What workhorse synth would you buy if you couldn't get Omnisphere?

[Uncle E]

3,700 presets. Pathetic.

[Gam456]

3,700 presets. Pathetic.

10.000 or nothing

[noiseboyuk]

3,700 presets. Pathetic.

Ha!

Actually according to the UVI website it's 1,500+, but...

All this is is subjective, but casually browsing those 1,500 presets has never inspired me. They have got a little better over the years with the updates, but overall I find their quality low and none ever trigger a "wow". This is in contrast to some of UVIs expansions which have some wonderful stuff in them. So I know it's not the engine itself.

I think what some of us are getting at with Omni is that it's the real world experience of using it that any serious competitor has to try to replicate. Can you turn to it for almost anything very specifically and find a subset of presets very quickly that are tailored to that specific search? And can then easily be further manipulated? Is it MUSICAL? With Falcon it's a big honking NO to all of these for me. There isn't any way to search like that at all - the search is just a dumb text search for patch names, the patches themselves seem mediocre and as for the workflow...

[Jac459]

3,700 presets. Pathetic.

Ha!

Actually according to the UVI website it's 1,500+, but...

All this is is subjective, but casually browsing those 1,500 presets has never inspired me. They have got a little better over the years with the updates, but overall I find their quality low and none ever trigger a "wow". This is in contrast to some of UVIs expansions which have some wonderful stuff in them. So I know it's not the engine itself.

I think what some of us are getting at with Omni is that it's the real world experience of using it that any serious competitor has to try to replicate. Can you turn to it for almost anything very specifically and find a subset of presets very quickly that are tailored to that specific search? And can then easily be further manipulated? Is it MUSICAL? With Falcon it's a big honking NO to all of these for me. There isn't any way to search like that at all - the search is just a dumb text search for patch names, the patches themselves seem mediocre and as for the workflow...

I think it is a question of taste and usage. After watching the videos posted in this thread to illustrate the good presets of Omnisphere, I can say they are tier 1 but not out of this world (for MY usage). My undefeated and underrated favourite is Spire. And just behind is Avenger 2.
Then Falcon 3, and other tiersl 1 synths like pigments, phase plant, hive 2, serum, etc....

One thing with Omnisphere I feel is that the organic aspect of the sound is very nice. But on that specific aspect, I think (Objekt and Friktion blow it (and everything else) under the water (and for good reasons)).

[liquidsound]

3,700 presets. Pathetic.

Ha!

Actually according to the UVI website it's 1,500+, but...

All this is is subjective, but casually browsing those 1,500 presets has never inspired me. They have got a little better over the years with the updates, but overall I find their quality low and none ever trigger a "wow". This is in contrast to some of UVIs expansions which have some wonderful stuff in them. So I know it's not the engine itself.

I think what some of us are getting at with Omni is that it's the real world experience of using it that any serious competitor has to try to replicate. Can you turn to it for almost anything very specifically and find a subset of presets very quickly that are tailored to that specific search? And can then easily be further manipulated? Is it MUSICAL? With Falcon it's a big honking NO to all of these for me. There isn't any way to search like that at all - the search is just a dumb text search for patch names, the patches themselves seem mediocre and as for the workflow...

I think it is a question of taste and usage. After watching the videos posted in this thread to illustrate the good presets of Omnisphere, I can say they are tier 1 but not out of this world (for MY usage). My undefeated and underrated favourite is Spire. And just behind is Avenger 2.
Then Falcon 3, and other tiersl 1 synths like pigments, phase plant, hive 2, serum, etc....

One thing with Omnisphere I feel is that the organic aspect of the sound is very nice. But on that specific aspect, I think (Objekt and Friktion blow it (and everything else) under the water (and for good reasons)).

Sorry but,
Until you are not experiencing having Omnisphere and immerse yourself in that universe of extraordinary material available, and take a journey in opening unlimited number of doors that those masterly created presets are capable of by simply using the tools at your disposal and to use them as a base for your creativity by manipulating them with surprising results at every corner, your judgment is your own enemy.
Never mind what you hear on YouTube... That's like taking a Ferrary to go 3 blocks to the supermarket...

Drive it yourself.

I took a dive, and I can't reach the freaking bottom.
Pigment was nice for the money, but the money was better spent on Omnisphere.

[Jac459]

3,700 presets. Pathetic.

Ha!

Actually according to the UVI website it's 1,500+, but...

All this is is subjective, but casually browsing those 1,500 presets has never inspired me. They have got a little better over the years with the updates, but overall I find their quality low and none ever trigger a "wow". This is in contrast to some of UVIs expansions which have some wonderful stuff in them. So I know it's not the engine itself.

I think what some of us are getting at with Omni is that it's the real world experience of using it that any serious competitor has to try to replicate. Can you turn to it for almost anything very specifically and find a subset of presets very quickly that are tailored to that specific search? And can then easily be further manipulated? Is it MUSICAL? With Falcon it's a big honking NO to all of these for me. There isn't any way to search like that at all - the search is just a dumb text search for patch names, the patches themselves seem mediocre and as for the workflow...

I think it is a question of taste and usage. After watching the videos posted in this thread to illustrate the good presets of Omnisphere, I can say they are tier 1 but not out of this world (for MY usage). My undefeated and underrated favourite is Spire. And just behind is Avenger 2.
Then Falcon 3, and other tiersl 1 synths like pigments, phase plant, hive 2, serum, etc....

One thing with Omnisphere I feel is that the organic aspect of the sound is very nice. But on that specific aspect, I think (Objekt and Friktion blow it (and everything else) under the water (and for good reasons)).

Sorry but,
Until you are not experiencing having Omnisphere and immerse yourself in that universe of extraordinary material available, and take a journey in opening unlimited number of doors that those masterly created presets are capable of by simply using the tools at your disposal and to use them as a base for your creativity by manipulating them with surprising results at every corner, your judgment is your own enemy.
Never mind what you hear on YouTube... That's like taking a Ferrary to go 3 blocks to the supermarket...

Drive it yourself.

I took a dive, and I can't reach the freaking bottom.
Pigment was nice for the money, but the money was better spent on Omnisphere.

Well, I really like the " extraordinary material available, and take a journey in opening unlimited number of doors that those masterly created presets are capable of by simply using the tools at your disposal and to use them as a base for your creativity by manipulating them with surprising results at every corner," but it is very difficult for me to buy something that I don't "feel" myself.

I bought Diva or Hive 2 because of the advises of other people. And they are excellent synths, but not for me... Also I bought Serum, Pigments, because they are such best sellers, but at the end, I very rarely use them...

That's why I am talking about taste. I am not opening a debate about synths here, because Diva, Serum, Omni are absolute awesome synths. But for the 2 first at least, they ARE not fit for my workflow and taste...
Is there any demo for Omni ???

[liquidsound]

Is there any demo for Omni ???

No.
I was born in Italy without a demo.

[Jac459]

Is there any demo for Omni ???

No.
I was born in Italy without a demo.

....And I am sure you cost even more than 500USD... What a scam ....

[noiseboyuk]

Is there any demo for Omni ???

No, and never will be. A source of some bitterness here, but I can see why they don't do a demo. This discussion has focused on the overall experience of using Omni, part of which is the 60gb of samples. It's not very practical to demo that, and they don't want a cut down demo version which doesn't give the full experience.

So it's always been the case that the only way to test it is to find a retailer that demos it (or a friendly other musician).

I'm not clear from your post what synths you DO click with, and why you like those rather than the likes of Diva. Watching a lot of videos and reading people here saying how they work with Omni, and comparing with what you know you like, is your best bet otherwise.

[Jac459]

Is there any demo for Omni ???

No, and never will be. A source of some bitterness here, but I can see why they don't do a demo. This discussion has focused on the overall experience of using Omni, part of which is the 60gb of samples. It's not very practical to demo that, and they don't want a cut down demo version which doesn't give the full experience.

So it's always been the case that the only way to test it is to find a retailer that demos it (or a friendly other musician).

I'm not clear from your post what synths you DO click with, and why you like those rather than the likes of Diva. Watching a lot of videos and reading people here saying how they work with Omni, and comparing with what you know you like, is your best bet otherwise.

Well the synths with which I "DO click":
Avenger 2
Spire
Phase Plant
Twin 3
Objekt/Friktion
Falcon (as preset browser)
Recently legend HZ.

I have a ton of other synths (some excellent) but this are the one I use the most.

[noiseboyuk]

Well the synths with which I "DO click":
Avenger 2
Spire
Phase Plant
Twin 3
Objekt/Friktion
Falcon (as preset browser)
Recently legend HZ.

I have a ton of other synths (some excellent) but this are the one I use the most.

Do you think there's anything common to those that means you DO get on with them, as opposed to Diva et al that you DON'T get on with?

[Jac459]

Well the synths with which I "DO click":
Avenger 2
Spire
Phase Plant
Twin 3
Objekt/Friktion
Falcon (as preset browser)
Recently legend HZ.

I have a ton of other synths (some excellent) but this are the one I use the most.

Do you think there's anything common to those that means you DO get on with them, as opposed to Diva et al that you DON'T get on with?

Either they are easy to approach:
Twin 3, Phase Plant,
Either they sound excellent:
Spire, Friktion, Objekt.
Either both: Avenger 2 .

[liquidsound]

Is there any demo for Omni ???

No.
I was born in Italy without a demo.

....And I am sure you cost even more than 500USD... What a scam ....

In espresso if course

[dellboy]

If you are a professional making music for adverts -TV - Film,then I guess that Omnisphere is a no brainer and is needed as a necessary tool for the job. And I suppose its a tax write off?

For hobbyists,such as myself,who want similar breathy sounds on a budget,I think AIR Expand2 could do a reasonable sound alike job. And its now available as a VST3. Stick NI Raum reverb on the end and it can sound pretty decent with its four samples to mix and play around with. Its main drawback is that its mainly a preset machine with limited control of sound editing.

[noiseboyuk]

Either they are easy to approach:
Twin 3, Phase Plant,
Either they sound excellent:
Spire, Friktion, Objekt.
Either both: Avenger 2 .

I'm struggling to understand what it is about Diva that doesn't appeal - the mix and match modules? The slightly opaque mod matrix? I actually have a different skin, MONA, which actually changes the way you work with the synth, and I do prefer that.

I only really know Avenger of that lot. I think it's very easy to approach too - although I find that's mostly when starting patches from scratch. You can do it all in front of you. But quickly you start needing tabs, and then that immediacy - an analog with analog - necessarily goes.

Omni is a very different paradigm. You have the very simple front controls in a few tabs, then you drill down to the detail. Some hate this, I like it.

You mentioned before you use Falcon as a preset browser, which I do find surprising as it's really terrible at that job imo. Omni is another league there, and that opens up whole new ways of working.

There's nothing for it - you're going to have to seek out someone or somewhere you can try it out yourself!