Omnisphere - Post purchase Questions, Issues, Problems

[siriusbliss]

Omnisphere is currently my #1 resource CPU hog - but no crashes, freezes, or LAB's when running in Samplitude.

If I push it, (like 8 arpeggiators on 8 synths or whatever) I start getting buffer issues and crackles during playback, but in the interim have been able to use freeze and economy engines (in Samp) as a sort of workaround to get more performance out of it.

IMO the Spectasonics folks shoulda just been honest and sold Omni as the next generation synth for NEXT GENERATION COMPUTERS (such as quad/8-core/8Gig RAM, etc.) - 'cause that's where things are heading anyways.

Both my systems are dual-core running 4Gigs RAM with 3G switch in WinXP Pro SP2+.

<see you Omnisphere guys at NAMM>

Greg

[zerocrossing]

Omnisphere is currently my #1 resource CPU hog - but no crashes, freezes, or LAB's when running in Samplitude.

Yeah, for me too. Truth is it clearly says "3 ghz Core2Duo" on the site (I'm on a 2 ghz CoreDuo) so "they told me so." I'm sure I won't be on my current computer forever though and until then it does work but when the other poster mentioned "multiple instances" I had to laugh. They weren't kidding and Omnisphere does feel like it's constantly dangerously close to maxing out my CPU and becoming a clicky poppy mess. It is.

For me Omnisphere is like "butter" of the bread and butter of instruments. The majority of my mix is made of bread. Omnisphere is a little "treat" and I use it as a featured instrument due to it's resource greed. One trick I've learned is that it's often the effects. I wish they'd put in a draft/good/best mode.. Doing a few tricks with running an audio looper helps as a kind of "freeze" method also helps.

I just wish the aftertouch would work again...

[GlennO]

If you make simple sounds with Omnisphere, you'll see it's actually quite efficient. However, it's to be expected that the average patch in Omnisphere uses more cpu than the average patch in most other synths. That's for the reason that the average patch in Omnisphere has more things going on than the average patch in most other synths. Simple sounds have been done...we're aiming for something beyond that with Omnisphere. However, we are always striving to improve cpu performance and hope to further improve performance in future updates.

- Glenn

[GlennO]

Oh, and don't forget to check your system page for the aftertouch mapping like I suggested in the other forum.

- Glenn

[yairhol]

I'm sorry I'm joining only now.
First of all, I love the sound of Omnisphere. It is the best sounding synth that I could afford and from being a rock oriented (guitars, bass, drums) musician I've become focused more and more on synth based music. It is so inspiring. Thank you for this product.
This aside, there are some MAJOR issues with tech support and with the Omni itself.

GlennO, please address these comments:

1. Regarding tech support - I've sent them roughly 25-30 emails since I bought Omnisphere. Around 9 of them have not been answered even though I have sent a "please confirm" email afterwards. Those that were answered were "chain" emails that are replies to the previous email. When you send users to tech support I hope they will find a listening ear on the other side.

2. The tech support that I received was clearly from a MAC person (I'm on a PC) who did not know much about PCs (he said so himself). No names need to be mentioned.

3. Memory leakage issues have been reported months ago. They still happen and are very noticable. After auditioning many patches and sounds I start getting "out of memory" messages which don't appear if I close and reopen Omni and try the same soundsources. I have written to support about this several times but never received an answer.

4. The main volume slider is by default set to 0dB. At this setting users are getting distortions for many of the patches (meters reaching the top red). I find myself needing to lower the volume on many of the patches that I audition.
http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/sho ... hp?t=64413

5. There are problems with some of the thumbnail pictures of the soundsources. They don't change when you click on a different soundsource or they change after a long while or only after you exit the screen and re-enter it. Been reported a long time ago and was confirmed by tech support.

6. I have been informed by tech support that because many users have reported problems with PCs (and especially Q6600) Spectrasonics is planning on getting these machines and doing testing on them. My question is if this has been done already and if you have found some of the issues that users were reporting.

7. Soundsource browsing is slow (on PCs only?? I don't know). This has been reported by many a relatively long time ago. Is this addressed in the next update?

Thank you.

[GlennO]

I'll comment on what I'm able:

Yes, occasionally a thumbnail image doesn't update properly. This happens particularly with small soundsources and is fixed in 1.0.3. This has no affect on performance or audio output.

We have a variety of quad core PC's for testng, both in-house and among our beta testers. If you're asking: are there any particular problems with those, including Q6600's? The answer is no. Omnisphere works fine with a Q6600.

I believe you are mischaracterizing the extent of the soundsource browsing issue where it was taking 5-6 seconds to perform a search. We have, to date, received reports of this from a total of 2 users. We are still investigating this.

The optimal setting for the master volume, as with any multi-timbral instrument, depends on how you are using the instrument. If you'd like it lower, turn it down in your default multi.

As for running out of memory, I'd like to be able to tell you that will never happen when doing anything on a computer. But, that would be misleading you. When working with any streaming, sample-based instrument, some tuning of your system will be needed to get the most out of your available memory, which, alas, will always be a limited resource. Please see the FAQs for tips on how to make the most out of the memory you have.

- Glenn

[yairhol]

As for running out of memory, I'd like to be able to tell you that will never happen when doing anything on a computer. But, that would be misleading you. When working with any streaming, sample-based instrument, some tuning of your system will be needed to get the most out of your available memory, which, alas, will always be a limited resource. Please see the FAQs for tips on how to make the most out of the memory you have.

Glenn, please, this has been discussed to death before. Users are running a single instance of Omni in a clean new project and after an hour and a half of trying out sounds we get "out of memory". Close the project and open a new one again and all the sounds that were "out of memory" are now fine and working for another hour and a half. This is memory leakage as far as I understand it. Otherwise what can it be? Running big projects with lots of plug-ins for a long time gives no such problems. Only Omni does that after some time.

I'm really sad that users are not going to tech support with their problems (maybe they have been burnt by tech support in the past? see my previous post) and only post them in forums.

There have been much more than 2 users in the forums reporting slow browsing times in the soundsource browser. It takes around 2-3 seconds for each browser attribute being pressed to show its findings.

If you're asking: are there any particular problems with those, including Q6600's? The answer is no. Omnisphere works fine with a Q6600.

I have been informed by tech support on the telephone that there are more users with Q6600 machines that have Omni issues and this is the reason that Spectrasonics will buy these machines to try and reproduce the problems. You're saying one thing and he said another.


Anyway, I don't want to open up a war here, I'm just reporting my experiences (backed up by others') so that we can all march forward to improving customer care for the benefit of all your customers.

Like I said before, I have spent too much money on Spectrasonics products to not care about you guys. I want you to prosper and survive these difficult times.

[koolkeys]

1. Regarding tech support - I've sent them roughly 25-30 emails since I bought Omnisphere. Around 9 of them have not been answered even though I have sent a "please confirm" email afterwards. Those that were answered were "chain" emails that are replies to the previous email. When you send users to tech support I hope they will find a listening ear on the other side.

What the heck are you sending 30 emails for though? They surely aren't separate issues, are they? They surely get a LOT of emails(I actually KNOW they do). Can you imagine having to reply to 30 emails from lots of customers? Are there really 30 DIFFERENT issues you have with it?

3. Memory leakage issues have been reported months ago. They still happen and are very noticable. After auditioning many patches and sounds I start getting "out of memory" messages which don't appear if I close and reopen Omni and try the same soundsources. I have written to support about this several times but never received an answer.

I haven't personally seen this happen, but this is the type of thing that can be system dependant. Maybe give your system specs? It definitely isn't happening for me. I don't recall seeing it reported much, but I don't hang out everywhere. So more information may help to narrow it down. Memory leaks can be tough to find, but sometimes I believe the host can make it happen as well with certain circumstances.

5. There are problems with some of the thumbnail pictures of the soundsources. They don't change when you click on a different soundsource or they change after a long while or only after you exit the screen and re-enter it. Been reported a long time ago and was confirmed by tech support.

I would guess this is a graphics issue, but I may be wrong. Again, I haven't seen it. But just to remind everyone, I know I'm not talking for EVERYONE, but just my system. Is it possible that it's a graphics issue? Have you tried it in another host to see if it happens? I ask because some hosts seem to have problems with certain graphics libraries in the code. I have problems sometimes with one host but not another when it comes to the interface of some plugins. Also, features like X-Ray in Sonar can cause issues on some systems.

6. I have been informed by tech support that because many users have reported problems with PCs (and especially Q6600) Spectrasonics is planning on getting these machines and doing testing on them. My question is if this has been done already and if you have found some of the issues that users were reporting.

Is there anything I can test and confirm? Always good seeing what different systems cause problems, or if it's an "all the time" kind of thing. Helps to narrow bugs down at least.

7. Soundsource browsing is slow (on PCs only?? I don't know). This has been reported by many a relatively long time ago. Is this addressed in the next update?

What do you mean by slow? Waiting for samples to load? Have you tried switching to the option that only loads a sample of the instrument and not the whole thing? Or do you mean the browser itself is slow responding? If it's the second one, I kind of agree on that. Although it's not TOO bad, IMO. But it could be a little snappier. I just kind of let it go though because the hard drive my library is on at this time is a little slower, and Omni needs a faster drive.

I know I'm not Spectrasonics support, just trying to help narrow things down.

Brent

[koolkeys]

Disregard parts of my last message. Glenn beat me to it and answered some of those questions.

Brent

[koolkeys]

There have been much more than 2 users in the forums reporting slow browsing times in the soundsource browser. It takes around 2-3 seconds for each browser attribute being pressed to show its findings.

That's a little extreme. I don't get those times at ALL. Now, it may take that time if it's a larger instrument and has to load the samples. But even on a 5400 speed drive and the same drive as the plugin and operating system(it's temporary) I don't get those times.

Also, as you said, people are complaining in forums instead of contacting tech support. It's near impossible for Spectrasonics to follow a dozen forums that contain users with complaints(or however many there are) and keep all bug reports straight. So those people REALLY need to contact tech support if they want their issues resolved. With the number of users that Spectrasonics have, I imagine it would make things much easier.

Brent

[yairhol]

What the heck are you sending 30 emails for though? They surely aren't separate issues, are they? They surely get a LOT of emails(I actually KNOW they do). Can you imagine having to reply to 30 emails from lots of customers? Are there really 30 DIFFERENT issues you have with it?

I said that some of those emails are "chain" emails meaning that on 1 or 2 issues we've had several emails back and forth. Other emails were concerning other and same issues but coming from other users. I took it upon myself to email Spectrasonics with others' posts regarding Omni issues since I got many "we don't know of such problems" messages on forums from Spectrasonics staff and also "please email tech support about any issues you encounter" messages.

I haven't personally seen this happen, but this is the type of thing that can be system dependant. Maybe give your system specs? It definitely isn't happening for me. I don't recall seeing it reported much, but I don't hang out everywhere. So more information may help to narrow it down. Memory leaks can be tough to find, but sometimes I believe the host can make it happen as well with certain circumstances.

They were reported quite a few times over at northernsounds.com

Is there anything I can test and confirm? Always good seeing what different systems cause problems, or if it's an "all the time" kind of thing. Helps to narrow bugs down at least.

You can try the memory leakage thing. It might take some time though until you get the "out of memory" message or maybe you will not get it. I don't know. Over at northernsounds.com people have been complaining about this.

I emailed Spectrasonics support about this issue maybe 6 or 7 times with reports from other users.

could it be that I have been labeled as a problem maker by tech support and they've put my email as spam? I am not a problem maker but more of a problem reporter which I think is in the interest of Spectrasonics.

What do you mean by slow? Waiting for samples to load? Have you tried switching to the option that only loads a sample of the instrument and not the whole thing? Or do you mean the browser itself is slow responding? If it's the second one, I kind of agree on that. Although it's not TOO bad, IMO. But it could be a little snappier. I just kind of let it go though because the hard drive my library is on at this time is a little slower, and Omni needs a faster drive.

The slow browsing is for the browsing of names of soundsources and not the loading of the soundsources themselves. When I press an attribute or enter a string in the search field it takes a couple of seconds until the search results come up. In the meanwhile the arrow cursor disappears from the screen as well.

[yairhol]

Koolkeys is on a role....

Also, as you said, people are complaining in forums instead of contacting tech support.

This is the reason I took it upon myself to contact tech support quoting the different posts I find of users having problems with Omni in the different forums.

This is also the reason that I am puzzled when Spect. staff tell us that they are unaware of this or that issue when clearly I know I sent them emails regarding this and that issue.

[koolkeys]

I said that some of those emails are "chain" emails meaning that on 1 or 2 issues we've had several emails back and forth. Other emails were concerning other and same issues but coming from other users. I took it upon myself to email Spectrasonics with others' posts regarding Omni issues since I got many "we don't know of such problems" messages on forums from Spectrasonics staff and also "please email tech support about any issues you encounter" messages.

Ah, gotcha. But it's not like they don't reply. That's kind of what I got from your post. But they obviously do. So they aren't just ignoring you.

I haven't personally seen this happen, but this is the type of thing that can be system dependant. Maybe give your system specs? It definitely isn't happening for me. I don't recall seeing it reported much, but I don't hang out everywhere. So more information may help to narrow it down. Memory leaks can be tough to find, but sometimes I believe the host can make it happen as well with certain circumstances.

They were reported quite a few times over at northernsounds.com

They may have been. I just said I didn't see them. Although I still think it would be useful to compare systems and hosts, etc. This CAN be an issue that it partially host related, IIRC. Not that it IS for sure, but it can be.

You can try the memory leakage thing. It might take some time though until you get the "out of memory" message or maybe you will not get it. I don't know. Over at northernsounds.com people have been complaining about this.

I don't know. I've browsed through sounds for a LONG time. I've only ever had the out of memory error once and it was on a pretty busy project. But it wasn't something that kept happening. I actually WAS running out of memory.

I emailed Spectrasonics support about this issue maybe 6 or 7 times with reports from other users.

could it be that I have been labeled as a problem maker by tech support and they've put my email as spam? I am not a problem maker but more of a problem reporter which I think is in the interest of Spectrasonics.

I HIGHLY doubt that they would 'label' you like that.

The slow browsing is for the browsing of names of soundsources and not the loading of the soundsources themselves. When I press an attribute or enter a string in the search field it takes a couple of seconds until the search results come up. In the meanwhile the arrow cursor disappears from the screen as well.

Hmmm, I don't get 2-3 seconds all the time. With THAT many patches and soundsources, you've got to expect it to take a second as it searches. I mean, there are thousands of them. Not that it can't get faster. I have no idea since I'm not a coder. But I surely don't get 3 seconds on my not-so-fast machine. Could be many causes though.

Brent

[koolkeys]

Koolkeys is on a role....

Hehe, just got home from work and sitting down to do nothing for a bit.

Also, as you said, people are complaining in forums instead of contacting tech support.

This is the reason I took it upon myself to contact tech support quoting the different posts I find of users having problems with Omni in the different forums.

This is also the reason that I am puzzled when Spect. staff tell us that they are unaware of this or that issue when clearly I know I sent them emails regarding this and that issue.

I obviously can't answer that. But at least somebody is contacting them. Maybe just some wires got crossed or something, who knows.

Brent

[StuartAmbient]

I just started a project a few days ago in Omnisphere, my first serious one using this beast.
I'm running a quad core with 4 gigs of DDR3,(4 gigs may not be much) in Vista 64 with a way above average environment (case, power, ventilation , cooling), yet using 5 channels to 1 instance of Omnisphere, I see the cpu utilization (in Live) jumping in erratic ways. As well the sounds start to glitch. This is with the current 1.02d update. Pretty bad in my opinion, either bad memory management implementation or lack of consideration when stating system requirements. No doubt the sounds are beautiful, the features fine, but if I'm limited to a 3-4 midi channels before real degradation sets in I don't see how I can really consider it a working multi instrument that I can rely on.