Expressive E has released the Osmose CE, a controller-only edition of its widely praised Osmose keyboard that removes the onboard EaganMatrix synth engine and repositions the instrument as a dedicated MPE controller. The move addresses a request that's been circulating in MPE circles since the original Osmose launched in 2021: a way to get that keybed's touch and gesture response without paying for (or being limited to) a single built-in sound engine.

The Same Keybed, a Different Purpose

The Osmose CE is built around the same expressive key mechanism that made the original instrument a favorite among sound designers — a keybed that reads polyphonic pitch bend, pressure, and vertical slide the moment a key is touched, before it's even fully pressed. All of the original's signature gestures carry over, including tap, press-and-tap, vibrato, shake, strum, and expressive note-off, the kind of nuance that separates MPE playing from ordinary velocity-and-aftertouch MIDI.

What's gone is the internal synthesis engine. In its place, Expressive E ships the CE with Ctrl-e, a free companion plugin designed specifically around the Osmose keybed's gesture data. Ctrl-e hosts sounds from Synapse Audio's Dune 3, Kilohearts' Phase Plant, Expressive E's own Noisy 2, and the freeware synths Vital and Dawesome Zyklop, with over 900 presets pre-mapped to the keybed's expressive axes and filterable by type and character.

Pricing and Configurations

The Osmose CE is available in two sizes: $999 for the 49-key version and $1,199 for the 61-key. That's a meaningful drop from the original Osmose's price point, and it puts the instrument in more direct competition with other flagship MPE controllers like the Roli Seaboard Rise 2 and the LinnStrument 200.

Why This Matters for MPE Players

Splitting the controller from the synth engine is a notable shift in how MPE hardware gets positioned. Rather than asking players to commit to one sound engine, the CE treats the keybed as a front-end for whatever MPE-capable instrument a musician already owns — Equator2, third-party wavetable synths, orchestral libraries, or a DAW's own MPE-aware instruments. Early reviewers have generally agreed the keybed itself remains best-in-class, while noting that Ctrl-e, being new, is still catching up in polish compared to more mature standalone plugins.

For studios and performers who already have a synth stack they like, this is arguably a more useful proposition than the original all-in-one Osmose: a controller that focuses entirely on capturing expressive gesture data as cleanly as possible, and lets the sound design happen downstream. That downstream flexibility is exactly the appeal of MPE as a standard in the first place — one physical gesture vocabulary, routable to any compatible synth, rather than being locked to proprietary hardware-software pairings.

The Bigger Picture

The Osmose CE lands at a moment when the MPE controller market is unusually active. Between Expressive E's move, ongoing updates to the LinnStrument line, and continued interest in grid-based and continuum-style instruments from Haken Audio, players now have a wider spread of price points and playing surfaces to choose from than at almost any point since MPE was formalized as a MIDI specification. For anyone shopping for their first serious MPE controller, or looking to add a second surface with a different gesture vocabulary, the Osmose CE is worth a look — particularly for keyboardists who want deep expression without abandoning the muscle memory of a traditional key action.