Thanks for the link,
I’m also in the Preorder Club, the second chance that is.
Just want to quote what Haken themselves write about Osmose on the website.
## EAGANMATRIX FORMULAS INCORPORATE Y (FRONT-TO-BACK) POSITION OF FINGERS ON THE CONTINUUM PLAYING SURFACE; IS THERE A COUNTERPART ON THE OSMOSE KEYBOARD? +
The Osmose provides Y information in a very different way. As soon as you begin pressing down a key, the Osmose continually tracks key position (Z) until you hit an initial “stop” at max Z. Then, if you press more, you get a different feel, and you are moving in the Y direction. The EaganMatrix preset can utilize the detailed contour of your initial attack (many Z values, not just a single 7-bit key velocity or “strike” value), and then utilize Y to affect details of the decaying timbre. This is just one example of how the Osmose Y and Z can be used in an EaganMarix preset. By making the Y feel so different from Z (before and after that “stop” point) Expressive E has successfully made fine Z and Y control feel quite natural to keyboard players, without interfering with traditional keyboard technique.
## HOW IS THE EAGANMATRIX DIFFERENT ON THE OSMOSE KEYBOARD? +
In the acoustic world, a piano has advantages over a violin for playing more notes more quickly more accurately – and it has the disadvantage of losing fluidity and free-tuning. In the EaganMatrix world, you will hear the difference between an Osmose keyboard and a Continuum, despite the EaganMatrix sound engine being identical.
Some of Lippold Haken’s favorite Theremin recordings are Theremin with Piano – the differences in the instruments make for such beauty together. He is looking forward to the next ContinuuCon (in Lisbon) – it will include duets between Continuum and Osmose, and he thinks those performances will have a similar beauty.
## IF I PLAY THE SAME EAGANMATRIX PRESET ON AN OSMOSE KEYBOARD AND A CONTINUUM FINGERBOARD, WILL IT SOUND THE SAME? +
To anyone with listening skills developed from playing non-keyboard instruments, the “pitch rounding” that happens at every note on a keyboard makes it sound totally unlike a Continuum. Even if you use the same preset, the physical interface with which you interact with that preset is paramount. Much of what makes the Continuum sound so unique among synthesizers (and meld with acoustic ensembles so well) is that the performer is always trying to play perfectly in-tune, but can never actually achieve perfect intonation. This differs from a keyboard in two ways: (1) In one sense, a keyboard is always perfectly in-tune at the beginning of a note, since the lever you hit determines the beginning pitch. (2) In another sense, a keyboard is always out-of-tune, since it cannot play perfect intervals. In the last 100 years people have gotten used to the equal tempered scale, but it is a bit like getting used to fast food – the real thing still has appeal. In the real thing, you are not picking from a set of predefined pitches for each note; instead, each note is its own event, adjusted by the performer to what is going on at the time. The advantages of a keyboard come at a cost; the Continuum and Osmose do not replace each other, they complement each other.
I will probably be jealous of everyone who ordered one once you get them though!
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