Is Omnisphere 2 still worth it?

[Captain]

I'm probably writing this same message here every couple of years, but here goes again: I'm an Omnisphere (or originally Atmosphere) user since 2002, used it on countless projects, and it's still the synth that I probably open most often. I have used a lot of the presets (which is probably still about 0.1% of all the included sounds), and made a lot of my own from scratch.

One of my favourite things to do when I have a moment is to open Omnisphere with an empty patch, just load some semi-random soundsource, and start playing with it (the granular effect is always a good starting place). Usually I end up with something that sounds nothing like the original soundsource, but is definitely worth saving for some possible future use.

[bmanic]

This is exactly how I use Omnisphere too for the past few years. I just treat it as an amazing "workstation" synth (think Roland, Korg, Yamaha etc) with an absolutely mind boggling set of built in ROM wave files. The amount of content in this thing completely justifies the price and the praise it's gotten over the years.

It's an amazing achievement by Spectrasonics. The meticulous sampling and quality of all the included sounds is very valuable. It's so easy to make your own "ROMpler" sounds from scratch. It's very quick and easy to layer things and get awesome sounds!

.. and then there is also a surprising amount of depth to the actual synthesis engine itself. The effects are also of rather high quality in my opinion, even considering the age of the beast.

[noiseboyuk]

I just treat it as an amazing "workstation" synth (think Roland, Korg, Yamaha etc)

Never mind the dreaded R word, for me the Workstation tag isn’t a good one. Workstations are based around bread and butter sounds, which Omni has never had. It’s always been far more eclectic and esoteric than that.

Sure if you add Keyscape and Trilian you then have a few more essentials, but there’s still no drums, rhythm guitar, acoustic brass / strings etc. That’s not a criticism, I’ve always liked that it ISN’T a workstation.

I think the best software workstation is Amplitube Sampletank, an up to date version of those old hardware workhorses.

[LFO8]

Blah.. workstations are for Seinfeld music

[bmanic]

I just treat it as an amazing "workstation" synth (think Roland, Korg, Yamaha etc)

Never mind the dreaded R word, for me the Workstation tag isn’t a good one. Workstations are based around bread and butter sounds, which Omni has never had. It’s always been far more eclectic and esoteric than that.

Sure if you add Keyscape and Trilian you then have a few more essentials, but there’s still no drums, rhythm guitar, acoustic brass / strings etc. That’s not a criticism, I’ve always liked that it ISN’T a workstation.

I think the best software workstation is Amplitube, an up to date version of those old hardware workhorses.

I 100% disagree. I never used those "bread and butter" sounds, ever. That's not why I bought a K2000/K2500 nor a Roland XP-50 and JV-2080 back in the days. I always bought it for the huge selection of samples contained within a single box which could then be tweaked to make my own sounds. So it all comes down to personal perspective in what you think a workstation synthesizer is. For me it's a box with a huge breadth of sound (Omnisphere ticks this box better than any other synth on the market in my opinion) that can be further tweaked by the user.

Also there's plenty of different percussion/drum samples within Omnisphere. Not to mention you can make any kick drum with the included sample set combined with the synthesis options.

My point was that Omnisphere reminds me a lot of the 90s synthesizers that allowed you to simply combine pre-mapped and perfectly looped sampled sound sets, usually in 2 to 4 layers (or more if you count the "multi" approach).

It has basically all the same features and many of the same drawbacks.

[bmanic]

Speaking of drawbacks.. a few simple additions would make Omnisphere a lot more powerful and easier to program.

1) Keyboard tracking with custom curves. Meaning it would be nice if the user could exactly define how the keyboard mapping tracks. This would be extremely useful when trying to track specific things like filters, amplitude ranges etc.

2) In general, I'd love to have a modulation mapper system where each modulation source could be specifically edited on a X/Y axis like in Alchemy/Avenger/Arturia stuff.

3) Wish the 'Main' section had it's own synthesis engine that comes POST all the other layers. The main HPF/LPF should have all the same filter options as each layer has and it should be polyphonic and able to be modulated with an envelope and LFO. I also wish it had a simple gain/amp knob that was polyphonic at this point in the combined part which could then be assigned to keyboard tracking, velocity, env/lfo etc.

I sometimes end up with really interesting layered sounds that just need one more stage of filtering/manipulation.

[noiseboyuk]

I 100% disagree. I never used those "bread and butter" sounds, ever. That's not why I bought a K2000/K2500 nor a Roland XP-50 and JV-2080 back in the days. I always bought it for the huge selection of samples contained within a single box. Not once did I use basic band type of sounds.

Also there's plenty of different percussion/drum samples within Omnisphere. Not to mention you can make any kick drum with the included sample set combined with the synthesis options.

My point was that Omnisphere reminds me a lot of the 90s synthesizers that allowed you to simply combine pre-mapped sampled sounds, usually in 2 to 4 layers (or more if you count the "multi" approach).

It has basically all the same features and many of the same drawbacks.

Well we'll agree to disagree. All workstations - AFAIK - have the basics in place, and since Omnisphere came out people have been complaining it didn't have bread and butter. It doesn't even really have a basic acoustic piano (the dream piano soundsource is as close as it gets).

As for drums, of course it can make electronic drum sounds, but there's no realistic sounding kit parts. Reason being that RMX is rhythm, clearly they didn't want to cross-pollenate.

If you're purely talking about layering sounds - well okay, but plenty of pure synths follow that model too (eg D50). Omni just doesn't look, smell or taste like a workstation to me and using the term only invites disappointment for those who want a conventional workstation. A synth like Avenger fits the bill better imo. But - as I say, we'll just agree to differ.

I like your suggestions in the other post though.

[Dirk Diggler]

What you don't consider the burning piano a basic piano? LOL

[T-CM11]

I think the best software workstation is Amplitube, an up to date version of those old hardware workhorses.

This one? https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitube4/
Looks like guitar effects to me...

[syntonica]

(Okay, my browser is acting weird....)

[noiseboyuk]

I think the best software workstation is Amplitube, an up to date version of those old hardware workhorses.

This one? https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitube4/
Looks like guitar effects to me...

I'm a dozy old git. Sampletank I meant.

[T-CM11]

I'm a dozy old git. Sampletank I meant.

Korg Triton (VST) is even closer to an old hardware workstation synth.
Not as "up to date" maybe - but if you want realistic acoustic instruments, adding a few Kontakt libraries is better than what Sampletank offers.

I do find Omnisphere very "workstation-like", just with a different soundset.

[noiseboyuk]

I'm a dozy old git. Sampletank I meant.

Korg Triton (VST) is even closer to an old hardware workstation synth.
Not as "up to date" maybe - but if you want realistic acoustic instruments, adding a few Kontakt libraries is better than what Sampletank offers.

I was pretty unimpressed with the Triton demos - they sounded like what they were, an old workstation that was good for its era.

Sampletank is the all-in-one good (not great) quality package. Absolutely you can get MUCH better with third party Kontakt libraries, but it will cost you a ton more. It’s not really analogous to a workstation either, it’s just a platform for libraries. (That said the core factory library is quite workstation-ish and slightly better than its reputation would have you believe imo).

[Leo1999]

I forgot where I read it, but someone might know, will Omnisphere 3 be released in March or April 2023?

[noiseboyuk]

I forgot where I read it, but someone might know, will Omnisphere 3 be released in March or April 2023?

In the past there have been zero leaks on upcoming Spectrasonics releases, and I don't see that changing. I strongly suspect whatever you read was someone talking nonsense.

I'd be surprised if we saw an Omnisphere 3 in the next few years, but who knows.