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Omnisphere


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I'm surprised zircon hasn't already started this thread. So who here has it, and if not, who's planning on getting it? I got mine installed just before I went to the Expo, so I haven't hardly had time to play with it, but it has some absolutely breathtaking sounds. Here's a quick sample of just one of the pads I opened up and recorded on the spot, totally unprocessed, this is raw, out of the box sound.

Click Here

So far, I love it. I'm really excited about this synth!

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I didn't make a thread because I'm too busy playing with Omnisphere. Words don't really do it justice. The synthesis & fx alone are amazing (some of the distorted sounds are SICK) but the sampling and sample processing is what's really out of this world... I spent like 30 minutes playing with the tesla coil sound alone....

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Sounds really cool, but I have enough to worry about with paying off credit cards and getting ready to start paying off my fiancees student loans right now. Unfortunately for me, being out of debt wins over having a new synth to play with. Maybe when I have some more expendible income though since this does sound pretty awesome. I'll have to add it to my favourites list so I don't forget.

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Well, a number of things...

1. The synthesis engine itself - eg. waveforms being generated using mathematical algorithms and processed thereafter - is incredibly powerful. You've got simple subtractive, FM, various types of unison, hard sync, ring modulation, granular, etc. There is a veritable arsenal of editing features including tons of envelopes and modulation envelopes, dual filters, and over 34 effects. Here's an example of a song created 100% using Omnisphere as a synth, NO samples loaded, no external effects, no external percussion.

http://temp-stuff.spectrasonics.net/ubr/ubr_uploads/RuUuUuUdeBoooyy.mp3

2. The bundled sample content is absolutely outstanding. The Spectrasonics team put years and years into creating it, clearly. The sound sources range from vintage to modern synthesizers (Moog, Arp, Kurzweil, Roland, Korg, Oberheim, Virus, and everything in between) to various choirs (male, female, boys, jazz), ethnic instruments, guitars, keyboards, and more. But what is most interesting is the "psychoacoustic" instruments, which are essentially incredibly interesting and playable sounds that have never been heard before.

For example, an upright piano... recorded on fire. An acoustic guitar played using rubber bands as strings. A drying rack bowed with a violin bow and amplified through two acoustic guitar bodies. A 20,000 volt tesla coil hooked up to a MIDI controller. TONS and tons of stuff like this that is really out of this world.

3. The ability to load aforementioned sample content INTO the synth engine. So, you can actually apply FM synthesis to a Gregorian choir, or granular synthesis to Tibetan peace bowls, big trance unison to an electric guitar... really, just about anything you could think of. The possibilities with the samples and synth abilities of Omnisphere alone would be enough for years of study, but THIS feature is what sends it through the roof./

4. Phenomenal patch design and patch organization. The developers at Spectrasonics, namely Eric Persing, are THE best in the business. I rate them better than anyone else around because they program their virtual instruments like a hardware workstation... they really push the envelope. No lazy programming here. The patch browser is very powerful and allows for dozens of customizable sorting methods. It is perhaps even better than the new Native Instruments browser used in Kore.

5. Killer built-in effects, 8-part multitimbrality, an awesome live/stack mode.

6. It's EASY to use. The whole interface was crafted with the design philosophy that the user can go deeper into the synth only when they want to. So, if you just look at the filter control on the basic "Edit" page of the patch, you see familiar controls like Cutoff, Resonance, Env depth, Filter Type. But if you click on the magnifying glass in this section, the entire interface fills up with additional options that you can tweak, route, and modulate. Basically, the whole synth is like this. You can very easily mess with existing patches without getting into the nitty gritty, or you can craft your own stuff from scratch once you've learned a few things and you want to go deep.

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My rig is pretty high-end... Intel Q9450 (45nm quad core, 2.66ghz) with 6GB RAM and a new mobo. 10k RPM hard drive for all my apps/plugins, too. FL doesn't play that well with Omnisphere though compared to REAPER.

Pretty high end!?

Understatement of the year...you've got a freakin mini server going on there :shock:

(side question: Do you run all 64 bit to take advantage of the 6gb ram? I just ask because I have 4 gb and use 3; does FL support more than that with 64 bit os?

bleh, I wish there was an easy way to link computers together without that old, crappy MAX-FX software...)

ON TOPIC,

So is omnisphere really worth it? I know you keep ranting and raving about its patches and stuff, but does it really sound better than, say, sylenth?

I don't give a hoot about the electroacoustic sounds because, honestly, when are you going to use them? And if I DO for some reason use electroacoustic sounds, I'd rather make them myself than buy prerecorded *new* sounds, ya know?

It's just...stylus rmx is nice, but totally not needed to make good drum tracks. Is omnisphere like that...fun, but not necessary? (and expensive)

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ON TOPIC,

So is omnisphere really worth it? I know you keep ranting and raving about its patches and stuff, but does it really sound better than, say, sylenth?

You don't have to own Omni to know that this is apples vs. oranges.

I don't give a hoot about the electroacoustic

Did you mean psychoacoustic?

sounds because, honestly, when are you going to use them?

You can pretty much bet your piggy bank on it that the people who are the first in line to buy this are going to use it, with a minimum of tweaking, on movie trailers, commercials and other assorted stuff.

I'd rather make them myself than buy prerecorded *new* sounds, ya know?

See zircon's points, nr. 3 and 6, nothing's stopping you from doing that.

and expensive

No. Expensive is plonking down $3000 (old-fashioned greenbacks) for an S3000 sampler, or $14000 for a Jupiter 8 (when they were new). Making music has never been cheaper.

Spread the money you spend on such a thing over 2 years or so - the time that, at least, you're going to use it. Now find out what it costs you per project (not per day). If you manage to use it at least once per project and you make 2 tracks per month, that's 480 / 48 = 10 bucks at a time. To have the full choice of what you are going to use it for plus saving your programming time, that's cheap. It gets even cheaper if you're more productive than that ;).

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Yoozer covered my response :P

Pretty high end!?

Understatement of the year...you've got a freakin mini server going on there

(side question: Do you run all 64 bit to take advantage of the 6gb ram? I just ask because I have 4 gb and use 3; does FL support more than that with 64 bit os?

bleh, I wish there was an easy way to link computers together without that old, crappy MAX-FX software...)

My computer actually isn't all that fast compared to the Mac Pros... though, admittedly, I'm proud of it :-)

Unfortunately FLStudio is 32-bit and does not support more than 2gb of RAM, even on a 64bit system. I have tried pushing it over 2gb but the results are not good. That's why I'm strongly considering switching to Reaper x64 or possibly Sonar 8. I just need somebody to make a VST piano roll just like FL's. If you want to take full advantage of 6gb of RAM you would need a 64bit OS for sure, and then either a 64 bit sequencer with 64 bit plugins, or a mix of apps running in standalone (such as Kontakt) with audio/midi getting routed in between programs.

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Grah, now I feel like an idiot.

I guess there's just something different in my mind about hardware compared to softsynths. They just...add something to a project. It's probably all a placebo effect, but if I'm going to spend a "fairly" large amount of cash on something, I'd almost like spend more on a crazy hardware synth than something like omni. IMO anway. Although the more I read about it, the more I may have to put off that savings deposit and just see for myself.

(And yes, I meant psychoacoustic...:tomatoface:)

Also, too bad about FL's memory capabilities. I really like the interface/workflow...if only it had a few more features, like auto freeze and a notation editor/video sync, it would be perfect for my needs. oh well, there's always rc 9, right?

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Grah, now I feel like an idiot.

The following won't help, then :(.

I guess there's just something different in my mind about hardware compared to softsynths.

You're not the only one.

They just...add something to a project.

Yes. Trouble. MIDI sucks, can't render sounds, editing sucks even harder to the point where you have to dig out an Atari emulator for some antique editor nobody ever bothered to update for a vintage piece of gear, and there's an extra step of A/D involved.

It's probably all a placebo effect, but if I'm going to spend a "fairly" large amount of cash on something, I'd almost like spend more on a crazy hardware synth than something like omni.

Omnisphere: $480.

Hardware synth which does what Omnisphere does: doesn't exist.

Cheapest hardware synth with nice pads and arpeggiator: Korg M50, $1099. It'll do more, like realistic sounds, but in terms of sample size and sound selection for the kind of stuff you pull out of Omni it's going to be far, far less.

Seriously, the hardware route is the (far) more expensive one since you've already paid for your computer and soundcard anyway.

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