these days, Im not that much into VSTs, but I think Noisy2 is quite interesting…and sounds pretty good.
what interests me most, is HOW the Osmose is influencing Expressive-E approach to (software) synths.
which is highlighted pretty well in this section of their promotional video…
first, pressure and aftertouch vs pressure/y
as there is no independent Y axis on the Osmose, its a very different beast in terms of MPE synths… so its interesting to see how Expressive E are dealing with this.
(as their software caters to both Osmose, but also other MPE controllers, interesting push3 features heavily … tells us something about the mpe market now!)
I think they’ve taken a pretty good approach, but it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out to the presets, which are going to sound pretty different on (e.g.) Osmose vs Push 3.
second, mpe trigs…
using mpe ‘raw data’ to generate different kinds of ‘gestures’!
daws and synths have just been using mpe data ‘as-is’ with little massaging…
but for a while, Ive been thinking as our usage of mpe matures, theres ways to use it a little more creatively…to imply other ‘gestures’, and seems expressive-e are thinking this way too !
why is this important, because I think it takes mpe into sonic territory beyond lush evolving gestural pads… which mpe excels in.
overall, I really like how Expressive E, are thinking creatively about mpe.
so very tempted to get Noisy2, despite not using soft synths much these days
(also I suspect, its sonic pallet has a bit of an overlap with EM on Osmose)
Yes, their « forced » approach is unusual and surprising. I did the upgrade though a bit reluctant just for this. It’s all new so still discovering, but it seems they made MPE modules (you have several) with MPE Modes presets like Pressure (Y) w or wo AT, Strike, Lift, both etc I must spend more time with it. But I also like this out of the road MPE implementation. Just must check the results musically
They have some really clever ideas about augmenting the MPE continuous expression signals with AD envelopes. The envelope and continuous expression signal are mixed in one block and treated like a single modulator. Each MPE signal gets it’s own envelope with a few options for trigger behavior.
Working on my expressive synth Wiggler, I also added an AD envelope to compliment the continuous pressure signal. So I feel a little validated.
Several minutes into this SuperBooth video I think they do a better job of explaining the different envelope modes and how the interact with expressive input.
yeah, the video is good… its straight to the point - got me off the fence, and I bought it
played with it for a while, and I do like it, the sounds are more varied than I had expected.
and its quite easy to dial it in.
one thing I really like (but confused me initially, as off by default) is how they have separated out the MPE presets from everything else… very useful.
lets hope EE update some of their other soft synths with the same level of MPE support.
(feels like they might… and its a logical direction for them)
Yeah, sometimes brands set a way for a patch to be both standard and MPE aware just by switching a mode. But I generally prefer two different patch types because standard patches can need serious editing when adding MPE expressivity (supposing you start from a standard patch, which is not always a good idea IMO).
indeed… I think this comes down to the size of the market of MPE vs non-MPE.
I think expressive controllers have grown somewhat in popularity, so plugins devs are starting to spend a bit more effort in this area - now being willing to pay sound designers to do a few mpe patches.
in ‘early days’ most MPE patches provided were often just tweaked version of the non-mpe ones… and that stuck for quite a while and we get very few mpe patches… and so by implication, no real need to separate them properly… just bung them in different folder/category
I think Push 3 is really important here.
its the first time users have been getting a controller with MPE, without going out to buy an MPE controller. for many it’s just a ‘bonus feature’.
so, users are getting MPE capabilities without first being needed to be convinced they need it .
… so with more users out there with MPE devices, devs can think about better support, and paying their sound designers to create mpe specific presets.
.,… and that brings us full circle, we have more mpe patches, so, now it will be useful, like noisy to separate them out properly,
I played around with this yesterday. I own the Touche and got lost for an hour or so just selecting Noisy 2 presets in Lie and playing with the Touche. Nice “instant gratification”-fun and a lot of sounds that my wife and I will find useful. We tend to use the Touche quite a lot when composing.
I couldn’t quite get my head around making my own patches, though. Nothing I did sounded nearly as good as the presets, even after browsing the manual. I’ll try a video or two + a bit of patience.
