What's new

Omnisphere 2.5 update is now live!

Very exciting!
Just a heads up you'll have to reinstall your 3rd party Multi patches I've discovered.

Getting late so will check several tomorrow, but Pluginguru MegaMagic Viola Multis loaded and played normally.
Hope only some Multis /3rd parties' are impacted.
More later.
 
Very exciting!
Just a heads up you'll have to reinstall your 3rd party Multi patches I've discovered.

I had no problems with loading up multis from 3rd parties (from my own company, but also from Pluginguru and TheUnfinished loaded fine)
 
Yep, I understood that. But the physical controls are kind of the point, it seems to me. I don’t want to just call up presets ... I want to be able to twiddle knobs and tweak.

What I’d like to do is figure out a way to control one or more of these synth interfaces using the knobs, buttons and sliders on a Novation Impulse controller, probably combined with a 2nd controller (like an MPD32) to have enough controls. I suppose I’d need to know what the supported hardware synths send for MIDI data in order to emulate that. Alas, I don’t think using MIDI learn on Omnisphere’s standard controls is going to get it done.

We have similar but different goals. My interest is getting something tablet-based working. It has a big obvious drawback - just a touchscreen. But I’d never liked the generic controller model because it’s ergonomics are always so terrible. Of the two, I’d rather have a decent representation of the synth but without physical controls. I see it as a super-useful try before you buy real hardware.

I got about 8 synths working pretty good using Lemur (a HUGE lot of work on NRPN). I discovered I didn’t, in fact, want to buy a System 1M, so really did serve a purpose, while the Prophet 6 or OBx were much more interesting. But I became demoralised with the extremely flaky windows connection, and eventually abandoned. Midi Designer 2 looks much better in use, but I’m not sure I’m up for devoting so much time to getting it working, and at the very least I’d need to be confident that the system worked and was rugged.
 
I just tried to load the 3rd party multis on my 2nd machine after installing the update there and everything seemed to work fine this time.
Not sure why I had issues with my 1st machine as I know I had everything originally installed but it could have been because I had a few issues copying my steam folder a while back.
Anyway all is good and was probably just an isolated issue on my end so no need to reinstall.
I really love the new update! Great job Spectrasonics!
 
I've managed to "resist" OmniSphere, but I have to say that the demo and 2.5 features are making me reconsider.
 
Well, I'm happy to report that I hooked up my old Clavia Nord Lead 1... and everything works great! It's very cool to see the tweakage on the Nord knobs on the Omni UI.

Makes me think about the Nord sounds/knobs in a different way...which is fun! I may leave it hooked up... ; )
 
I often see words like "game changer" being thrown out there only to be left in disappointment. If there's such thing as "game changer", Omnisphere 2.5 is a serious contender to the title. This level of intimacy with a softsynth is something unprecedented. I plugged my Virus, started twisting knobs and totally forgot I was playing a VST. This is not your regular MIDI learn solution. When you touch a control, Omnisphere follows what you are doing and jumps to a specific page, just like you would expect from a hardware synth. The integration is so deep that when I select an effect on my Virus, say a chorus, it loads a chorus on screen. Of course, you are limited to what your controller can do, but it's like you are teaching all these new cool tricks to your synthesizer and injecting some new life into it.

You now have a total of 14.000 patches that don't sound like crap haha Omnisphere has always been my desert island VST, it's all about instant gratification. And all of that for free... God bless Spectrasonics!
 
Wow, it's amazing when something that you didn't think you even needed or were even interested in turns out to be the most amazing thing ever. I didn't really know what to think about the update, didn't really pay attention. But I connected my Dave Smith P12 and it's like mind blowing. Makes interacting with Omnisphere feel just like a hardware synth. In fact, I really wasn't totally in love with the sound of my DSP12, but now I would never get rid of it because it makes interacting with Omnisphere so much fun. Omnisphere is for me a desert island synth - I don't think there's any sound that you couldn't get pretty close to with it and this hardware integration adds a whole new dimension. I haven't even begun to tap into the new sounds. And to think this is FREE seems almost unfair....
 
I've managed to "resist" OmniSphere, but I have to say that the demo and 2.5 features are making me reconsider.
I "resisted" it for a long time, or rather my pocketbook did, as I considered it rather pricey. But even before this update, it's not at all expensive when you consider how much you get. It's arguably the best VI ever created.

I downloaded the update, but will wait for a bit to install, until the dust settles... The granular page seems way cool...
 
What I find really interesting about your experiences zolhof and jeffc is that it seems to confirm a pet theory I've had for a long time that often the big advantage of hardware isn't sonic. There's still a bit of snobbery around that looks down on the sound of soft synths, and while yes some sound better than others a quality product like Omni has always sounded very good

Hardware is pretty much just about the buttons, but that's not to play it down. The buttons are amazing, you work differently with them. That's a nice thing about those 1,000 presets incidentally, they could have been designed just using Omni but you'd have got different results.

These conversations often come back to the same thing - the lack of a decent hardware controller, laid out actually like a synth (no current controller comes close to cutting it imo). It seems kinda nuts to blow a few grand on some of these models when you don't even need to plug in the audio jacks.
 
What I find really interesting about your experiences zolhof and jeffc is that it seems to confirm a pet theory I've had for a long time that often the big advantage of hardware isn't sonic. There's still a bit of snobbery around that looks down on the sound of soft synths, and while yes some sound better than others a quality product like Omni has always sounded very good

Hardware is pretty much just about the buttons, but that's not to play it down. The buttons are amazing, you work differently with them. That's a nice thing about those 1,000 presets incidentally, they could have been designed just using Omni but you'd have got different results.

These conversations often come back to the same thing - the lack of a decent hardware controller, laid out actually like a synth (no current controller comes close to cutting it imo). It seems kinda nuts to blow a few grand on some of these models when you don't even need to plug in the audio jacks.


Totally have to agree with you on this. In fact, there was one point that I thought I was hearing the hardware synth, but was on the wrong track and it was actually Omnisphere. The hardware control makes all the difference and makes it come alive, as opposed to being static in the box where you really have to work to bring all of the filters and such to life. But if eyes were closed, I think there are very few people who would be able to pick whether a sound is hardware of software.
 
I would have to agree, except I'd probably say the big advantage of hardware over software is not always sonic, but it is always (for me) the interaction.

I still (often) use an SCI Drumtracks to program drum patterns. There is just something magical (for me) about pounding out the pattern on those buttons.

There are a couple hardware synthesizers I am unwilling to retire, and only one of them (Roland MKS-80) has a MIDI port. If I could find a software synth that sounded as good I'd ditch it. Mostly, I suppose, because I was not smart enough to purchase the programmer for it way back when.

The other two are older, an ARP 2600 and a Korg MS-20. The Wayoutware TimewARP2600 comes scary close to the sound of the hardware, and in this case it is solely about the knobs, buttons, and patch cords. The Korg MS-20 is not as close an emulation, but I really like the way it sounds, so I keep both. And again I find the physical control surface makes a difference, ironically they have such a beast. Go figure!

While pricey (very pricey) some here might be interested in the Stereoping range of controllers.
 
It seems kinda nuts to blow a few grand on some of these models when you don't even need to plug in the audio jacks.
I certainly wouldn't do it. On the other hand at a few hundred dollars, the Novation Bass Station II (see video below at 11:17) might be worth the investment as an Omnisphere controller; and of course, the used market might be worth a look.



Best,

Geoff
 
Right now I would be cautious of buying one of these hardware synths the sole purpose of controlling Omnisphere. They are going to be adding more hardware synths, and soon from the sound of their comments. It probably makes more sense to wait until we know what all the options will be. But if you were planning on buying one of these synths anyway, then this is nice justification to make that purchase.
 
I'm a big admirer of this concept, and they've executed it so well, but having lived with the idea for a few months, it is.... well... a bit odd. The excitement of the demos is the ability to flit from synth to synth and marvel at how great Omni sounds while doing so. Somehow I don't think a lone tiny Juno 106 or a Bass station in my space-constrained studio will quite fulfil this potential, a very limited set of controls on just one profile. It would offer a few bells and whistles above the hardware, but it obviously falls well short of the potential inherent in Hardware Control.

A Lemur / Midi Designer Pro solution feels closer in that you can switch synths at the touch of a button and get close to an authentic layout, but that lack of tactility is all-important. As it is, its a lovely toe in the water, a chance to get a feel for the real things in all their variety for little outlay, but clearly its no end game.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... the world needs a proper synth controller. Intelligently laid out with real knobs and a great clear display - my idea is physical knobs on translucent strips laid over a touchscreen in familiar patterns, and by colour shading and design tweaks on the screen below be able to dynamically adapt to different models. Nothing like this yet exists, and I applaud Spectrasonics for eschewing the current generation of impoverished midi controllers all based around the paradigm of mixers, not synths. They've undoubtedly created a more limited, yet more satisfying experience by doing so. And hopefully this will open up a new way to go.

So I think I'm with kriskrause. This feels like an exciting step forward, but only really hinting at where we should end up. Hopefully someone can really grab the bull by the horns over the next couple of years.
 
I don't think we've arrived at the Holy Grail yet, either; but there have been promising attempts at a synth/workstation controller. For example, I think Akai jumped out of the gate pretty strong with VIP and its https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/akai-advance-49 (Advance) line of controllers, but the world seems to be rallying behind NKS instead (and of course, Native Instruments is doing a better job at following up on the concept).

Best,

Geoff
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom