U-he synths with hardware integration like the new Omnisphere 2.5?

[quantum7]

I'm loving what I'm seeing with the upcoming Omnisphere 2.5 hardware synth integration and would love to know if Urs may be looking into something like that with U-he's synths?

[llze]

it was supposed to come with Repro-1 but due to the demand the idea got exchanged for a poly Repro. They are going to release their first eurorack module tho, so chances are not too bad i think.

[wuh]

I came here to ask the very same question! This is a very cool idea that Spectrasonics have come up with; not only are they mapping hardware controls to the Omnisphere but in the video I just saw, when you select your synth from the menu, it loads up a corresponding init preset that gives you (close to) 1:1 control over programming. I would _love_ something like this for u-he synths and could see it being particularly appropriate for Repro and Diva... I wonder if Urs managed to take a look at this while at Superbooth?

See here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS9Gy2xJjJE&t=136s

More great ideas like this for controlling software are MUCH needed!

Hyped for the new delay and spring btw. U-he is #1.

[AnX]

Cant you just use a decent controller and save maps? Thats what i do for all soft synths.

[wuh]

Yes, but that's not the same as building up muscle memory with a dedicated hardware synth and then knowing that whatever knob or slider you move will have the same effect on the software synth you're controlling.

You don't have to look or remember what's what, you don't have to set it up in the first place, it's a mirror of the controls available on your h/w synth. Since a great number of synths share a great number of parameters (e.g. ADSR envelopes, LFOs, voice tuning, waveform select, etc), this concept make a lot of sense!

[pdxindy]

Yes, but that's not the same as building up muscle memory with a dedicated hardware synth and then knowing that whatever knob or slider you move will have the same effect on the software synth you're controlling.

You don't have to look or remember what's what, you don't have to set it up in the first place, it's a mirror of the controls available on your h/w synth. Since a great number of synths share a great number of parameters (e.g. ADSR envelopes, LFOs, voice tuning, waveform select, etc), this concept make a lot of sense!

I am happy to see any experimentation and exploration of improving software/hardware integration.

This new feature with Omnisphere is a bit of a different take. It is limiting Omnisphere to fit the functionality available on that hardware and also trying to make Omnisphere sound like that hardware.

I'm curious how it works. For example, the demo video did not show Omnisphere changing presets. It just went from one hardware synth to another and tweaked from there. I'd like to see saving and loading of presets on the System 8 and Moog.

[pdxindy]

I came here to ask the very same question! This is a very cool idea that Spectrasonics have come up with; not only are they mapping hardware controls to the Omnisphere but in the video I just saw, when you select your synth from the menu, it loads up a corresponding init preset that gives you (close to) 1:1 control over programming. I would _love_ something like this for u-he synths and could see it being particularly appropriate for Repro and Diva...

RePro would basically only work with 1 hardware synth... the one each of them are modeled after. But was it even possible to use say a Pro One as a controller?

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Yes, but that's not the same as building up muscle memory with a dedicated hardware synth and then knowing that whatever knob or slider you move will have the same effect on the software synth you're controlling.

You can get close already depending on your synth controller, but rather than doing a hybrid approach like Omnisphere, I think U-he could adopt a more "global" type of approach with just a few tweaks to the mapping page and some new preferences. For instance, I use a System-8 as a VA controller for U-he synths, and it gets close when it comes to Diva and RePro. In Diva, being able to re-use CC's on a per-module basis allows for mapping quite a bit via Diva. And when it comes to Zebra, I could easily create a preset that closely resembles the System-8 architecture and could do a mapping based on that.

That said, some of my biggest Diva v2/U-he Mapping wishlist items relate to closing the gap further. For instance, Diva's oscillator tuning is a bit of a disaster mapping-wise. If they could add a preference to separate the fine/coarse/octave tuning knobs, it would make mapping these to hardware a non-issue. Another one is the oscillator on/off buttons. If you're trying to map those to knobs, you're in for a headache. Again, a "knob mode" that cycled through the various oscillator combinations would be a dream. The other thing I long for are "Mapping Presets."

Also, I might go from one controller to another and the U-he synths don't do a great job of making that easy. It would be great if users could 1) save different controller mappings as presets, and ultimately 2) share their mappings with the base. "Hey, here's a Diva mapping that works well with the System-8, or Prophet Rev 2, or JDXI, etc." A simple thing like being able to do sorts on the various columns in the MIDI Mapping page would be another big benefit. I don't know how many times I've got lost looking for a particular CC or parameter that would've been locatable in a second if I could just sort by CC or name.

I recently picked up Bome MIDI Translator and I suspect with some scripting, I could even work around some of these issues further, but I'd love to see some global MIDI mapping updates to the U-he products once the preset browser roll-out and Z3 are complete (maybe even for Z3). Definitely by Diva 2.0 at least.

[rod_zero]

Yes, but that's not the same as building up muscle memory with a dedicated hardware synth and then knowing that whatever knob or slider you move will have the same effect on the software synth you're controlling.

You don't have to look or remember what's what, you don't have to set it up in the first place, it's a mirror of the controls available on your h/w synth. Since a great number of synths share a great number of parameters (e.g. ADSR envelopes, LFOs, voice tuning, waveform select, etc), this concept make a lot of sense!

Yes, it is the same, map your synth using midi learn and stick with it, use it over and over again until you have that muscle memory.

Nevertheless One thing that could be improved upon is the response of the software synth parameters to the control messages.

For example I have a Roland System 8 which I use a lot to control DIVA, but the fine tune parameter is very very sensitive to MIDI CC messages received from the hardware, octave selector for oscilatos also don't correspond to the controls in the synth, that could be improved so the physical controls feel like 1:1 controls of all parameters. The filters and envelopes do feel right.

[wuh]

This goes to show how bad the designs of MIDI controllers have been over the years: all 8 knobs and 8 faders, surfing through pages and pages. They don't look or feel like synths at all.

Everyone gets their first generic controller expecting to bring some tactile control over their plugins, convinced by all the marketing blurb (Automap, VIP, Kontrol, and other half assed solutions) just to find out that surfing through pages of 8 parameters isn't fun at all, it is not intuitive and you end not using the controls at all or just for the required filter sweep but definitely not for programming.

I just can't understand how so many companies (novation, akai, m-audio, arturia, alesis, native instruments, ableton, nektar, roland) got it so wrong for so long time, delivering the same layout over and over again and never realising 8 knobs and 8 faders just doesn't cut it for programming synths.

And what also amazes me is that while synth dedicated controllers keep being non existent Drum machine controllers have had wide success (maschine and arturia Spark), neither Arturia or Ni could think of making a 1:1 Soft Synth-Controller combo as the successful drum machines they made.