Omnisphere 3

[Bombadil]

Hi, quick question for those who bought the boxed format:
What format does it ship in? Is there just a serial # in the box, HDD; SSD; memory stick?

Thanks.

[OscSync]

Hi, quick question for those who bought the boxed format:
What format does it ship in? Is there just a serial # in the box, HDD; SSD; memory stick?

Thanks.

Single USB stick that is both USB A and C.

[Bombadil]

thanks!

[noiseboyuk]

(if it's an upgrade it's just an envelope with a serial number in it)

[sellyoursoul]

Aside from the top notch sound design, how is Ominisphere 3 as a general synth in quality, ease of use, and breadth? How is the quality of the filters and coverage of analog sounds? How is quality of the effects? It looks like a killer synth, but since it has no demo I'm trying to determine if it would be worth it for me, since it is obviously an expensive softsynth.

[HOTF]

Aside from the top notch sound design, how is Ominisphere 3 as a general synth in quality, ease of use, and breadth? How is the quality of the filters and coverage of analog sounds? How is quality of the effects? It looks like a killer synth, but since it has no demo I'm trying to determine if it would be worth it for me, since it is obviously an expensive softsynth.

Quality of everything is great and it can cover anything from simple but authentic VA patches to very otherworldy sound designy stuff. The workflow for programming you own patches is... let's just say not for me. There's a lot of tabs to navigate and sub menus. However if you really want to learn it the power is there at the tip of your fingers - i'm spoiled by other modern options that have better workflows. The quality and size of the library is very impressive. I'm not a big preset guy but when I do use some Omnisphere is my go to.

[sellyoursoul]

Quality of everything is great and it can cover anything from simple but authentic VA patches to very otherworldy sound designy stuff. The workflow for programming you own patches is... let's just say not for me. There's a lot of tabs to navigate and sub menus. However if you really want to learn it the power is there at the tip of your fingers - i'm spoiled by other modern options that have better workflows. The quality and size of the library is very impressive. I'm not a big preset guy but when I do use some Omnisphere is my go to.

Thanks. On workflow, I prefer single page synths myself, or at least the main components on a single page, so that's definitely a consideration.

[sellyoursoul]

Obviously Omnisphere has a lot of nice to have features, but I'm wondering where it might fall short in features as a general synth. What can Omnisphere not do?

[HOTF]

Obviously Omnisphere has a lot of nice to have features, but I'm wondering where it might fall short in features as a general synth. What can Omnisphere not do?

Not much it cant do. Its a really powerful synth. Its less modular and open ended than something like uvi falcon. You cant create your own oscillator for example. Its made for musician not developers. Its also not sandboxy like phaseplant. Omnisphere supports FM, wavetable-style morphing, and additive-derived sources but its not like a dedicated synth of any of those styles

[IvyBirds]

Quality of everything is great and it can cover anything from simple but authentic VA patches to very otherworldy sound designy stuff. The workflow for programming you own patches is... let's just say not for me. There's a lot of tabs to navigate and sub menus. However if you really want to learn it the power is there at the tip of your fingers - i'm spoiled by other modern options that have better workflows. The quality and size of the library is very impressive. I'm not a big preset guy but when I do use some Omnisphere is my go to.

Thanks. On workflow, I prefer single page synths myself, or at least the main components on a single page, so that's definitely a consideration.

If you are looking for a super simple synth where all of its features can be on a single page, Omnisphere isn't it, it's way to deep and powerful

Having said that Omnisphere has something they call the "adaptive Global controls" which is a single page where all of the common controls are and those come pre configured to many hardware controllers

Beyond that it's workflow is based around layering four different elements each one can be considered as it's own synth and has all of its main controls on a tabbed single page

I find the workflow to be pretty straightforward but like all workflows you either gel with it, or you don't. Some people for example love Falcon's UI and workflow, I despise it

As for how it is as a general synth, for me after several months of using it, it has become my go to general VA synth totally replacing DIVA. If you are looking for an exact emulation of something you would need to use a plugin that is an exact emulation of that specific synth but for general VA duties with a whole bunch of flavors it's awesome

Essentially it becomes up to 4 oscillator polysynth with an insane Modulation Matrix, a ton of fantastic filter options, and hundreds of available waveforms from vintage to modern, you can also use the Oscillator Drift control, and the vintage preamp, channel strips, and compressors to make it sound really vintage if you want or keep it clean and modern, and the new Unison modes are awesome

It's sample and synthesis engine along with the sample library is still the best available in a single plugin, however keep in mind it's geared towards taking a sample and using it to make a cool sound. So you won't find 50 different Violin samples, but you will find 50 different presets/sounds that have a violin sample inside of it

And that is probably the biggest limitation some people will find with it. If you are looking for specific acoustic instruments they will probably be in there but you won't have an extremely huge selection of samples if that specific instrument. Specific sample libraries for whatever you need/want is the way to go for that

[rACatkvr]

Can’t put my hands on the link ATM but there is also a good YouTube series on programming it. It might be a good investment of time looking at those.

[bmanic]

Essentially it becomes up to 4 oscillator polysynth with an insane Modulation Matrix,

.. umm no, the modulation matrix pretty much the bog standard source -> target. You can not go several layers deep. It's got kind of two layers if you count the Depth knobs of the LFOs and Mod Envelopes.. but that's it. About as vanilla and bare bones as it gets.

But there is still a lot of flexibility and control due to the numerous modulation sources and the minute detail the user has over keyboard tracking and velocity. This goes a long way in not needing a super deep mod matrix.

.. but I wouldn't mind one more extra layer of depth.

[IvyBirds]

Essentially it becomes up to 4 oscillator polysynth with an insane Modulation Matrix,

.. umm no, the modulation matrix pretty much the bog standard source -> target. You can not go several layers deep. It's got kind of two layers if you count the Depth knobs of the LFOs and Mod Envelopes.. but that's it. About as vanilla and bare bones as it gets.

But there is still a lot of flexibility and control due to the numerous modulation sources and the minute detail the user has over keyboard tracking and velocity. This goes a long way in not needing a super deep mod matrix.

.. but I wouldn't mind one more extra layer of depth.

There are 51 Available Modulation Sources in Omnisphere 3 that you can send to over 300 targets

When it comes to sources
DIVA has 17
Oberheim Matrix 12 has 27
Minimoog had 4
Prophet 5 had 6
Jupiter 8 had 7

Most people would think 51 is insane, especially compared with 4,6,7 or 17 but you do you

51 sources and 300+ destinations including deep integration of hardware controllers for Modulation including MPE, and CC if you want it, in a pretty kick ass sounding four Oscillator VA synth engine offers insane sound design options, especially compared with the Analog Hardware Synths I am emulating and other VA plugins I have extensive experience with like DIVA but again you do you

I can't think of a single VA synth that offers more

[sellyoursoul]

Not much it cant do. Its a really powerful synth. Its less modular and open ended than something like uvi falcon. You cant create your own oscillator for example. Its made for musician not developers. Its also not sandboxy like phaseplant. Omnisphere supports FM, wavetable-style morphing, and additive-derived sources but its not like a dedicated synth of any of those styles

If you are looking for a super simple synth where all of its features can be on a single page, Omnisphere isn't it, it's way to deep and powerful

My main softsynth is Reason's Thor, and if I want something more analog sounding, Repro. I guess I'm trying to determine whether Omnisphere would be worth it to me, covering those in features + effects at a minimum and going further in covering territories of other analog and digital synths of interest (not so much direct emulations). Feature wise, Thor is pretty good for my needs. Sound level wise, Repro is pretty good, but it's next next level, future convolution-based analog synths.

Can’t put my hands on the link ATM but there is also a good YouTube series on programming it. It might be a good investment of time looking at those.

That's a good idea. I'll see if I can find that.

[HOTF]

Not much it cant do. Its a really powerful synth. Its less modular and open ended than something like uvi falcon. You cant create your own oscillator for example. Its made for musician not developers. Its also not sandboxy like phaseplant. Omnisphere supports FM, wavetable-style morphing, and additive-derived sources but its not like a dedicated synth of any of those styles

If you are looking for a super simple synth where all of its features can be on a single page, Omnisphere isn't it, it's way to deep and powerful

My main softsynth is Reason's Thor, and if I want something more analog sounding, Repro. I guess I'm trying to determine whether Omnisphere would be worth it to me, covering those in features + effects at a minimum and going further in covering territories of other analog and digital synths of interest (not so much direct emulations). Feature wise, Thor is pretty good for my needs. Sound level wise, Repro is pretty good, but it's next next level, future convolution-based analog synths.

Can’t put my hands on the link ATM but there is also a good YouTube series on programming it. It might be a good investment of time looking at those.

That's a good idea. I'll see if I can find that.

There is not that much overlap between thor, Repro and Omnisphere in my books. They can all do basic VA stuff but they are very different products. Omni is way more vast than the other 2 you can create more detailed and layered patches. It has more soundsources, more layers, more effects, more filters more everything. With all that power you will sacrifice some of the immediacy of Repro and Thor. I don't think Omni will replace those 2 it's just a different type of tool.