# Omnisphere vs. the rest?



## borisb2 (Jul 11, 2021)

So with all these new amazing developments like Landforms, Cycles, Lunaris etc. does one still need Omnisphere? I always had an eye on Omnisphere buy so far couldnt pull the trigger ..


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## KEM (Jul 11, 2021)

Yes

I don’t even know what those other ones you named are, but yes, Omnisphere is easily one of the single most important purchases I’ve ever made, and all my friends that own it say the same thing!!


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## Markrs (Jul 11, 2021)

I have it and it is excellent but as to whether you need it, depends on what you think is missing from what you have and whether the answer to that is Omnisphere


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## borisb2 (Jul 11, 2021)

KEM said:


> Yes
> 
> I don’t even know what those other ones you named are, but yes, Omnisphere is easily one of the single most important purchases I’ve ever made, and all my friends that own it say the same thing!!



interesting ..

owning Omnisphere you'll probably dont need it:








LANDFORMS → SLATE + ASH


Slate + Ash is a Bristol based sound design studio that creates bespoke and commercial sample instruments with a focus on the creative processing of acoustic and electronic source material




slateandash.com












AURAS → SLATE + ASH


Slate + Ash is a Bristol based sound design studio that creates bespoke and commercial sample instruments with a focus on the creative processing of acoustic and electronic source material




slateandash.com


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## AMBi (Jul 11, 2021)

I'm in the same boat as you, it's always been on my radar but I don't see myself getting it anytime soon since I feel pretty covered from what it offers.

Might be picking up Landforms tonight though


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## borisb2 (Jul 11, 2021)

Markrs said:


> I have it and it is excellent but as to whether you need it, depends on what you think is missing from what you have and whether the answer to that is Omnisphere


well thats a good question  .. I do have all the VIs that come with Cubase (PadShop, granular VIs) - which I hardly use - as well as some Kontakt drony VIs (Senfine etc.) .. guess what I'm looking for is more sound design platform that mixes synthetic and field recording - like landforms, bioscape or even solstice ..or just Omnisphere


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## CT (Jul 11, 2021)

I finally got Omnisphere last year and I don't think I'll ever want anything more for that kind of thing. The "processed orchestral sounds" stuff can be done on one's own to some degree and that's good enough for me to augment the already huge potential in vanilla Omnisphere. Yes, vanilla, I don't even have any additional soundsets. 

I think a lot of what's in Omnisphere is firmly in "so old it's new again" territory, so while the more in vogue sounds from other libraries and synths will end up plastered everywhere _now_, I'll be using those sounds that were familiar 10 years ago that everyone gave up on.


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## sostenuto (Jul 11, 2021)

Omni /Trillian /StylusRMX for decades. Such strong 'tutorial support' from Spectrasonics, PluginGuru, et al. Huge collection of talented 3rd Pty creators' add-ons. Only move now will be Keyscape. 

Key difference here, from many posting, is starting with Omni versus other strong choices. 
May well be as pleased, having chosen another route ? Have added many other 'niche' synths, and appreciate what they bring. 

Tough to consider learning curve for new, top-tier, broad-capability synth when much remains challenging with Omni 2.6.


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## kgdrum (Jul 11, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> So with all these new amazing developments like Landforms, Cycles, Lunaris etc. does one still need Omnisphere? I always had an eye on Omnisphere buy so far couldnt pull the trigger


I think you have this backwards.
I have Omni,I don't have Landforms,Cycles or Lunaris and honestly I don't think I will ever have the need to even check them out.
For the most part the only people who I ever see question Omnisphere or suggest possible alternatives are usually people that don't already have Omnisphere.


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## Dirtgrain (Jul 11, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> For the most part the only people who I ever see question Omnisphere or suggest possible alternatives are usually people that don't already have Omnisphere.


This is because we cannot know, without a demo, sadly.


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## Mike Fox (Jul 11, 2021)

The one thing i love about Omni is its arp engine, but I’m personally getting tired of the Omnisphere sound, and have been using a lot of Heavyocity libs instead (mainly the Mosaic libs).

I also hate the amount of sifting i have to do with Omni. There’s just so many useless and over the top presets i always have to go through before i find what i need. It’s a cumbersome process, but the payoff is usually worth it.


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## kgdrum (Jul 11, 2021)

Dirtgrain said:


> This is because we cannot know, without a demo, sadly.


Could all of the happy Omnisphere users be wrong?
I'm pretty sure you can sell your Omni license,how come you rarely see people trying to sell it?


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## borisb2 (Jul 11, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> For the most part the only people who I ever see question Omnisphere or suggest possible alternatives are usually people that don't already have Omnisphere.


I dont have Omnisphere .. thats why I'm asking 

yeah, need to dive more into demos/walkthroughs where available .. 

it is one expensive collection of bits and bytes - but then again collecting Landforms, Bioscape and what not adds up as well


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## kgdrum (Jul 11, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> I dont have Omnisphere .. thats why I'm asking
> 
> yeah, need to dive more into demos/walkthroughs where available ..
> 
> it is one expensive collection of bits and bytes - but then again collecting Landforms, Bioscape and what not adds up as well


Yeah but Spectrasonics supports,keeps updating and improving Omninisphere and all of the updates within Omni2 are free. The difference between Omni 2 when it was released and Omni 2.6 or whatever it is now is astounding most companies would have made at least two of these updates paid updates and we would already be well into version 3.
Once you have Omni for a while most people will agree,it's a bargain especially when you add up all of the bargain synths that never get used and the newer ones that are sold on hype,buzz words and seductive gui's but can't actually fit in a song.


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## khollister (Jul 11, 2021)

Frankly, unless one is doing strictly orchestral stuff, I can't see how you live without Omnisphere. I have Dune3, Zebra, Diva, Repro, Pigments, Obsession, all the Korg & Roland stuff, etc, but If I could only have 1 it would be Omni. Huge amount of 3rd party content as well including extensive samples as well as patches.


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## jcrosby (Jul 11, 2021)

There isn't a project I do where I don't use it. If I'm doing a synth heavy track it's totally feasible that I might wind up using more Omnispheres than Kontakts. I find it as central as Kontakt.

Look at all of the major patch developers. 9 out of 10 times the instrument they offer the largest collection of patches for is Omnisphere. That says a few things about it as an instrument:


It's deep and covers pretty much anything you can think of (short of orchestral instruments). Out of the box it can do everything from thoroughly terrifying horror (and I do mean thoroughly terrifying) to shimmery-clean 12 string guitars, and every niche in between.
Its soudset is full of totally unique extended articulations you'll literally not find in any other instrument, all immaculately recorded. None of the wonky noise you come across in the odd Kontakt library. (E.G. A hang drum "bowed" with an electric toothbrush and captured by contact mics. And... Diego Stoccos custom instruments in particular are otherworldly).
The audio effects are killer and cover pretty much any effect scenario you can think of, Innerspace in particular is totally unique. (Kontakt developers have attempted similar things, but the clarity simply isn't in the same league).
Omnisphere has an overall clarity that's in a league of its own. Even if you use Omnisphere to make filithy sounds it'll deliver utter filth for sure, and yet somehow, it's still has a crispness and clarity Kontakt just doesn't deliver.
It's loved by synth patch developers. Like Zebra it's a synth nerd's paradise.


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## Double Helix (Jul 11, 2021)

I second/third/fourth the posters who have referenced the many third-party developers. I will frequently encounter a previously undiscovered library for Omnisphere, and . . .being human. . .
Rocky Mountain Sounds has a page dedicated to listing (most likely) all third-part developers: The World of Omnisphere.
[warning-- leave a trail of breadcrumbs so your loved one will know where to look for you]









WORLD OF OMNISPHERE | RockyMountainSounds


World of Omnisphere at Rocky Mountain Sounds. The largest database of Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 collections and resources in the world.




www.rockymountainsounds.com


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## InLight-Tone (Jul 11, 2021)

Same here, Kontakt & Omnisphere/Trillian/Keyscape + a gernerous selection of the excellent expansions like The Unfinished offerings, is pretty much all one needs except for acoustic/synth drums. If you need to have more toys so you don't get bored, that's another thing.


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## bill5 (Jul 11, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> Could all of the happy Omnisphere users be wrong?


Maybe they aren't _all_ wrong. Maybe they aren't all right. Maybe it's subjective so such a question is pointless. It could also be they just spent a LOT of money on one synth and are determined to convince themselves that it was worth it. Or it could be that Omnisphere is all that and a bag of chips. Or all of the above. 



> I'm pretty sure you can sell your Omni license,how come you rarely see people trying to sell it?


I could say the same for many other synths; that really doesn't mean anything. 

Really there is no "right" answer here. You can do a lot, and a lot of great things, with Omni no doubt. But the same can be said for many other synths costing a LOT less. People who buy it are happy with it, more power to them. I know people who haven't and are quite happy too. Really there are so many synths, including very inexpensive or even free ones, which are so good, it's far - far - from "necessary." If you're just starting out with soft synths, I'd try a lot of those inexpensive/free ones as "you get what you pay for" has more holes in it than the Swissiest of cheeses and you may find - in fact I suspect likely will find - Omnisphere, however great it may be, is hardly necessary. But again, I am not criticizing it or anyone who gets it or saying it shouldn't be considered. I could just never justify the exorbitant cost, esp with so many great synths that are so much less.

It is a shame they don't have a demo or even a "lite" version though; it would be interesting to try and see if I would join the cult.


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## NekujaK (Jul 11, 2021)

For me, Omnisphere is the gold standard by which I measure all other synths and libraries. That doesn't mean I won't buy other products that overlap Omnisphere's many multifaceted capabilities, but it does mean that Omnisphere provides me with a solid, versatile, and expandable sound resource that I can confidently call up anytime the need arises.

Also, there's more to a synth/library beyond the sounds it makes. There's also workflow and familiarity. For example, sometimes when I need a bass synth, even though Omnisphere is perfectly capable of delivering the goods, I might prefer to work with Monark because it's a more focused tool. But other times I'll use Omnisphere for bass. It's nice to have choices.

The real answer is get them all!


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## bill5 (Jul 11, 2021)

NekujaK said:


> The real answer is get them all!


That is an evil thing to suggest, even jokingly. Why do you enable GASheads?


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## NekujaK (Jul 11, 2021)

bill5 said:


> That is an evil thing to suggest, even jokingly. Why do you enable GASheads?


We all know that anyone who hangs around this forum long enough will succumb to GAS eventually anyway... so might as well take the plunge early!


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## borisb2 (Jul 11, 2021)

thanks for all the positive feedback .. 

I guess I will buy them all.


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## jcrosby (Jul 11, 2021)

bill5 said:


> It could also be they just spent a LOT of money on one synth and are determined to convince themselves that it was worth it.


I find it interesting that people consistently complain about the price, but many will spend almost the same amount on a Kontakt library with a much narrower set of uses.

Omnisphere may indeed not be _necessary_ for anyone, then again no instrument is. Komplete is $100 more for the standard version, $1200 for Ultimate, $1600 for C.E. If any of those folks complaining about the price tag of Omnisphere have dropped roughly $500 on more on one Kontakt library I'm having a hard time seeing the logic behind finding it _expensive_.

Sure, a demo certainly wouldn't hurt. Then again that brings the conversation right back to the same conundrum you find with kontakt. No demos, purchases typically based on walkthrough videos, reputation, and word of mouth.

Funny enough I could have bought at least 50 separate Omnisphere licenses for the money I've sunk into Kontakt. Probably more. If anything It's far more difficult justifying the money I've sunk into Kontkat vs Omnisphere.


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## zwhita (Jul 11, 2021)

The main reason I've been holding out on it(besides that damn price tag never coming down) is I've always been concerned that so many people who use softsynths already have it, so I'm just going to sound like everyone else if it gets any significant use. And experience has told me if you don't use a softsynth with any regularity, it's not worth paying a high price tag since any old synth will do. 

Perhaps a fools' pondering, but I do wonder just how versatile is it outside of sample manipulation? I ended up getting Falcon last year to avoid any bandwagon tendency, but I may just be ignoring something obvious.


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## Soundbed (Jul 11, 2021)

Mike Fox said:


> I’m personally getting tired of the Omnisphere sound


What is it? I didn’t know it had one, lol!


Mike Fox said:


> I also hate the amount of sifting i have to do with Omni. There’s just so many useless and over the top presets i always have to go through before i find what i need. It’s a cumbersome process, but the payoff is usually worth it.


I rarely use the factory presets fwiw. I bought the Unfinished Complete Collection the same day I got Omnisphere and what he does with the source material is so instantly usable for what I do. 



InLight-Tone said:


> excellent expansions like The Unfinished


Yes.
I spent many years thinking Omni was both intimidating and not very attractive (GUI) but once I finally got it I instantly understood why it has such a loyal fan base. I don’t need so many of my less expensive synths anymore. If I had it all to do over again I’d not have bought many less expensive synths and only bought Omnisphere and Serum. For the Diva (and I saw Monark mentioned) crowd, there’s also the Moog Tribute expansion for Omni.


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## sostenuto (Jul 11, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> I dont have Omnisphere .. thats why I'm asking
> 
> yeah, need to dive more into demos/walkthroughs where available ..
> 
> it is one expensive collection of bits and bytes - but then again collecting Landforms, Bioscape and what not adds up as well


Suggest one fairly easy staring point ? PluginGuru.com __ his YT Livestreams going back some time.
Since he Offered new UNIFY, his Livestreams are oriented there. If you go back before UNIFY, John Lehmkuhl has done large number devoted to Omni + his solid expansion libraries for Omni. I can check some dates and try to add more here, but there are few around who know, develop, and teach more about Omni than GURU. He usually got deeper into its many capabilities than any dev I know. 
https://www.pluginguru.com __ Go to Videos tab. Apprx Page 10 and before. Nov27, 2017 is a beginner help video. Then go to Page 11, 12, etc. Worth a shot .... _imho_.


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## Mike Fox (Jul 11, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> What is it? I didn’t know it had one, lol!
> 
> I rarely use the factory presets fwiw. I bought the Unfinished Complete Collection the same day I got Omnisphere and what he does with the source material is so instantly usable for what I do.
> 
> ...


Hard to describe, but I’ll sometimes hear this plastic gloss/sheen over the samples with some nasty midrange going on. Once i noticed it, I can’t unhear it, and I’ve had difficulty using the presets anymore because of it (i also think the reverb has something to do with it).

And yeah, it’s mainly with just the presets. But like i said, over the top with 20 different things going on, and then a ridiculous filter via modwheel. To me, that’s what the Omnisphere sound is.

Every developer has their own way of processing samples, and every library has its own signature sound. Massive, for example sounds very different to me than Omni.


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## bill5 (Jul 11, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> I find it interesting that people consistently complain about the price, but many will spend almost the same amount on a Kontakt library with a much narrower set of uses.


And? Apples and oranges. Narrower doesn't mean better or worse. Typically libraries that are narrower are specializing in being very good at a particular instrument or series of them (or an entire orchestra, which I wouldn't call exactly narrow) vs a jack of all trades synth.



> Omnisphere may indeed not be _necessary_ for anyone, then again no instrument is. Komplete is $100 more for the standard version, $1200 for Ultimate, $1600 for C.E. If any of those folks complaining about the price tag of Omnisphere have dropped roughly $500 on more on one Kontakt library I'm having a hard time seeing the logic behind finding it _expensive_.


Explained above.



> Sure, a demo certainly wouldn't hurt. Then again that brings the conversation right back to the same conundrum you find with kontakt. No demos, purchases typically based on walkthrough videos, reputation, and word of mouth.


Not true; Kontakt Player is very much a "demo" and a full-featured one as well. And again, comparing Kontakt to Omni isn't an apples to apples thing. How many other VIs can you use with Omni? Zero? Kontakt has its own stuff but is largely a backdrop to use a TON of other VIs. That is its biggest selling point by far.




zwhita said:


> The main reason I've been holding out on it(besides that damn price tag never coming down) is I've always been concerned that so many people who use softsynths already have it, so I'm just going to sound like everyone else if it gets any significant use.


I'm sorry but that doesn't really add up. Just about any synth, never mind one as versatile as Omni, is capable of a TON of diff sounds. There is basically no way you're going to "sound like everyone else" just because you use the same synth, unless you and the other person in question are extremely unimaginative. Which I seriously doubt. 



Soundbed said:


> What is it? I didn’t know it had one, lol!


lol beat me to it. No synth has "a sound." Most are capable of a wide variety of sounds. Again it's way, WAY more about how you use it, not anything built in.


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## zwhita (Jul 11, 2021)

Well I can hear many electronic music tracks and identify what gear was used. Many vintage synths DO have a distinctive character and timbre. I would say alot of 32-bit era subtractive softsynths sound very similar, especially if they were made with Synthedit with no custom code.

That's why I need to research it more, but my understanding was that Omnisphere just manipulates single keymapped samples from a fixed soundbank(a big one though) through an engine that hasn't received updates in years, and it has some spiffy effects. I'm sure Omnisphere is easier to program than say Yamaha 4OP FM Synthesis or Reaktor ensembles, but I've yet to discover any assurance of just how versatile it is outside of being just another subtractive synth engine.

Never underestimate how unimaginative I can be if I don't have any physical knobs to twist! I have yet to do anything with Falcon but play UVI soundbank presets and tweak their front panel parameters.


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## jcrosby (Jul 11, 2021)

zwhita said:


> The main reason I've been holding out on it(besides that damn price tag never coming down) is I've always been concerned that so many people who use softsynths already have it, so I'm just going to sound like everyone else if it gets any significant use. And experience has told me if you don't use a softsynth with any regularity, it's not worth paying a high price tag since any old synth will do.
> 
> Perhaps a fools' pondering, but I do wonder just how versatile is it outside of sample manipulation? I ended up getting Falcon last year to avoid any bandwagon tendency, but I may just be ignoring something obvious.


I think this is part of the perception people have about it. It's basically 'just a synth', that also plays samples. Not true.


It's a wavetable synth with 400+ wavetables.
It's a virtual analog synth with VCO drift and phase non-linearity per oscillator.
It has a ton of multi-sampled vintage analog synth wavetables that can be combined with the drift and non-linearity for some convincing reproductions of some of the most iconic analog synths.
It's a sample playback instrument with an incredibly unique 64 GB sound bank, including many totally unique one of a kind instruments built by Diego Stocco.
It's a granular instrument.
It's an FM instrument where organic sources can be modulated any of the 400+ wavetables and analog oscillators.
It's a generative instrument that can quickly and cleverly alter existing sounds to new ones using the _orb,_ and its _Dice_ feature.
It's an iterative instrument where you can _steal_ any/some/or even all parameters from any other preset except the oscillators, then iterate off of that patch by calling up any other patch. You can drill through patches, search, or have it present patches to you randomly.
It can be any combination of these in any patch. There are no limitations.
It isn't limited to 4 oscillators despite how it may look like on the surface. Each oscillator can take advantage of the _harmonia_ feature and stack up to 4 other sound sources when using analog or wavetable modes. (20 oscillators in total). These oscillators can be tuned however you like.

Basically it's far more than a "'soft synth". For those not afriad to get under the hood it really is its own unique world. The video below has some background about some of its more interesting sound sources.


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## Mike Fox (Jul 11, 2021)

bill5 said:


> No synth has "a sound."


I’m not sure what you mean by this, but synths do have “a sound”. Why do you think there’s so many hard synths out there? It’s like saying a guitar doesn’t have “a sound”, or any other instrument for that matter.

Btw, i have multiple synth libs, and each one sounds incredibly different from one to the next, mainly because developers put their own spin on it, but they most certainly do have their own sound.


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## Soundbed (Jul 11, 2021)

zwhita said:


> That's why I need to research it more, but my understanding was that Omnisphere just manipulates single keymapped samples from a fixed soundbank(a big one though) through an engine that hasn't received updates in years, and it has some spiffy effects. I'm sure Omnisphere is easier to program than say Yamaha 4OP FM Synthesis or Reaktor ensembles, but I've yet to discover any assurance of just how versatile it is outside of being just another subtractive synth engine.
> 
> Never underestimate how unimaginative I can be if I don't have any physical knobs to twist! I have yet to do anything with Falcon but play UVI soundbank presets and tweak their front panel parameters.


Omnisphere can do at least these things: 

“Omnisphere indeed has "real" DSP oscillators that allow Hard Sync, FM PWM, Waveshaping and much more. Its STEAM Engine also excels at high definition sample streaming - the realtime manipulation features like Granular Synthesis, Harmonia, Timbre Shifting and Polyphonic Ring Modulation can also be applied to the sample oscillators.”

in fact that’s probably an older quote…

here’s a newer wall of text …:


Omnisphere 2.7 Features​• Now includes over 14,000 inspiring sounds for all types of music production
• Ground-breaking Hardware Synth Integration allows hands-on control of Omnisphere
• Audio Import - Use your own audio file as a soundsource
• State of the Art Arpeggiator with many unique features
• Over 500 DSP Waveforms for the Synth Oscillator
• Sound Match™ feature instantly locates any related sounds in the library
• Hardware Library with distinct ‘classic analog’ flavor
• Powerful Granular Synthesis for amazing transformations
• 58 incredible FX Units, which are fully integrated and can be modulated
• Creative “Psychoacoustic” sounds from the renowned Spectrasonics sound design team
• Sound Lock™ feature gives endless useful variations by locking sound aspects while browsing
• Wavetable Synthesis - Each waveform is a Morphing Wavetable
• ORB circular motion interface allows infinitely-shifting variations
• Deeper FM/Ring Modulation capabilities for aggressive timbres
• Dual Filter architecture includes more than 34 Filter algorithms in series or parallel
• Performance-oriented Live Mode allows for seamless patch layering on the fly
• Flex-Mod™ modulation system allows powerful, modular-style matrix routing
• Stack Mode interface allows for complex patch-layering, splits, and crossfades
• Up to 20 oscillators per patch can be either DSP synth or sample-based
• High Resolution resizable Interface with “Zooming” into deeper synthesis levels
• Polyphonic Timbre Shifting/Crushing, Waveshaping and Reduction
• Eight full-featured LFOs per patch, with syncing and complex waveforms
• Twelve Envelopes with both simple ADSR-style or advanced multi-breakpoint interfaces
• Easy Sound/Project Sharing for collaborators and third-party libraries
• Sample-based soundsources can be processed with synthesis features
…and much, much more!


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## zwhita (Jul 11, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> Basically it's far more than a "'soft synth". For those not afriad to get under the hood it really is its own unique world. The video below has some background about some of its more interesting sound sources.


So why would I want to buy this if I already have Falcon, except to help pay for Eric's teeth whitening appointments? I already have one rabbit-hole synth. And I don't want to buy other people's presets.


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## Soundbed (Jul 11, 2021)

zwhita said:


> I've always been concerned that so many people who use softsynths already have it, so I'm just going to sound like everyone else if it gets any significant use.


One example of how this doesn’t need to be true: if you find a preset you like, simply scroll through the oscillators (many of which use sampled sound sources) to change it to something no one else would be using with the rest of those settings. All the envelopes, filters, modulations, fx and so on will apply to the new oscillator. It will sound similar but only you will have selected those source sounds.

Or load your own samples. Omni is not limited to the core soundbank.


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## Soundbed (Jul 11, 2021)

Mike Fox said:


> Hard to describe, but I’ll sometimes hear this plastic gloss/sheen over the samples with some nasty midrange going on. Once i noticed it, I can’t unhear it, and I’ve had difficulty using the presets anymore because of it (i also think the reverb has something to do with it).
> 
> And yeah, it’s mainly with just the presets. But like i said, over the top with 20 different things going on, and then a ridiculous filter via modwheel. To me, that’s what the Omnisphere sound is.
> 
> Every developer has their own way of processing samples, and every library has its own signature sound. Massive, for example sounds very different to me than Omni.


Ok so you’re talking about the presets to a large extent. I think I know what you mean now. Well it’s entirely possible to avoid most of that I think. The Unfinished provides a ton of usable starting points that avoid what you’re describing. Once I started programming from scratch I think I avoided it too but sometimes I’m adding external effects.


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## Mike Fox (Jul 11, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> Ok so you’re talking about the presets to a large extent. I think I know what you mean now. Well it’s entirely possible to avoid most of that I think. The Unfinished provides a ton of usable starting points that avoid what you’re describing. Once I started programming from scratch I think I avoided it too but sometimes I’m adding external effects.


It is possible to avoid it, just depends on how much work you want to put into it, or just buy some 3rd party stuff that sounds more unique.

Can’t believe how much crap is on some of those presets though.


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## Soundbed (Jul 11, 2021)

zwhita said:


> So why would I want to buy this if I already have Falcon, except to help pay for Eric's teeth whitening appointments? I already have one rabbit-hole synth. And I don't want to buy other people's presets.


I like Falcon. I have a lot of UVI stuff that I use with Falcon. I like UVI. It sounds like it might be worth your time to keep using Falcon for a while.

after a while with Falcon, I took the plunge and got Omni anyway. 

Maybe someday you’ll get interested in paying for Erik’s teeth whitening.

But I don’t quite understand why you wouldn’t want to buy other peoples presets if that’s the majority of what you’ve been doing with Falcon anyway…? and there’s no shame in learning from expert programmers. If you don’t like The Unfinished check out Skippy (PluginGuru). Or don’t. No ones twisting your arm.  


zwhita said:


> I have yet to do anything with Falcon but play UVI soundbank presets and tweak their front panel parameters.


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## Bman70 (Jul 11, 2021)

Reading this thread made me load up Dune 3 in a browser tab... might buy it just to attempt to relive how good it felt to buy Omnisphere. Lol.


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## NekujaK (Jul 11, 2021)

zwhita said:


> So why would I want to buy this if I already have Falcon...


Only you can answer that for yourself. If Falcon is meeting your needs, then you're all set. No VI or synth is a necessity or a must have. We all make music with tools we like to use. If Omnisphere isn't your cup of tea, no worries - your creativity will not be stifled. Go forth and make music with the tools you have and love to use!


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## jcrosby (Jul 11, 2021)

zwhita said:


> So why would I want to buy this if I already have Falcon, except to help pay for Eric's teeth whitening appointments? I already have one rabbit-hole synth. And I don't want to buy other people's presets.


That's a bit rhetorical as you can only answer that yourself, and you've more or less set the question up to answer itself based on your own impressions by referring to both synths as rabbit holes.

One key difference however is that nothing in Omnisphere is locked, whereas some Falcon libraries (Meteor for example) don't allow you to do things like use your own sounds or modify parts of the engine. Any Omnisphere patch is wide open to modify however you see fit.


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## jcrosby (Jul 11, 2021)

NekujaK said:


> Only you can answer that for yourself.


Jinx!


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## Mike Fox (Jul 11, 2021)

NekujaK said:


> Only you can answer that for yourself. If Falcon is meeting your needs, then you're all set. No VI or synth is a necessity or a must have. We all make music with tools we like to use. If Omnisphere isn't your cup of tea, no worries - your creativity will not be stifled. Go forth and make music with the tools you have and love to use!


This.


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## bill5 (Jul 11, 2021)

Mike Fox said:


> I’m not sure what you mean by this, but synths do have “a sound”. Why do you think there’s so many hard synths out there? It’s like saying a guitar doesn’t have “a sound”, or any other instrument for that matter.


No they really don't. Comparing hard synths to soft synths (or other instruments for that matter) is again apples and oranges.


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## zwhita (Jul 11, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> But I don’t quite understand why you wouldn’t want to buy other peoples presets if that’s the majority of what you’ve been doing with Falcon anyway…?


Yes, I'm done with that now. No more of that with softsynths. I have to with Kontakt libraries, obviously.
Someday I might, but only if I can commit the time that it deserves. For now I will play the sample-junkie game and add my analogue synths and UVI libraries as flourishes.


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## Bman70 (Jul 11, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> What is it? I didn’t know it had one, lol!
> 
> I rarely use the factory presets fwiw. I bought the Unfinished Complete Collection the same day I got Omnisphere and what he does with the source material is so instantly usable for what I do.
> 
> ...



Wow someone who owns Falcon, Serum _and _Omnisphere! What would you say makes one the standout among them?


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## borisb2 (Jul 11, 2021)

Downloading Landforms now  .. think that will do it for a while (as I‘m doing more orchestral stuff anyway and can complement that with a few already purchased synths)

That comment about Eriks teeth whitening I did find funny though .. when I watched his presentation about Omni 2.6, making fun of some of the earlier hardware-synth developments/ideas did spark some negative thinking: what an arrogant show-off / douchebag.

I may still buy Omni at some point.. don’t want to close that door


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## bill5 (Jul 11, 2021)

Mike Fox said:


> It is possible to avoid it, just depends on how much work you want to put into it, or just buy some 3rd party stuff that sounds more unique.
> 
> Can’t believe how much crap is on some of those presets though.


I can't speak to Omni, but it's my experience that the more presets there are, the more fluffy crap there is amongst (is that still a word) them. Massive was like this IMO. "10 billion presets!!" is NOT a selling point for me. Quite the contrary.


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## Bman70 (Jul 11, 2021)

I've just been learning to put together multis in Omnisphere, and that really leaves no desire for any other synths at this point. Not only can one Part in a patch use the modwheel to adjust its qualities, but then you can use the modwheel to fade in an entirely new PART (like basically fading in or out a 2nd instance of Omnisphere). And there are 8 possible parts......


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## Mike Fox (Jul 11, 2021)

bill5 said:


> No they really don't. Comparing hard synths to soft synths (or other instruments for that matter) is again apples and oranges.


I couldn’t disagree more, and I’m not comparing hard synths to soft synths, but I’m saying that there is significant variation amongst both when they’re compared to their rivals. For example,

Go A/B a Boss SY-1 to a Meris Enzo

Or A/B the synths in Renegade to the synths in Power Move.

It should be immediately obvious that they each have “a sound”, and are distinctive from each-other. 

Here’s some basic info explaining why synths do have their own sound, or why they can even sound similar.









Do All Synths Sound The Same? | Musician's HQ


If you are relatively new to synthesis, you might notice that many synthesizers have similar controls and designs, and assume that they all have the…




musicianshq.com


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## bill5 (Jul 11, 2021)

Mike Fox said:


> I couldn’t disagree more, and I’m not comparing hard synths to soft synths, but I’m saying that there is significant variation amongst both


um- what? "I'm not comparing these things, but there's a huge diff!"


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## dcoscina (Jul 11, 2021)

Omnisphere and Zebra are my two main synth VIs. Followed closely by Falcon and Synthmaster


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## Mike Fox (Jul 11, 2021)

bill5 said:


> um- what? "I'm not comparing these things, but there's a huge diff!"


I’m comparing soft synths to soft synths, and hard synths to hard synths, which is why i said,

“Go A/B a Boss SY-1 to a Meris Enzo.

Or A/B the synths in Renegade to the synths in Power Move.”

What I’m not doing is comparing soft synths to hard synths, like you thought i was (though I’m more than happy to).

To reiterate, there are enough tonal differences between hard synths, which is why people own multiple hard synths.

And there are enough tonal differences between soft synths, which is one reason why people own multiple soft synths.

It’s within these tonal differences that make synths have “a sound”.


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## Soundbed (Jul 12, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> Reading this thread made me load up Dune 3 in a browser tab... might buy it just to attempt to relive how good it felt to buy Omnisphere. Lol.


I give that a week, tops.  /sarcasm

(I have Dune 2.)



Bman70 said:


> Wow someone who owns Falcon, Serum _and _Omnisphere! What would you say makes one the standout among them?


Hmm… that’s tricky. Almost like a trick question.



off the top of my head thoughts…

I mean because Serum is a wavetable synth with two oscillators (edit: plus a sub osc and noise osc). The wavetables provided are excellent and can be very cutting and bright which is why they excelled at that brash dubstep sound and there are some nice formant filters for cool talking sounds. The envelopes and lfos and mod matrix are all extremely simple and quick to use and there were a few innovations that now feel indispensable. As I recall it was the first to help illustrate where you were in the wavetable so clearly, and that visualization has since been copied. Plus including OTT (mimicked from Ableton iirc) and some of the effects were really well done. It was a great “response” to Massive and pushed forward some new (and very annoying) sounds. It’s also capable of beautiful sounds of course. But it’s not really a sampler synth even though you can load your own wavetables.

Both Falcon and Omnisphere are true sampler synths, as well as using wavetables and traditional subtractive and some FM etc. Their main differences start with the core content snd as others have said the Falcon content can be locked so it’s unique in the respect that you cannot use it outside Falcon. Not sure what makes something a “standout” exactly. Falcon is really a powerful lead in to the UVI sample library ecosystem I think. I actually don’t find it quite as easy to use as Omnisphere (which is surprising to say because omnisphere has Somali pages and slightly hidden features) when you get into the details because Falcon has some things buried behind relatively tiny little buttons and controls. It also gets a bit frustrating because it has cut down versions of the UVI effects but not “full” versions. Like it has the Rotary effect, but to get the full feature set you’d need to buy Rotary separately and always use it externally. Sparkverb is the same I think.
Omnisphere we’ve talked a lot about already. The content is enormous out of the box. You don’t ‘need’ to buy extra source content b/c you can get a huge amount of leverage from the existing content (was it up to 14,000 sample and osc sources?). but you can add your own. The effects are good but not mind blowing and not always dialed in super well…for instance I often find myself trying to get the mix values on inserts just right at values like 6,7,8…the rest of the fader is too much. But you can always use external effects. Some of the tools feel a bit idiosyncratic (because they are) but they lead to cool fun inspiring sounds. It’s powerful with a performance mode and there are often several ways to do similar things — which seems redundant and confusing in theory but I’ve found useful in practice. Over time I’ve found Omnisphere to be the most flexible and the better all around Synth Sampler combo. Falcon has some built in limitations which are intentional to encourage buying more uvi sound sets and effects. Omnisphere is sort of built to attempt to have a few limitations as they could manage, it feels like…it feels like they really tried to make the ultimate tool…of course that doesn’t exist but it feels like a really good attempt, when comparing and contrasting Omni against many others.


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## chimuelo (Jul 12, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> I've just been learning to put together multis in Omnisphere, and that really leaves no desire for any other synths at this point. Not only can one Part in a patch use the modwheel to adjust its qualities, but then you can use the modwheel to fade in an entirely new PART (like basically fading in or out a 2nd instance of Omnisphere). And there are 8 possible parts......


This reason is why Omnisphere/Keyscape/Trilian are my go to synth/sampler.
I only use 6 channels, and each channel loads via PrgmChng messages the sound I need.

A single multi can handle everything.

I never cared for built in FX on soft synths but that too has changed with Omnisphere’s wise choice of FX.

Workflow, sound quality, and CPU resources for an all in one package is nice.
I still use Kontakt, ZebraHZ and an external DSP rack for FX/Mixing, but with a good master MIDI controller I rarely touch my PC as I’m having too much fun playing.

Also using an M.2 NVMe as it loads samples faster, but since the Classic Rhodes and C7 were updated they now take time to fully load. No problem, I keep an Electro-Mechanical channel (Rhodes, etc.) loaded, and an Acoustic channel loaded so when I switch sounds, I don’t load another sound, simply use the MIDI Channel selection. This leaves 4 channels ( 8 audio ) for instantly playable patches I made. But I’m talking live performance, for recording/editing it’s only 3 seconds to totally load the bigger samples. That doesn’t work live, but I still need the SuperTramp Wurly or an Upright from time to time. Easily loadable in between songs, just not a good choice while actually performing.


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## RogiervG (Jul 12, 2021)

I don't think i am in need of omnisphere (though i might pick it up as an extra sonic option)..
Because with all the synths i already have, i have like a few million patches already available. That should be enough, i think. And then you can craft your own on top of those... if you want.

And a s someone else mentioned: more patches is less a selling point. I can expand this thought.. the more patches you have, the more a form of choice fatigue ("decision fatigue" is the official term) you'll experience (i surely do!), going though all the many patches... it derails from the actual music making.


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## Soundbed (Jul 12, 2021)

RogiervG said:


> the more patches you have, the more a form of choice fatigue you'll experience,


Agreed. a nice thing about Omni is the find similar feature. Can’t remember exactly the name of it. (1) find something “close” to what you want (2) find similar; instantly you’ll have similar options presented and (3) a couple down arrows later (with preview on) you’ll hear something you like more.
Again most of my starting points were programmed by The Unfinished, not part of the factory library


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## Dirtgrain (Jul 12, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> One key difference however is that nothing in Omnisphere is locked, whereas some Falcon libraries (Meteor for example) don't allow you to do things like use your own sounds or modify parts of the engine. Any Omnisphere patch is wide open to modify however you see fit.


That is a gripe I (and many others) have with some sample-based instruments I've gotten for Falcon and Halion (also would consider buying BT Phobos if it were not locked in this way). It seems like this is a controlling thing that comes from UVI, Steinberg, Spitfire--like they don't want us having too much power to create, as if that would render their other and future offerings moot.

Just double checking: any sample-based instrument for Omnisphere (including ones from third parties) allows one to use one's own samples?


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## Double Helix (Jul 12, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> . . . a nice thing about Omni is the find similar feature. Can’t remember exactly the name of it. (1) find something “close” to what you want (2) find similar; instantly you’ll have similar options presented and (3) a couple down arrows later (with preview on) you’ll hear something you like more.


I believe what you are referring to is Sound Match, and, yes, I find it useful, as well:
"The higher in the list, the more closely related the sound. The match 'strength' is shown on the right of the Patch name with a solid bar."









Sound Match - Omnisphere 2 - 2.8


SOUND MATCH is a powerful browsing feature that lets you explore the library in a different way. It allows you to find similar sounds with one click. After...




support.spectrasonics.net


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## Bman70 (Jul 12, 2021)

Although people often have the impression Omnisphere is a "rabbit hole" of presets, due to having so many, I haven't found that to be the case. Yes there's a ton that I would never use – the "rave" type auditory violations like certain synth leads, basses, etc. But I never have to scroll through these... 

I usually go into the patch browser window and pick a type or genre or quality I'm looking for, or an instrument type. Browsing those is simple enough, and because there are so many permutations, I usually find something that excites me within a few minutes. The real rabbit hole for me is playing with, tweaking, and adding original samples to a patch I like. That can take hours if you want. 

As far as attempting to justify the price... I'll try to be open minded. There is a bit of a "prestige" factor, like a name reputation thing, where you feel like you're in an exclusive club just owning it. If someone buys a Porsche, a lot of the pride of ownership comes from recognition and reputation. But is that independent of performance? No, in that case the performance equals the reputation. I feel it's also the case with Omnisphere. I spent more on Komplete upgrades than on Omnisphere, and I'm not ashamed to say a lot of it is underwhelming. If I don't use 90% of it, I just don't, regardless of what I paid. The more I've learned about Komplete, the more I feel I could have gotten better use out of selectively buying other developers' libraries. Omnisphere isn't like that. I feel it's at least equal to my expectations and needs, and often surpassing them.


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## el-bo (Jul 12, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> Agreed. a nice thing about Omni is the find similar feature. Can’t remember exactly the name of it. (1) find something “close” to what you want (2) find similar; instantly you’ll have similar options presented and (3) a couple down arrows later (with preview on) you’ll hear something you like more.
> Again most of my starting points were programmed by The Unfinished, not part of the factory library


There's also the lock feature, allowing certain parameters of a patch to be fixed while trying other presets:


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## Casiquire (Jul 12, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> Could all of the happy Omnisphere users be wrong?
> I'm pretty sure you can sell your Omni license,how come you rarely see people trying to sell it?


To be fair it's not perfect. There's so much content and none of the filters respond with the kind of sound i expect from the descriptions. I find Omnisphere very difficult to use, to be honest. That doesn't mean it's bad, but it's bloated and I'm tempted to just start buying third party libraries just to limit the overwhelming number of patches down to something i find usable


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## mscp (Jul 12, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> So with all these new amazing developments like Landforms, Cycles, Lunaris etc. does one still need Omnisphere? I always had an eye on Omnisphere buy so far couldnt pull the trigger ..


You can do virtually everything with Omnisphere if you know how to sound design. But if you like presets, it's best to have them all.


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## jcrosby (Jul 12, 2021)

Dirtgrain said:


> That is a gripe I (and many others) have with some sample-based instruments I've gotten for Falcon and Halion (also would consider buying BT Phobos if it were not locked in this way). It seems like this is a controlling thing that comes from UVI, Steinberg, Spitfire--like they don't want us having too much power to create, as if that would render their other and future offerings moot.
> 
> Just double checking: any sample-based instrument for Omnisphere (including ones from third parties) allows one to use one's own samples?


Yup. You can literally use any patch, 3rd party or otherwise with your own content. A patch in Omnisphere is just that... A patch like it would be in any other synth... So you can modify it in any way you see fit, there are no limitations on anything. That's not just the beauty of it though... You can also save:

Arpeggiator settings
Effects chains
Individual effects settings
Granular Settings
Envelope shapes (This is more than just ADSR. These are like Serum, in that you can draw shapes with multiple points)
Waveshaper Settings
Harmonia Settings

However Sound Lock also eliminates the need to save anything if you don't want to because you can impose whatever you want from one patch onto another patch. _Borrow_ one setting you like, for example the effects, or borrow them all.

*EDITED*: 
Removed the video after seeing el-bo posted it already...


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## jcrosby (Jul 12, 2021)

el-bo said:


> There's also the lock feature, allowing certain parameters of a patch to be fixed while trying other presets:



Damn. Jinx again!


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## jcrosby (Jul 12, 2021)

Casiquire said:


> To be fair it's not perfect. There's so much content and none of the filters respond with the kind of sound i expect from the descriptions. I find Omnisphere very difficult to use, to be honest. That doesn't mean it's bad, but it's bloated and I'm tempted to just start buying third party libraries just to limit the overwhelming number of patches down to something i find usable


Do you use the search function, and are you aware that you can combine seacrh terms with the word "and" (no quotes)?

* FYI You can also filter sample searches using the word _"and_". *


Just type _"horror and strings"_ and you get a list of patches that fit those terms. Get more specific by adding _and_ twice... "_Horror and strings and hybrid" _


You can also "lock" search text. So, if you close the UI your search will still be there when you open that instance UI up again. (FYI the text doesn't stick across instances.)

The 1st place I start every time is with search, I actually don't even use the filters anymore. Once you start combing searches with "_and"_ you can find stuff FAST. (See below) And for sure. there's a lot in there and you can get lost. Here are three things I do to avoid getting lost.


*1.)* *Favorite patches*. Sort the list by showing favorites ranked by number of stars.

*2.) Tag Patches:* I tag existing patches I like by adding keywords into the description area. If I find a sound that's a great horror bed or stinger I immediately star it, then edit the description and tag it with _horror_ by adding the word _horror_ to the bottom of the description. I actually have tons of patches with strings of tags... E.G. _horror, tension, detuned, trailer_

3.) *Create "Collections". *I have collections for projects I'm working on, libraries I work with, and even genres I work in. The moment I find a patch that I need to find later I add it to an existing collection, or make a new one (for a project/film/etc for example).


*NARROWING DOWN A HUGE SEARCH RESULT:


SEARCH VERSION 1: Horror* - Hundreds of patches. Many I've used before.... Hating Life 










*SEARCH VERSION 2: Horror and Strings *- Not bad, less than 50 results. A few irrelevant results with Synthwave for some reason though, WTF?








*SEARCH VERSION 3: Horror and Strings and Hybrid - *Nice. A very small list of manageable patches... A few irrelevant results, but narrowed the list down from hundreds of patches to less than 20.


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## borisb2 (Jul 12, 2021)

I know this thread now narrowed down to only focus at Omnisphere ..

but relating back to my original question: I decided to go with Landforms, had a first playthrough in the meantime and are blown away by its sound and flexibility..

Now relating back to Omnisphere, are you saying this would all be possible with Omni?


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## CT (Jul 12, 2021)

You could certainly use Omnisphere to do all sorts of weird stuff with orchestral recordings or samples (if they can match the interesting techniques recorded for Landforms). I tend to do that with raw audio and effects but loading the audio into Omnisphere and using its capabilities to treat that audio into something playable like what Landforms does is a cool idea....


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## Bman70 (Jul 12, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> I know this thread now narrowed down to only focus at Omnisphere ..
> 
> but relating back to my original question: I decided to go with Landforms, had a first playthrough in the meantime and are blown away by its sound and flexibility..
> 
> Now relating back to Omnisphere, are you saying this would all be possible with Omni?




I like Landforms' sounds, not particularly its UI. Of course none of these instruments are going to provide identical patches or processes. The Landforms demo to me seems mostly geared toward the (now reaching "overdone" IMO) 'Scandi' type vibe. 

I don't think it's as versatile as Omnisphere, but then it's a more specialized library. In a few demos the detuning effect was horrendous to me, but some probably like it. Since I don't own any Olafur Arnalds stuff, I would like to own Landforms to supplement Omnisphere, but definitely feel better starting with just Omni. A while ago I was messing with making that weird noir tinny string sound in Omnisphere.. got some interesting effects but didn't pursue it too far:


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## kgdrum (Jul 12, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> I know this thread now narrowed down to only focus at Omnisphere ..
> 
> but relating back to my original question: I decided to go with Landforms, had a first playthrough in the meantime and are blown away by its sound and flexibility..
> 
> Now relating back to Omnisphere, are you saying this would all be possible with Omni?



Well I really don’t understand how Omnisphere and Landforms are really comparable besides the fact that you have been trying to choose one or the other. 
Omnisphere is a great synth,Landforms might be wonderful but why do you feel the need to continue to compare one to the other? 
Can’t you accept that both might be great in their own way but there is no rational reason these need to be judged comparatively they are totally different types of products.
Omni is probably stronger in some areas than Landforms and Landforms might be better than Omni in other ways. Generally they will be used by people for different purposes in different ways.


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## borisb2 (Jul 12, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> The Landforms demo to me seems mostly geared toward the (now reaching "overdone" IMO) 'Scandi' type vibe.


yeah .. the video starts with the (overused) grid-y scandi strings - although I have to say I now have a lot more control than with OA-libs how these grids evolve. But when he modulates the arp with harmonize functions and movements it gets quite complex .. one has to get used to the UI, thats for sure


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## jcrosby (Jul 12, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> I know this thread now narrowed down to only focus at Omnisphere ..
> 
> but relating back to my original question: I decided to go with Landforms, had a first playthrough in the meantime and are blown away by its sound and flexibility..
> 
> Now relating back to Omnisphere, are you saying this would all be possible with Omni?



Obvioulsy not. Omnisphere doesn't have a lot of orchestral sound sources, and they're two completely different instruments. That said there's tons of stuff in Omnisphere you'd never be able to do with Landforms as well, so it's really an Apples and Oranges question...

That said, there are a lot of sounds in the last section from 1 hour onward that are VERY omnisphere-esque. Omnisphere has a ton of organic and avant garde sounds. And unlike Landforms it's a full blown synth engine where every single parameter of the instrument down to the smallest minutia is accessible to you. You can easily turn something organic into something completely synthetic. And Innerspace allows you to take something completely synthetic sources and make them very organic.

So basically it's Apples and oranges for the most part, but much of Omnisphere does have a very organic quality that's also not too different from some of the sounds in the last section I referenced...


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## el-bo (Jul 12, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> I like Landforms' sounds, not particularly its UI. Of course none of these instruments are going to provide identical patches or processes. The Landforms demo to me seems mostly geared toward the (now reaching "overdone" IMO) 'Scandi' type vibe.
> 
> I don't think it's as versatile as Omnisphere, but then it's a more specialized library. In a few demos the detuning effect was horrendous to me, but some probably like it. Since I don't own any Olafur Arnalds stuff, I would like to own Landforms to supplement Omnisphere, but definitely feel better starting with just Omni. A while ago I was messing with making that weird noir tinny string sound in Omnisphere.. got some interesting effects but didn't pursue it too far:



Perhaps I'm listening to the wrong demos, but from the little I've heard 'Lifeforms' seems harsh and overly busy.


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## borisb2 (Jul 12, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> Can’t you accept that both might be great in their own way


Oh I think both are for sure great in their own way .. thats why I wanted to come back to my original post. I was looking for a more textural-orchestral/synth/drone/soundscape library .. and since the common sense is Omni can do everything I wanted to evaulate which way I should go - hence my initial question .. maybe I asked the wrong question


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## Zane Smith (Jul 12, 2021)

Just popping in to give my two cents:
I say Omnisphere all the way. I've been playing some live shows of Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars covers recently and Omnisphere is able to recreate most, if not all the synth patches. Plus you can play back samples and such.
Obviously this is more pop oriented so it totally depends on the direction you're going.


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## bill5 (Jul 12, 2021)

Mike Fox said:


> I’m comparing soft synths to soft synths, and hard synths to hard synths, which is why i said,
> 
> “Go A/B a Boss SY-1 to a Meris Enzo.
> 
> ...


Ah got ya, thx for clarification...



> To reiterate, there are enough tonal differences between hard synths, which is why people own multiple hard synths.


Not sure what you mean by "tonal differences." They have diff patches, and in olden days gone by, they were limited in what they could do and so sounded different, but I think those days are pretty much gone with modern synths.



> And there are enough tonal differences between soft synths, which is one reason why people own multiple soft synths.


Nope. I think you can make just about any sound that any soft synth has with a variety of other soft synths, or at least very close to it. And in fact I've heard many patches which did sound very similar to patches on other soft synths, even ones which were diff kinds of synths.


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## bill5 (Jul 12, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> As far as attempting to justify the price... I'll try to be open minded. There is a bit of a "prestige" factor, like a name reputation thing, where you feel like you're in an exclusive club just owning it.


Bingo, exactly...I've always thought so but hadn't said so as I figure the Omni groupies would be on me like piranas on a plucked chicken.  But as you said, that doesn't mean Omni isn't all that necessarily.



> I spent more on Komplete upgrades than on Omnisphere, and I'm not ashamed to say a lot of it is underwhelming.


And now you're incurring the wrath of the Komplete groupies. Do you have a death wish?  (I said as much about Komplete in another thread and they didn't take kindly to it lol)


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## kgdrum (Jul 12, 2021)

bill5 said:


> Bingo, exactly...I've always thought so but hadn't said so as I figure the Omni groupies would be on me like piranas on a plucked chicken.  But as you said, that doesn't mean Omni isn't all that necessarily.
> 
> 
> And now you're incurring the wrath of the Komplete groupies. Do you have a death wish?  (I said as much about Komplete in another thread and they didn't take kindly to it lol)


I have been a Komplete user since NI started the Komplete bundle.
As a Omnisphere,Trillian and Keyscape user that also has Komplete 12U, I’d take my Spectrasonics bundle plus Kontakt over the Komplete Ultimate bundle or the Komplete Ultimate Collectors Edition without hesitation.
I use Kontakt and the Spectrasonics libraries on almost everything,the rest of the Komplete bundle not so much and much of it rarely if ever.


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## jcrosby (Jul 12, 2021)

bill5 said:


> Bingo, exactly...I've always thought so but hadn't said so as I figure the Omni groupies would be on me like piranas on a plucked chicken.  But as you said, that doesn't mean Omni isn't all that necessarily.
> 
> 
> And now you're incurring the wrath of the Komplete groupies. Do you have a death wish?  (I said as much about Komplete in another thread and they didn't take kindly to it lol)


There is so much projection in both your statement, and the one quoted that it's a bit silly.
Any perceived "prestige"is the byproduct of biases about the price tag, and any number of assumptions about why someone might spend that.

Is it expensive? It sure is. You know what was many times more expensive and thousands of times more limited? The many different hardware samplers I owned back in the late 90s and early 2000s. Instruments I often had to spend many months saving up money for.

A really high quality hardware sampling workstation started at 2k and could go up to 5k for a fully loaded EMU Ultra. AKAI's MPC 3000 price tag actually matched the model number. The Korg Kronos still fetches $3900, and IIRC, debuted with a higher price tag of 5k or more. And barring the Kronos, we're talking 90s price here not the Fairlight era...

Perception is completely relative to how long someone's been buying sample based instruments, and their perception of past limitations vs present improvements. Coming from a background of having to save for 4-5 months to buy a piece of hardware that maxed out at 128 MB of memory - I find Omnisphere's price is incredibly reasonable by comparison. Add in all of the other synths at the time, and the fact that granular wasn't even an option? If that makes me a _groupie_ then by all means, sign my reproductive organs in permanent marker.


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## Casiquire (Jul 12, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> Do you use the search function, and are you aware that you can combine seacrh terms with the word "and" (no quotes)?
> 
> * FYI You can also filter sample searches using the word _"and_". *
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tips! I'll try them out but it's often difficult to even think of a good description for some synth sounds. Keywords can only get me so far. That's saying nothing about the quality or value which in my opinion is super high, even with the vast amount of patches that sound overdone or cheesy to my ears. It's just part of what you have to work with when dealing with that kind of quantity, as someone who isn't using a synth every day


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## kgdrum (Jul 12, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> There is so much projection in both your statement, and the one quoted that it's a bit silly.
> Any perceived "prestige"is the byproduct of biases about the price tag, and any number of assumptions about why someone might spend that.
> 
> Is it expensive? It sure is. You know what was many times more expensive and thousands of times more limited? The many different hardware samplers I owned back in the late 90s and early 2000s. Instruments I often had to spend many months saving up money for.
> ...


I don’t even want to think about how much money I spent on a Simmons -7 kit ,Linn 9000,Akai S950,S1000 and a Z-8, Emu Proteus expanded, a Casio CZ1,various Vdrum and dDrum kits,Roland workstations ,Octapads etc…

Omnisphere,Trillian and Keyscape comparatively probably cost less than 10% and it has and will last many more years and offers more sonically than any of these hardware relics could even begin to imagine.


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## borisb2 (Jul 12, 2021)

Still have a Roland JD-800 sitting around which gets no use .. not sure if I should sell that .. I guess I should


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## jcrosby (Jul 12, 2021)

Casiquire said:


> Thanks for the tips! I'll try them out but it's often difficult to even think of a good description for some synth sounds. Keywords can only get me so far. That's saying nothing about the quality or value which in my opinion is super high, even with the vast amount of patches that sound overdone or cheesy to my ears. It's just part of what you have to work with when dealing with that kind of quantity, as someone who isn't using a synth every day


There's a whole bunch of ways to work through this... 1st of all you can exclude criteria by using the word "not". And you can search for (or exclude) more than one type of sound at the same time using "or". The caveat with _not_ is you can only combine it with "not" searches using the word "or". So for example you could do a search like this _Not Synth or Choir_. This works surprisngly well. I just selected the "Spotlight EDM" library then typed _Not EDM_ and no patches show up. Check it out...







There's even more about the browser in the link here:








Boolean Filtering - Omnisphere 2 - 2.8


Boolean Filtering uses the criteria “Or,” “And,” and “Not” in order to include or exclude certain Attributes to narrow your search. In addition to...




support.spectrasonics.net




(I just re-learned for example that you can exclude columns with the alt/option key. Totally forgot about this... Definitely worth a read if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by the browser, it's a lot more manageable than you might think...)


You probably also know most if not all of these already but...

You can also combine the search rules with the column view. I.e. click the "Bass" column then do a boolean search with "and", "or", etc)
You can hit the dropdown and narrow the list to select specific sections of Omnisphere's libraries.
If you have 3rd party libraries you can select the library and search or filter in there.
And like a few already mentioned, if you find a sound you like hit sound match to find similar stuff....


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## dunamisstudio (Jul 12, 2021)

Omnisphere is my go to and if I had to do it all over again, I would of just gotten it. Fact if 2.5, 2.6 whenever they introduced the hardware control, I probably would of saved more money and not bought other ones. It does what it does, and does a lot. I've had it since it was Atmosphere.


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## bill5 (Jul 12, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> There is so much projection in both your statement, and the one quoted that it's a bit silly.
> Any perceived "prestige"is the byproduct of biases about the price tag, and any number of assumptions about why someone might spend that.
> 
> Is it expensive? It sure is. You know what was many times more expensive and thousands of times more limited? The many different hardware samplers I owned back in the late 90s and early 2000s. Instruments I often had to spend many months saving up money for.
> ...


Whether there's a prestige factor in buying Omni is debatable but hardly silly, and like most things probably varies.

But saying "hardware samplers back in the day were way more expensive, therefore Omnisphere is a great deal" doesn't make sense. Tech generally gets better AND cheaper. So? That's like saying the Edsel was a great deal because it was way better than a Model T. To assess if Omnisphere is a good or worthy bang for the buck, it needs be compared to the other soft synths out there today. It does appear reasonable to say it offers more than any other synth, in many cases a lot more. Is it enough to be worth the also way more cost? And it's not all about more features. How good is or isn't the UI? etc. All totally subjective and so unanswerable, really.


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## Scottyb (Jul 12, 2021)

My 2 cents. Omnisphere includes a sonic boom of inspiration and depth. You can skim the surface or go deep and dig into its many layers. For me it was one of those things I kicked myself for waiting so long to get. 

And the most surprising part to me was how incredibly organic a lot of the patches are. There’s some amazing ‘Experimental’ stuff that I hope we get more of for Omnisphere 3. 

There’s something here for everyone too. If I’m stuck, I can fire it up and breathe some new life into a track. Or it can totally inspire a track all by itself. 

There’s a lot to wade through that’s true. But man, what a freakin’ fun ride!

Also, I’m happy to support the company itself. Eric is obviously super passionate about this stuff and that means something to me. I wanna help it continue to grow.


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## lastmessiah (Jul 12, 2021)

I don’t get all the hubbub about it to be honest. It doesn’t do anything you can’t do with Alchemy or pretty much any sampling synthesizer. I suppose it is nice for preset surfers, as it does have a lot of those.


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## borisb2 (Jul 12, 2021)

lastmessiah said:


> I don’t get all the hubbub about it to be honest. It doesn’t do anything you can’t do with Alchemy or pretty much any sampling synthesizer. I suppose it is nice for preset surfers, as it does have a lot of those.


well, I guess if one is looking for a versatile power synth that acts like a chameleon, turning into any possible imaginable synth - and has not many other synths - Omnisphere might be perfect.

With most sounds/textures I heard so far (diving into YT, looking for playthroughs of orchestral/ambient textures in Omni, incl luftrum stuff) .. it never leaves the realm of a .. well .. synth - which is shocking, I know  . But I'm getting reminded too much of 90s synth-soundscapes - personal thing - and I have enough of these sounds, both hardware and software.

I guess it comes down to the sound sources as @Mike T was mentioning. Using field-recordings / orchestral recordings, Vis like Landforms or Bioscape (or all the SA Evos / OT Time libs etc.) - naturally sound different/more organic to me. I would LOVE to hear more soundscapes in that area with Omnisphere, but so far I didnt find that yet.

I guess @kgdrum is right - its wrong in the first place to combine these VIs with Omnisphere in the same thread, asking for the same. Sorry for that.


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## JohnG (Jul 12, 2021)

THis thread seems populated by

*1. people who like Omnisphere* bc it's an amazing jack of all trades, with almost laughably easy modification (sound source, envelopes, arpeggios, extra oscillators, randomisation, a plethora of control sources -- everything, really, including thousands of presets); and

*2. Synth jockeys* who are arguing, in some cases, that you can't do with Omni what you can do with "Cool Synth X."

Personally, I think for a long time we've all been sold software that can do just about anything the others can do. New GUIs can be inviting and lead in different directions, but a lot of "new" synths are mostly just the same stuff I had decades ago but with something I like about it. 

Omnisphere is that "everything" synth, for me, but I find its interface much simpler than some of my others, which I consider a great strength, as I'm too rushed and exhausted half the time to start with a wave and go from there. 

Is the sound that much better or worse? IDK. It sounds great to me and I find I can create whatever I want right away and nothing sounds really that much better most of the time.

Except sometimes Diva. And ZebraHZ. And....

choose your weapon and write cool stuff. There's no need to denigrate a product as deep and rich as Omnisphere, even if you like something better for some things, or even most things. It's great, its presets are customisable in about 30 seconds, and it can do almost anything from pop to hybrid score to dance to whatever.


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## gzapper (Jul 12, 2021)

You can come up with great stuff programming it as well, its not that hard. I've loaded in samples a bunch of times, made a great tape machine slow down/speed up sound. It works great for sfx patches that way, gives you sound design elements that you can play more musically.

Pigments is also nice, maybe a bit brighter and more modern sounding and has a better granular engine. But if you dig into Omni it really can cover so much and the samples included are really very useful. Some times the patches are a bit showy, too much delay and verb or more complex than you need, but that's also easy to clean up.

Definitely was one of the better purchases I've made.


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## NYC Composer (Jul 12, 2021)

I love Omni, but you guys are pissing me off. Why? 

Because I've never been able to get through all the patches on Omni 1, so I decided until I did I wasn't going to buy Omni 2. Now I'm getting all itchy for 2 again, blast you all.


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## borisb2 (Jul 12, 2021)

JohnG said:


> choose your weapon and write cool stuff. There's no need to denigrate a product as deep and rich as Omnisphere


Didnt want to denigrate it .. to be able to chose my weapon I asked my initial question (which was geared towards orchestral textures/soundscapes - not Omnisphere as a synth in general). Maybe I should have clarified that. After a lot of listening and reading I found my (personal) answer. Hopefully now I can write .. cool stuff  (although with that last part I dont feel confident)


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## bill5 (Jul 12, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> Didnt want to denigrate it .. to be able to chose my weapon I asked my initial question (which was geared towards orchestral textures/soundscapes - not Omnisphere as a synth in general). Maybe I should have clarified that. After a lot of listening and reading I found my (personal) answer. Hopefully now I can write .. cool stuff  (although with that last part I dont feel confident)


Please stop apologizing and backpedaling as it's totally unnecessary. I see few if any here "attacking" Omni, unless you consider not genuflecting to it "attacking" it.


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## borisb2 (Jul 12, 2021)

bill5 said:


> Please stop apologizing


I used to be a nice person .. ok, ok .. I get your point


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## el-bo (Jul 13, 2021)

NYC Composer said:


> I love Omni, but you guys are pissing me off. Why?
> 
> Because I've never been able to get through all the patches on Omni 1, so I decided until I did I wasn't going to buy Omni 2. Now I'm getting all itchy for 2 again, blast you all.


I'm still on version 1, also. There are definitely things I would love from version 2, but not enough to justify the upgrade price. Lately, it's been getting more and more frustrating to hit patches that won't load due to them being created with Omnisphere 2-point-whatever (Perhaps @jcrosby would know of a way to exclude all of those  ).

Can't afford to upgrade, anyway. Even if I could, it makes more sense to hold on for version 3 (I don't reckon it's too far off).


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## Pianolando (Jul 13, 2021)

Yeah, you should get it. I have other VI synths as well, most of the UHE stuff etc, and while they are amazing I could easily have replaced everything I've used them for in the last ten years with Omnisphere and be just as happy. Plus there's so much stuff that no other VI does as good as Omni. But more synths are always better so the correct answer is obviously that you should buy them all 

EDIT: and also get Keyscape. And Trilian. Combining them all is amazing.


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## Double Helix (Jul 13, 2021)

Pianolando said:


> EDIT: and also get Keyscape. And Trilian. Combining them all is amazing.


+1
(Also, StylusRMX Expanded w/New Orleans Strut is an all afternoon-consuming, joy-inducing, beat-creating trip to Rhythm Blissville. Confession: I enjoy layering it with my old Zoom RT-223; it's like being in a band with Butch and Jaimo. "Play all night!")


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## osterdamus (Jul 13, 2021)

Is Omnisphere ever on sale? Black Friday, perhaps?


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## Double Helix (Jul 13, 2021)

I have never seen any Spectrasonics on sale, but that proves absolutely nothing.
There is, however, a forum member from Canada who has Omnisphere for sale in Classifieds. (In Canadian dollars, my currency converter pegs it as around $137 less than list price)






CLOSED - Sold


I don't have time for this hobby anymore, so I'm looking to sell these licenses (all in Canadian dollars): - Cubase Pro 10.5 - SOLD - Omnisphere 2 - SOLD - Komplete 13 Ultimate Collectors Edition - SOLD




vi-control.net


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## NKAudio (Jul 13, 2021)

Omnisphere almost feels like it's own genre at this point. 

Client asks for something "tonal", one of my first reactions is...Let's hit up Omnisphere and start messing with a few patches! Because for as easy as it is out-of-the-box, it can get crazy deep under the hood and it's fun to tinker.

Also amazing libraries from sound designers like The Unfinished and String Audio give it serious legs.

Honorable mentions though would definitely be Logic's own Alchemy, and some of the more obscure patches from NI Absynth.


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## el-bo (Jul 13, 2021)

NKAudio said:


> Also amazing libraries from sound designers like The Unfinished and String Audio give it serious legs.


Also, in a similar vein to The Unfinished - Sonic Underworld:



Store – Sonic Underworld



I don't currently own any of his sets (I don't have Omni 2), but they sound great.

Currently on Summer sale (Most between 40-50% off), until July 31st


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## JohnG (Jul 13, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> I used to be a nice person ..


Ha! YOU FOOL!

Hopefully, you've wised up....


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## Dirtgrain (Jul 13, 2021)

osterdamus said:


> Is Omnisphere ever on sale? Black Friday, perhaps?


It was 15% off from Guitar Center (US only) in February, but it seems unpredictable if ever another such deal will arise.

Also some bought Omnisphere with a 20% site-wide discount about a year ago from JRR Shop until they sold out.


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## NYC Composer (Jul 13, 2021)

Double Helix said:


> +1
> (Also, StylusRMX Expanded w/New Orleans Strut is an all afternoon-consuming, joy-inducing, beat-creating trip to Rhythm Blissville. Confession: I enjoy layering it with my old Zoom RT-223; it's like being in a band with Butch and Jaimo. "Play all night!")


I have joyfully used New Orleans Strut since it came out as a Katrina benefit, but MAN, I do wish it included fills for those amazing beats.


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## Markrs (Jul 13, 2021)

osterdamus said:


> Is Omnisphere ever on sale? Black Friday, perhaps?


It can currently be purchased for 15% cheaper than normal price in the UK via eBay (The company selling it, is a long-established music store, I also got Omnisphere from them last year)

Omnisphere 2 for £288.15


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## osterdamus (Jul 13, 2021)

NKAudio said:


> Omnisphere almost feels like it's own genre at this point.
> 
> Client asks for something "tonal", one of my first reactions is...Let's hit up Omnisphere and start messing with a few patches! Because for as easy as it is out-of-the-box, it can get crazy deep under the hood and it's fun to tinker.
> 
> ...


On the topic of alchemy, which I have but I’m new to, what’s the best source of patches, free or for pay?


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## Nico5 (Jul 13, 2021)

NYC Composer said:


> I have joyfully used New Orleans Strut since it came out as a Katrina benefit, but MAN, I do wish it included fills for those amazing beats.


It's not quite the same as traditional drum fills, but I've incrasingly been using the Stylus RMX Chaos feature to create fills. When dialed to very gentle settings (low percentages) and optionally combined with using Edit Groups, they can give very pleasant results.


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## jcrosby (Jul 13, 2021)

el-bo said:


> I'm still on version 1, also. There are definitely things I would love from version 2, but not enough to justify the upgrade price. Lately, it's been getting more and more frustrating to hit patches that won't load due to them being created with Omnisphere 2-point-whatever (Perhaps @jcrosby would know of a way to exclude all of those  ).
> 
> Can't afford to upgrade, anyway. Even if I could, it makes more sense to hold on for version 3 (I don't reckon it's too far off).


I'm not sure actually el-bo. I've been on Omnisphere 2 since day 1 more or less, it's been forever since I've used v1. Only thing I can think of is using the search box and typing "not omnisphere 2".
You're prolly aware, but if not they have phone support. 
(One of the many other reasons I have infinite respect for Spectrasonics  )



Spectrasonics - The Company


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## jcrosby (Jul 13, 2021)

osterdamus said:


> Is Omnisphere ever on sale? Black Friday, perhaps?


EDIT: Looks like someone else answered before me 

Big box shop sales or classifieds....


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## SupremeFist (Jul 13, 2021)

I love the regular Omnisphere threads (I don't have Omnisphere) because I think at base everyone is really arguing about workflow aesthetics. I can totally understand why some people love having everything in one box in a single clean interface, while for me the idea of 15,000 presets makes me sick, and I never do well trying to search sounds with words, and also I prefer having specialised tools for each job. Eg if I want vintage analog I use u-he/bx/tal/cherry, or maybe I want some Spitfire Labs organic pads, or I just know one of the Triple Spiral Audio libraries will do what I need, or actually Massive X will be perfect... And if I want to mangle samples I generally just make insert fx chains or (very rarely) use Alchemy. 

And of course we have sonic preferences too. All the preset demos of Omni I've heard sound very "flagship rompler".  But in a full mix, where we're not choosing a lead synth sound to be front and centre, I reckon the sonic differences are less important than each person's workflow preferences.


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## jcrosby (Jul 13, 2021)

el-bo said:


> Also, in a similar vein to The Unfinished - Sonic Underworld:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is one of my favorite Sonic Underworld patch libraries. 
(Not currently on sale since it's sold via Luftrum..)


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## Dirtgrain (Jul 13, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> This is one of my favorite Sonic Underworld patch libraries.
> (Not currently on sale since it's sold via Luftrum..)



I love it--reminds me of my favorite video game soundtrack: _Deus X: Human Revolution_


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## shadowsoflight (Jul 13, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> This is one of my favorite Sonic Underworld patch libraries.
> (Not currently on sale since it's sold via Luftrum..)




Luftrum has a sale going on too!


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## jcrosby (Jul 13, 2021)

Dirtgrain said:


> I love it--reminds me of my favorite video game soundtrack: _Deus X: Human Revolution_


Yeah, great soundtrack and parallel. Pandorum has a very dystopian/futuristic vibe.

Another really great Omnisphere library with a similar vibe is GaiKaiJu. (The Unfinished)... It's more tension-focused with a lot of detuned and bending patches. It's basically like a darker, more brooding and uncomfortable cousin to Pandorum.



shadowsoflight said:


> Luftrum has a sale going on too!


Nice! Great timing then!


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## Mike Fox (Jul 13, 2021)

bill5 said:


> Not sure what you mean by "tonal differences." They have diff patches, and in olden days gone by, they were limited in what they could do and so sounded different, but I think those days are pretty much gone with modern synths.
> 
> 
> Nope. I think you can make just about any sound that any soft synth has with a variety of other soft synths, or at least very close to it. And in fact I've heard many patches which did sound veryyy similar to patches on other soft synths, even ones which were diff kinds of synths.


You can definitely make some synths sound very similar to others, no question there (even though that’s still different from making something sound the same.)

But there are huge tonal differences amongst synth libraries, which is exactly why there’s so many of them out there. Developers put their own unique eq, filters, compression, modulation fx, etc. etc. to form their own sound. If that weren’t true I could just buy one and be done with it, but there’s a reason why there’s so many 3rd party Omni synths out there (not so mention all of the synth libs outside of Omni).

Again, compare something like Power Move to Renegade. The variations and differences are obvious. I would be able to tell you which library is which in a blind test, because i know those libraries so well, and they each have their own sound.

And not to sound like a broken record, but i just want to stress the fact that since different developers use different sound sources, and use different recording, mixing, mastering, and manipulation techniques, the results will always sound different. That’s not even debatable, and you can’t ignore the developer thumbprint/DNA that gets stamped and injected into a lot of these synth libraries, because it’s exactly why certain synth libraries have “a sound”.


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## bill5 (Jul 13, 2021)

I think if I replied further we'd be going in circles and neither of us convincing the other, so I'll just agree to disagree.


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## CT (Jul 13, 2021)

SupremeFist said:


> while for me the idea of 15,000 presets makes me sick


I completely get this and normally would have the same perspective, but when it comes to Omnisphere, just to sow some doubt in you, I have for some reason totally embraced the massive versatility it offers. With anything else, that would drive me nuts, but it's part of the appeal for me in this case, to be able to take a quick look through and know that the vast majority of the sounds that might come to hand will yield great results.

I guess maybe I don't mind quantity as long as it's also quality. Often with other synths, dealing with loads of presets, it felt like I was endlessly looking for the few good ones. Omnisphere is more like a grab bag you can't go wrong with.


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## sostenuto (Jul 13, 2021)

...... somehow not enamored with notion of '5' Synths, each with 4K Ptaches, being better .... 🤕


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## NYC Composer (Jul 13, 2021)

Nico5 said:


> It's not quite the same as traditional drum fills, but I've incrasingly been using the Stylus RMX Chaos feature to create fills. When dialed to very gentle settings (low percentages) and optionally combined with using Edit Groups, they can give very pleasant results.


That’s a really good idea, thanks. I underuse Chaos.


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## el-bo (Jul 14, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> I'm not sure actually el-bo. I've been on Omnisphere 2 since day 1 more or less, it's been forever since I've used v1. Only thing I can think of is using the search box and typing "not omnisphere 2".
> You're prolly aware, but if not they have phone support.
> (One of the many other reasons I have infinite respect for Spectrasonics  )
> 
> ...


Thanks, but no dice. I guess there was not even a barebones implementation in v1.

I did get some support from them a couple of years back, regarding some issues. But while they were very helpful at that time, they did make it pretty clear that support for version 1 was no longer guaranteed.

Totally understandable, really. I'll just have to continue to deal with it


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## Soundbed (Jul 14, 2021)

bill5 said:


> I think if I replied further we'd be going in circles and neither of us convincing the other, so I'll just agree to disagree.


I think I understand what @Mike Fox is saying. I initially questioned it because Omni is at its heart a sampler & wavetable synth, so it can sound like the samples you feed it.

But I get what @Mike Fox is saying about Omni, and I also feel copacetic with the underlying premise that two similarly featured softsynths might still have characteristics that make them distinct enough to have "a sound".

When I was very dialed in, I could guess -- usually accurately -- which synths the producers on my label were using in the tracks they set us. Massive was pretty easy, Serum often stood out too.

I used to have a similar position to what you're saying, and I agree on some of the things you're saying.

I used to feel like many differences were less significant in the larger scope of The World and you could pretty much do the same with the basic wave shapes and subtractive synthesis with pretty much any subtractive synth.

Over the years my perceptions changed a bit.

Maybe a poor simile would be *like comparing and contrasting a cornet, flugelhorn, and various other trumpets in different keys*, etc. Sure, they all can play "trumpet-y" parts, but the reason we'd want to pick one over the other for a part would be the more subtle differences.

This video (below) by a well known synth patch programmer helps tease apart the onion layers to dissect what might make one synth have a slightly different "sound" -- or not, decide for yourself.

At the beginning he says, while admitting it's un-scientific, that it's worth playing with the init patches "so that you can hear the difference between the four [wavetable software synths]. Because right there, you can tell a lot of difference, um, in how they sound".

But it's not only the init saw patches (ofc they begin at different loudness levels).

He compares and contrasts reverbs and several other features within each synth.

Of course some synths (incl softsynths) have filters that others just won't have... and we all know how important filters can be, in subtractive synthesis.

At 22:13 he makes a nice comment about Spire vs Serum. The YT video comments are filled with other points in the video where he makes interesting observations. All these little details do indeed add up to a synth's particular "sound" imho.

Not trying to "argue" or even actively disagree... *I agree with your the basic premise* that you can use pretty much any modern soft synth with similar features to make a patch and most people will not hear much difference. I could also argue your position in this thread. But I also agree with the notion that on a more subtle level, considering the strengths of each particular product, there is going to be a bit of a 'sonic signature' leading one to choose a particular synth over another; from a purely sonic perspective.

See what you think?


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## sostenuto (Jul 14, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> I think I understand what @Mike Fox is saying. I initially questioned it because Omni is at its heart a sampler & wavetable synth, so it can sound like the samples you feed it.
> 
> But I get what @Mike Fox is saying about Omni, and I also feel copacetic with the underlying premise that two similarly featured softsynths might still have characteristics that make them distinct enough to have "a sound".
> 
> ...



Pleased to note this reference. Guru has been major Omni Resource for many years.
He has produced so many helpful videos; sharing his depth of synth experience.
Recall this vid, though it goes back several years. THX for fitting this into current discussion. ✌🏻


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## Mike Fox (Jul 14, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> I think I understand what @Mike Fox is saying. I initially questioned it because Omni is at its heart a sampler & wavetable synth, so it can sound like the samples you feed it.
> 
> But I get what @Mike Fox is saying about Omni, and I also feel copacetic with the underlying premise that two similarly featured softsynths might still have characteristics that make them distinct enough to have "a sound".
> 
> ...



Thanks for the elaboration!

Ya know, something very similar takes place amongst guitarists with the whole tube amp vs digital/modeler debate. 

I recently picked up an FM3 after being told that it could easily replace any tube amp, and I can’t tell you how underwhelmed i was by it.

Needless to stay, I’m sticking with my Mesa Triple Rectifier and Fender Princeton.


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## Nico5 (Jul 14, 2021)

Mike Fox said:


> ...
> 
> Ya know, something very similar takes place amongst guitarists with the whole tube amp vs digital/modeler debate.
> 
> ...


exactly! I also recently rented a Helix for a month to see how far the amp modeling had come along since my AX2-212. I lasted for about 2 hours cruising the factory patches - couldn't find a "brown sound" that wasn't actually unpleasant to my ears.

So my Mark V and H&K GrandMeister dual/stereo setup will stay for a while longer. 


But back to the main topic:



sostenuto said:


> Pleased to note this reference. Guru has been major omni Resource for many years.
> He has produced so many helpful videos; sharing his depth of synth experience.


Yes indeed, I also consider John "Skippy" Lehmkuhl as one of the finest synth patch designers of our time (he also did a ton of work for Korg). And it blew me away, when first discovering his YT channel so many years ago, that he was sharing so much of his knowledge - especially around programming Omnsiphere. At the time that was far from common in the professional sound design community. -- And he never started a Patreon or some of the other mechanisms that so many YT teachers use these days. He always just asked people to buy his sound libraries, if they wanted to say thanks for the videos.

Over the years, I ended up buying well over a dozen PluginGuru libraries for Omnisphere - and quite a few others for Stylus RMX and other platforms (drum sound and beat programming is one of his many core competencies).

Side note, for those who may not know yet: He has started to sell and publish libraries for his Unify platform (after hooking up with a talented and equally highly customer service oriented developer Shane Dunne). Pluginguru Unify is an intriguing piece of software that is a combination of plugin-chainer, plugin-host, plugin-bridge, live performance host and more. Also relatively affordable.


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## Mike Fox (Jul 14, 2021)

Nico5 said:


> exactly! I also recently rented a Helix for a month to see how far the amp modeling had come along since my AX2-212. I lasted for about 2 hours cruising the factory patches - couldn't find a "brown sound" that wasn't actually unpleasant to my ears.
> 
> So my Mark V and H&K GrandMeister dual/stereo setup will stay for a while longer.
> 
> ...


Killer setup! 🤘


----------



## robgb (Jul 14, 2021)

I had its predecessor Atmosphere. With all the synths I've got now, I've never felt a need to upgrade, even after Atmosphere stopped working.


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## borisb2 (Jul 14, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> But I get what @Mike Fox is saying about Omni, and I also feel copacetic with the underlying premise that two similarly featured softsynths might still have characteristics that make them distinct enough to have "a sound".


Guess it also depends on what the synth is trying to emulate. Going back to hardware of course Oberheim had a very distinct warmer sound (due to its famous Filters and VCOs etc.) than the much more agressive sounding Prophet 600 as an example. So if 2 given softsynths had any of these characteristics (from 2 different synths) as their model / reference - then naturally they should better sound different .. otherwise its one big GM-synth-mash

On top of that I am in the group preferring having different UIs for different synths. Just yesterday I opened up LuSH-101 for the first time in months and really enjoyed the ride 😋 .. wouldnt have been the same without the Roland-look-and-feel.

On that note, is it possible to change the UI in Omni based on the synth-emulation/category?


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## Mike Fox (Jul 14, 2021)

Plain and simple: different input will result in different output.

Developers aren’t always going to use the same sources, filters, eq, etc., etc., so there will inevitably be sonic differences.

But alright, I’m beating a dead horse now.


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## Nico5 (Jul 14, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> On that note, is it possible to change the UI in Omni based on the synth-emulation/category?


No, it isn't. And it's not really into the emulation thing in that much seriousness. I'm seeing the "emulation" type patches more as whimsical sonic homages to hardware synths that Eric thinks are kind of cool. But do some of the sounds remind you of the hardware synths in a big way? Yes, totally! 

And in the whimsical spirit you can use some of hardware synths as hardware controllers for Omnisphere, but the Omnisphere UI doesn't change to emulate the UI of the original.
p.s. Please everyone: Don't buy Omnisphere - the fewer music makers have it, the more it remains a competitive advantage for me


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## borisb2 (Jul 14, 2021)

Nico5 said:


> p.s. Please everyone: Don't buy Omnisphere - the fewer music makers have it, the more it remains a competitive advantage for me


I will consider it


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## sostenuto (Jul 14, 2021)

Nico5 said:


> No, it isn't. And it's not really into the emulation thing in that much seriousness. I'm seeing the "emulation" type patches more as whimsical sonic homages to hardware synths that Eric thinks are kind of cool. But do some of the sounds remind you of the hardware synths in a big way? Yes, totally!
> 
> And in the whimsical spirit you can use some of hardware synths as hardware controllers for Omnisphere, but the Omnisphere UI doesn't change to emulate the UI of the original.
> p.s. Please everyone: Don't buy Omnisphere - the fewer music makers have it, the more it remains a competitive advantage for me


repeating myself ...... there's always Keyscape ! 🙏🏻 ..... with its _1200 Patches for Omni 2.6_ ?


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## easyrider (Jul 14, 2021)

Omnisphere is a no brainier….


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## Richard- (Jul 14, 2021)

I bought Omnisphere years ago and only have version 1.
Whilst there are numerous alternatives, or combinations of alternative libraries and plugins one can use to get similar results, it is a superb product. Moreover, a single one.

I like what Spectrasonics do and have done in the past, and in some regards have a sense of loyalty to them. As I do with VSL.


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## kgdrum (Jul 14, 2021)

easyrider said:


> Omnisphere is a no brainier….


@easyrider
I hope you don’t mind me using you as an example for the Omnisphere skeptics,the same also actually applies to me.
If someone frequents these forums you might notice other users that are somewhat focused on sales ,finding an extra discount and snagging a useful bargain.
Repeatedly users like @easyrider or myself,users that don’t like paying full price on anything keep saying the most expensive synth in our arsenal: *Omnisphere* is a bargain,a no-brainer and one of our best software purchases of all time.
We are not in a cult ,last time I checked,lol
But we recognize the value of a fully supported piece of software that keeps getting expanded and improved,that other developers would have charged at least 2 paid versions of software upgrades. What does Spectrasonics do? They just keep making a great synth better.👍


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## borisb2 (Jul 14, 2021)

Agree to everything .. maybe I will buy it at some point.

But ... it doesnt like these: 










I neeeed these ...  .. part of the fun for me.

Maybe customized UIs come in a future update?


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## Soundbed (Jul 14, 2021)

Nico5 said:


> it's not really into the emulation thing in that much seriousness. I'm seeing the "emulation" type patches more as whimsical sonic homages to hardware synths that Eric thinks are kind of cool. But do some of the sounds remind you of the hardware synths in a big way? Yes, totally!
> 
> And in the whimsical spirit you can use some of hardware synths as hardware controllers for Omnisphere


What do you mean “whimsical”? The Moog Tribute library doesn’t seem whimsical to me. Using hardware controllers for Omni doesn’t seem whimsical really. What am I missing? Do you mean that it’s not the Arturia V Collection where every emulation is quite specific (and limited in certain ways); instead it’s Omnisphere with the ability to load waveforms and curated patches to sound like some cool vintage stuff?









Spectrasonics - Bob Moog TRIBUTE Library


1300 Inspiring Sounds - 50 Amazing Artists - One Great Cause



www.spectrasonics.net


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## kgdrum (Jul 14, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> Agree to everything .. maybe I will buy it at some point.
> 
> But ... it doesnt like these:
> 
> ...


The funny thing I’ve had the Arturia V-Collection for years(currently V-6) and I honestly can’t remember the last time I used anything in the V-Collection. In all fairness to Arturia supposedly they have been improving their synth emulations but most of their stuff sounded so-so to me and I haven’t been inclined to upgrade as the V-Collection ,which for me has become an afterthought,something I rarely think of using let alone definitely not a 1st or 2nd choice synth.

But Omni? It’s in almost anything and everything I do.


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## Nico5 (Jul 15, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> What do you mean “whimsical”? The Moog Tribute library doesn’t seem whimsical to me. Using hardware controllers for Omni doesn’t seem whimsical really. What am I missing? Do you mean that it’s not the Arturia V Collection where every emulation is quite specific (and limited in certain ways); instead it’s Omnisphere with the ability to load waveforms and curated patches to sound like some cool vintage stuff?


Since I wasn't in the meetings where these libraries were conceived, my use of the word "whimsical" is entirely my subjective perception - and if you find the term inappropriate, you may very well be right. 

What I was trying to express: I find there's a highly appealing playfulness to those libraries, and - as you mentioned - they weren't trying to create an Arturia Collection kind of historical and technical and user interface modelling of the original hardware. -- In my imagination, Eric and his team of sound designers had big smiles on their faces when they created those libraries, and being able to show that with Omnisphere's very flexible soft synth architecture, they could create patches that were convincingly close in sonic character and playability to what you might hear from the various original synths with a variety of architectures. 

And with making the hardware synths featured in the Hardware Sound Library useful as hardware controllers in front of Omnisphere it was (unlike many other modelling efforts) practically an invitation to also buy some of those synths and use them in combination with Omnisphere.

It's probably just my imagination, but I hear not just sonic accuracy, but also joy in those libraries.


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## easyrider (Jul 15, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> @easyrider
> I hope you don’t mind me using you as an example for the Omnisphere skeptics,the same also actually applies to me.
> If someone frequents these forums you might notice other users that are somewhat focused on sales ,finding an extra discount and snagging a useful bargain.
> Repeatedly users like @easyrider or myself,users that don’t like paying full price on anything keep saying the most expensive synth in our arsenal: *Omnisphere* is a bargain,a no-brainer and one of our best software purchases of all time.
> ...


Absolutely not my friend.

A lot of the stuff out there is like the cheap guitars you buy when learning to play as you can’t justify spending a huge amount on the one your really want….


After spending a few grand on lower end guitars you realise you should have just bought that Martin Acoustic for 3 grand in the first place….🤓

Omnisphere is like that…

Yes it’s expensive and yes it never goes on sale but once you get it, you realise a lot of the stuff out there is “white noise”

😂


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## Soundbed (Jul 15, 2021)

Nico5 said:


> Since I wasn't in the meetings where these libraries were conceived, my use of the word "whimsical" is entirely my subjective perception - and if you find the term inappropriate, you may very well be right.
> 
> What I was trying to express: I find there's a highly appealing playfulness to those libraries, and - as you mentioned - they weren't trying to create an Arturia Collection kind of historical and technical and user interface modelling of the original hardware. -- In my imagination, Eric and his team of sound designers had big smiles on their faces when they created those libraries, and being able to show that with Omnisphere's very flexible soft synth architecture, they could create patches that were convincingly close in sonic character and playability to what you might hear from the various original synths with a variety of architectures.
> 
> ...


Got it, thanks for elaborating! Joy!


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## Soundbed (Jul 15, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> The funny thing I’ve had the Arturia V-Collection for years(currently V-6) and I honestly can’t remember the last time I used anything in the V-Collection. In all fairness to Arturia supposedly they have been improving their synth emulations but most of their stuff sounded so-so to me and I haven’t been inclined to upgrade as the V-Collectionas it has become an afterthought something I rarely think of using let alone definitely not a 1st or 2nd choice synth.
> 
> But Omni? It’s in almost anything and everything I do.


I feel exactly the same way. I asked some other synth lovers if I was the only one and it turned into a discussion about how so-so a lot of the original synths sound to modern ears UNTIL you process them with tape and whatever was done in the mix to give them the vibe we romantically associate with them … we agreed our memories of the sounds were somewhat romanticized … the unadorned originals don’t always sparkle straight out of the DI. So Arturia may have gotten them “right” and you still need to do a lot of work to make them sound like the recordings in your memory/imagination.

… in fact this is why many of us were using the UVI vintage vault stuff instead, because it was sampled to sound good and simply sounded usable out of the box, which is more convenient and instantly gratifying.


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## borisb2 (Jul 15, 2021)

Nico5 said:


> And with making the hardware synths featured in the Hardware Sound Library useful as hardware controllers in front of Omnisphere it was an invitation to also buy some of those synths and use them in combination with Omnisphere.


I can‘t imagine one single person in the world who would buy a real Moog or Prophet just to control some bits and bytes in a computer… wishful thinking I would assume


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## sostenuto (Jul 15, 2021)

Maybe worded clumsily, but great way to go far beyond using Keyscape.


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## Artemi (Jul 15, 2021)

I've had a real synth and it's true, it's hard to replicate those filter sweeps with digital synths.

But other than that it comes pretty close, I would say even better sometimes, because no matter how good your sound will be on the analog hardware it's not the easiest thing to record, mix with the other instruments. And you can end up removing all the things you appreciate (eq) in the analog sound to blend with the other instruments.

And when you finally do, you'll realise that your analog sound has become more like some of the Omnisphere patches, hehe 

So you can end up with that software if you goal is to create music without much hesitation.
Omni or not Omni? that;s the question, everyone decides for themselves, if the price is the question maybe one can search for the second hand license, it shows from time to time here in the Sales thread.

But still, if you can, just try those Behringer Neutron or Model D synths, it's undescribable felling of the real analog filtering


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## NYC Composer (Jul 15, 2021)

I had a MicroMoog, a Polymoog and an Oberheim Obx-a as my synths back in the 80's.

The service problems were constant, the PolyMoog in particular, and the Micromoog once decided to vary a fifth or so on every note-WHILE I was playing synth bass on it in front of 15,000 people.

Analog had a great sound back then. I like these days better. Close enough for me, considering the convenience and MIDI.


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## Double Helix (Jul 15, 2021)

NYC Composer said:


> . . .and the Micromoog once decided to vary a fifth or so on every note-WHILE I was playing synth bass on it in front of 15,000 people. . .


Well, if the audience does not understand jazz, there's not much you can do. . .


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## SupremeFist (Jul 16, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> I can‘t imagine one single person in the world who would buy a real Moog or Prophet just to control some bits and bytes in a computer… wishful thinking I would assume


Surely it works the other way, in that Omnisphere is more attractive than other soft-synths if you already have a hardware synth that it integrates so well with. I know I'll be taking a closer look at omni if (when) I finally get a nice hardware poly...


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## Double Helix (Jul 16, 2021)

+1
I was happily surprised when I saw the introduction of hardware integration because I already had two supported synths: Moog Subsequent37 and Korg Radias (tbh, I have used the Sub37 but not the Radias yet--maybe that will be a fun project for the weekend)


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## Casiquire (Jul 16, 2021)

SupremeFist said:


> Surely it works the other way, in that Omnisphere is more attractive than other soft-synths if you already have a hardware synth that it integrates so well with. I know I'll be taking a closer look at omni if (when) I finally get a nice hardware poly...


Why does that make Omni more attractive? Just curious!


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## SupremeFist (Jul 16, 2021)

Casiquire said:


> Why does that make Omni more attractive? Just curious!


If I have a choice between a softsynth I can control using the knobs and sliders on my hardware, rather than the mouse, vs one I can't, the former is more attractive?


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## Casiquire (Jul 16, 2021)

SupremeFist said:


> If I have a choice between a softsynth I can control using the knobs and sliders on my hardware, rather than the mouse, vs one I can't, the former is more attractive?


Sure but don't most of us already have a bunch of knobs and controllers we use every day we can just link up? Or is it significantly different? You're talking to something of a synth noob!


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## SupremeFist (Jul 16, 2021)

Casiquire said:


> Sure but don't most of us already have a bunch of knobs and controllers we use every day we can just link up? Or is it significantly different? You're talking to something of a synth noob!


Yeah but imagine if your physical filter-cutoff slider/knob on your hardware synth just automatically controlled filter cutoff in the software, rather than having to manually map it (and all the other controls) each time to numerous different plugins? (Komplete Kontrol is some of the way there, which is great, but the knobs don't do the same thing across different synths.)


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## Casiquire (Jul 16, 2021)

SupremeFist said:


> Yeah but imagine if your physical filter-cutoff slider/knob on your hardware synth just automatically controlled filter cutoff in the software, rather than having to manually map it (and all the other controls) each time to numerous different plugins? (Komplete Kontrol is some of the way there, which is great, but the knobs don't do the same thing across different synths.)


Ok I see. Thanks! It's a whole world for me to learn about. Seems like the benefit is really for people who are already familiar with hardware synths


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## proxima (Jul 16, 2021)

Casiquire said:


> Ok I see. Thanks! It's a whole world for me to learn about. Seems like the benefit is really for people who are already familiar with hardware synths


I think the benefit is for people who are familiar with _their_ hardware synth. And if you buy one, you have lots of incentive to really get to learn it through and through.

Still, it can give one pause to turn an expensive hardware synth into a glorified midi controller. Still a lot of fun and super interesting to see how Omnisphere made the mappings! It was also way more than I'd want to do myself.


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## borisb2 (Jul 16, 2021)

SupremeFist said:


> Surely it works the other way, in that Omnisphere is more attractive than other soft-synths if you already have a hardware synth that it integrates so well with. I know I'll be taking a closer look at omni if (when) I finally get a nice hardware poly...


But why would I use the softsynth if I can have the original? Surely the possibility to automate everything is tempting but if the sound is really 1 to 1 I would sell the original for probably good money .. but I don‘t buy that the sound will be 100% the same


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## proxima (Jul 16, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> But why would I use the softsynth if I can have the original? Surely the possibility to automate everything is tempting but if the sound is really 1 to 1 I would sell the original for probably good money .. but I don‘t buy that the sound will be 100% the same


Because it's not just about emulating the hardware you have (though it's interesting to see how closely Omnisphere can get). It's also about starting with what your hardware can do and adding in what it can't: sound sources, modulation types, etc.


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## Nico5 (Jul 17, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> But why would I use the softsynth if I can have the original?


I have a real DX 7 and Dexed. 

For my DX 7 tracks, I always use Dexed, because

it's easier to program
it remembers it's settings in the project
I can create and recall presets in my DAW combining the soft-synth with various fx already added and dialed in
pots don't need cleaning
it has midi velocity up to 127 (the real original DX only had velocity up to 100, unless you installed something like the E! add-on board
it's quicker / easier to load new banks of 32 sounds from the myriads I have on disk, compared to trying to find, purchase, store and swap in/out dozens of cartriges

I also have a real Juno 60, but for my tracks I almost always use Omnisphere for Juno 60 type sounds, because:

it remembers it's settings for the project
pots don't need cleaning
modulation possibilities beyond the original
I can include fx in a patch
and most often, because Eric (or another outstanding sound designer) has already made an amazing patch with everything dialed in - including great FX - and I can tweak their patches to my liking.
...but that's just me and my current workflow - others may feel differently - and one day I may get attracted to the additional work required to use the original synths in my projects.


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## borisb2 (Jul 17, 2021)

DX-7 looks cooler. 😋 .. that thing is history .. (still have one as well)

I do get your point. I had a Juno 106 but sold it at some point. .. still looking for a Prophet 600 sometimes though.


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## Nico5 (Jul 17, 2021)

borisb2 said:


> DX-7 looks cooler. 😋


yes indeed - and that's why DX 7 and the Juno 60 still sit proudly in my studio


----------



## Technostica (Jul 17, 2021)

It's getting a bit like a Scientology meeting in here.
Has Tom Cruise released a Mission Impossible themed soundpack for Omnishpere yet?


----------



## Ivan M. (Jul 17, 2021)

I'm so hesitant about buying Omnisphere. Judging by reviews, it's a general purpose synth, a synth for everything. But is it exceptional in everything? In the end, will you use omnisphere patch or a specialized synth or sample library? I've listened to sound demos, and they sound ok to great, but not like something I can't do with what I already have. I just don't know... Then again, I'm very frugal and don't like hoarding synths and only buy what I really need. So far, I haven't heard a demo that would definitelly push me to buy. It has good pads, right? I like pads, but don't need them now xD


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## Markrs (Jul 17, 2021)

Ivan M. said:


> I'm so hesitant about buying Omnisphere. Judging by reviews, it's a general purpose synth, a synth for everything. But is it exceptional in everything? In the end, will you use omnisphere patch or a specialized synth or sample library? I've listened to sound demos, and they sound ok to great, but not like something I can't do with what I already have. I just don't know... Then again, I'm very frugal and don't like hoarding synths and only buy what I really need. So far, I haven't heard a demo that would definitelly push me to buy. It has good pads, right? I like pads, but don't need them now xD


For me (and this might only be just me) the speciality of it is top-notch synthesis with samples in a patch. The fact you then can have multi-patch to layer or use those sounds at different times using the sequencer.

I don't think pads are really Omnisphere's strength.


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## Ivan M. (Jul 17, 2021)

Markrs said:


> For me (and this might only be just me) the speciality of it is top-notch synthesis with samples in a patch. The fact you then can have multi-patch to layer or use those sounds at different times using the sequencer.
> 
> I don't think pads are really Omnisphere's strength.


So it's good for sound design?


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## Markrs (Jul 17, 2021)

Ivan M. said:


> So it's good for sound design?


Absolutely, especially if you want to use samples. However, I don't think it is necessarily better than others at synthesis based sound design, or mangling sounds (personally think Pigments 3 is great at that). It is more that you can incorporate multiple samples with synthesis to almost create new instruments. You can also have different samples/synth appear or disappear using the sequencer as you hold a note or chord.

I don't think Omnisphere is essential. I think there are lots of great synths out there for a lot less money that can do subtractive, additive or granular synthesis equally well, if not better, and I think Kontakt is better with samples. It just combines a lot of those elements together in one synth very well.


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## el-bo (Jul 17, 2021)

Markrs said:


> I don't think pads are really Omnisphere's strength.


I’d disagree. What I think is that many of the pads that come in the factory library (Bare in mind I’m still only on V1.6) are perhaps a bit out-dated and are of course subject to the tastes if the designers.

What I think makes it particularly good for pads is that they can be built on some incredible sampled source material. This of course means either having to roll up one’s sleeves and build from-scratch, or buying soundsets from those designers who know how to get the best out of the included sources, and/or who provide their own r.g The Unfinished and Sonic Underworld


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## Markrs (Jul 17, 2021)

el-bo said:


> I’d disagree. What I think is that many of the pads that come in the factory library (Bare in mind I’m still only on V1.6) are perhaps a bit out-dated and are of course subject to the tastes if the designers.
> 
> What I think makes it particularly good for pads is that they can be built on some incredible sampled source material. This of course means either having to roll up one’s sleeves and build from-scratch, or buying soundsets from those designers who know how to get the best out of the included sources, and/or who provide their own r.g The Unfinished and Sonic Underworld


You are right that it does great pads, but for me loads of synths do great pads as do hundreds of Kontakt libraries. I think it's strength is in using samples more as an instrument than a pad is where it shines.


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## el-bo (Jul 17, 2021)

Markrs said:


> You are right that it does great pads, but for me loads of synths do great pads as do hundreds of Kontakt libraries. I think it's strength is in using samples more as an instrument than a pad is where it shines.


While it is true that there are now a lot of competitors, it wasn’t always the same. I think a lot of Omnisphere’s reputation still comes from that period of time when it was (I’d say) both the best pad and soundscape machine. In the right hands I think it still is, or perhaps will be with the inclusion of more robust and deeper sample-import functionality.

If one is already heavily invested in synths and Kontakt libraries it’s definitely harder to recommend. For someone at the start of their journey, a chance taken on the greater initial investment, along with an interest in plundering the soundsource library, could really end up being the only instrument necessary. A lot of wasted time and money could be avoided.

Just an opinion, of course. Ultimately, I think we’re kinda on the same page, though.


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## Soundbed (Jul 17, 2021)

Nico5 said:


> pots don't need cleaning


The DX7 has pots?


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## Ivan M. (Jul 17, 2021)

el-bo said:


> could really end up being the only instrument necessary. A lot of wasted time and money could be avoided.


Seems similar to Komplete, general purpose thing that attempts to get you covered for everything. However, NI puts different products, instruments and synths into the package which makes it more flexible, I guess. Omni seems analogous to the hardware synths, just in software realm.


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## Soundbed (Jul 17, 2021)

Ivan M. said:


> I'm so hesitant about buying Omnisphere. Judging by reviews, it's a general purpose synth, a synth for everything. But is it exceptional in everything? In the end, will you use omnisphere patch or a specialized synth or sample library?


It’s not exceptional in everything of course, but it’s exceptional in many things and it keeps getting updated (for free). I’ll use it first for most things. I have dozens of ‘specialty’ synths gathering digital dust.

I think what many of us are saying is that we bought many cheaper synths and bundles first — BUT it might have been smarter and more economical to buy Omni first, and then supplement with a couple others.


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## Markrs (Jul 17, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> I think what many of us are saying is that we bought many cheaper synths and bundles first — BUT it might have been smarter and more economical to buy Omni first, and then supplement with a couple others.


Absolutely, you probably only need Omni, but I like having more visual synths like Vital and Pigments as well.

Vital is a great freebie (as is Surge), and Pigments is often pretty cheap when on sale (I got it for $69 because I had a freebie from Arturia that brought the price down) and updates have been free.

I enjoy some retro synths, but truth is I probably wouldn't miss them much if I didn't have them. Of course, I bought most of those after getting Omni because they were cheap, and you know.... GAS


----------



## Trash Panda (Jul 17, 2021)

I picked up Hive, Diva, Zebra 2/DZ, and Omnisphere. Omnisphere is all I use these days, but it’s nice to have the others as options.


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## sostenuto (Jul 17, 2021)

Started with early Omni /Trilian /StylusRMX, yet these u-he favs have always been tempting.



Huge set of Omni _3rd Pty libs_ ( PluginGuru, PlugHugger, The Unfinished, Luftrum, MIDIssonance, String Audio, et al, have added immensely to Omni usefulness, enjoyment!


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## el-bo (Jul 17, 2021)

Ivan M. said:


> Seems similar to Komplete, general purpose thing that attempts to get you covered for everything. However, NI puts different products, instruments and synths into the package which makes it more flexible, I guess. Omni seems analogous to the hardware synths, just in software realm.


I'd say Kontakt/Komplete would inherently be more flexible. However, Omnisphere is no slouch in that department. But having all it's power under one unified interface (Komplete obviously can't replikate this) is just one aspect of it's OMNI-powers.

Take a listen to any of the preset walkthroughs, from these two guys. While some of the sounds rely on the importing of their own bespoke samples, much of them start out life in the more-than-60 gig Omni sound-source library.






The Unfinished | Store







www.theunfinished.co.uk







Store – Sonic Underworld


----------



## Reid Rosefelt (Jul 17, 2021)

I make a lot of templates: Pianos, Electric Pianos, Electric Guitars, Ambiant Guitars, Simple Pads, Pads With motion, Chinese Instruments, etc. So for example, I make a template for Simple Pads, and Pads With Motion.

When I'm doing a pad template, I go through everything I own and search for my very, very favorites. So, for example, with Falcon I go through the Falcon library and all the Falcon Expansions I own. Using a NKS template I bought, I can just select "pads" and go through all of them. Then there are all the synths I own and over a dozen libraries I own that are just pads. I pull pads out from all kinds of things, from Tarilonte to Strezov.

Over time I pare these templates down until they are the Best of the Best of the Best.

Since I have been doing this there has not been one time when I haven't chosen Omnisphere for any of my tracks. The Omni patches are so much better than the others for what I need for my different kinds of tracks. Admittedly I do own many third-party libraries, but most of my favorites come right out of what comes with Omnisphere.

A lot of people say Omnisphere is too big to search through. It is overwhelming. But so is the huge collection of synths I own.

The ONLY way I know how to get the most out of the products that I own is to do these templates. If I wand the best piano for a track, I like to take the MIDI on a dozen or more pianos from my template and see what works best with my song. All of you may have a better idea, but that's what I've come up with.

So yeah, I do think that if you compare similar instruments head-to-head to Omni/Keyscape/Trilian, you will be surprised by how often you use them. But that's not even 1% of the reason to get Omni.

There are hundreds of really inspiring patches that only exist in Omnisphere. Just spend a little time in the vocals section, for starters. It's unbelievable.

And then if it interests you to go beyond presets and do your own programming, then the options are huge. It's not like you have to be a sound design genius or even watch a lot of PluginGuru videos. You just have to say, "I wonder what this Hans Zimmer guitar sound or this vocal would be like with this pad?" Or whatever. Load the sounds and five minutes later you're playing it. It comes with a lot of stuff and it's pretty simple to use. Of course, it is as deep as you want to make it, as watching a few PluginGuru videos will show you.


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## el-bo (Jul 17, 2021)

TigerTheFrog said:


> Since I have been doing this there has not been one time when I haven't chosen Omnisphere for any of my tracks. The Omni patches are so much better than the others for what I need for my different kinds of tracks. Admittedly I do own many third-party libraries, but most of my favorites come right out of what comes with Omnisphere.


I remember you talking about this in one of the 'Round-table' podcast episodes, and being quite surprised that it would still come out on top in many cases.



TigerTheFrog said:


> A lot of people say Omnisphere is too big to search through. It is overwhelming. But so is the huge collection of synths I own.


Good point!



TigerTheFrog said:


> There are hundreds of really inspiring patches that only exist in Omnisphere. Just spend a little time in the vocals section, for starters. It's unbelievable.


The jazz stacks are so much fun. I've enjoyed many a moment throwing random shapes onto the keyboard, and revelling in the 'Manhattan Transfer'-ness of it all


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## Reid Rosefelt (Jul 17, 2021)

el-bo said:


> The jazz stacks are so much fun. I've enjoyed many a moment throwing random shapes onto the keyboard, and revelling in the 'Manhattan Transfer'-ness of it all


I love the jazz stacks and have played them for hours. But there are also all kinds of solo vocals and choirs and chants. There are gospel patches--not many other libraries have this. 

To me, that's a good way to get to know Omni. Pick one folder and explore it. 

PS You listen to the podcast????


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## toddkreuz (Jul 17, 2021)

I dont see myself on my deathbed wishing i hadn't bought that last soft synth.

Life is short, do what you love. Get what you want. Have fun. We're all gonna die. LOL


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## gzapper (Jul 17, 2021)

TigerTheFrog said:


> I love the jazz stacks and have played them for hours. But there are also all kinds of solo vocals and choirs and chants. There are gospel patches--not many other libraries have this.
> 
> To me, that's a good way to get to know Omni. Pick one folder and explore it.
> 
> PS You listen to the podcast????


The sample library inside Omni is really the star of the show. Not only all the samples of analog waves, but the noise, glitch, world, vocal and the treated or prepared acoustic sampled sounds. That's where other synths miss out, you can't dig into the sample selections and find something close to what you are looking for or just add your own the same way. Probably Pigments is better for building your own patches from scratch with samples, the granular thing there is much better and the rest of it a bit more powerful, but Omni just has such a deep selection of samples in its engine.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Jul 17, 2021)

gzapper said:


> The sample library inside Omni is really the star of the show. Not only all the samples of analog waves, but the noise, glitch, world, vocal and the treated or prepared acoustic sampled sounds. That's where other synths miss out, you can't dig into the sample selections and find something close to what you are looking for or just add your own the same way. Probably Pigments is better for building your own patches from scratch with samples, the granular thing there is much better and the rest of it a bit more powerful, but Omni just has such a deep selection of samples in its engine.


Plus you can bring your own samples in, which is something that third-party programmers often do.


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## InLight-Tone (Jul 17, 2021)

This thread is making me tired...


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## el-bo (Jul 17, 2021)

TigerTheFrog said:


> To me, that's a good way to get to know Omni. Pick one folder and explore it.


I've always been a lot more scattered in my approach, Perhaps it's time to get more methodical.



TigerTheFrog said:


> PS You listen to the podcast????


Of course! Don't you remember our conversation?


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## el-bo (Jul 17, 2021)

InLight-Tone said:


> This thread is making me tired...


Why?


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## Scottyb (Jul 17, 2021)

TigerTheFrog said:


> I love the jazz stacks and have played them for hours. But there are also all kinds of solo vocals and choirs and chants. There are gospel patches--not many other libraries have this.
> 
> To me, that's a good way to get to know Omni. Pick one folder and explore it.
> 
> PS You listen to the podcast????


Some of the vocal stuff included is amazing and also comes VERY close to sounding live! Very playable and has fooled more than a few people into wondering who was doing vocals. :-P 

Also. Podcast watcher/listener here as well!


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## InLight-Tone (Jul 17, 2021)

el-bo said:


> Why?


Umm, maybe cause it reminds me of KVR!


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## el-bo (Jul 17, 2021)

InLight-Tone said:


> Umm, maybe cause it reminds me of KVR!


Interesting. I've been in tons of Omnisphere discussions over the the years on KVR. They are typically characterised by a lot of negativity from folk, for whatever reason. The word 'Fanboy' gets thrown around a lot, by those who aren't just happy to let others' enthused by a particular synth to talk positively about said instrument. In the end it just always seems to descend into a shameful mess, not dissimilar to how Mac vs PC threads generally end up.

I don't see any of that, here. It's a completely different experience.

Of course, the one similarity between this and similar threads on KVR is that it's not obligatory to follow. So if you're finding it tiring, why not do something different instead?


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## Markrs (Jul 17, 2021)

I agree with @el-bo whilst there is some good love for Omnisphere, I think there are comments on its strengths and weaknesses. Comments have also pointed out that using other synths or Kontakt can do a lot of what Omni does, sometimes better.


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## sostenuto (Jul 17, 2021)

Scottyb said:


> Some of the vocal stuff included is amazing and also comes VERY close to sounding live! Very playable and has fooled more than a few people into wondering who was doing vocals. :-P
> 
> Also. Podcast watcher/listener here as well!


Also _ Tuvan Male / Mid phr content ( Choral FX Miserere, Morte, et al ) has been amazing free Upgrade long ago.


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## Henu (Jul 17, 2021)

Thanks guys, now I want to buy Pandorum, Equilibrium and Lunaris. >.<


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## Reid Rosefelt (Jul 17, 2021)

Henu said:


> Thanks guys, now I want to buy Pandorum, Equilibrium and Lunaris. >.<


Didn’t you hear? Eric Persing just purchased those three libraries. They are part of a free upgrade to Omnisphere.


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## Nico5 (Jul 17, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> The DX7 has pots?


Well, it’s a volume slider - not sure if that counts as a pot


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## bill5 (Jul 17, 2021)

el-bo said:


> For someone at the start of their journey, a chance taken on the greater initial investment, along with an interest in plundering the soundsource library, could really end up being the only instrument necessary. A lot of wasted time and money could be avoided.


It could be. But for most people, $500 is one hell of a chance to take. And if they take it and it turns out it's overkill or otherwise wasn't worth it, that's one seriously expensive $500 mistake. There are so many great inexpensive and even free synths out there, they should start with that (esp the free ones, no money lost) and see if it gets them where they want to go. IMO odds are very good they will.

It's like telling someone just starting out building a home studio they should get an RME Babyface AI vs a Behringer 202 because "it might be all they ever need." Well so could the Behringer and for tons less money. It makes no sense when you're just starting out to spend top dollar when it's likely unnecessary and esp since you might not be sure just how much you need. I'll take a $50 mistake over a $500 one any day. Of course circumstances vary and it's impossible to say for any one person...I'm sure there are people who tried less expensive synths and then got Omnisphere and wish they'd done that right out of the gate, but hindsight's 20/20 (and I'm also quite sure there are a lot of people who got synths costing far less and it worked out great and are glad they didn't spend the money for Omni).


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## bill5 (Jul 17, 2021)

el-bo said:


> The jazz stacks are so much fun. I've enjoyed many a moment throwing random shapes onto the keyboard, and revelling in the 'Manhattan Transfer'-ness of it all


Hey that sounds really........

NO I'm not listening NANANANA


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## borisb2 (Jul 17, 2021)

TigerTheFrog said:


> Didn’t you hear? Eric Persing just purchased those three libraries. They are part of a free upgrade to Omnisphere.


Wow, is Eric getting the Jeff Bezos of softsynth/sound distributing?


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## Technostica (Jul 19, 2021)

Currently £271.20 with code at eBay UK.








Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 Boxed + USB Drive Synth Synthesizer Plugin Software | eBay


Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 Boxed + USB Drive Synth Synthesizer Plugin Software at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.



www.ebay.co.uk


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## Double Helix (Jul 19, 2021)

Technostica said:


> *Currently £271.20 with code at eBay UK.*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


My handy currency converter indicates ~$374 -- quite a saving from list price!

EDIT However


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## Soundbed (Jul 20, 2021)

fwiw…

New at https://www.jrrshop.com/ with coupon code: FORUM — Ominsphere comes down to $426.31.

If you wait and are on the musiciansfriend/guitarcenter mailing lists, they sometimes have 20% off coupons which will work on Omnisphere (be sure to calculate tax).

I got mine this way for about $412 in the US with taxes.


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## el-bo (Jul 20, 2021)

bill5 said:


> It could be. But for most people, $500 is one hell of a chance to take. And if they take it and it turns out it's overkill or otherwise wasn't worth it, that's one seriously expensive $500 mistake. There are so many great inexpensive and even free synths out there, they should start with that (esp the free ones, no money lost) and see if it gets them where they want to go. IMO odds are very good they will.
> 
> It's like telling someone just starting out building a home studio they should get an RME Babyface AI vs a Behringer 202 because "it might be all they ever need." Well so could the Behringer and for tons less money. It makes no sense when you're just starting out to spend top dollar when it's likely unnecessary and esp since you might not be sure just how much you need. I'll take a $50 mistake over a $500 one any day. Of course circumstances vary and it's impossible to say for any one person...I'm sure there are people who tried less expensive synths and then got Omnisphere and wish they'd done that right out of the gate, but hindsight's 20/20 (and I'm also quite sure there are a lot of people who got synths costing far less and it worked out great and are glad they didn't spend the money for Omni).


Well, I shoulda been clearer: I don't mean at the very start of the journey. But when people start looking towards buying synths, then it becomes a contender. At full-price, it is a risk. However, it can be sold. So the risk is somewhat reduced. And taking the chance on the nfr option, I've seen 2nd-hand copies selling for as little as $250.

Of course, synth regret can happen at any price. However, Omni is much more than just a synth. There are many who regret not buying it sooner, or owning it but letting it sit unused, who also lament a ton of wasted money on Kontakt libraries, so far is the included library's potential reach.


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## el-bo (Jul 20, 2021)

bill5 said:


> Hey that sounds really........
> 
> NO I'm not listening NANANANA


NANANANA HEY-EH-EH...Goodbye


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## el-bo (Jul 20, 2021)

bill5 said:


> Hey that sounds really........
> 
> NO I'm not listening NANANANA


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