Alchemy: Features, discussion e.t.c

[FrankT]

will anybody here or there on this planet make better music with either Omnisphere or Alchemy?
Thousands of musicians, who produce music for spots, movies and TV-series are impatiently waiting just because they want to be the first ones, who exploit the presets. They won't have time to do a proper sounddesign. All the others will do, what they always do: playing with the new toys, some going into the dephts of sound-programming, most of us not even scratching the surface: important is: we have the newest technology, the most flexible engine, the best sampled bulb and can feel ahead of the penis.

[ericj23]

alchemy imports sfz- and there are a few sample convertors out there that can handle that - not to mention various cakewalk synths shipping with lots of sfz content

so any sample library size/preset number pissing up the wall contests are moot if, like me, you have a massive sample library

[zircon]

Well, size doesn't matter at all, nor does number of presets, but quality is everything. Take Dimension Pro for example. I love this plugin, but frankly, the vast majority of the audio content is not usable for me. I'd say I use less than 1% of the presets and samples, and I often have to do a lot of tweaking. In comparison, something like Hans Zimmer Guitars, Symphony of Voices, Atmosphere, Stylus RMX... nearly every last preset is extraordinary and polished to a mirror shine. When I go back to Dim Pro it's frustrating that the sounds are not even properly EQed or normalized, so they're inconsistent.

That's one reason the Omnisphere library is so exciting to me. Spectrasonics' sound design is so outstanding even when they only have a handful of gigabytes (or megabytes!) to work with that, given 40gb and a super-powerful synth/sampler, I am sure the result will be mindblowing.

[hakey]

if you just look at it dry Omnisphere will definetly immediatly become the All-around-Go-To-Tool for every kind of music

Do you really think so? Definitely? Immediately? OK, here's some random musical styles: skiffle, flamenco, funk, reggae, mariachi, freeform jazz, western classical, ragtime, benga, punk... well, I'm being a little facetious, but you get the point. I mean, I doubt that you could say that even of all genres of electronic music. Try 'Omni will be the go-to-tool for dubstep/electro house/drum-and-bass etc. producers',... hmmm?

Seeing as it is still yet to be released I don't know what it will excel at (if anything), but going on Spectrasonics track record it'll probably be the go-to tool for producers of background music for a particular type of generic US TV show (when I here RMX I always think CSI for some reason).

I think it unlikely that it will come close to the kind of flexibility in terms of 'pure synthesis' that you find in a vst like Zebra - but then, comparing Zebra with Omni is comparing apples and oranges (and the lack of a spec sheet for Omni makes any comparison completely pointless atm).

Well only time will tell. Only 16 hours to go, but those 16 hours are going to seem like, well, 16 hours.

[neverfall]

For the moment this still is a videoware shoot-out. Funny! Anyway, shouldn't be a shoot-out after all. I am sure there will be space for both. I like Alchemy's open concept!

The shootout involves nothing more than a comparison of price. Maybe a competition of Big Dog v. Supposedly Little Dog.



By the end of next week let's see how many negative opinions are expressed in this forum when Omnisphere does indeed live up to the hype.

I expect to hear crickets.....


...until the crack.

[ultramike]

Personally, I think its a no brainer. I'll be getting both. I love the Camel stuff and can't wait to get my hands on Alchemy. In the mean time I have pre-ordered Omni and am really excited to get it this week!

[Nokenoku]

if you just look at it dry Omnisphere will definetly immediatly become the All-around-Go-To-Tool for every kind of music

Do you really think so? Definitely? Immediately? OK, here's some random musical styles: skiffle, flamenco, funk, reggae, mariachi, freeform jazz, western classical, ragtime, benga, punk... well, I'm being a little facetious, but you get the point. I mean, I doubt that you could say that even of all genres of electronic music. Try 'Omni will be the go-to-tool for dubstep/electro house/drum-and-bass etc. producers',... hmmm?

Ok, the word "every" was definetly wrong here.
But still I think most styles can benefit from it .. even if you normally would not use a synth in it.



I'm with zircon about the quality of presets and library. Quality matters more than mass! And quality is where the Spectrasonics-products really shine.
And so Omnisphere is just offering a damn lot of quality.

Yes yes ... it's not out yet ...
But imo it's a little bit like with Blizzard. You don't need to read reviews, you don't need to demo ... you already know before, that a new Blizzard-Game will stand out (even compared with the best games of its genre).

[cain]

+1

[original flipper]

HI

Is 'quality' the new IN word?

Anyone who thinks a 40 gig library is going to have had more time spent on it than say the 'Dimension Pro' synths 4 gigs are well, having a bout of wishful thinking IMO.

I can't believe that peoples need to spend a pretty substantial amount of money leads them to believe that all of a sudden 'quality' is hard to find ...

Thank goodness 'quality' only became an issue today - we might not have had any vinyl to listen to!

Not saying I will not look at Omnisphere (or Alchemy) but not because I have a 'quality' shortage.

Flipper.

[Casar1973]

if you just look at it dry Omnisphere will definetly immediatly become the All-around-Go-To-Tool for every kind of music

I'm with zircon about the quality of presets and library. Quality matters more than mass! And quality is where the Spectrasonics-products really shine.
And so Omnisphere is just offering a damn lot of quality.

Yes yes ... it's not out yet ...
But imo it's a little bit like with Blizzard. You don't need to read reviews, you don't need to demo ... you already know before, that a new Blizzard-Game will stand out (even compared with the best games of its genre).

+1
I agree, Spectrasonics offerings are usually cases of fine quality. It's a quality thing. On the 15th quality improved. Quality.

[ericj23]

if you just look at it dry Omnisphere will definetly immediatly become the All-around-Go-To-Tool for every kind of music

I'm with zircon about the quality of presets and library. Quality matters more than mass! And quality is where the Spectrasonics-products really shine.
And so Omnisphere is just offering a damn lot of quality.

Yes yes ... it's not out yet ...
But imo it's a little bit like with Blizzard. You don't need to read reviews, you don't need to demo ... you already know before, that a new Blizzard-Game will stand out (even compared with the best games of its genre).

+1
I agree, Spectrasonics offerings are usually cases of fine quality. It's a quality thing. On the 15th quality improved. Quality.

But what if the quality isnt the one your looking for - stylus rmx for example was full of masses of the most useless loops - seriously - I appreciate that the engine had great scope for rearranging them into things that might have been more useful for me, but I frankly couldnt be bothered losing the hard drive space when other tools could do it as well

Atmosphere was a rich syrupy product full of sounds that I wouldnt use - ultra lush and overblown is not my style, maid me think of tom hanks movies with the fat string sounds - OK I could use some of them but for the cost and the size (and the lack of vst automation or anything allowing you to really get to the heart of a patch) no thanks

This is probably coming off as spectrasonics bashing, but it isn't - there products are well made and if I wanted to write break beat themes for american tv I would love these - and I'm sure if i raked around I could find distorted reality round here. I am a hobbiest who does this for his own ends, so I have no interest in "professional tools" that allow me to get my paid gigs done as quickly as possible so I can make more money - I would rather use something that helps me develop as a creator

Omnisphere probably does allow this but I want to find out how tweak-able the synth is - not the fx or the sample material - and until that is clear all this talk of quality is entierly meaningless IMHO

[hibidy]

I voted other, since there is no cake option.

[hakey]

But what if the quality isnt the one your looking for - stylus rmx for example was full of masses of the most useless loops - seriously - I appreciate that the engine had great scope for rearranging them into things that might have been more useful for me, but I frankly couldnt be bothered losing the hard drive space when other tools could do it as well

Atmosphere was a rich syrupy product full of sounds that I wouldnt use - ultra lush and overblown is not my style, maid me think of tom hanks movies with the fat string sounds - OK I could use some of them but for the cost and the size (and the lack of vst automation or anything allowing you to really get to the heart of a patch) no thanks

This is probably coming off as spectrasonics bashing, but it isn't - there products are well made

Very well put

Pretty much my subjective opinion about Spectrasonics stuff too. RMX - yeah loads of professionally produced, but, for my personal taste, somewhat dated and completely useless loops. Ditto for Atmosphere and Trilogy - professionally produced products and great if you like that kind of thing.

I imagine that Omnisphere will be all that and more. If you were happy with their previous offerings you'll most likely love Omni (seems most of you already do and you've still haven't heard the thing yet!). Those of us for whom it's not our cup of tea will probably be deeply underwhelmed and wondering what all the fuss is about.

It's just a question of taste - some of us have it, etc...

[pdxindy]

Good to see Alchemy kicking Omnisphere butt in the poll

[Nokenoku]

Good to see Alchemy kicking Omnisphere butt in the poll

Yeah, that's the KVR-mentality I was talking about ...

Thx for proving my point.