Omnisphere - will it be worth the hype ?

[kuniklo]

Instead of patch randomization, we went that kind of thing at the level of individual components.

Interesting approach. I'm looking forward to trying it out.

[ehdyn]

I wonder if there's going to be any kind of patch randomizer in Omnisphere. I find them very useful in other synths.

Instead of patch randomization, we went that kind of thing at the level of individual components. So, for example, you can add chaos to modulation or looping envelopes. That has the advantage of real-time control so you can get those unpredictable surprises as you're playing. Or, you can simply generate new envelopes until you hear something you like, and then save that as a patch.

- Glenn

These envelopes sound really interesting. Eric mentioned earlier that he's yet to find the limit of nodes that can be created.
Also, it's been suggested that they are capable of recursive style functions and animation.

Can you elaborate on the design goals and capabilities of the envelope?

[GlennO]

These envelopes sound really interesting. Eric mentioned earlier that he's yet to find the limit of nodes that can be created.
Also, it's been suggested that these are capable of recursive style functions and animation.

Can you elaborate on the design goals and capabilities of these?

I can say this much at this point:

Multipoint envelopes have always been extraordinarily useful in synths. However, they've traditionally been rather tedious to program. Our goal with the envelopes in Omnisphere was to offer the expressive power of multipoint envelopes while making them easy, and even fun, to work with. You even can do cool things with them without getting into the details of patch programming.

If you do want to delve into the depths of patch programming you'll find lots of neat features. Just two examples are: a wide variety of stage shapes and modulatable playback speed.

- Glenn

[bmanic]

What about one envelope modulating the attack or decay of another envelope? Especially the Virus uses this trick of modulating it's own attack/decay to create interesting non-linear envelope shapes.

Cheers!
bManic

[GlennO]

What about one envelope modulating the attack or decay of another envelope? Especially the Virus uses this trick of modulating it's own attack/decay to create interesting non-linear envelope shapes.

Sure, you can do that. But, if it's interesting shapes you're after, you don't have to resort to tricks like that. There are much simpler and more flexible ways to get sophisticated envelope shapes in Omnisphere.

- Glenn

[cryophonik]

Alright, that's it. Just stop all this talk about Omnisphere right now! Some of us have work to do and you're making very difficult for me to focus. Arrrggghhh!!!!! ( )

[kuniklo]

It sounds like a very well-specced instrument, but so far all the sounds I've heard out of it have that glossy, polished hi-verb sheen that turned me off to their other instruments. I know there's a lot of demand for these kinds of sounds but I'd like to hear some sounds that illustrate the raw quality of the components and samples without a lot of effects.

The impOSCar filter should be excellent, of course, but I'm still not clear on what the synth oscs sound like or what kinds of manipulations are available with the samples. I'd just wait for a demo version and figure this out for myself but I'm assuming that, like their other plugs, there won't be demo versions.

[jackmazzotti]

Alright, that's it. Just stop all this talk about Omnisphere right now! Some of us have work to do and you're making very difficult for me to focus. Arrrggghhh!!!!! ( )

i think they might neeed to add a warning to this synth
it may cause you to become unproductive in other areas of life apart from soundesign and ambient noodling
or potentially may revitalize your love of synths and electronic music

[sophtrazor]

It sounds like a very well-specced instrument, but so far all the sounds I've heard out of it have that glossy, polished hi-verb sheen that turned me off to their other instruments. I know there's a lot of demand for these kinds of sounds but I'd like to hear some sounds that illustrate the raw quality of the components and samples without a lot of effects.

The impOSCar filter should be excellent, of course, but I'm still not clear on what the synth oscs sound like or what kinds of manipulations are available with the samples. I'd just wait for a demo version and figure this out for myself but I'm assuming that, like their other plugs, there won't be demo versions.

That is a good point the rawness of impOSCar is very apparent but i havent heard that many raw samples from Omnisphere. God i hope its worth the wait im sure its gonna sound awesome but what will i do with it...?

[bmanic]

What about one envelope modulating the attack or decay of another envelope? Especially the Virus uses this trick of modulating it's own attack/decay to create interesting non-linear envelope shapes.

Sure, you can do that. But, if it's interesting shapes you're after, you don't have to resort to tricks like that. There are much simpler and more flexible ways to get sophisticated envelope shapes in Omnisphere.

- Glenn

But modulating an envelope attack or decay would make it dynamic, not a static shape, so I'm glad to hear this possibility is included!

Cheers!
bManic

[any1particular]

As an owner (and lover) of Atmosphere & Stylus RMX, I do rate Spectrasonics stuff.

But the hype around Omnisphere (mainly from Spectrasonics themselves) is pretty intense.

How many around here are suitably impressed & planning to purchase ?

As an Atmosphere user, I'll probably upgrade if the price is acceptable (to add another huge piece of software to my collection which needs to be learnt )

BC

As an owner of Atmosphere, Trilogy and Stylus RMX (what a whore!), I am most definitely counting the minutes till the highly esteemed and venerable Omnisphere is released!!!!!!!

Or am I talking about the Dali Lama?


OOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM

[Arglebargle]

We need Omnisphere before black holes or strangelets devour earth. cmon guys push up the release date.

[sophtrazor]

alright everyone time for a break

[sophtrazor]

sorry bout the xtra zero i didnt see it cuz i was... well... you know...

[Hewitt Huntwork]

I've waited eagerly for the release of virtual instruments before, and it seems to me that the reactions here are fairly typical of any highly anticipated release. You get rampant and curious speculators, haters, and fanboy defenders (into which category I would most likely fall ). What is atypical, of course, is the developer seeing each criticism leveled at his instrument as an opportunity to discuss it in a positive way. The devs who do this unfailingly are few and far between and I don't mind telling you that the ones who possess this positive characteristic - coincidentally - make the instruments that are the most useful to me. I deliberately phrased that in subjective terms, YMMV.

When I was building my first serious workstation, I knew that I would use lots of production-ready sounds. At that time I had been curious about Atmosphere since its release, and I'm embarrassed to admit that when RMX came out I didn't understand what it was capable of well enough to be interested in it. Once I learned what it could do I was genuinely floored and have been anticipating the next big release from Spectrasonics ever since. I use RMX in pretty much everything I do and it has been invaluable to me.

And that would be my answer to the question of whether Omnispere will be worth the hype. It is possible for an instrument, like RMX, to do so many things so differently from other instruments, that even a fairly sharp guy like me can fail to see the usefulness of it. And that was with a lot of "hype". If the early exposure and anticipation of Omnisphere can help put it into the consciousness of people who would otherwise have dismissed it and, as a result, have it positively effect the music they make, then it will have been "worth the hype".