Alchemy: Features, discussion e.t.c

[D-Fusion]

Do Alchemy have the sound of burning pianos?

if not there is no competition

[whyterabbyt]

Do Alchemy have the sound of burning pianos?

if not there is no competition

It has sfz and wav import. burn yer own damn piano, hippy.

[D-Fusion]

Do Alchemy have the sound of burning pianos?

if not there is no competition

It has sfz and wav import. burn yer own damn piano, hippy.

[hakey]

One thing that strikes me is that Omnisphere has only one filter (though configurable as high, band or lowpass) and furthermore it is of an oldish design (taken from the imposcar I believe). For a vst that's supposed to have a serious synth engine at its heart this seems quite an ommission. My synth of choice is Zebra with it's multitude of different filters, so maybe I'm spoilt. Anyway, looks like Alchemy has a good choice of filter types.

And, perhaps it's just me, but watching the Omnisphere vids leaves me feeling that I don't like Spectrasonics as a company - something to do with the bombast, the oily insincerity, and the smug factor. Watching the Alchemy vid, I end up feeling the opposite - don't know why, but they come across as being more likeable.

Now, of course, this says nothing whatsoever about the musicality or usefulness of either vst, but if I was spending that amount of money and there was nothing else to go on, I'd give my money to the guys I like. And Omnisphere is $$$'s more than Alchemy.

[neverfall]

[bmanic]

One thing that strikes me is that Omnisphere has only one filter (though configurable as high, band or lowpass) and furthermore it is of an oldish design (taken from the imposcar I believe). For a vst that's supposed to have a serious synth engine at its heart this seems quite an ommission.

Eh? Surely you have missed something. Omnisphere has tons of different filter types and that impOSCAR filter is there for a reason, it is one of the BEST digital filters created.

I'm actually much more worried about the filters in Alchemy. The main concept of the synth looks nice on paper but the demos posted here, while sounding nice in their presentation, still sound a bit odd somehow. Like a KYMA system running only at half the sample rate or something.. hard to explain.

I do agree about the videos though.

- bManic

[hakey]

Eh? Surely you have missed something. Omnisphere has tons of different filter types

Obviously I have. Mea culpa.

[EDIT] Where does it say this? I can't find a spec list on Spectrasonics' web site, though there's a reference to dual multimode filters on the Omnisphere site. Is it mentioned somewhere in one of those awful vids?

and that impOSCAR filter is there for a reason, it is one of the BEST digital filters created.

ORLY? I want to see the peer reviewed papers - published in "Nature" were they?

My subjective opinion is that it is a good filter - though personally I don't like its high resonance behaviour (doesn't properly go into self oscillation, IMHO) - but that is just an opinion. If the consensus is that it is one of the best digital filters created, fair enough.

[Lunatique]

Let's just wait until both products have shipped?

That, and I can't say Alchemy's teaser trailer did anything for me at all. Musicians only care about information regarding the product and sound examples--anything else is just a waste of time. But that's just me. If you want to be quirky and humorous, at least do it in the context of giving information about the said product. Classic example is The GForce guys with their "It screams like a bastard."

[grymmjack]

i prefer alchemy because it sounds wonderful, the developer kicks serious ass, the sound designers are magicians, and it's wide open format. $125 is a no brain upgrade price from c5k. if i owned atmosphere already i'd still buy alchemy because spectrasonics products are overpriced and overhyped.

[Casar1973]

I'm actually much more worried about the filters in Alchemy. The main concept of the synth looks nice on paper but the demos posted here, while sounding nice in their presentation, still sound a bit odd somehow. Like a KYMA system running only at half the sample rate or something.. hard to explain.

I do agree about the videos though.

- bManic

I agree, that is what I thought as well. It (the Alchemy demo stuff) sounds a bit like an old sample CD with crude conversion and digitization. Surely not unusuable but not really exciting sonically speaking.

Apart from that, I think that Spectrasonics marketing is fine and effective, and
above all the "hype", it is supported by a product worth the time. Not all geezers in Mordor may appreciate that it seems.

[Igro]

Will Omnisphere have Demo? I think that Alchemy will. How you can compare them if only one will have demo? Buy both? For now, i can't see any point to compare unreleased products at all.
Anyway, i already have the synth, which can do all that "NEW" sounds, using HCM synthesis.

[adydub]

...and that impOSCAR filter is there for a reason, it is one of the BEST digital filters created.

I'm actually much more worried about the filters in Alchemy. The main concept of the synth looks nice on paper but the demos posted here, while sounding nice in their presentation, still sound a bit odd somehow. Like a KYMA system running only at half the sample rate or something.. hard to explain.


- bManic

As a happy C5000 owner, I will be buying Alchemy. However, from the web audio demos there does seem to be a similarity to the C5000 tonality. I'm possibly hearing the same thing that bmanic describes as 'a bit odd'. I'd probably describe it as a bit 'cold' (mmm...subjectivity).

I've actually come to quite like this sound in the C50000 as it does have a unique flavor. However, I do often find myself bolting on some subtle saturation fx to warm things up and smooth them out.

Comparing the original demo biomechanoid posted on kvr, to the same one on the on the camel website, it sounds like the website audio player is using a pretty crappy bitrate which doesn't help.

Omnisphere. If the hype is even close to the reality then it will be awesome. I loooooove the imposcars filters (though sometimes think the distortion can break up a little 'digitally'). The thought of having these on top of 40GB of what can be reasonably described as 'top quality' sample content is a very appealing prospect.

I never purchased atmosphere because, although i liked the sounds, it was really all about the presets - perfect for soundtrack work etc. but not really a proper synth. It looks like Omni will still appeal to atmosphere fans, but offers a huge scope for getting down to some proper synthesizing.

It's going to be an expensive month by the look of things!

[hakey]

Let's just wait until both products have shipped?

That would be the sensible option, but it wouldn't be any fun.

Anyway, even once they're both shipped it'll still be arguments based upon nothing more than subjective opinions.

BTW, If musicians only care about 'information regarding the product and sound examples' then there's obviously no need for those videos - just post a spec sheet and some audio samples. Spectrasonics obviously decided that the teaser campaign and videos would be good marketing. I think they were probably right - they have managed to generate a great deal of interest including this post.

Much of the speculation I've read in threads here is of the 'OMG this is major advance in the history of western civilisation' hyperbole. Maybe I'm in a minority, and rationally I shouldn't allow my dislike of such hype and those cheesey vids to prejudice my view of Omnisphere, but I can't help and it does.

[fgimian]

Omnisphere is dual filter, I remember seeing it in one of the vids on youtube, but you have to click on the advanced filter settings to see the 2nd filter. They can be setup in series or parallel and when I saw the dropdown of filter types, it was pretty huge!

[Lunatique]

Let's just wait until both products have shipped?

That would be the sensible option, but it wouldn't be any fun.

Anyway, even once they're both shipped it'll still be arguments based upon nothing more than subjective opinions.

BTW, If musicians only care about 'information regarding the product and sound examples' then there's obviously no need for those videos - just post a spec sheet and some audio samples. Spectrasonics obviously decided that the teaser campaign and videos would be good marketing. I think they were probably right - they have managed to generate a great deal of interest including this post.

Much of the speculation I've read in threads here is of the 'OMG this is major advance in the history of western civilisation' hyperbole. Maybe I'm in a minority, and rationally I shouldn't allow my dislike of such hype and those cheesey vids to prejudice my view of Omnisphere, but I can't help and it does.

But if you compare Omnisphere's teaser videos to Alchemy's, then you can clearly see where one is done to inform the public about a product, where the other is basically completely devoid of any information whatsoever. That's what I mean--go ahead and be entertaining if you want, but at least be informative too. Of course they'll release more videos later, but what's the point of doing a video that contains zero information whatsoever? Shouldn't each video promo you do present a bit of information other than the name of the product?