Omnisphere 2 is here! (yes, it's really here!)

[Sampleconstruct]

Some people like me had probably hoped for a full featured sample player with round robin and velocity layers for sampled user instruments in Omni 2, but that will not be the case, so that's one alternative less on the hybrid instrument market.

Wondering if you have any thoughts as a sound designer for Omni 2 based on what you've seen so far? Do you think you'll want to start aiming some of your efforts toward Omnisphere patches now?

Regarding my statement above -> it's very restricting to create your own sampled instruments - realistic or otherworldly/surreal - if you can't create complex sample maps with your own samples including round robin and velocity layers and e.g. different granular settings per keyzone. The Omni 2 granulator seems to be designed for importing 1 sample at a time and granulating that, which is not so appealing to me, I mean Padshop Pro does that x2 (2 samples per patch) and you can even pseudo-split them using the keyfollow assigned to sample volume. And as I won't be making patches which use factory samples I'm sort of out of the game with this one.

I will try to get my hands on it when it's released, but from the specs now it doesn't really interest me as a sound designer, I already have FM/wavtable/VA/workstation type of stuff in hybrid instruments like MachFive and HALion which are fully editable sample players, the first also allowing for user-scripted interfaces a la Kontakt.

[werp]

Eric giving a live demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XwlSMc4QH8

[mostlyjustj]

Interesting. That's too bad... but it's also helpful for a non-sound-designer for me to better understand the limitations of what to expect. I guess that my initial thought was that taking all those different ways to mangle the existing patches, and applying them to ANY sound you can import would be pretty exciting... but I guess as a beginner, I just take the amount of work that goes into making a good patch work up and down the keyboard at different velocities a little bit for granted! :S

[Phorous]

You don't need all of that to make a good sounding patch.

More complex is not necessarily better.

It would be nice if they added SFZ support, but for me personally I just care how well it responds to input sound material. If it sounds great with one sample, we are golden

You can already do velocity mapping via Omnisphere's multi split mode since V 1.0 if you want. What you wont be able to do yet is any sort of round robin but that doesn't stop you from introducing randomizations via modulation / the orb for a more organic feel. So I could map up to 8 different samples with duplicate patches across Omnisphere's 1-8 multi system split by velocity. While that might not suffice for the super experienced sound designer interested in more, its good enough for me now and in the future provided it SOUNDS good.

[Caine123]

but i hope this will have different sound playback options, like having the sameplayback speed at every note but different key!
this needs to be done with an lfo afaik? but a visualization would be best for it so you know where it starts and ends.

[Sampleconstruct]

While that might not suffice for the super experienced sound designer interested in more, its good enough for me now and in the future provided it SOUNDS good.

I was not dissing any missing features in Omni 2, just posting my thoughts about it only in respect to my own work, plans and expectations. And sure, what sounds good is relevant, but that's not the point, developing large and complex libraries also containing realistic, multisampled instruments is just not possible in Omni2, no matter how much you randomize your 8 samples in 8 patches.

I lived omniless for years and will probably continue doing so.

[cwig]

Regarding my statement above -> it's very restricting to create your own sampled instruments - realistic or otherworldly/surreal - if you can't create complex sample maps with your own samples including round robin and velocity layers and e.g. different granular settings per keyzone.

You created some amazing patches for ElectraX (with it's rather simple sample import). Just saying...

[Sampleconstruct]

Regarding my statement above -> it's very restricting to create your own sampled instruments - realistic or otherworldly/surreal - if you can't create complex sample maps with your own samples including round robin and velocity layers and e.g. different granular settings per keyzone.

You created some amazing patches for ElectraX (with it's rather simple sample import). Just saying...

Thank's - yes, long ago and it was a pain to work with samples inside ElectraX using split mono files in 2 oscillators to achieve stereo sampling and being restricted to 10 seconds sample length at full fidelity without downsampling. I also use sampling/granulating with limitations in my Diversion and Serum soundsets, but sampling is only the icing on the cake here and is only used in some patches. As a main platform for developing large sample-based libraries like I did for Alchemy, MachFive or HALion, Omni 2 just wouldn't cut it.
Still, I'll test it and decide what to do after it's release in April/May.

[Cinebient]

I have to agree that i really will miss multi sample import too. Omnisphere will be a fun for sure since it's even now a brilliant synth. I really love things like the automatic chaos envelopes etc. (The envelopes just could be faster for me). Well, 2.0 will be not the end here for sure (sadly Alchemy 1.55 seems to be the end of the story). Beside some "real" samplers there are just 3 synths which i love for sample import and mangling. Alchemy is the king and will still be until it's working with OS updates. Tera 3 is great too but i hate the UI and workflow. The third is Mitosynth (yes, just a little iPad/iPhone synth) where you havn't all the power for awesome filters and FX (for me they are usable too) but i can use 32 sound sources in one patch and can blend these in any way i want. I like to have sounds which starts with a piano or string and "morphs" through a bunch of different sounds until it ends in a nature field recording.
But one for sure, there will be never the ONE tool which can do all. At least not in my lifetime But Spectrasonics never wanted to do all. I remember a lot people wanted to have more traditionell sound sources but Eric said that there are still enough tools for it there. Simply true!
After seeing the video again i can't wait to get my hands on this the first day on release
All the new features (and maybe more we didn't saw yet) combined with what is still there will be the best one in all from all my tools. I'm still amazed from the new FX units like the "inner space". This could be a plugin on it's own for me. I said it a post before but i say it again that it looks like a kind of simple Logic's Sculpture as FX with more material choices and i can trough in any sound source. Call me crazy but i would pay 99€ alone for this

[Trancit]

??? please let me know what im missing? what did you expect?...

I expect to not being stuck with the soundsources Spectrasonics offer (not regarding the synth engine here)...
If I build up a closed system, I either should offer new soundsources regulary or let users import audio in a satisfying way and that would at least mean to be able to spread some samples around the keyboard range...

I am not asking for a complete samplerplayer like Kontakt... but one sample isn´t enough for "normal" sounds.

Why am I not happy with the included soundsources and presets??? Because to my personal taste, they are simply to single sided to Spectrasonics personal taste, which means 90% experimental...

Why is the internal synth engine no substitute??? Because for more modern sounds, 2 layers are simply not enough and layering with multiple parts is a PITA because there is no way to control them together...

For an instrument which is at least double as expensive as other top notch ones, this is simply not enough and when I read from some here, which groundbreaking new stuff the soundlock feature is.... .... copying from others isn´t groundbreaking... Nexus has got that feature since nearly the first days and that was when...???? 2006???
Wow, how groundbreaking is that, to implement a copied feature with only 9 years delay...

Sorry guys, but true competitors like Mach Five or Halion with their combined techniques (sampler/synth) offer at more or less same price much more features and the sound engines do not sound worse... but it´s Spectrasonics...

[noiseboyuk]

Why am I not happy with the included soundsources and presets??? Because to my personal taste, they are simply to single sided to Spectrasonics personal taste, which means 90% experimental...

Why is the internal synth engine no substitute??? Because for more modern sounds, 2 layers are simply not enough and layering with multiple parts is a PITA because there is no way to control them together...

For an instrument which is at least double as expensive as other top notch ones, this is simply not enough and when I read from some here, which groundbreaking new stuff the soundlock feature is.... .... copying from others isn´t groundbreaking... Nexus has got that feature since nearly the first days and that was when...???? 2006???
Wow, how groundbreaking is that, to implement a copied feature with only 9 years delay...

Sorry guys, but true competitors like Mach Five or Halion with their combined techniques (sampler/synth) offer at more or less same price much more features and the sound engines do not sound worse... but it´s Spectrasonics...

Whoa - Nexus 2 has soundlock? Where? There was me thinking it had only a very crude browser...

2 layers - yes, but up to 5 oscillators per layer, so up to 10 per patch (each with their own waveable etc).

It would be interesting to know how many of Omni's soundsources are, in fact, just a single sample. I'd guess a pretty high proportion. Obviously the more realistic end of things have vastly more, but for using a texture as the basis for a sound, I think 1 is all you (and they) need. Also, the idea that 90% is "experimental" (with the implication that their only use is experimental) is ill-informed at best. There are many hundreds of relatively normal soundsources, but the wider point is this. Eric P demos in the video turning a complete jazz track into an aggressive synth lead - I think you need to expand your view of how to make interesting sounds a little if all you're looking for is yet more synth sources...

[wagtunes]

While that might not suffice for the super experienced sound designer interested in more, its good enough for me now and in the future provided it SOUNDS good.

I was not dissing any missing features in Omni 2, just posting my thoughts about it only in respect to my own work, plans and expectations. And sure, what sounds good is relevant, but that's not the point, developing large and complex libraries also containing realistic, multisampled instruments is just not possible in Omni2, no matter how much you randomize your 8 samples in 8 patches.

I lived omniless for years and will probably continue doing so.

I'm kind of curious. What is it you're looking for and is there a synth out there that does it? If so, I'd love you to point me to it.

[Dúnedain]

does it have a DAHDSR envelope (hidden somewhere, because screen shots say no)?

[noiseboyuk]

does it have a DAHDSR envelope (hidden somewhere, because screen shots say no)?

Yes, there's the envelope zoom for the clever stuff. Diego Stocco gives a flavour of it here (starts about 2m 30s) http://youtu.be/_H387HHW1H4

[Sampleconstruct]

While that might not suffice for the super experienced sound designer interested in more, its good enough for me now and in the future provided it SOUNDS good.

I was not dissing any missing features in Omni 2, just posting my thoughts about it only in respect to my own work, plans and expectations. And sure, what sounds good is relevant, but that's not the point, developing large and complex libraries also containing realistic, multisampled instruments is just not possible in Omni2, no matter how much you randomize your 8 samples in 8 patches.

I lived omniless for years and will probably continue doing so.

I'm kind of curious. What is it you're looking for and is there a synth out there that does it? If so, I'd love you to point me to it.

Well, there used to be a synth/hybrid instrument that did most of what I am looking for in combining acoustic and electronic sources within one patch, after some years it's granular engine and spectral resynthesis mode showed it's age and the lack of a real sample editor and crossfade-looping got on my nerves, so I switched to hybrid instruments like MachFive 3 and HALion 5 to develop my bigger sample-based libraries. But they don't resynthesize which I find a fascinating source for designing sounds, and they're not very popular amongst electronic musicians around the world. So Omni 2 could have opened new doors for me in this respect, but it won't as it seems.