ok, so I was testing the Hapax (see next post) with the Osmose (recording/playback MPE), and found a small bug.
Osmose Port 1 is correctly SENDING mpe data,
however, it does not appear to RECEIVE mpe midi data on Port 1,
so you have to send the MPE back on Port 2. ( * )
Ive tried changing usb haken mode, and this does not appear to change anything.
its not really an issue, as MPE is a subset of MPE+
but will cause issues with devices (like the hapax) that don’t support multiple virtual ports over usb.
anyway, I managed to solve this in my hardware setup by using a iConnectivity mioXM, this allowed me to re-route the Hapax output to Port 2.
of course, Im sure Expressive E will sort this all out, but something to watch out for.
( * ) I tested this in multiple ways… not only using mioXM, but also by direct connection with USB to my Mac, and then routing via Ableton Live.
background, post I made about connecting Osmose to Hapax (and found the issue)
ok… tl;dr;
yes it works - testing both in/out and recording/playback.
din directly, usb you will need a ‘router’ (see below)
but its of course not quite as simple as just plug it in
using midi din
k, this works as expect…
except you need to set pitch bend range in ext midi to 1/96
(you also need to have din mode = dsp in, as per normal)
usb connection
this does NOT work … kind of…
the issue is what appears to be a bug in Osmose firmware…
from what I can see Osmose is NOT accepting midi input on Osmose Port 1!
(even with usb haken mode 1/play)
this is problematic for hapax, as you cannot select virtual ports, it always uses port 1.
however, with my iConnectivity mioXM , I can setup custom routing, so I can get it to work as follows:
Osmose Port 1 → mioXM → Hapax (usb device)
Hapax (usb device) → mioXM → Osmose Port 2 (!)
you will also need to set the pitch bend range to 1/48
(edit: after a factory reset, seems 1/48 is the default)
why is this the case… as I say I think a bug… it seems logical Osmose Port 1 should accept midi.
the reason Port 2 works is although its MPE+, this is a superset of MPE.
why not use Port 2 for input to hapax, as I said above you cannot select it… but also the MPE mode on the hapax has no idea about MPE+ , so may or may not work… also using MPE has a bit less data.
I agree, the fact that virtual USB In port 1 doesn’t send incoming MIDI to the Haken engine causes lots of problems. I have all my MIDI gear connected to a Conductive Labs MRCC (MIDI Interface/Router). The MRCC supports four virtual In streams for each connected USB device, but only one Out stream. This means that I can’t send any MIDI data via MRCC → Osmose USB → Haken engine.
For now I use Osmose’s DIN MIDI I/Os as a workaround.
I’m not quite sure if Expressive E considers this a bug though. Osmose’s manual states that one should send external MIDI MPE data to USB virtual port 2 (which is not always possible in real life).
I sent a feature request to support, asking for an option to swap both virtual ports. Let’s hope they’ll fix that asap…
I think expressive-e perhaps ‘assumed’ hardware/software would support multiple ports, as its part of the spec.
so the way they looked at it was…
USB Port 1 → Osmose MCU (only) , currently only used for clock.
USB Port 2 → Haken Engine
but yeah, unfortunately… its pretty common for hardware to not support multiple USB Ports on a single usb connection. ( * ) , perhaps to simplify routing, or just ‘dont know better’?
I think generally, once everything else is a bit more stable on the Osmose.
expressive-e should re-work the midi implementation.
whilst it works, its not intuitive, and feels like two products (Osmose / Haken Engine) glued together.
in particular I think the ‘controller mode’ could be much cleaner…
( * ) in fairness, these multiple ports were less common until a few years back, so I think some devs were/are unaware of them… and perhaps support is not so easy to retro fit.
we also see that not all hardware that support usb host, support usb hubs, which causes similar issues.
Expressive E support replied (in a very nice and honest way) that they consider problems arising from having only USB Port 2 connected to the Haken Engine pretty niche and that therefore it is unlikely that they will change that or add options to work around it in the near future.
yeah. unfortunately, Im not entirely surprised…
I mean, computers support this, so , it’s kind of reasonable to say, that this is an issue of the ‘other hardware device’ not implementing the midi spec fully… so they should fix this.
e.g. I have actually talked to Squarp about this for their hardware sequencer Hapax.
I guess, one question here is… how much more dev EE plan to put into Osmose firmware? we have seen little change since the initial bug fix releases - so we will see over next few months etc. ( * )
( * ) personally, I don’t want to get into the discussion on ‘expectations’.
the gulf between what users expectations vs developers delivery/ the variation in number of updates from different developers… seems to be growing at an alarming rate … causing a huge amount of frustration… and has no ‘right answer’
I agree. I understand their point of view. Same goes for Conductive Labs in my case (they also replied that they probably won’t fix/change this issue on the MRCC).
I use Osmose’s DIN MIDI I/O instead. Currently I don’t see any downsides.
It’s also important to note that Osmose uses MPE+ when playing its own keybed. Recording its MPE output in a DAW and playing it back (or playing Osmose’s sound engine from another MPE controller) would loose the nuances of MPE+, mainly in the attack phase of the sound. That means that just recording audio when playing the Osmose should be the best approach anyway.
They had a job vacancy listed for an Osmose firmware developer somewhere in recent months, and it was full of positive statements of intent to do with listening to user feedback and building up the capabilities of the Osmose in the years ahead.
I dont remember exactly where I saw it, someone on a forum or discord drew attention to it at the time.
edit: it was on discord but I also found a link to the advert on reddit:
