By VicDiesel
On 7th June 2003
Version: 1
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I bought OmniSynth because I wanted a decent GM sound set. So I don't care (much) that OS has a wonderful Rhodes piano: there are a million other ways of getting that one. EDIT: why is there a rattling tine in the middle octave? How can they have missed that?
Unfortunately, the sounds that you can only get in a GM set, mainly the acoustic instruments, are quite below par. A number of them I've heard better out of the Virtual Sound Canvas which is a fraction the size and a fraction the price. Let's hit a few.
Harpsichord: a sample stretched too far. In the middle register is a usable octave, below that it's too nasal, above that it's a screaming sound that has nothing to do with a harpsichord.
Celesta and Music Box: nice. Lots of the little extraneous noises that these mechanical contraptions make.
Accordion: one of the many illustrations of sounds that have the attack cut off. Even with the SampleTank attack set to zero, this sound still has a marked delay and swell phase. And an accordion can be very percussive.
Acoustic guitar: the transition from wound string sample to, eh, non-wound string is too big. The one is very dull, the other very bright. The notes above e'' would benefit from another sample. They are not very guitarlike.
Acoustic bass: barely usable. Goes from hollow sounds in the E string - A string range to fuller sounds on the D string, then a couple of notes up on the G string again to soft hollow sounds. In effect, an octave and a bit is usable.
Finger bass: nice in the low register, but once you get a few notes up on the G string it's clearly a sample stretched too far.
Solo strings: even with the attack at zero, they keep having some delay to them, and a very pronounced swell. This sound started annoying me really quickly. I think these are symptomatic for OS: too many sounds are geared towards playing long sustained sounds. After the first second or so, they are perfectly nice. Unfortunately the start of the sound is completely unrealistic.
Clarinet: no idea what was sampled here. Definitely not a clarinet.
Piccolo: maybe half an octave of actual piccolo sound.
Flute: beats me what instrument this is. Also a very abrupt switch between 2 samples.
Recorder: who mixed in all that extraneous wind noise? No recorder I've ever heard sounds like that.
Pan flute: ok, I guess. I wish at high attacks it would make that characteristic "chiffing" noise.
EDIT: Saxes. Good grief. They have a nasty sharp attack that can only just be removed with the Attack knob before the sound gets an unrealistic swell. Buried in the mix it works, but I wish I had a better source for when I need saxes.
Koto: very nice, except for the very abrupt transition between two samples.
Finally: user interface and documentation don't really apply since that's sampletank, not omnisynth. |
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Last edited : 28th November 2003
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By Mighty_Hero
On 23rd November 2002
Version: current
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0 of 2 people found
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general MIDI sounds not "up to par"?.....spend the little money, and grab omnisynth.
the reviews below are exactly what I wanted to say, so I say..........buy it.
and also the description on the product page can give you the exact information.......there is not much more to say, since if you are familiar with GM, these are just better sounds. |
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By frozentitan
On 6th October 2002
Version: 1.1.4
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Wow! OmniSynth is the best general MIDI soundset I have heard. If you need a good solid general MIDI set, get this. There are multiple sets so you are not limited to just one to choose from. Value for money is not outdone by any other VSTi (not including freebies). Technically OmniSynth is a soundset that uses the SampleTank engine so I have given it some lower marks in the areas that are mostly engine related. This is not reflective of the high quality of the sounds themselves. I highly recommend OmniSynth. |
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By x_bruce
On 28th July 2002
Version: 1.x
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Have you been working with General Midi and find the sound is not all that realistic or you use soundfonts which also don't always meet your needs? What are your choices? Maybe a software Sound Canvas or perhaps a hardware solution?
Take a look at the sample ram. It will be anywhere between 2.5 to 32mb for software twice the price of Omnisynth with it's hundreds of excellent mb's of pro quality sounds plus a alternative set of equally high quality sounds.
Sonic Reality takes on a standard that has been somewhat of a joke in pro circles and provides an excellent sounding version of the GM standard. Included with Omnisynth is Sampletank LE, a four channel multitimbral, one stereo output sound engine. Don't fret, although you have to load more than one instance for sequences with many channels of instruments the Sampletank engine is very light on the CPU and allows several instances to be opened, each with it's own stereo output. There is also a set of useful effects and four controls which vary between patches that allow limited control of the patches.
Strings are broad and lush. Solo strings are excellent although the Cello is somewhat drab to my tastes. What's nice is the Viola sample sounds great in Cello range. Your tastes may vary...
Pads are excellent, meeting or exceeding Roland's specification. Pianos? They are great sounding across the board. Winds are very good along with the percussion, drum and effects. The guitars are designed for realistic sound. The distortion guitar is excellent and with some tweaking of the effects can be a metal monster. If you thought you'd never use a Dulcimer think again, on patches like this along with Celeste, Music Box and Sitar you quite probably will change your mind.
Customer service is excellent.
For the composer on a budget you get enough sounds that are far better than any GM synth you might be looking for. At $129 this VSTi is a steal. |
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Last edited : 30th December 2002
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By Scot Solida
On 21st June 2002
Version: current
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1 of 3 people found
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Think General MIDI has to suck? Think again. Omni Synth is the GM set from Sonic Reality, and the quality that company is known for shows in every single patch. This is what General Midi SHOULD be. Using the SampleTank playback engine, Omni Synth provides the user with a General MIDI soundset (actually, three of them) that puts GM's reputation for mediocrity to rest. You get the usual clarity and attention to detail found on Sonic Reality's other content discs, and the sounds are all imminently playable and realistic. There are, of course, some patches you won't find useful, but, quite frankly, SR had to adhere to the GM patch list, and patches I never thought I care for in the GM patch list come to life in Omni Synth. The pads, for instance.
The documentation is there, and thorough if and when you might need it.
As always, Sonic Reality customer support is without flaw. Squids is quick to address any problem I've ever seen anyone have, though admittedly, those are few and far between. If you are lucky, he'll show you pictures of his gear.
The SampleTank engine has not given me a bit of trouble, and the CPU usage was conservative, at worse.
As for value, Sonic Reality has been including this with Sonic Synth as a promotional bonus, but it's definately worth more than the meager list price. I mean, a Sound Canvas costs, what? $500 or so? The sounds on Omni Synth stand heads and shoulders above those. If you need General MIDI, or if you need a bread-and-butter soundset, Omni Synth is a no-brainer. |
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By SonicVI
On 19th April 2002
Version: 1.0
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Ditto on everything everyone else said. I also use Sonic Synth and the Piano Collection and OmniSynth's sounds are all top notch. It fills in the few places that Sonic Synth missed, like a sitar for example.
If you need a set of general MIDI type sounds then this is indubitably your best choice at the best price. Then you can also upgrade to the fantastic Sonic Synth if you decide you need more, or just buy some eROMS to suit your needs. The SampleTank is your oyster and the Squidsman will take care of you.
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By progfusion74
On 16th April 2002
Version: latest
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Will update this review when I have played with it a bit, but OmniSynth is just perfect for me. Ignore the numbers I have given there for a second as I am using a tight reviewing policy, but here are my comments.
Pros:
1. I wanted a set of "bread-n-butter" sounds to compose with. I wanted them cheap, and I wanted them to sound good. OmniSynth does all three + it gives me access to the sampletank/esoundz library + upgrades when I want to
2. Those strings are so lush. Best string sounds I own (easily)
3. Ditto for the piano's. I can't afford the grand, or a fancy sample library, but after ages, I was inspired to play sme good piano jazz (as opposed to sticking with daOrgan as I have been)
4. Squids is amazing. Between LinPlug and Sonic-Reality/esoundz, I think I am in safe hands with my VSTi's
Con: Hate the red interface, but thats sampletank for you :) |
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Last edited : 16th April 2002
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By diskjunkie
On 26th March 2002
Version: 1.1.4
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If you are a composer on a budget, or a composer at all, this GM sound module just might be your ticket!
When ST came out I was excited by the concept, but a bit dissapointed and confused by some of IK's ommisions on the instrument list. So I decided to wait and see what else came along. Well when I read about Sonic and OmniSynth I knew this was for me!
Even though this is a GM sound set don't think of the cheesey sounds that came with your first synth. THIS is the GM sound set for the future! The sounds are all of a high quality and the effects in ST give you tons of flexablilty in shaping the sound. If you are interested in noise and novel sounds then perhaps Omni is not for you, but if you want some "real" sounding instruments in your mix then this is the most affordable, flexable, and easiest way to get them. Omni has great synth patches too but some serious "tweakers" may want more flexability than the ST architecture provides at this point. Sure a few of the sounds are not the greatest, but the great thing is that because Dave is so involved with the users of Sonic and OmniSynth, and open to suggestions, these few sounds will more than likely soon be replaced by better versions in upcoming revisions.
Any questions I had before I purchaced was cleared up by the nice folks who post in the SonicReality area of this site's forum and by Dave (Squids) a (owner? member? developer? all of the above?) at SonicReality. The customer support for SampleTank is good, so far all of my e-mails have been answered. But the customer support for OmniSynth is out of this world! SonicReality really seem to be sound developers who love music.
What else can I say? I love this VSTi! You could do a whole album with it, and the upgrade path is flexable and affordable. ST is a great concept and developers like SonicReality are turning that great concept into a reality.
If you need some "bread & butter" sounds for your virtual studio this is your ticket. |
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By Andy Cook
On 19th March 2002
Version: 1
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Having spent hours and hours downloading 64 meg and even a 128 meg soundfont in the search for a good GM soundset, I end up being the recipient of Omnisynth as part of the Sonic Synth package. This rather nifty GM set (with extras) blows the Soundfonts I have clean out of the water.
There are two main sound sets, one being an ECO version to save some memory/cpu usage. The third is an extra's set. All the sounds stand out well and are of a comparable quality to the full Sonic Synth set.
One slight niggle which I understand will be rectified in the next release is that the instruments are put into grouped directories by instrument number. Now I can't remember each instrument GM number so there can be a little hunting for that elusive Harpsichord - but other than that, this is definitley the best GM set for the money and an extremely good intro to Sonic Realities quality products.
== EDIT ==
Raven kindly pointed out that this can be rectified by cutting and pasting the samples into a directory structure that suits your own needs. The Sample Tank browser can then be used to get to them in the normal way. Tnx Raven
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It uses the Sample Tank LE interface as does Sonic Synth, which is dead easy to get around and has the included 22 effects to mash things up if you want. Again there are only 4 midi channels available in the LE version but (again) you can always open up another instance.
User interface only given an 8 on this review 'cos of the directory structure used to get to the samples.
Go buy... |
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Last edited : 19th March 2002
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By Funkybot
On 20th February 2002
Version: 1
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This is a great general midi sound set, that will appease both beginers and pro's alike. The sounds are generally great across the boards with only a few patches which quite aren't up to par with the rest. In fact aside from the infamous Harpsichord patch, the guitars (I'm a guitar player so I'm not supposed to think any sampled guitars sound good), and the occasional brass instrument, all of which are still far better than those on the USM or VSC, the patches are all great. Even all those sounds combined only add up to about 10 or so percent of the total amount of sounds you get with Omnisynth, so you do the math. Plus all of these are expected to be fixed in the next sound revision. As far as the quality sounds the orchestral percussion, basses, and pianos all stand out as major highlights from this package. No longer do I need to scour the net for some decent vibes or rhodes samples, they're all here. If you're a musician looking to do some composing with a quality GM sound set, or someone who needs a really broad range of sounds at his disposal you can't go wrong with Omnisynth. Plus most importantly for me, these sounds sit gorgeously in a mix. In regards to value for money, I defy you to find better sounds at double the cost of Omnisynth, let alone at what with this instrument costs. Anyone who's ever e-mailed Squids (Dave) will know that Sonic Reality cares more about customer support than most companies care about thier profit margins. If you need a quick selection of top notch sounds, you sound like you need Omnisynth. |
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By
On 27th December 2001
Version: 1.1
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Similar to Sonic Synth but has a few different sounds. Main advantage: adheres to General midi patch numbers. Another advantage: It was free w/Sonic Synth. Easy to find the sound you want. Very high quality. Recommended for intermediates/beginners who need high quality sounds for cheap and advanced users who need a solid set to call up sounds with ease. Also cool for internet midi collaboration. Stable as long as you don't load sounds while playing back other ones. Only 4 instruments at a time per instance - doesn't bother me because 4 sounds really gets a track started plus you could open another instance of STank if you have the balls. I usually bounce, then switch the power off the first instance, turn the second instance on and create over my wave file from the first instance. Thank you Sonic Reality for giving this to me for free(I might have started this limited time promo). |
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Last edited : 26th February 2002
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