MPE Synth/Controller options

The Lounge Other Gear
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I’m currently trying to decide between a new Roli Seaboard 2 (aka Rise 2) and an Osmose (I already own a Linnstrument 128, which is fantastic).

I have both devices here atm but want to send one back. I was dead set on the Osmose, also because it is a hardware synth, but something about its sound and the interface hasn’t quite gelled with me yet. I’m atm trying them both out (Osmose in controller mode) with Equator 2 via Bitwig, and the Roli Seaboard 2 just seems to have the edge for me. I’m not really a keys player and on the Osmose I default to the little bit that I do know (which feels a bit limited :joy:), whereas the Roli is less conventional and hence I engage with it differently. I also find the Roli more expressive although the Slide (Y-axis) seems to work better/more controlable on the Osmose.

I’m really torn, because I WANT to like the Osmose (and I don’t really like Roli as a company, but that’s beside the matter), and I wonder if maybe I’m approaching the Osmose in a wrong/incomplete way.

If anyone here has experience with both, I’d love to hear how you compare the two, if you prefer one over the other, and if so why. I’d also love to hear from those who use an Osmose as MPE controller (next to its EaganMatrix) and love it. What do you love about it? Do you have a background in keyboard/piano? What’s your favourite MPE-enabled VST to control with the Osmose? Any settings you recommend (sensitivity etc)?

Any experiences shared are welcome.

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Which is also beside the matter. Go with what you like. That is what matters.

Quoting a poet i like ( Wallace Stevens ) :

Happens to like is one
Of the ways things happen to fall.

From Table Talk

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I tried some version of the Roli Seaboard at a local music shop once. It did seem responsive to variations in touch, dynamics, etc.

I later got an Osmose. I actually like its internal sounds and thus haven’t been motivated to try it as a controller for other synths. It turned out to sound pretty much as I expected after watching and listening to that first generation of Youtube demos. For me that’s a good thing, but I get why others feel differently.

To play Osmose expressively, it helps to know how to play ornaments, which have fancy names in the classical world but are also used by jazz, R&B, etc. keyboard players. Yes I’ve had piano teachers, and one of them taught me the ornaments I know. This person is not him, but does a quick little demo of basic ornaments.

I don’t have a Linnstrument but I do have an Ableton Push 3. I prefer the Push 3 for manually played drum parts, as I’ve never been comfortable playing drum parts on a piano-style keys. Sliding chord shapes left/right just like on guitar fretboard is fun and easy.

Lately I’ve been devoting more time and effort to leveling up my piano playing, so I’ve been favoring the Osmose more than the Push 3. But if keyboard playing is not for you, and you don’t really like the Osmose sounds, I don’t think the Osmose remain in your life much longer.

LofiLeif has been producing Midi Guitar 2/3 videos for several years. The addition of MPE was one of the most anticipated features of Midi Guitar 3. Kind of a coincidence with the start of this thread, LofiLeif just uploaded a video comparing some of his favorite MPE controllers - MG3 (on various guitars), Sensei Morph, etc.

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I’ve never owned or played an an Osmose, but I guess it would be an instrument I would very much appreciate one, because I like the idea of having keys to play on.

I have owned a Roli Seaboard Rise2 for a couple of months now and it is great fun playing it with Equator 2, because they team up well and are made for each other. But I don’t realy get on combining the Seaboard Rise2 with my ASM Hydrasynth Desktop or an Modal Argon8M.

Somehow it just does not click and and so far I have had problems setting up the MPE-Mode on the Seabard. I cannot get near to the possibilities the Seabord Rise2 combined with Equator 2 offer.

I thought I would be very creative using the Seaboard Rise2, but as amatter of fact, I am more creative and more productive using an ordinary keyboard.

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I was considering the osmose and asked about it in the osmose thread. It seems like using it as a controller is much more involved than regular MIDI/MPE from what I read there.

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Thanks @Jukka and @GovernorSilver for your inputs! I played around some more and came to the conclusion that the Seaboard is superior as MPE controller for my use case (the Osmose has some cool portamento scripting with the EaganMatrix which basically enables the “glide” dimension — but it doesn’t do that in MPe controller mode).

I usually prefer hardware/standalone tools over tethered tools, hence my initial preference & rooting for the Osmose, but I just don’t like the sound of the EaganMatrix. Should have known, I didn’t like that sound on the Continuum the few times I had a play with it (amazing expressiveness, but the sound signature is a bit too much on the “metallic” side for me, for lack of a better word), but I was hopeful I’d like the Osmose better because I really love the concept.

@Holon you are right, as an MPE controller the Osmose is not as expressive under my fingers as the Seaboard is (the mentioned portamento, very fast velocity curve for some reason, no way to decouple pressure and slide etc)…after a good 4 hours of messing around with both, I’m amazed at how responsive and expressive the Seaboard is. @GovernorSilver mine is one of the “new ones”, I believe to remember that the old ones were much less responsive and less “natural” to the touch — so maybe the device has improved here. It’s just really something special, I turned down the glide (X-axis) sensitivity to 50%-ish, which allows me to play it like a keyboard without being 100% (or even 85% :joy:) accurate. I also read in the manual that it’s supposed to be played with a soft touch, which once I started doing that, the whole thing started to feel oddly natural. My wife had a try as well and immediately loved it.

I don’t trust Roli as a company at all, but in this case I’ll just take the jump in the hope that I’ll get good use out of it over the years it hopefully will be supported.

@SirAdrianFish thanks for your input as well, once I send back the Osmose, I’ll try my luck setting up the Seaboard with my MPE-enabled synths (Iridium & Nymphes), I’ll let you know if I have any luck. Re Equator 2, according to the manual, each Equator 2 preset “overwrites” whatever settings are set in Roli Dashboard with the settings that work best for the patch. That would explain why the two pair up so phenomenally well and each preset plays a certain way. I had to mess about with my Linnstrument as well to get it to work with VSTs & my synths just right.

That said, I think there’s also real value & expressiveness in an aftertouch enabled keyboard with a mod wheel, pitch wheel and maybe an expression pedal. I’ve controlled my Iridium with the Linnstrument before, but I honestly prefer playing it via its own keyboard (Iridium Keyboard). I don’t think every sound and every synth is a match for MPE.

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There you go.

Several years before I got my first Osmose - i’m on my 2nd now, as documented in the Osmose thread - I tried a half-size Continuum at Discovery World in Milwaukee. It was worth the price of admission - there were other electronic instruments I also got to try like the Reactable, some circuit bent things, etc. I spent the longest time on the Continuum. I vibed with it, so there was never any real concern for the Osmose sound in my book.

Other guitar oriented folks have complained about not getting on with Osmose’s pressure glide function. I get it - it’s just not the same as sliding your finger up and down a string. But I find a useful feature for musical phrasing.

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The continuum seems to be the grand piano and/or stradivarius of controllers. I haven’t tried it but I’m very curious.

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The expressiveness and feel are really amazing on the Continuum, but I personally just don’t love the sound much. Plus the price for a full sized one is pretty intense as well, something to consider.

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Hard not to. Prohibitive but not much worse than most professional non-synth instruments. The BF discount didn’t make enough of a difference for my wallet.

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The Continuum that I tried had black lines on the playing surface to help locate specific pitches. I think the OG Continuum had no lines at all, then people started demanding lines to make it easier to play chords. Later gen Continuum models also have a pitch rounding option which automatically corrects intonation for you. I didn’t figure out how to activate it during my Discovery World visit, but that was ok for me. I was having too much fun enjoying the responsiveness of the sounds to finger pressure, velocity, movement, etc.

One thing Continuum and Push 3 have in common is you have to look at the playing surface to play the pitches you want.

Guitar frets and piano keys let you feel where the notes are so you don’t have to be constantly looking at the fretboard or keyboard. For me this is a factor in the perception of connection between myself and the instrument.

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