My issue with Roli was not build quality. That seemed fine (until the unit stopped working). It was the complete lack of response while the unit was still under warranty. I do recall, though, that the issue was not so much bad attitude, but financial hardship (didn’t they go through some kind of bankruptcy reorganization/purchase?). So, it might be that my purchase coincided with some kind of internal disruption to their support system. In any case, once was enough for me. There are just too many other things I’d consider buying from companies that stand behind their products.
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The Linnstrument has this, too, but with less arp features. Just mentioning it because even Expressive E appear to advertise it as a novel feature on the Osmose. For sure, it is a nice feature 
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I’ve got an order in for it. I like my linnstrument a lot, but I’ve been wanting a well-integrated mpe looper for ages — it seems like such a natural combination. I’m also interested in the ability to swap layouts to various control surfaces. Physical controls are nice, but having this run as e.g. the controller for my bluebox instead of needing a separate faderfox box seems really nice. It feels like it’ll be big enough for the lack of physical cues to matter less.
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The Erae Touch’s primary use is as an MPE controller, together with the limitations of MIDI 1.0. So it seems doubtful that its faderbox qualities would go beyond convenience of having them in a single box.
What is the use case of MPE or CV looping? Is this for use with modular gear?
actually, I suspect that is not the case for many… at least given Embodme’s marketing.
I think alot of customers use it as a generic midi controller, a bit of a jack of all trades.
in particular things like sliders, x/y pads … this is where it excels, as you can have multiple layouts all with visual feedback.
but,ofc, its a jack of all trades ( * ) , so many also use it for a conventional note input, mpe and drum pads.
I think its main selling points are its size, multi touch, and visual feedback…
this is why CV is such a big thing for the mk2, having 24 tactile controls for modular, also with the abitly to record/loop I think could be a big hit with the modular crowd.
as for MPE, depends really how much they have improved the feel of it…
the mk1 was usable, but I never feel 100% ‘connected’ with the sound with it.
I hope the mk2 will just go that little bit further…
(In fairness, whilst I think Embodme were a bit restricted with the mk1 hardware… but I think they did hear the feedback about its issues… so I think they know mk2 needs to be better)
( * ) this is what I both like and dislike about it… undoubtably flexible, but sometimes not quite premium at any one task
indeed, I backed it partly because of these improvements…
Im intrigued by the new surface, as I do think the original silicone was a compromise for drumming and playing … and its good to see, they’ve moved away from this.
also yeah, up from 1000+ to 16,000 sensors according to KS. and given same dimensions thats gotta give better resolution.
however, im very careful to manage expectations,
embodme made very similar claims for the mk1, so once bitten twice shy.
but Im cautiously optimistic.
honestly, Id have probably not backed, and waited to hear first hand experiences,
but the 24 CV outputs made it a no-brainer for me… even if the surface was the same as the mk1 id still have wanted it … so its not much of a risk.
(Im also really glad they have now made the jogwheel flush with the display panel, that was my one major gripe about the mk2 !)
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You can load different layouts and it’s got two midi outs, so it’s easy to have, say, an mpe performance layout routed to one output, and a few control surfaces layouts routed to the other, with single-button layout switches.
The reason for looping is the same as any other looper, except here you’re looping the midi going into a synth instead of the audio coming out, so you can evolve the patch over time.
I do understand the concept of the ET mkii device. However, in practice we shall see how this will work (new surface, resolution, practical use, etc.). As @thetechnobear has already said, similar opportunities were highlighted in the past for mki.
The thing that has surprised me is how quickly mkii was announced after mki was released. I wonder how mki users feel about this. Of course, ET mkii may have been in development for much longer and the shorter follow-up may have been due to Covid issues as regards the release of mki.
Nevertheless, this reminds me of having bought a Roland JP-8000 back in the day, which was shortly after followed by a more featured Roland JP-8080 (despite the latter being a desktop/rack model). This was a bitter pill to swallow and made me finally sell it off.
I think part of the version cycle speed may be coming from the fact that they’re actually a tech company targeting their sensor tech at much broader audiences, with the instrument as more like a combination side passion project and tech demonstrator, which means they’re working with a different kind of product development lifecycle and funding mindset than we’re used to. Certainly, that’s how it reads to me. We’ll see, though.
by the time I get the mk2, I think I’ll have had the mk1 for 3 years (from KS), so it was announced pretty early, but will have taken a bit longer to actually arrive - not too bad…
I think, the bigger disappointment, is it does feel like the mk1 was not exploited to its full potential, very few firmware revisions were made, and some bugs remain.
now… Embodme, has said, that this is partly because they were working on the new firmware, which also included support for the mk2, which is why they could not release, nor discuss.
but that this new firmware will be released for the mk1.
ofc, we will only know how true this is, and what benefits this actually brings to the mk1 when they release it.
… but for sure, when the mk2 was announced I was pretty scathing about embodme.
basically, how can we trust what they say about the mk2, when they made similar claims for mk1, and pretty much ceased improvements within a few months of release.
however, after hearing a bit more about their continued support of the mk1,
I did decide to give them a ‘second chance’, and so backed the mk2.
but as Ive mentioned above, Im still somewhat cautious of their claims, and I do wonder if they really will improve their support… or, do rinse/repeat and move onto their next thing.
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got it already? how is it?
no, it was original scheduled for delivery in September.
but like most Kickstarters has been delayed, production issues largely.
current estimate is delivery End Nov, and about 2 weeks shipping…
so hopefully just before xmas 
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well report back when you have it, i’m curious too, i love my osmose but would like an additional MPE controller to do the slides/axes that the osmose can not handle
(doubting between roli, linnstrument, or areaII)
Out of the three: Linnstrument. Reasons: versatility, UI, reliability, portability. Reason against Linnstrument: the string instrument kind of layout, which comes with its learning curve. That said, this last point can be an advantage if you like to be challenged.
yeah this, and no battery power.
Can’t wait and was happy to get an update but it did put it out another month essentially. Hopeful it’ll be worth the wait, confident it will be.
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hey guys, any idea if you could use this with the osmose to enable long pitch slides (the x axis slide which the osmose does not feature by default):
The disadvantage you list is for me an advantage not because of the challenge but because knowing how to play the guitar but not the keyboard, the layout make totally sense to me.
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Question for @thetechnobear or anyone else with the knowledge – Is the MetaModule from 4ms ( link ) controllable via MPE ?
thetechnobear wrote this a while back in another forum on “MPE in Eurorack” :
MPE, so (currently) the midi has to be setup via vcvrack desktop and thier is no poly-cable support in metamodule.
but I think it will be possible kind of brute force an MPE synth on metamodule IF you limit channels on your controller.
(I get the feeling 4 voice polyphony is reasonable expectation depending on modules used etc)
Any more information now ?
This question might also be applied now to a similar sort of Eurorack module the disting NT from Expert Sleepers. There is other similar hardware in progress as well ( for example Dubby from Componental ( post ) ), but whether each might be setup to run with MPE, is a separate question with each.
Dubby at the least would, as you can write your own custom software for it, but perhaps the more easily configurable software for it includes MPE as well.
Thanks in advance for any replies.
still the same, 4ms Meta Module has not poly cable support, nor explicit MPE support. ( * )
but as I said, you could ‘brute force’ it, by having multiple midi modules with different channels e.g. ch 2-5, then ensure your MPE controller is limited to 4 voices.
ofc, this is the ‘old school’ approach, and has some disadvantages (e.g. voices parameters have to be managed manually) - though iirc, 4ms Meta Module allows you to map multiple module parameters to the same physical knob/pot, to whilst a little more setting up to do in vcv, not to bad for using once its done.
disting-nt is different I believe, it has polyphonic modules, and I think support MPE.
… though there may be some limitations. e.g. I think the channels (bus) between modules (algo) are monophonic, so your poly expression would be limited to within the particular module.
however, I dont have one, so cannot be 100% sure on this
( * ) Dan at 4ms is adding ‘raw midi support’ to the MM SDK, at which time I have ideas on implementing an MPE voice… which would be similar to what you can do with disting-nt (as I understand it)
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