Omnisphere 3

[IvyBirds]

I bought the upgrade. Arriving tomorrow and I am very excited for it. Looks awesome.

But I have some (very selfish) disappointment that my three (personal) hopes aren’t there: hardware profile for the very knobby 3rd Wave, hardware profile for multi-page roto-control, and the ability to set loop points for user samples.

Check with Spectrasonics on that. I asked them for support for the MicroKorg 2 and they said it's definitely coming.

In the global controls nemu for your 3rd wave go in and make sure it's set to transmit MIDI CC values from the knobs

Then pull up the Global Controls Screen in Omnisphere. Right click on one and select MIDI learn then move whatever control you want to control that on your 3rd Wave, it will on my take a few minutes at most to do all of them, then just save it as your default multi

You don't need to wait for Spectrasonics to do this for you

[IvyBirds]

Now that I've had a few solid hours to play with this, my biggest complaints are the lack of drag&drop MSEGs, and no macro knobs. These are basic quality of life features in most modern synths.

Still a great synth, it'll get lots of use, but having those two additions would have really set it over the top.

This is exactly what’s stopping me upgrade. It would seem silly to many users here but modulation in Omnisphere just feels cumbersome compared to my other synths.

I’ll still enjoy Omnisphere 2 as it is, but don’t want to invest more money into a synth I find annoying to use at a very basic level, when I have plenty of other good options.

Definitely understand this sentiment. It's like the designers only built the system from the perspective of a keyboard performer and never considered that users might want to drive it directly from the DAW or via an alternative controller like a Push or Linnstrument.

It's a shame because so much of it is top notch - the lib, the filters, the FX, all the excellent sounding oscillator shaping options. Being able to control all this like you can in Serum or Phaseplant would be a dream.

Omnisphere however allows you to expose up to 512 different parameters to Host/DAW Automation and an additional 2,032 parameters via MIDI CCs

It's a virtually unlimited playground that allows your DAW/host and controller to control anything however you wish to control them. I am using Gig Performer to make hundreds of custom controls and macros for Omnisphere 3 for deep sound design.

[teilo]

Now that I've had a few solid hours to play with this, my biggest complaints are the lack of drag&drop MSEGs, and no macro knobs. These are basic quality of life features in most modern synths.

Modulation is the one area they should have completely revamped. It's still only single stage. There is still no way to modify one modulator with another. For example, you cannot do something as simple as using the wheel to change the amount of an envelope being applied. There is also no modulation transfer curve.

And yes, macro knobs. Global controls are great, but they are no substitute for macro knobs. This was a perfect opportunity for them. Include the global controls as presets for macro knobs.

[dune_rave]

Ok, was not able to wait so upgraded.
i have a s61 mk2 keyboard from NI.
Using this in HW integration, i'm not too satisfied. Will try again that feature later.
For example filter res was mapped, but cutoff not....

You have to put your s61 mk2 into MIDI Mode and you will find the following mappings

Knob 1 (CC#14) – Global Controls Cutoff
Knob 2 (CC#15) – Global Controls Resonance
Knob 3 (CC#16) – Global Controls Filter Envelope Amount
Knob 4 (CC#17) – Global Controls Vibrato Depth
Knob 5 (CC#18) – Global Controls Ambience Amount
Knob 6 (CC#19) – Global Controls Ambience Length
Knob 7 (CC#20) – Global Controls Unison
Knob 8 (CC#21) – Global Controls Glide

Cut off is the first knob and the factory default on your control issues CC#14 for that

Since your controller only has 8 knobs it can only have 8 things in the hardware profile for the Global Controls in Omnisphere

I was already in midi mode, but the first knob didnt control cutoff, though the second controlled res and the others other params.

But thanx anyway.

[noiseboyuk]

For example, you cannot do something as simple as using the wheel to change the amount of an envelope being applied.

Wheel -> Mod Env1 depth

[SamDi]

For example, you cannot do something as simple as using the wheel to change the amount of an envelope being applied.

Wheel -> Mod Env1 depth

Yeah, but it's still better, being able to modulate modulations, instead the modulators amount.

[noiseboyuk]

Yeah, but it's still better, being able to modulate modulations, instead the modulators amount.

I don't disagree, and it shouldn't (!) be that tricky to implement. Have you put in a feature request?

EDIT - actually I can see why it would be slightly tricky - they'd need to address each bank of 12 and each slot from 1-12. Not impossible though - and add target parameter to it as well.

[mutagen]

Total number of patches including duplicates and remastered legacy = 26.421
Total number of unique patches including remastered legacy = 13,915
Total number of remastered legacy = 9,242
Total number of brand new unique patches = 4,673

Is there an easy way to identify the new patches?

[Echoes in the Attic]

Yes, they are claiming 26,000 new patches! I can only assume this includes remastered and reclassified presets as well as truly new ones.

This has been covered a lot but it's a long thread so it's okay! That 26,000 figure includes a lot of double counting - the same patch can exist in several directories and on their website they simply added it all up as unique patches.

Here's how it breaks down:

Total number of patches including duplicates and remastered legacy = 26.421
Total number of unique patches including remastered legacy = 13,915
Total number of remastered legacy = 9,242
Total number of brand new unique patches = 4,673

They've got a lot of creative, right brain people over there at Spectrasonics, but they've never been great at more logical things like math, or database concepts (discovering/browsing a lot of data for example)

[noiseboyuk]

Is there an easy way to identify the new patches?

They've always had a Version tag to easily sort new stuff. But, remarkably, they seem to have forgotten to add it this time. Here's all the possible assignments:

Screenshot 2025-10-23 144432.png

Literally everything BUT Omnisphere 3!

The closest you can get is sort the results by Latest, then the new stuff appears A-Z before the legacy stuff A-Z. But that only seems to work properly once you've selected a subtype. If you search ALL in a directory you only seem to get a handful at the top.

[dune_rave]

Ok, was not able to wait so upgraded.
i have a s61 mk2 keyboard from NI.
Using this in HW integration, i'm not too satisfied. Will try again that feature later.
For example filter res was mapped, but cutoff not....

You have to put your s61 mk2 into MIDI Mode and you will find the following mappings

Knob 1 (CC#14) – Global Controls Cutoff
Knob 2 (CC#15) – Global Controls Resonance
Knob 3 (CC#16) – Global Controls Filter Envelope Amount
Knob 4 (CC#17) – Global Controls Vibrato Depth
Knob 5 (CC#18) – Global Controls Ambience Amount
Knob 6 (CC#19) – Global Controls Ambience Length
Knob 7 (CC#20) – Global Controls Unison
Knob 8 (CC#21) – Global Controls Glide

Cut off is the first knob and the factory default on your control issues CC#14 for that

Since your controller only has 8 knobs it can only have 8 things in the hardware profile for the Global Controls in Omnisphere

I was already in midi mode, but the first knob didnt control cutoff, though the second controlled res and the others other params.

But thanx anyway.

hMMMM, MY KOMPLETE KONTROL TEMPLATE WAS A BIT MODIFIED SO THE FIRST KNOB WAS NOT CC14. I've changed it to be cc14, but omnisphere still was not able to control the cutoff with my first knob of Komplete Kontrol S61 MK2.
Then I mapped it manually in Omni, then i Saved it as default multi.
Now when I'm firing up Omni, it starts with mapped to my controller and the first knob is OK, it controls cutoff.

[billinder33]

Now that I've had a few solid hours to play with this, my biggest complaints are the lack of drag&drop MSEGs, and no macro knobs. These are basic quality of life features in most modern synths.

Still a great synth, it'll get lots of use, but having those two additions would have really set it over the top.

This is exactly what’s stopping me upgrade. It would seem silly to many users here but modulation in Omnisphere just feels cumbersome compared to my other synths.

I’ll still enjoy Omnisphere 2 as it is, but don’t want to invest more money into a synth I find annoying to use at a very basic level, when I have plenty of other good options.

Definitely understand this sentiment. It's like the designers only built the system from the perspective of a keyboard performer and never considered that users might want to drive it directly from the DAW or via an alternative controller like a Push or Linnstrument.

It's a shame because so much of it is top notch - the lib, the filters, the FX, all the excellent sounding oscillator shaping options. Being able to control all this like you can in Serum or Phaseplant would be a dream.

Omnisphere however allows you to expose up to 512 different parameters to Host/DAW Automation and an additional 2,032 parameters via MIDI CCs

It's a virtually unlimited playground that allows your DAW/host and controller to control anything however you wish to control them. I am using Gig Performer to make hundreds of custom controls and macros for Omnisphere 3 for deep sound design.

I get that but the advantage to a good Macro system is you can pin multiple things to a macro and control them all at once vs needing multiple automation lanes. I assume you can do this by pinning multiple parameters to the Mod wheel and possibly other control assignments in Omnisphere, but the issue here isn't necessarily do-ability, it's usability.

[IvyBirds]

Now that I've had a few solid hours to play with this, my biggest complaints are the lack of drag&drop MSEGs, and no macro knobs. These are basic quality of life features in most modern synths.

Still a great synth, it'll get lots of use, but having those two additions would have really set it over the top.

This is exactly what’s stopping me upgrade. It would seem silly to many users here but modulation in Omnisphere just feels cumbersome compared to my other synths.

I’ll still enjoy Omnisphere 2 as it is, but don’t want to invest more money into a synth I find annoying to use at a very basic level, when I have plenty of other good options.

Definitely understand this sentiment. It's like the designers only built the system from the perspective of a keyboard performer and never considered that users might want to drive it directly from the DAW or via an alternative controller like a Push or Linnstrument.

It's a shame because so much of it is top notch - the lib, the filters, the FX, all the excellent sounding oscillator shaping options. Being able to control all this like you can in Serum or Phaseplant would be a dream.

Omnisphere however allows you to expose up to 512 different parameters to Host/DAW Automation and an additional 2,032 parameters via MIDI CCs

It's a virtually unlimited playground that allows your DAW/host and controller to control anything however you wish to control them. I am using Gig Performer to make hundreds of custom controls and macros for Omnisphere 3 for deep sound design.

I get that but the advantage to a good Macro system is you can pin multiple things to a macro and control them all at once vs needing multiple automation lanes. I assume you can do this by pinning multiple parameters to the Mod wheel and possibly other control assignments in Omnisphere, but the issue here isn't necessarily do-ability, it's usability.

But I can pin multiple things to a macro and control them however I wish, and I don't need to use any Automation lanes I can do it all with simple standard CCs if I choose

Utilizing Host Automation makes the task more flexible with higher resolution however and makes it agnostic to whatever controller I want

I can just assign as many different parameters as I wish to a single knob, fader, or button, and when I adjust that physical control all of them will move

Alternatively I could sequence that control and have it automatically change during the track

Or I can record the movements of those controls and play them back, loop them etc

Or I can set up an LFO to move those controls which will of course then move everything they are attached to

[SamDi]

I don't disagree, and it shouldn't (!) be that tricky to implement. Have you put in a feature request?

Am I Hans Zimmer, so that I think software companies do listen to my feature requests?“

[enCiphered]

Knowing Spectrasonics and their track record, I’m sure that after such a major release and with months and years of free updates ahead they’ll refine and expand Omnisphere even further. I’m pretty confident we’ll see many user requests likely find their way in over time, making an already phenomenal instrument even closer to perfection.