pulling the trigger on a continuumini, even though it has all the things I hate (only powered via usb, no midi din, and only a 3.5mm output).
If you’re into eurorack perhaps look at the Eagan matrix module!
The delay of the Osmose has actually helped my gas… but the longer we go on, the more that module calls to me ……
( fortunately not in stock in the EU yet … hopefully won’t be till Osmose ships ;))
I’m not that big into eurorack and part of the draw of the Eaganmatrix is that it sounds really good played expressively (when played with just a midi keyboard or regular midi sequencer or something it is a bit meh). The continuumini is also about the same price and is in stock as well. Oh, and the 5v power draw on the Eaganmatrix Module is more than any of my eurorack cases can supply!
I’d been wanting to try the Eaganmatrix for years… that subsided significantly when I first used it. Sounds incredible, works like the internet in '92. It doesn’t even maximise!
As for the continuumini I’m not a huge fan of the playing surface, but it’s great with the linnstrument. And the sounds from the Eaganmatrix make it something I have to invest the time in.
The osmose is also a strange thing - I’m put off by the lack of decent x axis implementation, and ultimately think the piano interface isn’t great for what it wants to do. Suspect if/when they ever make it into the wild the Eaganmatrix’s obtuseness might lead to major buzzkill for those wanting to make their own sounds.
Yeah, I’m not hyped on the “Eaganmatrix synthesis” but hopefully Osmose will make an expressive controller for other MPE capable synthesizers.
Which is the x-axis?
I would have assumed it’s the traditional pitch axis (ie. low to high pitch across the keys) and if so is implemented very well on the osmose.
It would be the y-axis (bottom to top of the individual key) that seems to be lacking on the Osmose, but maybe I’ve got my axis labelling wrong.
Assuming x is left to right, Y is forward to back, Z is up and down.
The last few days I have been looking at different eaganmatrix instruments (continuum and continuumini) and they seem to be used by an entirely different subset of people than most synths. I think the osmose is going to be going to the usual group of electronic instrument enthusiasts and it will be very interesting to see how they get on with the eaganmatrix.
Not touching the age or race thing but if I had both the space and budget, I’d love to have both a Continuum and Osmose.
I went for the Osmose preorder because I do enjoy playing chords, not just single-note melodies, and the preorder price was damn good.
It’s not impossible to play chords on Continuum but to me it’s a case of extra effort vs. reward. You pretty much have to look at the lines on the Continuum and put your fingers accordingly. Not at all like a piano or even a Roli Seaboard where you can feel where the notes should be.
Its probably a bit more you need the muscle memory for the fingerings of chords and then you probably slide into them a bit. Kind if like how people play fretless instruments without looking, do it enough and you kind of get a sense for these quick initial slides on a starting chord and then muscle memory for spacing after that with subtle quick adjustments. But yeah there is definitely a sound to playing fretless instruments that is hard to avoid, osmose might have a bit more of the best of both worlds.
@HBIII yeah I think part of it is the fretless nature of it really lends itself to “world music” type sounds, but also expressiveness lends itself to that. I’m curious how it will break into songs, my guess is there will be a lot of subtle use of it, easy to go over the top with EXPRESSIVENESS
It’s not that I could never play in-tune chords on Continuum - without using its pitch quantizer(s). It’s just that I decided I’d rather have an Osmose and use its more familiar interface to make music, rather than spend the necessary time and effort to play chords on a Continuum.
You OTOH are free to pursue this skill if you like.
My comments are based on trying the Continuum at Discovery World in Milwaukee. Sadly I did not try the pitch quantization while I was there - whether I couldn’t figure it out or I simply never thought of trying, I just cannot remember.
The fretless instruments I have played include viola, electric violin, cello, fretless bass, and fretless guitar. What they have in common is a neck that is conical - you can roughly feel where pitches should be by the thickness of the neck. Also, consider this image
You see where the neck meets the bout? Players learn to use that as yet another physical landmark to assist in pitch location.
On the Continuum, your only pitch reference is visual. There is no physical landmark anywhere for tactile pitch location, unlike the other instruments that I mentioned.
Again though, like I said, if you’re committed to mastering the art of playing chords in tune on a Continuum, good luck with that.
I mean I play slide guitar and I have a ngoni (it has a perfect cylinder for its neck) both of which while you start with visual clues often you don’t really use any physical clues on the instrument other than top and bottom of the neck, just muscle memory and your ears. Not that I am playing a bunch of different chords or something on the slide. I think part of the continuum is that it has a totally even key spacing for the layout so you wouldn’t have to change the spacing of your fingers to transpose a chord like a piano, I suppose the larger playing area would probably make it easier to get lost in reference to either end of the playing surface. But yeah I feel like I mostly agree with you and wasn’t meaning any I said as a dis at your ability to play fretless instruments, Osmose is both familiar and strange and new which makes it attractive.
I didn’t see your post as a diss of my admittedly modest at best skills. I was just trying to explain that there is a tactile component to pitch location on some instruments. On those instruments we use our senses of hearing and touch to locate the desired pitches
Using only the ears to locate notes is fine if you’re playing slow blues. However, I wouldn’t be able the viola parts for “I’m So Pretty” from West Side Story, Aaron Copland stuff, etc. in the community college orchestra if I only used my ears and did not train my hands to feel where notes should be - this really applies to arpeggios, melodic passages, etc. that have to be played at medium or faster tempo. There is simply not enough time to use the ear to find all the notes that have to be played - only enough time to pitch-correct with the ear. Dunno how else to explain this…
I just read a report from professional violinist who had his Yamaha YEV modified because the bout was the wrong place for him, relative to the neck. And unlike me, he’s actually skilled - a really good jazz violinist. For violinists, anything affecting the tactile experience is serious business.
Sorry bud, not canceling my Osmose order to get a Continuum. 
It would take time and effort to play chords reliably on the Continuum, even with the quantizer. I don’t feel like putting that time and effort - I have too many other things I want to do in my lifetime.
I think I’m in the hyped by the Eaganmatrix but not at all hyped by the interface at this point - soundwise though it’s fantastic and based on that alone I’m going to have to learn to love/suffer it.
To be clear what I don’t like about the x axis approach here is that it looks like slides between notes, which is something I like/do, isn’t possible in the same way that it is on other MPE controllers. I could be wrong but their solution (the pressure weighted thing) looks to only solve that problem* monophonic play.
*This may not be a problem to other users.