you've just got to play it....

spec's listed on a sheet or screen mean nothing, not until you realise how beautifully playable these presets are...

i really think it's a player's instrument (no, not like p.diddly) but for people who just enjoy playing instruments...so many times i've loaded it up intending to look for presets, but ended up just playing music with the instruments on offer

it has a little bit of most of everything, and is my 'desert island' synth

I don't know how it can. It's mind boggling what it can do. ffs, I haven't even gotten into the "orb" yet

Awesome summary of Omnisphere! Very much appreciated.

Like you I didn't think Corona had a great sound... Diva very obviously does sound rich and delicious!

Could I ask what do you think of ElectraX? You said you use this. I've been demoing it and gotten some awesome lead sounds from that thing, but I found it not to be very punchy for bass. Sounded like it might have a sweetening EQ curve and some limiting/saturation built in... Couldn't quite work it out - but may pick it up just for one particular lead sound I made with it..

Well, this isn't an ElectraX thread, but since you asked nicely... ;)

ElectraX is my most recent purchase; I've only had it a little over a month, so I can't speak extensively about it. That said, I actually really like it for bass! ...but specifically electro bass... things with a lot going on in the high frequencies. It can't compete with Diva for smoother, more analog-sounding basses. ...Nor really with Massive for the zippier, screaming basses. But I love using it for basses where the filter slowly opens up into digital, buzzy highs. Great for that "minimal" sound.

I also really like ElectraX for its Berlin School sounds... bleepy arps over complex pads. Great, great stuff. Sounds really digital, but with a little more beef than most digital-sounding synths (like, say, Largo).

It's still too soon for me to say whether ElectraX is a "classic", but I will say that it's another synth that I adore playing with: it's big, it's inspiring, it's impossibly easy on the CPU, and while I thought I would hate the four-synths-in-one thing, I find I really really love it, since the engine is diverse enough to stack different sounds and have the combination be interesting. I also love the WT-resynthesis, and have already gotten stellar results with it. I find the "fractal synthesis" to be weak, and yet another case of Tone2 trying to sell a "new type of synthesis" with weak results... but don't let that scare you away, since it seems to be a wonderful synth, all-around.

To my mind, ElextraX is to digital synthesis what Diva is to analog (well... VA). It's at the top of that particular game. ...And, yes, I really do put ElextraX on-par with Diva. ...But I suppose I should be waiting a little longer before I make that statement. ;)

I think Dune and ElectraX have a lot of overlap in sound and capabilities, so I wouldn't suggest buying both, personally (I skipped Dune because I felt ElectraX was more diverse).

Of course, if you're looking for bass, I would recommend checking out Trilian. AGAIN... I don't own it, I've never demoed it (and refuse to steal it), but it's on my to-buy list, because of the awesomeness of Omnisphere. And (from what I can tell from videos) it does seem to have some features that would make the acoustic bass sounds compelling. (And I generally don't use acoustic bass!) I suspect it would give you the kinds of bass sounds you're looking for from ElectraX. (But I might ask why you're bothering, if you have Diva.)

Lastly I'll add that I own Gladiator, and I used to love it... but since getting ElectraX, I don't really turn it on anymore... ElextraX sounds better (the filters seem smoother, the sounds fuller). While Gladiator has an arguably deeper engine, I find that it's another case of "looks good on paper, doesn't ultimately come up with really usable sounds." ...A common pitfall. :(

Also note that Tone2 DRENCHES every patch in reverb (WTF, guys?). I recommend turning it off and, if desired, replacing it with something higher-end. It's not (IMO) a great algorithm.

Many thanks for such an in depth round up! Really appreciated.

I was trying this and Saurus, first time trying tone2 synths. They both sounded really nice, but I thought lacked a gritty edge. Saurus just seemed like a cut down version of Electrax, and I didn't think sounded all that 'analog', more soft edged digital - which you can hear (imo) in the demo for their new sound set. Saurus sounds good, but sound mushy and not crystal clear analog on those sound that should sound crystal clear. I don;t care that ElectraX isn't 'analog' sounding, as I know it's not meant to

I'll have to check ElectraX out again for it's bass sounds, but think I'll still find them a little soft edged. However, thats fine as I dont have to use it for bass! I also really liked the 4 layer thing, which is great for making rich stacked sounds. I had a few nice (fat) soaring atmospheric leads going quite easily that I really liked. I often layer synths, even building layers synths in Kore, but having 4 layers right there and easy to access is pretty nice, can very quickly build some lush sounds.

I thought Tone2 really did a great job of showing off this synth with great sounding multi arps as soon as you load it up! Very nice sounding. I actually didn't think the reverb was too bad.... but yes, it was drenched, and it did also sounds great through a seperate plate verb!

I can see why you'd say it is so much fun to play with. Pretty hard to get a bad sound out of this one I reckon, yeah it just sounds nice. Not 'delicious' like Diva, but really nice and a pretty different sound palette. also, easy to use which helps a lot.

Thanks for the comparison with gladiator and dune. Both seem well spec'd, but not really different enough to warrant me checking them out.

Ha! dilemmas. Spectrasonics Omnisphere and Trillian always pique my curiosity and I really enjoyed demoing Electrax so far - but two of those three and I could grab a mopho keyboard to power my tetra!!


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I can appreciate that you still like it, but please, allow me the same courtesy. I evaluated it within that time frame, after listening to many online demos, and I can assure you, that I did it sufficient "justice" for my purposes. I'd rather listen to Robert Miles' Children than spend any more time with it, and to be clear, I'd rather have my finger nails pulled out one by one than listen to that particular "work of art" again. (For the record, I've never actually heard the entire thing, I could only stomach it for about 20 minutes)

These threads are always chock full of specious reasoning that because someone is still finding it inspiring that others will as well.

Speaking directly with respect to your tastes, as I've heard the stuff that you do, imagine that you are trying to convince a death metal guitarist that he would like Omnisphere for it's guitar sounds and that it could replace all of his guitars and effects. I'm not that guy, but that's how far apart we are in terms of musical tastes. In other words, it means absolutely nothing to me that you've been using it for three years.

I think that I clearly understand what it's strengths are and what it's weaknesses are and I've articulated most of them in this thread.
Last edited by ghettosynth on Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:53 pm; edited 1 time in total

Of course, but my DAW does that just fine, I don't need a five hundred dollar plugin just to vary the parameters of a couple of layers triggered by the same midi note.

Last edited by George on Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:32 am; edited 1 time in total

Damned expensive, huh? More expensive than any soft-synth for sure. But you can't tell much from listening to demos; you can't because you don't know what you'd do with it.

There are some valid criticisms from Omni users that I agree with, but many I don't: It's become so easy to me that it's slightly embarassing.

If your major complaint that the content is too fx-ridden and doesn't sound like anything else, and is too expensive, then you know nothing about it.

Hence, damned expensive. Almost follows directly, I'm surprised that anyone would seriously debate the point.



That may be a limitation of your skills, but it isn't a limitation of mine. It's also a bit of a fallacy, it comes across as a variant of "no true scottsman;" no matter how someone evaluates Omnisphere, if they are critical, then the fault must be with their evaluation.



If that's all that you got from my discussion then it's unlikely that we can really have a serious conversation about synthesizers.

I'm sure glad my omnisphere thread wasn't like this

What on earth are you talking about, they're all like this

Nope. Mine was really fun. Lot's of excellent information, I don't think there was much snipping (if any) and I enjoyed it. One of the greatest kvr threads eva!