MPE hardware has historically arrived in waves — a flurry of Kickstarter-era controllers, a quiet stretch, then a fresh batch tied to a trade show. Looking at what's actually in the pipeline right now, from confirmed shipping dates to early roadmap teases, gives a useful sense of where the category is heading as 2026 winds down.

Aodyo Loom: Finally Nearing Production

Few MPE controllers have had a longer road to market than the Aodyo Instruments Loom. Originally funded on Kickstarter back in 2024 with a portable, elongated multi-touch surface offering independent per-finger control over pitch, timbre, and dynamics, the project stalled after Aodyo's 2025 bankruptcy. French company INODESIGN acquired the brand that November and has spent 2026 redesigning the circuit board for manufacturability. The current hardware revision, 2.1, adds a relocated LED layout, more sensitive touch sliders, and a new TRS MIDI input alongside the existing USB-C and TRS MIDI output. The team's own language is cautious — "final mechanical parts adjustments and tests, final firmware for V2.1 hardware" — but the target is now autumn 2026 for R&D completion, with a first production batch of 500 units to follow. Early-bird backers locked in prices as low as €239; the eventual retail price is expected to land closer to €400–€570 depending on the 2- or 3-octave model.

Haken Continuum Slim 21: Already Shipping

Not everything on this list is a future promise. The Haken Continuum Slim 21, a compact 21-note version of Haken's flagship expressive instrument, has been shipping since April 2026 at $1,799. It carries the same EaganMatrix sound engine and Hall-effect sensing technology as the full-size Continuum — up to twelve independent sensors tracking each finger, generating hundreds of thousands of samples per note — in a footprint aimed at players who want Continuum-level expression without the full instrument's size or price. For a category where genuinely portable, high-resolution controllers remain rare, the Slim 21 has quickly become a reference point for what a "travel" MPE instrument can offer.

Expressive E's Osmose CE: The Controller-Only Play

Announced at Superbooth 2026 and now generally available, the Osmose CE strips Expressive E's flagship keybed technology down to a pure MIDI controller, removing the internal EaganMatrix engine entirely and leaning instead on the free Ctrl-e plugin and third-party sound sources. Available in 49-key ($999) and 61-key ($1,199) versions, it's a bet that a large slice of the market wants the expressive keybed feel without paying for a synth engine they may not use — and recent firmware updates extending Ctrl-e's preset library and DAW control features suggest Expressive E is actively building out the ecosystem around it rather than treating it as a one-off SKU.

SynTesla's Longer View: Expressive Keyboards Enter the Modular World

Perhaps the most interesting signal for where per-note expression is heading came from SynTesla's recently published 2026–2027 roadmap. Alongside a run of Eurorack and 5U modules, the company has confirmed plans for "HZ series master keyboards" — 61-key controllers offering four or eight channels of CV output — as part of its broader MegaHertz and GigaHertz modular synthesizer lines. It's a reminder that expressive, per-note control isn't confined to MIDI and MPE controllers built for plugin instruments; the same demand for continuous, gestural playability is pushing into modular and CV-based instrument design, where per-note pitch and dynamics have traditionally been much harder to achieve than on a MIDI keybed.

The Bigger Picture

Taken together, these four data points sketch a hardware category that's maturing rather than exploding: fewer flashy new-concept launches, more iteration on established ideas — controller-only spinoffs of existing synths, compact versions of flagship instruments, and expressive control finding its way into adjacent hardware categories like modular synthesis. The Aodyo Loom's rocky path from Kickstarter to (near) production is also a useful reminder that ambitious MPE hardware remains a genuinely difficult business to run, even when the underlying idea is sound. For players deciding what to add to a rig over the next twelve months, the options span from Haken's premium, already-available Slim 21 to Aodyo's still-not-quite-shipped Loom at a fraction of the price — a wider spread than the category has offered in some time.