Resisting Omnisphere 2

[dreamkeeper]

I don't pay attention to advertising hype so I don't know about the "Omni is the answer to everything" crap. If that's the way Spectrasonics is marketing it, well, caveat emptor. I mean are people so stupid that they buy something just because somebody says it's the greatest thing since sliced bread? I know I don't. I buy something because I like the way it sounds, period.

Well, the thing is, that it's just an old worn-out strawman that keeps getting pulled out of the closet by the usual anti-Omni trolls.

Um, no, it's something that fans actually say.

It can do whatever you want it to do, pretty much.

Nice try mate, but it's right here in this thread along with every other thread on the same subject.

Omni can't do "whatever you want it to do", it can layer some samples and do a half ass job at VA duties with a smattering of granular and FM, and that's pretty much about it.

Um... please stop insulting our intelligence, will ya?!

[ghettosynth]

I don't pay attention to advertising hype so I don't know about the "Omni is the answer to everything" crap. If that's the way Spectrasonics is marketing it, well, caveat emptor. I mean are people so stupid that they buy something just because somebody says it's the greatest thing since sliced bread? I know I don't. I buy something because I like the way it sounds, period.

Well, the thing is, that it's just an old worn-out strawman that keeps getting pulled out of the closet by the usual anti-Omni trolls.

Um, no, it's something that fans actually say.

It can do whatever you want it to do, pretty much.

Nice try mate, but it's right here in this thread along with every other thread on the same subject.

Omni can't do "whatever you want it to do", it can layer some samples and do a half ass job at VA duties with a smattering of granular and FM, and that's pretty much about it.

Um... please stop insulting our intelligence, will ya?!

Is that even possible?

[dreamkeeper]

I don't pay attention to advertising hype so I don't know about the "Omni is the answer to everything" crap. If that's the way Spectrasonics is marketing it, well, caveat emptor. I mean are people so stupid that they buy something just because somebody says it's the greatest thing since sliced bread? I know I don't. I buy something because I like the way it sounds, period.

Well, the thing is, that it's just an old worn-out strawman that keeps getting pulled out of the closet by the usual anti-Omni trolls.

Um, no, it's something that fans actually say.

It can do whatever you want it to do, pretty much.

Nice try mate, but it's right here in this thread along with every other thread on the same subject.

Omni can't do "whatever you want it to do", it can layer some samples and do a half ass job at VA duties with a smattering of granular and FM, and that's pretty much about it.

Um... please stop insulting our intelligence, will ya?!

Is that even possible?

You're right.. As far as I'm concerned, I can be insulted only by persons whose opinion I value.

[ghettosynth]

So yeah, with Omni, I open it up, do a search, find a sound and use it. Usually takes me all of 3 to 5 minutes tops. That is ultimately why I like Omni. Instant gratification for sounds that would take me hours to create with another synth.

Hopefully, that makes things more clear.

I assumed that's how you were using it. I think that many of us consider sound design to be a part of the creative process when we use those kinds of sounds, but, even if we didn't, in order for search to be effective you have to find the sounds that you need. If that doesn't happen quickly, instant turns into less than instant. There's always a tradeoff between searching and creating. Often, creating those kinds of sounds in layers is actually quicker, even if you aren't doing sound design, per se, when you view them as a collection of layers. You load up three or four synths and search for the layers that you want. That doesn't take very long either.

When you say you can't do those things in other synths, well, that's not really correct, you can. It's just layers of soundscapes and any synth that can do soundscapes can create something similar, when used in layers.

Like I said, if you like Eric Persing's taste, and it seems that you do, then Omni can be useful. I'd spend all of my time rolling my eyes at his patches.

[wagtunes]

So yeah, with Omni, I open it up, do a search, find a sound and use it. Usually takes me all of 3 to 5 minutes tops. That is ultimately why I like Omni. Instant gratification for sounds that would take me hours to create with another synth.

Hopefully, that makes things more clear.

I assumed that's how you were using it. I think that many of us consider sound design to be a part of the creative process when we use those kinds of sounds, but, even if we didn't, in order for search to be effective you have to find the sounds that you need. If that doesn't happen quickly, instant turns into less than instant. There's always a tradeoff between searching and creating. Often, creating those kinds of sounds in layers is actually quicker, even if you aren't doing sound design, per se, when you view them as a collection of layers. You load up three or four synths and search for the layers that you want. That doesn't take very long either.

When you say you can't do those things in other synths, well, that's not really correct, you can. It's just layers of soundscapes and any synth that can do soundscapes can create something similar, when used in layers.

Like I said, if you like Eric Persing's taste, and it seems that you do, then Omni can be useful. I'd spend all of my time rolling my eyes at his patches.

I'll admit they're not everybody's cup of tea. Some are just plain strange.

Personally, I've reached that point in my life where I do sound design for a living but do music because I enjoy it. And when I'm doing music, I want to spend the bulk of the time actually doing music and not designing sounds.

Now sure, with a lot of stuff that I do (EDM, Rock, Country, Easy Listening, Metal, Pop) I've got tons of sounds that I've designed that are perfect. But when I do off the wall shit, well, I don't really design for that stuff because, quite honestly, I don't think it would sell. Though The Mangle has been a complete surprise to me as my 13th best selling library out of 52 made. So maybe my theory is wrong. I don't know. But I don't want to spend time designing stuff that has very limited uses.

So when I want to do songs that require the "weird" stuff, I have 2 choices. Actually sit and design it or just pull up something that somebody else has done. Years ago, when I was more into sound design, I would have spent the time. But now, life's too short. I'm turning 60 in November. I don't want to be slaving over a synth programming it for making a song. If I don't have the sound I need already done, I'll use a preset.

Ironically, because I never use to be like this, I never bought libraries. Now I'm finding that I don't have enough of the weird stuff (even Omni has its limits as far as being a preset machine) and have a hard time, in some cases, finding just the right sound that I need if Omni comes up empty. Fortunately, that doesn't happen often. But when it does, it's pure misery for me to have to sit down and start designing a sound just to use it for maybe 15 seconds on a 4 minute song. It's just not worth it.

And yes, these days I spend way more time actually writing music than programming synths. My Soundcloud page is over 600 tracks now. Yes, some of that is sound design, but a lot of that is actually music, which will always be my first love with all this synth stuff floating around. No synth, no matter how amazing it is, will ever take the place of me just wanting to sit down and write a song.

With that said, I'm spending about an hour now listening to Mercy Me because I'm actually going to try to tackle a Christian Contemporary project. I have no idea how they get those mixes that they do so I've got my work cut out for me. And whether or not I'll have a use for Omni for this project is a total unknown for me at the moment. From what I'm hearing, sounds like mostly drums, bass, guitars, piano and orchestral sounds. Also sounds like I'm going to be doing a lot of mid/side processing because these mixes are drowning stereo mush.

[noiseboyuk]

Suggested topic title change: Resisting Omnisphere 2 threads

[Boone777]

So yeah, with Omni, I open it up, do a search, find a sound and use it. Usually takes me all of 3 to 5 minutes tops. That is ultimately why I like Omni. Instant gratification for sounds that would take me hours to create with another synth.

Hopefully, that makes things more clear.

I assumed that's how you were using it. I think that many of us consider sound design to be a part of the creative process when we use those kinds of sounds, but, even if we didn't, in order for search to be effective you have to find the sounds that you need. If that doesn't happen quickly, instant turns into less than instant. There's always a tradeoff between searching and creating. Often, creating those kinds of sounds in layers is actually quicker, even if you aren't doing sound design, per se, when you view them as a collection of layers. You load up three or four synths and search for the layers that you want. That doesn't take very long either.

When you say you can't do those things in other synths, well, that's not really correct, you can. It's just layers of soundscapes and any synth that can do soundscapes can create something similar, when used in layers.

Like I said, if you like Eric Persing's taste, and it seems that you do, then Omni can be useful. I'd spend all of my time rolling my eyes at his patches.

Maybe the random buttons in some synths might help for weird stuff. MPowersynth has it but certainly with your arsenal some other synths has it too.

[aMUSEd]

I think it's a misconception to see Omnisphere 2 (in particular) as limited to a Persing pallette of sounds. The sound design team is very diverse but also there are many great soundbanks designed by the likes of Matt Bowdler (The Unfinished, his patches are amongst the best for any plugin), Luftrum (also great), Pluginguru (not so much my taste but highly regarded and more mainstream), Sound dust (also great), Plughugger (more mainstream but I like their stuff), VSP and I have also contributed my own patches which were designed to suit me. There are probably more third party patches for it now than the factory sounds and they demonstrate very well how you can do a very wide range of things with it sonically.

[egbert101]

<delete>

[Zexila]

Hahahahahaha

[pdxindy]

So yeah, with Omni, I open it up, do a search, find a sound and use it. Usually takes me all of 3 to 5 minutes tops. That is ultimately why I like Omni. Instant gratification for sounds that would take me hours to create with another synth.

Hopefully, that makes things more clear.

Absolutely you should do that if it works for you... There is nothing wrong with you making whatever choices that work for you and those choices need no justification.

For me, 75% of the time, I would spend just as much time on hunting for presets and then tweaking them into something I am satisfied with as I do making my own.

If I want to do a dreamy soundscape piece that sounds like flowing water and birds and crickets and harps and clouds spouting lemon drops, I'm not turning to Diva or Bazille. It's futile.

I can easily do that in Bazille which is great for FX sounds... I have presets that sound like flowing water, birds, crickets, harps (don't know what a cloud spouting lemon drops sounds like) and it is easy to layer them... but more to the point, a ready made preset that had all that is inevitably going to not be quite what I want in some respect.

Oh it sounds great for the first 4 seconds, but then there is that one bird chirp that I want to be different. I generally find it faster to layer individual synth sounds and also to render audio and chop it up some because it can be a nightmare of endless tweaking to make a single complex preset sound do exactly what I want over time...

[ghettosynth]

I'm resisting the temptation to buy a Stanley Steamer. I mean, a normal practical car would do what I need, but due to certain anatomical inadequacies, I really need a shiny fat car.

It's a joke people, don't take it too seriously.

Fixed that for you.

[ghettosynth]

I think it's a misconception to see Omnisphere 2 (in particular) as limited to a Persing pallette of sounds. The sound design team is very diverse but also there are many great soundbanks designed by the likes of Matt Bowdler (The Unfinished, his patches are amongst the best for any plugin), Luftrum (also great), Pluginguru (not so much my taste but highly regarded and more mainstream), Sound dust (also great), Plughugger (more mainstream but I like their stuff), VSP and I have also contributed my own patches which were designed to suit me. There are probably more third party patches for it now than the factory sounds and they demonstrate very well how you can do a very wide range of things with it sonically.

The point is, no matter how presets get chosen for Omnisphere, that if you like the library, then it may work for you, if you don't then trying to argue that it's versatile while ignoring its technology limitations is a bit pointless as is talking about it as a synth.

This was all stated in the context of considering Omni as a synth and, IMNSHO, Omni's only strength is in the sound design of the factory patches. Omni without the factory presets is an average synth at best. There is nothing in Omni that is state of the art in any way. So arguing that it's versatile because professional designers can make sounds with it is a pointless statement to someone who wants to know what it brings to their own abilities to create sounds.

I mean, if you don't like the factory sounds, what the hell are you paying $400 for? You can do a "wide range of things" with almost any synth, and, I suspect, without even checking, that all of those "wide range of things" are primarily exploiting samples, either those in the library, or the designer's own. So sure, you can do a "wide range of things" with pretty much any sample based synth and IMNSHO, tools like Kontakt represent much better value, IF, you aren't all that interested in the Eric Persing flavor of sound.

[aMUSEd]

I think it's a misconception to see Omnisphere 2 (in particular) as limited to a Persing pallette of sounds. The sound design team is very diverse but also there are many great soundbanks designed by the likes of Matt Bowdler (The Unfinished, his patches are amongst the best for any plugin), Luftrum (also great), Pluginguru (not so much my taste but highly regarded and more mainstream), Sound dust (also great), Plughugger (more mainstream but I like their stuff), VSP and I have also contributed my own patches which were designed to suit me. There are probably more third party patches for it now than the factory sounds and they demonstrate very well how you can do a very wide range of things with it sonically.

The point is, no matter how presets get chosen for Omnisphere, that if you like the library, then it may work for you, if you don't then trying to argue that it's versatile while ignoring its technology limitations is a bit pointless as is talking about it as a synth.

This was all stated in the context of considering Omni as a synth and, IMNSHO, Omni's only strength is in the sound design of the factory patches. Omni without the factory presets is an average synth at best. There is nothing in Omni that is state of the art in any way. So arguing that it's versatile because professional designers can make sounds with it is a pointless statement to someone who wants to know what it brings to their own abilities to create sounds.

I mean, if you don't like the factory sounds, what the hell are you paying $400 for? You can do a "wide range of things" with almost any synth, and, I suspect, without even checking, that all of those "wide range of things" are primarily exploiting samples, either those in the library, or the designer's own. So sure, you can do a "wide range of things" with pretty much any sample based synth and IMNSHO, tools like Kontakt represent much better value, IF, you aren't all that interested in the Eric Persing flavor of sound.

I love many of the factory sounds, but most of them are not Persing sounds anyway, there are many others who contributed. But like with any synth the presets just show off what it can do, which is why I also make my own with it and buy presets from other SDs I admire (who clearly do find it useful for creating the sort of sounds they like to make).

[benjamind]

Well, if you're into making ambient music, Omnisphere 2 is a Godsend. It has a huge palette of incredible sounds, pads, hits, arps, and keys. One could only have just Omnisphere, Trillian and RMX and be able to write just about any ambient music they desired.

That's a big selling point. At least for me it is.