Is Halion 6 better overall value than Omnisphere 2.6?

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Maybe a dry comparison would help as well, even though reverbs are part of the software.
Doing nothing is only fun when you have something you are supposed to do.

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That might be good as well, but a head to head comparison straight out the box is probably enough to start with.
I just know that the pianos and basses in one far outweigh the other. And that's not all, but a good place to start with.

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For the fun of it, i've tried to reprogram an Omnisphere pure synth patch "Analogues Triumphant Return" in Halion's wavetable engine. This was more challenging:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AohO8iAIn18ahL92w72 ... A?e=HaVLMr

(actually, I have also modeled the shape slider of the Omnisphere parts in Halion, but it isn't part of the demo)

First one is Omnisphere, second one is Halion.

About the discussion itself: my examples aren't really supposed to provide a proper comparison for the original purpose. They originated from the mere fact that the Halion sound and synth quality was questioned and the fact that I in fact am indeed opinionated about what Halion can do and can't do. Yes, it is actually all about bias and not much else :-) I think we (mostly all) agree that when you directly compare Omnisphere presets to matching Halion presets that Omnisphere is usually much better. The Halion factory library covers additional areas though not covered in Omnisphere. Still, the preset quality isn't the same as the engine quality.

My attempt to reprogram a few of the Omnisphere patches in Halion to see how close I can get to Omnisphere is about the engine quality. I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't a good sound design exercise (which I really think it is as you get better at the software at hand (Halion) and at the same time understand how the really awesomly crafted patches in Omnisphere are actually made). The fact that you can get close with Halion doesn't make any statement about the value. Value is something different to everyone. I value engine quality over presets. Others value preset quality over engine flexibility. In fact, the time I've spent reprogramming the patches in Halion is already worth more than the actual Omnisphere price.

That said, here are a few observations from this exercise that are maybe interesting:
- In my opinion, Omnisphere's value does not lie solely in the synth engine (which is pretty neat) or the presets (which are probably among the best out there), it is also the wavetables. I had to sample the JP-80 and OB-80 raw wavetables to get a similar sound in Halion.
- I think (though not entirely sure) that Omnisphere is doing some stuff under the hood concerning the volume or loudness management of multiple layers. For example, when I deactivate a layer in Halion which is balanced for the overall loudness of multiple layers, the volume becomes lower obviously. My impression is that in Omnisphere is still loud when deactivating single layers. I'm not sure how this works, but overall, my impression is that Omnisphere by default is louder than Halion no matter what you do. The Halion loudness management with mixing multiple busses is actually where I have spent probably most of my time.
- The Omnisphere sound is a little warmer in the low end in my opinion. I couldn't reproduce this with the tape saturation or similar. Maybe it can be improved using plugins in the DAW itself.

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Halion is far more complicated to use than omnisphere imo.

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Biome_Digital wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:05 pm Halion is far more complicated to use than omnisphere imo.
+1.

rsp
sound sculptist

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I don't find either that hard really. And there's enough to rarely have to do much but tweaking in HAL. Omni often requires loading another plugin because some instruments were an afterthought (which Omni users complained about for years.)

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What are you talking about? Other plugin?
You load trilogy and keyscape (edit: sounds) from within omnisphere... quite frankly it loads just like any omnisphere patch except the gui changes.
I actually haven't loaded trilogy separately for awhile (as in yearsss), beyond making sure it is still working fine after an update.
rsp
Last edited by zvenx on Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
sound sculptist

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Those are still other plugins which have to be purchased separately. So again you're off topic.
Compare Omni by itself to HAL "right out of the box" and it's clear that Omni is missing what HAL gives you.
Other than the cost to make Omni omni, the only "bad thing" about it really is the echo chamber of 90% of its users.

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Yes great discoverer we already established from page 1 that Omnisphere doesn't have a lot of bread and butter samples.

You obviously said. and I quote "
I don't find either that hard really. And there's enough to rarely have to do much but tweaking in HAL. Omni often requires loading another plugin because some instruments were an afterthought (which Omni users complained about for years.)
You have had this spectrasonics gripe since at least 2013....
rsp
sound sculptist

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And I don't think there is a single thread that contains a mention of Omnisphere where BBFG# hasn't turned up. It's quite some grudge.

I think they've busted Sonkeysankey's famous campaign record several time over.

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It's not a gripe.
Just a fact that seems to cause distress among its worshippers.
Omnisphere is a fine product. So is HALion. Both have a place in today's world.
That just seems to upset some that Omni isn't the absolute they want it to be.

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Omniphere is my desert island synth.
Does not at all means it is the absolute best in every way. Just means to me if I had to have one synth to work with that would probably be it, it doesn't have the best of everything, probably (apart from the presets and workflow), not the best at anything individually. But as a sum of its parts it is indeed my personal favourite. It is clearly ok if others have very different opinions, but you seem to be on a mission. And you don't' even own Omnisphere.

I use other stuff all the time, matter of fact I use Kontakt and Zebra2 more often on the average day actually.

rsp
sound sculptist

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BBFG# wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:13 pm It's not a gripe.
Just a fact that seems to cause distress among its worshippers.
Omnisphere is a fine product. So is HALion. Both have a place in today's world.
That just seems to upset some that Omni isn't the absolute they want it to be.
For once, just give it up with the "worshippers" nonsense. It's straight-up projection on your part and nobody is fooled by it.

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And that's all you got from that?
I guess thanks for proving my point?

There's an echo of serious distortion.

Maybe address the topic instead.
Starting with a direct comparison of the non-synth basses and pianos of HAL to Omni (without Trilian and Keyscape.)

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The OP had two main questions IIRC. One: bread-and-butter instruments, which Omni doesn't do for the most part though it depends on your definition of bread and butter. Also, I really like the Eagle piano in Halion - it just happens to fit my playing style without adjustment, though I think there are equally good pianos in Kontakt/Komplete (even before you get onto the third party stuff).

The other question was granular and wavetable, which to some extent involve user preference. Halion has an extensive wavetable engine but is a bit nerfed on granular because that stuff is in Padshop and (curiously) Backbone. There are the scripted synths in Halion which expose these things nicely. However, I find sound design just a lot quicker and easier to accomplish in Omni, though in Halion you have proper multisampling.

But overall a lot of the value is not something you can measure in bits, bytes and samples.

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