Spectrasonics Omnisphere anyone?

Started by Kevin M, August 20, 2012, 10:16:32 PM

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Kevin M

I'm on a PC-based DAW and am considering getting Omnisphere as a general, go-to soft synth.  Anyone have any experience with it?  I'm curious about any performance issues with it.

jburns

it is the greatest softsynth ever. its my go to synth for the last couple months. theres thousands of sounds in here and editing is amazing. it is tho, a bit of a power house so im not too sure how well windows will work with is. you may need one hell of a computer to stream decently on windows. download the demo from their site to make its going to run smoothly for you and make sure you try it out for a while. there are free updates as well, each update has hundreds of new sounds among other features so its a very very nice company to be involved with product wise.

Kevin M

Thanks for the info. Due to its size, a demo isn't available, unfortunately. Do you run multiple instances of it (i.e. one instance per patch), or is it possible to set it up to respond to multiple MIDI channels in a multitimbral fashion (eg string patch on channel one, pads on channel two, etc)?

jburns

#3
theres 8 channels, or patches in each multi. each channel can be set 1-16. by default they are set 1-8. you can set all 8 to be the same channel if you like. i normally run several instances with no problems. you'll find everything you would like to know on their site. they're good with information and how to's.  http://www.spectrasonics.net/products/omnisphere-videos.php
omnisphere is the number 1 synth in production, i constantly hear default patches in every movie i see lol.

perhaps the newer version is no longer available as a demo.

800-764-9379 toll free
818-955-8481 tel
818-955-8613 fax

Tech Support
888-870-4223 toll free
818-955-8444

email: info@spectrasonics.net

i would contact them, and ask for an older version demo or anything to try out. be sure to state your willing to place a down payment or full payment that can be refunded. i think they will agree to this since the demo's only run for 30 days. just make it obvious that you really are going to purchase it and that you need to confirm its going to work on your system. i would also ask about return policy in that conversation. its better to be safe than sorry. you might want to hit google if not and find a demo download somewhere.

aliensporebomb

#4
Omnisphere is a huge, gigantic instrument but it's so big that I get the idea people stick with the first 20 patches because once you start digging in that thing it's like total option anxiety (prepare to give up upwards of 70 gigs of your hard drive space for it).

It's so large that it's almost impossible to properly demonstrate all of its options in some ways.  The Spectrasonics videos they had demonstrating it when it first came out was a pretty cool overview of what it can do.

That being said, it's not inexpensive but you get what you pay for.  You could buy a low end laptop for the cost of this instrument.  The other thing to think of is that Omnisphere is the more powerful the computer the better you can make use of it.   Which is to say, quadcore i7 with fast (10,000 rpm hard drive) or SSD with as much ram as you can fit into the box would be ideal.  If you have the cash, 12-core Xeon with terabyte array and 24+ gigs of memory would be awesome.

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Elantric

#5
Or a Lenovo W520 / W530 would work well.

I'm just now upgrading an ebay recertified Lenovo W520, ($1,100) which came with I7 2760QM Quad core, 1900 x 1080 15.6" display, 500GB 7200 drive, Pantone Color Calibrator, and 1 year warranty.
http://www.storagereview.com/lenovo_thinkpad_w520_review
Ive upgraded it with four 8GB SODIMM DDR3 ram (32GB), - pretty incredible for a notebook
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233265




and a 256GB mSATA system drive. Blazing performance.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008AIYSWA/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00




Kevin M

Just purchased Omnisphere!  Used a promo code from an online shop for a small discount. I use Cakewalk's Dimension pro synth, but lately have struggled to find the sounds I'm looking for in it. The reviews for Omnisphere have been overwhelmingly positive and the videos I've seen were impressive.

I've got two systems to choose from - one, an HP with a quad-core CPU - albeit circa 2007 - and 8G RAM, and the other one a W520 with a dual core i7 and 8G RAM (but upgradable), so we'll see.

Elantric

#7
QuoteI've got two systems to choose from - one, an HP with a quad-core CPU - albeit circa 2007 - and 8G RAM, and the other one a W520 with a dual core i7 and 8G RAM (but upgradable), so we'll see.

I know you will be happier with the W520


Mrchevy

 :o

Alchemy was recommended to me by this forum in a different thread. I am by no means a synth Guru so simplicity was key. I have been playing with the FREE player and have been very happy with what it has done for me. It has really nice presets ( 200 in the free version ) and a function similar to the Orbe in Omnishere where you can mouse over an 8 pad mixer to mix up the sounds and effects. It also has an extensive expansion library for it. you may wish to check it out and the Alchemy Player is free.
Omnishere, HOLY COW!!!! Very cool. Kinda like putting a V8 engine on a skate board. Start it up and hold on folks!
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Epi Les Paul Standard
Gibson SG 50's prototype
Squire classic vibe 60's
Epi LP Modern
Epi SG Custom
Martin acoustic

Princeton chorus 210

GT100
GR-55
Helix LT
Waza Air Headphones
Boomerang III

And, a lot of stuff I DON'T need

Kevin M

Quote from: Mrchevy on August 21, 2012, 09:51:24 AM
:o

Alchemy was recommended to me by this forum in a different thread. I am by no means a synth Guru so simplicity was key. I have been playing with the FREE player and have been very happy with what it has done for me. It has really nice presets ( 200 in the free version ) and a function similar to the Orbe in Omnishere where you can mouse over an 8 pad mixer to mix up the sounds and effects. It also has an extensive expansion library for it. you may wish to check it out and the Alchemy Player is free.
Omnishere, HOLY COW!!!! Very cool. Kinda like putting a V8 engine on a skate board. Start it up and hold on folks!

Thanks!  Alchemy does look impressive as well for it's sample manipulation features. I'll check the player version out. Maybe a Christmas present request!

aliensporebomb

#10
One thing I should mention - Omnisphere is very capable of producing high quality work.  Some early softsynths didn't equal their hardware counterparts in terms of sound quality but Omnisphere is huge, lush and awesome as far as the sound quality goes. 

Have you ever watched some of the discovery channel documentaries where they're in the jungle tracking some exotic animals and there's some background music that has spatial moody pads and tribal type drums and/or sequencer and unusual special effects such as the sound of a piano that might just be on fire?  Omnisphere can do that stuff in droves.

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Kevin M

Stop!  I'm already drooling as it is!  :-)

I was definitely impressed with the sounds I heard from the videos, but just slightly concerned about performance. I'll report back once I get it installed and try it out in a project or two.

Sweetbird

Fabulous piece of software. Use it all of the time in the studio. You'll love it!

Kevin M

OK, received it yesterday and installed it last night - pretty lengthy process to install it.  Authorized, updated, authorized again because I didn't read the statement regarding authorized and updating, and did a quick run-through of the patches of this amazing piece of software.  Editing capabilities aside, there are some great patches in there.  I installed on my 5-year old quad-core desktop system (8G RAM) as an initial test.  I opened one of my active projects, inserted an instance of Ominsphere and changed one of the already existing MIDI tracks to reference it (single MIDI channel, single patch).  For that I noticed negligible CPU increase from the base test with the same project and minimal memory usage increase (neither were anywhere close to maximum).  Even though this was a cursory test, I'd say it's a winner all the way around.  I'm sure once I put the W520 into use as the main music system (going to add more memory and need a good USB hub and longer 4-6 pin firewire cable) that it will be awesome.  Thanks for the feedback everyone!