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

[wayford]

Hi, everyone! My birthday is coming up soon and I was thinking of purchasing a semi-versatile synth. I'm trying to find something close in quality to Omnisphere, more of the explanation below. Sorry if the title question sounds a bit absurd.

What I have demoed:

1. Serum. Decent synth, but very expensive, Vital does the same. And since Serum 2 is coming out this or next year, I don't want to pay full price for it. Also transfers aren't allowed, etc.

2. Diva. It is most definitely warm, but no matter what I do or what preset I select, it just is not what I want. I know that's very uninformative, but I can't quite say what it is.

3. Model 84. Have it, like it, use it. Great in every respect, but it is not very versatile (it is a Juno, so there's that).

4. Repro. I used to have it (for a short period of time) and liked it, made a lot of presets for it and wish I could have it again, but couldn't justify keeping because of the price. And it also is a very specific model of synth, not very versatile for all purposes.

5. Falcon. Very expensive, some time in the future...

And so we arrive at 6... Omnisphere.

I have been testing and it is consistently the absolute best of what I have ever heard. It sounds so great that I don't even need to tweak most presets. I can also create my own presets (compared to classic plugin romplers - omnisphere is truly powerful). I can make one track and use nothing, except Omnisphere...

Price...I don't have a lot of resources, the maximum I could possibly spend is $130, only if I sold a lot of (or pretty much all) other stuff. Well, Omnisphere sits at $500, which is an enormous amount of money, but I realise it's still a decent price for what it is. Around here it is sold for 280-300, which is still an incredibly big amount of money, so that's a no go, unfortunately.

And what my question basically becomes, is there anything which sounds close to Omnisphere, but closer to the price range I stated above? I have heard good things about Phase Plant and Pigments, maybe that's the way? I am just a bit worried about Arturia's frequent upgrades and I also missed the $49 deal, so there's that.

Edit: I didn't clarify it in the post, I mostly care about the vast amounts of high quality sampled instruments in Omnisphere (like steel pan, mbira, etc.), so I guess for that there is no real alternative.

For a more analog-sounding synth, I guess I'll just use OsTIrus.

[chk071]

If Omnisphere sounds great to you, then you should buy it. If you can't afford it right now, best save up for it.

[BBFG#]

Pigments.

[bermudagold]

there are tons today,...halion, falcon, avenger, MSF, rapid, pigments, electra, synthmaster, biotek, even vaporizer can get you there if you know where you want to go and sound design deterministically...if you need to be instantly inspired by over 75% of presets;...that's a very personal thing and would have to come from demoing...the ones with the largest bundled sample content will be your best bet, as that is the easiest way to achieve a neutral sound for versatility...otherwise with just synthesis you will end up with more of the single sonic fingerprint signature sound of the synth

[yellowmix]

There is nothing like Omnisphere, and your understanding is leading you down a flawed path. Other products could have similar aspects. Falcon with other UVI libraries could get you a similar number of samples. But they aren't curated the same way, nor are the presets made with them designed creatively (UVI instrument presets are generally meant to sound realistic). Omnisphere is a performance synth, where it can be used to output a (near) complete song live using multi splits. Many "workhorse" synths are too resource demanding to be used that way. Omnisphere's FX contribute a lot to a preset and there are many FX that don't exist anywhere else.

It sounds like you want a synth that covers many bases. Understand the more a synth does, the more its workflow suffers. And that no synth does it all. Keep demoing synths and examine the ease with which you can generate the sounds you want. Spend the time to learn how to leverage each synth. If you've demoed Diva and haven't explored and mastered the modifiers and trimmers then you haven't demoed it. There are tutorials on YouTube and elsewhere.

Presets are educational material. Hear one and not know how it's making the sound? Reverse engineer it working backwards from FX, filters, the reverse of the module routing.

[db3]

Omnisphere is a beast for sure, delivering a broad range of high quality sample and synth derived sounds. You're not going to find something equivalent for $100, so perhaps focus on something which excels in specific type of sounds you like. If you like u-he but want more than analog reproduction, then something like Hive might be a better option than Diva or Repro. Pigments would seem a good option, often found cheap second hand and easy to resell if it doesn't suit. And no need to be worried about Arturia updates...each version of Pigments thus far has been a free upgrade. I'm also pretty sure Steve Duda said Serum 2 will be a free upgrade (but no resell option).

[Vortifex]

Icarus.

[Gam456]

Omnisphere is my fav synth all the time. Sound prestine, raw, organique, fast to edit, powerfull
I'm my opinion Omnisphere is unique, nothing sound the same. Yes it damn expensive, but it worth every penny.

My others fav soft synth are Reveal Spire, Softube Model 80 and 84

[egbert101]

When it comes to buying stuff you really need to know what you want. Not knowing what you want is going to set yourself up for disappointment. This is basically what leads to G.A.S. and you spending far more money than required (the trap we fall into). If you really want Omnisphere then go save up for it and buy it. However, it doesn't sound like you know what you want, so don't waste your money until you do.

[zvenx]

Btw Serum 2 will be a free update.

Strange you would put Diva, Repro and Model 84, as great as they are, but are virtual analogue emulations as workhorses.

But from reading your post, the only one I would recommend is Avenger 2. (though you would have ot catch it on sale for it to be under $130.
rsp

[wayford]

It sounds like you want a synth that covers many bases. Understand the more a synth does, the more its workflow suffers. And that no synth does it all. Keep demoing synths and examine the ease with which you can generate the sounds you want. Spend the time to learn how to leverage each synth. If you've demoed Diva and haven't explored and mastered the modifiers and trimmers then you haven't demoed it. There are tutorials on YouTube and elsewhere.

I have been creating presets in stock Logic synths and in UAD's PolyMAX and I bascially got the gist of that. I love designing my own presets.

What I honestly do care about in Omnisphere is the sampled content. There is no other synth that offers such incredibly useful and great sounding sampled instruments. The music box, steel pan, mbira, some great sampled synths (which have an analog quality hardly achievable in any other soft synth) is what I really want.

I guess for me the only way of getting these sounds is getting Omnisphere.

[wayford]

Btw Serum 2 will be a free update.

Strange you would put Diva, Repro and Model 84, as great as they are, but are virtual analogue emulations as workhorses.

But from reading your post, the only one I would recommend is Avenger 2. (though you would have ot catch it on sale for it to be under $130.
rsp

Oh that is interesting about Serum 2! Still, wish I could buy it second-hand for a bit of a lower price.

I listed Diva, Repro and Model 84 as just some synths which have the qualities I would want in a workhorse synth. Serum doesn't really have the warmth of Repro or Model 84.

Avenger 2 unfortunately requires internet connection (not frequently, but still), which for me is a no go.

[chk071]

Do Spectrasonics offer a rent-to-own plan?

Don't find anything on their website.

[wayford]

Omnisphere is a beast for sure, delivering a broad range of high quality sample and synth derived sounds. You're not going to find something equivalent for $100, so perhaps focus on something which excels in specific type of sounds you like.

Is there anything which will give me the realistic sounding sampled instruments from Omnisphere? I really wish there was an alternative for that. Kontakt is not an option, cause I would have to buy a bunch of libraries to come close to Omnisphere's offerings and most of the time Kontakt instruments are not very tweakable.

Most Serum stuff I could do with Vital, so for now it doesn't seem like the best use of my money.

And thanks for suggesting Hive, I have never used it and rarely hear about it at all. Will check it out.

[wayford]

Do Spectrasonics offer a rent-to-own plan?

Don't find anything on their website.

Nope, nothing of that sorts.

I guess my best bet is looking at the KVR Buy/Sell forum frequently to see if someone ever lists Omnisphere for lower than $200. That probably won't happen, but maybe some kind of miracle will...