Hi from Spectrasonics!

[Nimrod7]

USB-versions of Omni2 have arrived in stores!

Al last, I wasn't getting Omni2 because they were providing DVD's in 2015! Except that Mac doesn't have DVD's they were requesting that $10 to download! $400 + Shipping + $10!

USB-version seems an option now...

Even better if they provide online sales, with a download included. The cost of not having to manufacture the box / DVD's will compensate for the download.

[Gonga]

OK, let me put it another way. Squeezing $30 (some of it profit) out of their best customers to download the three products is bad business. It means a lot of their customers will continue to cuss at them, except now much more vociferously, every time they go through the horribly laborious process that begins with all those *&^%$#@ CDs. I know I will.

[noiseboyuk]

This seems as good a place as any to post this - after a bit of correspondence between myself and Eric P regarding Omni 2's tagging, I thought it would be useful to collate the current issues some of us have as best as I can, since I was concerned I've not always expressed this as well as I might have. I've posted an open letter which hopefully explains both the current issues and some possible ways forward. Anyone interested can view it here - http://www.thesoundboard.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=555 .

Especially since it's NAMM week, I'm certianly not expecting a lengthy treatise in response! It's important to note that Eric has earlier indicated to me that Spectrasonics are actively considering several of the possible ideas which are discussed there. Hopefully the open letter is something that might continue to move the discussion forward as they continue to develop that synth. I still think Omni is the single best synth out there, and the current problems are a reflection on the vastness of its scope really.

[Dirk Diggler]

Although I disagree about the EDM patches all being "truly horrible" (ridiculous sweeping statement, imo)

Hey noiseboyuk, I think you might have missed me saying for "my purposes". For me those patches just get in the way. I always give them a shot just hoping for something usable, not a single EDM patch has made it into any of my projects. I do understand that many do work in that genre, don't get me wrong, I just want the ability to remove them from my work flow.

I really do hope Eric and Spectrasonics come up with some nice surprises next week. I've got a relative of mine going, and I have a request for him to go by the booth and give a personal plea.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Although I disagree about the EDM patches all being "truly horrible" (ridiculous sweeping statement, imo)

Hey noiseboyuk, I think you might have missed me saying for "my purposes". For me those patches just get in the way. I always give them a shot just hoping for something usable, not a single EDM patch has made it into any of my projects. I do understand that many do work in that genre, don't get me wrong, I just want the ability to remove them from my work flow.

In fairness to him, I believe he was quoting my statement, not yours.

[Echoes in the Attic]

This seems as good a place as any to post this - after a bit of correspondence between myself and Eric P regarding Omni 2's tagging, I thought it would be useful to collate the current issues some of us have as best as I can, since I was concerned I've not always expressed this as well as I might have. I've posted an open letter which hopefully explains both the current issues and some possible ways forward. Anyone interested can view it here - http://www.thesoundboard.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=555 .

Especially since it's NAMM week, I'm certianly not expecting a lengthy treatise in response! It's important to note that Eric has earlier indicated to me that Spectrasonics are actively considering several of the possible ideas which are discussed there. Hopefully the open letter is something that might continue to move the discussion forward as they continue to develop that synth. I still think Omni is the single best synth out there, and the current problems are a reflection on the vastness of its scope really.

I agree with your thoughts on the new browser. There are just way to many categories that could have the same presets. But I fear that they are too deep into the current system to do anything about it. With such a massive preset library, the tagging must be an enormous job. It's just unfortunate that when they redesigned it,they actually made it more convoluted.

Another thing that I hope they address is the user audio management seems kind of nightmarish. I haven't used that much so maybe I'm missing something, but all user audio gets imported and sits in folders named after that date? I guess you can go in and manipulate the files in the file system itself but it seems to me like there should be an easier way to tell it what user folder to import audio to.

[LGK_Dude]

Thanks for that wonderful post Guy. I add my concerns with the project tagging system as well in your thread, but what amazes and shocks me the most is the fact that Spectrasonics still have not released an update that fixes their issues with Ultra Chorus, an issue that if you are not careful can causes LARGE spikes of sound that will potentially damage your equipment and ears!! See thread here: http://vi-control.net/community/threads ... st-3896544

[noiseboyuk]

Yeah, certainly hoping for that fix too, then I can take the gazillion instances of brickwall limiters off every channel. Does seem to have taken them a long time. Have a hunch their resources have been focused on other things most of these past months, and we're about to find out what.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Are they presenting at NAMM this year?

[noiseboyuk]

Are they presenting at NAMM this year?

Not yet confirmed, but they do seem to have the same space as last year. They'd dropped a few rhythmic hints to customers last month too, so hoping that Stylus finally gets some love.

[Brittlestem]

Yeah, certainly hoping for that fix too, then I can take the gazillion instances of brickwall limiters off every channel. Does seem to have taken them a long time. Have a hunch their resources have been focused on other things most of these past months, and we're about to find out what.

Yet not so focused that they couldn't find the time to sort out exorbitant charges for customers to download
their unfixed software.

[declan32001]

Are they presenting at NAMM this year?

Not yet confirmed, but they do seem to have the same space as last year. They'd dropped a few rhythmic hints to customers last month too, so hoping that Stylus finally gets some love.

I've spent a lot of money on drums since RMX came out, and I've been wondering for 6 years what these acknowledged "plans" are Spectrasonics has had in all this time.

I'm not expecting anything from Spectrasonics, but if they will be at NAMM they'll have at least an update.
And I'm not spending my Christmas cash until I see what happens next week.

[Gonga]

Feature request! I have used all three synths regularly for years and love them. I know somebody who went out and purchased Omnisphere after they listened to my piece "Winter Solstice," which is over twenty minutes of mostly Omnisphere. There's one thing that bothers me very much however about Omnisphere, and that is the sound of the VA sync. It is stepped. It sounds like a VA of 10-15 years ago. It doesn't compare favorably to other VAs at all, so I never turn to Omnisphere for VA as I use sync all the time. This is a huge bummer for me. If Spectrasonics could upgrade the VA engine to be a bit closer to the competition's VA tech, then Omnisphere would be a much more compelling go-to choice for analog sounds. Thanks.

[Orbit-50]

Feature request! I have used all three synths regularly for years and love them. I know somebody who went out and purchased Omnisphere after they listened to my piece "Winter Solstice," which is over twenty minutes of mostly Omnisphere. There's one thing that bothers me very much however about Omnisphere, and that is the sound of the VA sync. It is stepped. It sounds like a VA of 10-15 years ago. It doesn't compare favorably to other VAs at all, so I never turn to Omnisphere for VA as I use sync all the time. This is a huge bummer for me. If Spectrasonics could upgrade the VA engine to be a bit closer to the competition's VA tech, then Omnisphere would be a much more compelling go-to choice for analog sounds. Thanks.

Please don't take offense to this but I think there are enough VA's with excellent sync capabilities for us to choke on for an eternity if not more. Would it be nice for Omnisphere to throw it's hat in the "true VA" emulation ring? I guess. But as it stands for now, there are approximately over 7,000,000,000 analog emus that cover this ground already. I don't know if Spectrasonics vision with Omnisphere was to compete with the Prophet 5. Omnisphere is pure digital goodness. That's what it's major is. Pure digital ROM goodness. Mmmm yummy digital ROM!



Disclaimer: My hardware days were from the late 80's through the 90's where every synth module I owned consisted of tiny little bytes of yummy digital ROM. Lot's of it designed by Eric Persing himself. Omnisphere brings that same culture of sound to the 21st century. No analog necessary. Thanks Eric!


.

[Gonga]

You are entitled to your opinion and you may be right that Spectrasonics views Omnisphere as a rompler, because I have requested this of Spectrasonics many times and it hasn't happened. On the other hand a lot of folks, Eric included I think, consider, or would like to consider Omnisphere a "powerful," "desert Island" synth, with superior synthesis capabilities (and after all, to synthesize means to combine into something new - digital + analog = ?). Many people, myself included, would appreciate the combination of Omni's capabilities together with a higher-quality analog engine. What I'm asking for is an improvement in the sound of the synth, not it's flexibility. I think that's reasonable given Omnisphere's "desert island" reputation, which to many folks, is undeserved, particularly regarding it's analog capabilities.

p.s. there are a lot fewer synths than 7,000,000 that do a really great job with hard sync. I'd say maybe 20 or 30 that sound better than Omnisphere. The only ones I own that can do this well are Massive, Oxium and U-He synths, none of which have digital rompler capability. Omni does, and I'd love to hear the analog part upgraded to include perhaps oversampling and audio-rate modulation...whatever would make it sound better.