The Expressive E Osmose marks a paradigm shift in how the worlds of art and music view the traditional black-and-white keyboard: it goes from a series of on/off switches to presenting the player with deeply expressive keys where every movement matters.  At NAMM, we interviewed Christopher Hans of Expressive E in order to learn more about the Osmose's origins, the company's history, and other key facts.  Did you know that as of this writing the Osmose was designed to be easily serviceable and that it contains a majority of recyclable parts?

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From the simple tremolo pedals of the late 1940s to the most unusual multi-effects units of the 2020s, the world of guitar pedals is a sort of "final frontier" for artists who experiment with sound.  Today, in Paris, France, four friends run a special company named Kernom.  Through Kernom, they (Antoine Petroff, Charles Riche, Jeremy Savonet, and Nicolas Joos) design and build effects pedals inspired by an approach that draws from music, science, design, and architecture.  Antoine tells us the story of how Kernom came to be, and the essence of the Kernom RIDGE and the Kernom MOHO.

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Interviewing Piotr Raczynski of Polyend introduced us to the industrial beginnings of the Polyend brand, Raczynski's own musical projects, and the ethos behind their MIDI sequencer and sampler aptly named the Polyend Play.  A mix of listening to large machines work in concert and watching their synchronized movements plow through different phases of mass production while working at a factory, along with his own love of music and passion for music technology, inspired Raczynski to invent electronic musical instruments through the company he would go on to establish: Polyend.  

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