Is Omnisphere 2 still worth it?

[LFO8]

Cheers guys!

[bmanic]

Can any of you post examples of particular sounds you would be able to get with polyphonic modulation sources that you can not now with monophonic ones? (genuinely interested)

The most simple one to understand and immediately hear is modulating any gain source. If you set a short monophonic envelope on the main VCA and then trigger first one note, for instance C3 and then trigger a bit later another note, for instance G4.. when you trigger the 2nd note, you will suddenly hear the C3 note again as it gets the exact same envelope re-triggering on it's VCA.

This can be abused and get some cool playing techniques but naturally it's very rarely desirable.. you want every note to have their own envelope. Most commonly filter envelopes. It gets extremely annoying and weird if every new note always triggers every old notes filter cutoff again.

In Omnisphere there are so many cool modulation destinations that you usually want to be polyphonic (meaning every note has it's own envelope), FM, waveshaping, wavetable, unisum settings etc.

I can create some audio examples of monophonic vs polyphonic modulation if you want. You'll be immediately able to hear it in action.

Keep in mind that polyphonic modulation envelopes is the norm. It's what you have been hearing in synths 99.9% of the time. The ability to set envelopes to be monophonic is rare!. So it's a bit strange that Omnisphere was programmed the exact opposite way around.

[LFO8]

I can create some audio examples of monophonic vs polyphonic modulation if you want. You'll be immediately able to hear it in action.

Yes please. Thank you. I have never noticed this in Omnisphere.

[Touch The Universe]

Nearly and hour and a half of omni sounds

[LoveEnigma18]

https://www.spectrasonics.net/news/news ... php?id=140

Free Update features over 1500 patches for users of Keyscape + Omnisphere

We are thrilled to announce the release of a newly expanded 2023 edition of the Keyscape Creative library, bringing the total to over 1500 Omnisphere patches specially designed for users who also own Keyscape. The vast library of sounds was produced by renowned sound designer Eric Persing, showcasing the creative work of our award-winning Spectrasonics Sound Development team. The expanded library features a tremendous variety of stunning new patches showcasing the power of combining the latest features of both Keyscape and Omnisphere. Keyscape's richly detailed keyboard sounds, including the new Double Felt Grand, have been dramatically transformed using Omnisphere’s deep synthesis capabilities and effects. The Keyscape Creative library offers a wide variety of inspiring sounds for modern music production and is available now as a FREE update to all registered users.

Pricing and Availability
The Keyscape Creative Library v1.6 update is FREE and available now for registered users of both Omnisphere 2 and Keyscape. All existing users can get the new library by simply clicking the “Get Updates” button on the splash screen of the user interface to download it. After installation, the patches will appear as a new Omnisphere directory the next time it is opened.

Omnisphere 2.8.5 and Keyscape 1.5 or above are required

Looks like ~300 250 (as per change log) new patches have been added (since the previous count was ~1200).

[dune_rave]

cool!

[noiseboyuk]

Lovely! The marketing makes it look like 1,500 new patches, but let's not be churlish about 250 free new mostly-Eric Persing wonders. To view them, select Keyscape Creative and then put 1.6 in the search bar.

But this is curious - load up the patch Chemical Spill. There was reference in the patch notes to "3 instances of K-verb" and I thought.... "what is K-verb"? Never heard of it before. But sure enough there it is, and a K-channel besides on the Common output.



What is so odd is that these effects don't appear in the fx browser - you can't select them on any other patch. Anyone any ideas?

[LoveEnigma18]

Thanks for the tip about "1.6" search.

Interesting observation about K-verb. Indeed looks to be something new and not in the FX list. Curious about it too.

[zvenx]

Thanks for the tip about "1.6" search.

Interesting observation about K-verb. Indeed looks to be something new and not in the FX list. Curious about it too.

Guy I think you have a few of the sonic extensions.. is it available in one of them?
rsp

[hurricaneaudiolab]

No, it appears to be brand new an unrelated to the Sonic Extensions. I also believe the "K" stands for "Keyscape". Wonder if Keyscape is getting its own effects rack in the future.

[noiseboyuk]

No, it appears to be brand new an unrelated to the Sonic Extensions. I also believe the "K" stands for "Keyscape". Wonder if Keyscape is getting its own effects rack in the future.

Yes, not a Sonic Extension effect.

I also figured K must be Keyscape. It just had an update too, with the felt grand, but no word about new effects. But I just opened one of the new Double Felt Grand patches in Omni, and lo and behold - K-verb is under the hood in the effects rack.

So it looks like it's two new Keyscape-specific effects that came in Keyscape 1.6, but you can't add them yourself even in Omni. A strange anomaly.

[ReiKru]

In Omnisphere i don't see any Updates avaiable. Where can i get these Patches?

[noiseboyuk]

In Omnisphere i don't see any Updates avaiable. Where can i get these Patches?

Probably just restart Omni and the link will come up. Took 2 goes for me.

[noiseboyuk]

From Spectrasonics twitter:

You’ve found the “secret” new Keyscape FX we added for the Double Felt release! We thought it would be fun to utilize them some more for this update. They are intentionally more hidden in Omnisphere, but power users can enjoy exploring them by saving Rack Presets! Have fun!

Typically idiosyncratic Spectrasonics! Would be easy to save a basic preset with an instance in it I guess, though a bit unwieldy in use.

[bmanic]

I can create some audio examples of monophonic vs polyphonic modulation if you want. You'll be immediately able to hear it in action.

Yes please. Thank you. I have never noticed this in Omnisphere.

Just realized I forgot to make the example for you of polyphonic vs monophonic envelope. Sorry about that!

Link:

Polyphonic envelope vs monophonic envelope (Google Drive, mp3 413kb)

Here you can download a short MP3 file demonstrating the difference. First part of audio is the polyphonic envelope, behaving just as a normal filter envelope. I'm holding a chord with my left hand then playing a short little melody with the right hand while still holding the left hand chord down.

Then I switch the mod envelope (nr 4) into monophonic mode and run the exact same notes. Now you can clearly hear that the envelope that modulates the filter becomes monophonic and thus triggers again on every note down. It's actually a pretty cool effect but quite rarely desired. As said earlier in this discussion, what you think of as a "normal" envelope in most synths, is polyphonic. In Omnisphere it's the opposite way around. Only one of the extra envelopes allows for polyphonic operation (mod env nr 4).

This exact same concept is true for the LFOs, where 1-7 are monophonic and only the 8th can be switched to be polyphonic (so each new note gets it's own LFO).