Omnisphere 3

[jobinho]

...and the thread was going so well.

Still, it had a great first few days before the inevitable tedious crap that at some point infects every KVR Omnisphere thread.

I'm just waiting for anyone to comment on the plug in itself, like the sounds or features beyond 'its got improved fx'...

Like is it really a step up, or just more of the same?

It's mostly more of the same with enhancements and some new sounds, aside from Mutate and Quadzone which are genuinely interesting new features.

Many people are okay with that as they love Omnisphere as it is, me personally, I'd have liked to see some improvements to the UX for the 200 bucks.

[muzicxs]

Any idea what the upgrade price in Euros is going to be? Purchasing it new costs $499 / €399, so I hope $199 is going to turn into €159.

[noiseboyuk]

Many people are okay with that as they love Omnisphere as it is, me personally, I'd have liked to see some improvements to the UX for the 200 bucks.

I'm one of the ones who would have bought a pitchfork just to wave it at Spectrasonics if they fundamentally changed the UX. It works great and I don't want it changed.

But genuine question - what kind of concept would work for those who keep saying it looks Y2K? What is out there that has the vastness and complexity of Omnisphere that is much quicker and easier to use in practice?

[m-ac]

They could start by doing something with that ridiculous header section which takes up nearly half the screen real estate. I don't need giant Omnisphere, power synth and spectrasonics logos blasting me in the face the full time. Nor do I need to take up a third of that space with a section for multis.

[dune_rave]

I'd like to see the picture of a giant cube, rather than the current giant circle as splash screen.
Anyway, can you inactivate this screen to see the plugin main screen right after loading?

[noiseboyuk]

They could start by doing something with that ridiculous header section which takes up nearly half the screen real estate. I don't need giant Omnisphere, power synth and spectrasonics logos blasting me in the face the full time. Nor do I need to take up a third of that space with a section for multis.

Okay, let's unpack that.

First of all, the header is less than a third. Second, of course it has key functionality - the patch name and access to browser and the tabs to access all the different sections.

But, granted, you could blat over all that empty space with buttons. How does this look?

Omni horror mockup.png

Some synths do have the fully crowded look. Avenger is a good example, and you can so so much with it all right there in front of you. But there are two strikes against. First, you don't have to dig very far before you need tabs for multiple envelopes, filters etc. Suddenly I can't see everything at a glance and drag and drop modulation with ease. Second, I do find it... well, headache inducing after a while. You really need to have a massive screen and the GUI filled to make it comfortable to work with. Many would rather the UI not need to be so big so they can have it open in their DAWs.

Personally I like the space. It's elegant and simple. I can clearly see everything. I know Omni's architecture well and know exactly where I need to tab / zoom in to do things.

But perhaps the final point here is that I don't see how nay of this makes Omni's UX "dated". Is it modern to cram everything with buttons, colours and movement? Or is that just one of a number of design choices?

Having something clear and elegant is, imo, timeless.

[billinder33]

Many people are okay with that as they love Omnisphere as it is, me personally, I'd have liked to see some improvements to the UX for the 200 bucks.

But genuine question - what kind of concept would work for those who keep saying it looks Y2K? What is out there that has the vastness and complexity of Omnisphere that is much quicker and easier to use in practice?

Graphical drag and drop envelopes and LFOs that persist across all the tabs. Graphical filter visualizers so you can actually see what they are doing. A lesser deal but would be nice is 3D wavetable graphics so you don't have to scroll through the wavetable to see what it does. Less wasted screen space. Less tabs inside tabs inside tabs.

And this applies to most of the sampled instruments on the market.... can we just get rid of the cutsie pictures already? An image of Fritzy Frazzlehair blowing on his magical egg provides zero value to the workflow, and I suspect that people who spend $500 on a flagship instrument already know what oboes and violins look like.

Say what you will about the modern wub-wub synths, but these are some of the big things they got right and why they are so popular.

[CrystalWizard]

What exactly so you think Ominsphere has than you won't find in other synths.

The amount of expertly recorded and processed variety of sound sources, all in one single system, immediately accessible with just one or two clicks of the mouse...

...The difference is that it comes pre-loaded with an unprecedented amount of these sample sets and at least in my opinion the hit vs miss rate of these sample sets is at an absurdly high level, mostly outclassing the aforementioned hardware giants and not even in the same universe as most "small indie plugin makers". Again, just my own opinion and observation.

This really is the point to me. One can buy a sample set of scaped xxx, or bowed xxx, or finger tapped xxx, or such and such on a resonator, or plunged under water, lit on fire, etc., etc., but it would take a huge number of the sample sets to equal Omnisphere, with them all in one place and indeed, well recorded. I could use v2 for another decade and i doubt i would get tired of the possibilities.

It's very evident where all the talent at Spectrasonics lies. Now if they'd spend even a tenth of that kind of talent on UI and new synthesis techniques, they would be unstoppable.

That's ^^^ exactly what i meant in my previous comment (I did miss the new feature of using multiple Osc/ sample modifiers at once, that is intriguing) more so the synthesis than the UI, but, I mostly with this comment (minus the pitchfork):

I'm one of the ones who would have bought a pitchfork just to wave it at Spectrasonics if they fundamentally changed the UX. It works great and I don't want it changed.

except this:

They could start by doing something with that ridiculous header section which takes up nearly half the screen real estate. I don't need giant Omnisphere, power synth and spectrasonics logos blasting me in the face the full time. Nor do I need to take up a third of that space with a section for multis.

[soundman007]

Any idea what the upgrade price in Euros is going to be? Purchasing it new costs $499 / €399, so I hope $199 is going to turn into €159.

Agree 100%. Only in case of that honest price setting will I consider upgrading.

[noiseboyuk]

Graphical drag and drop envelopes and LFOs that persist across all the tabs.

You mean a permanent strip for 8 LFOs and 6 envelopes per part across 4 parts? 56 always visible controls for LFOs and Envelopes?

This is what I'm talking about. That sounds like a hellscape right there, and it's just LFOs and Envelopes. If I want to see what the mod sources are doing, I just click the mod zoom and there they all are, animated so I can quickly work out what I need to be adjusting. And hidden away the rest of the time so it's not a blizzard of visual noise - 95% of the time I don't need to see it.

[Caine123]

yes i also expected some more/some UX enhancements too, especially some new sidebar or reworked one with faster modulation access and visualization. there is still so much space top with the logos etc. but also Omnisphere is nice to work with and hasnt gotten worse and you guys shouldnt forget all the updates which Omnisphere 1 and 2 got where other companies would have charged maybe 2-3 times!
so Omnisphere 2 still grew all those years more and more?
but if you dont consider that and just check v2 -> v3 it might look underwhelming, but again Dune 2 -> Dune 3 was faster developed but the upgrade and new features were for me heavily underwhelming, but later Patches made it worth it.

and if Omnisphere still isnt interesting for someone it wont be with v3 im sure, even with the new packs they added focused Genres, i know nobody who uses Omnisphere for Dubstep, Drum and Bass etc. you can do it but if i use it for these Genres it is mostly for some more "cinematic" and experimental layers.

[billinder33]

Graphical drag and drop envelopes and LFOs that persist across all the tabs.

You mean a permanent strip for 8 LFOs and 6 envelopes per part across 4 parts? 56 always visible controls for LFOs and Envelopes?

Just a decent number of global ones would be fine. Serum makes 10 of these available in about 15% of the total screen space, whereas Omnisphere is easily wasting that much space with their logo and preset bar at the top of the screen. There are already elegant solutions for this on the market. Polyverse manages to do it just fine in their tiny layouts.

And while I'm at it, ADSR sliders in 2025 is a ridiculous concept when you can have a graphic and 5 knobs in less than half the space.

[fisherKing]

yes i also expected some more/some UX enhancements too, especially some new sidebar or reworked one with faster modulation access and visualization. there is still so much space top with the logos etc. but also Omnisphere is nice to work with and hasnt gotten worse and you guys shouldnt forget all the updates which Omnisphere 1 and 2 got where other companies would have charged maybe 2-3 times!
so Omnisphere 2 still grew all those years more and more?
but if you dont consider that and just check v2 -> v3 it might look underwhelming, but again Dune 2 -> Dune 3 was faster developed but the upgrade and new features were for me heavily underwhelming, but later Patches made it worth it.

and if Omnisphere still isnt interesting for someone it wont be with v3 im sure, even with the new packs they added focused Genres, i know nobody who uses Omnisphere for Dubstep, Drum and Bass etc. you can do it but if i use it for these Genres it is mostly for some more "cinematic" and experimental layers.

v3 is the first time i've considered omnisphere. and just because a patch is in a genre labeled 'dubstep' doesn't mean you couldn't use it for something else.

anyway looking forward to real reviews, discussion next week, when it's out in the wild...

[dune_rave]

Nexus/Avenger have already stolen the title of edm preset machine. For edm they are the best

[Echoes in the Attic]

Does anyone know whether you can now modulate layer A with layer B? (e.g. FM modulation)

There's nothing that would indicate that. I'm sure they would have mentioned it if so.