Watch MPE unlock new dimensions of performance in this demo video for Phase Plant and Expressive E's new preset banks
Phase Plant Expressive Suite is a collection of 400 presets designed to explore the synth's expressive possibilities through MPE control
Expressive E and Kilohearts have teamed up for a collection of MPE-compatible preset banks that unlock the expressive potential of Kilohearts' Phase Plant soft synth.
Divided into four banks named Delicious, Stripes and Onirica Vol. 1 and 2, the Phase Plant Expressive Suite offers a total of 400 presets that are said to "bring a no-compromise MPE experience to Phase Plant" and are compatible with any MPE controller, such as Expressive E's own Osmose and Ableton's Push 3.
MPE, or MIDI Polyphonic Expression, is an extension to the MIDI protocol that allows for more sophisticated control of electronic instruments via additional control messages transmitted with each note. In Phase Plant, these can be mapped to various parameters of the synth, allowing a performer to control multiple dimensions of its sound at once.
Expressive E has released a series of videos demonstrating how a handful of presets found in the Phase Plant Expressive Suite operate. In the video above, the company's sound designers show off a convincing saxophone preset that makes use of Osmose's expressive capabilities to control Phase Plant's gain, saturation, filter, EQ and convolver, lending additional realism to the patch.
In the video embedded below, we're given a guided tour of another preset's architecture, a complex and multitimbral ambient pad in which Osmose's polyphonic aftertouch is mapped to the patch's comb filter, resonator and phase distortion.
Phase Plant Expressive Suite is priced at $99.
Find out more on Expressive E's website.
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I'm MusicRadar's Tech Editor, working across everything from product news and gear-focused features to artist interviews and tech tutorials. I love electronic music and I'm perpetually fascinated by the tools we use to make it. When I'm not behind my laptop keyboard, you'll probably find me behind a MIDI keyboard, carefully crafting the beginnings of another project that I'll ultimately abandon to the creative graveyard that is my overstuffed hard drive.