Amazing synth with amazing capabilities. Really like pads and Psychoacoustic sounds from it.
I may have to look into getting this again. I wasn’t a huge fan of Atmosphere except in soundscape situations. Otherwise it was a little to unwieldy for the mix. Plus the issues with the Mac OS and Atmosphere needing a wrapper, etc. turned me off. I assumed that Omnisphere was just more of what Atmosphere was. I agree that $500 is pretty steep for a synth plugin that has been around for years and years now.
It’s nice, but I think it’s overrated. it doesn’t give answer to everything. I use additional synths with it. Yesterday, for example, I browsed through all its pads but couldn’t find what I need. Eventually I used a pad from my analog Yamaha CS1 synthesizer. Besides, Omnisphere is very heavy, I can’t even use it as a plugin because it hogs all available memory and the program crashes. So, I need to open it separately, make what I want and export a wav.
marb67 saidI would be interested to know if anyone is getting creative, more unique sounds created for their own use.
Omnisphere is a great synth, but yes, everyone is using it. It sounds like you would be better off looking at Camel Audio Alchemy as it has far more extensive manipulation, yet is quite intuitive to use.
http://www.camelaudio.com/Alchemy.php
As well as the factory sounds, there are a huge amount of add-on libraries, both from Camel Audio, and if you look around hard enough, there are hundreds of super talented third-party developers making their own samples and patches for this synth.
This experimental track (which hasn’t sold at all, lol) - was done with ONE patch containing 4 soundsources in Alchemy, manipulated in realtime using Alchemy’s controls. i.e. This is a one-take performance, no editing afterwards.
||+900716|Art-of-Sound said-|| Besides, Omnisphere is very heavy, I can't even use it as a plugin because it hogs all available memory and the program crashes. So, I need to open it separately, make what I want and export a wav.Not sure I understand this. (Your first part is true, though, if you are looking sometimes for a simple uncomplicated pad sound, it can be overwhelming. After all, there are about 4000 patches!)
Omnisphere though, takes up ~350 MB of RAM when loaded into 64-bit Windows. Yes, this is large for a plugin, but not uncommon to be honest. The majority of it’s patches are very small, but there are a few big ones too. Most audio users have at least 4 GB of RAM now, but I suppose there are exceptions. I’m curious as to your computer specs, though based on the amount of work you have on AJ, I’m guessing you are a power user!
In any case, as Omnisphere can’t run in stand-alone mode, you should not have to open up a separate project with nothing in it just to run Omnisphere.
I would suggest a reinstall and updating to the latest version if you are having problems (they have updated the product what seems like dozens of times since release and it’s almost always an improvement, they are excellent programmers)
I also strongly recommend taking a look at the ‘System’ page in Omnisphere, which has a lot of useful tweaks you can apply into how Omnisphere handles the memory in your system.
Additionally, if you click the ‘Utility’ button in the top left, you will find links to Tutorial Videos and the reference manual which should also help you get setup a little bit better, if you are having problems with memory.
Finally, you should definitely watch this following video on Vimeo, as it gives a better explanation of the things I mentioned above.
Hope this helps.
I’ve got Atmosphere. Didn’t actually like it. There’s something about the sound engine - eveything sounds choked to me. Apparently Omnisphere is way better, even on the old Atmoshpere samples but I’ve never used it. I’ve also heard it is so deep that there is a danger you can get lost in it. I still find myself going for my old Access Virus C to be honest, that an a 1980s Roland SH-09. Synths! They’re a black hole of cash and pre-set twiddling if you aren’t careful… (which I’m not). 
Thanks Gareth, I will do as advised. I have 4 GB of RAM, 32 windows. When I open the plugin it takes about 25% of the CPU, but when I start browsing presets it quickly reaches 80-90%. So if there are other plugins open, the DAW crashes. It’s strange to me why Omnisphere is so hard on resources, because I can load the whole bunch of other VSTs and libraries together. As you said, it’s rather some technical problem than the plugin itself. I have the same problem with Adagio violins, btw.
I’m running a Mac w/Logic 9 and it works great. I got it a few months ago, I’m loving all the sounds very much. Was playing around with a retro keyboard last night that sounds like you are playing the super mario bros theme, was pretty fun. Definitely recommend!
Greg
||+900838|Art-of-Sound said-|| I have 4 GB of RAM, 32 windows.This is your problem right here.
32-bit Windows can only ‘see’ 3.5 GB of RAM. (you can check this in System Information). It will probably say '4.00 GB (3.5 GB usable) or something like that.
There is one workaround that may work. I’m assuming you’re using Windows 7.
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Click Start
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Write cmd.exe in the box, and press Enter.
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Write bcdedit /set pae ForceEnable - and press Enter
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Restart your computer.
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If you have driver problems (sometimes happens) then you should reverse. Just do the same thing as before, except write bcdedit /set pae ForceDisable
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If you have no driver problems, then your computer should now ‘see’ all 4 GB of your RAM.
This combined with memory management in Omnisphere should be a half-decent solution for now. But I would VERY strongly recommend you migrate to a 64-bit OS as soon as possible.
Much obliged, Gareth, your vast competence is truly commendable.
I just picked up Omnisphere (along with Trillian) and it quickly became a “go-to”. I also have Alchemy and I don’t think I would want to choose between the two at this point. Both have their place.
Alchemy is great - Rob Papen Explorer II is just fabulous!
MichalskiMusic saidTrillian is awesome since it contains all the great Spectrasonics bass sample libraries which I had on Roland CD-ROM. Roland samplers.......happy times - the best filters known to mankind. Spectrasonics/Eric Persing are gifts from the Gods. ! :)I just picked up Omnisphere (along with Trillian) and it quickly became a “go-to”. I also have Alchemy and I don’t think I would want to choose between the two at this point. Both have their place.
I doesn’t. It costs too much. And it’s so large. I don’t like big complex thing
There seems to be more of a balanced view now so I think I will look around and yes I do have the free version of alchemy which isn’t half bad. Zebra is also very good. Much deeper editing than omniasphere. The native instruments synths are very unique sounding too. Fair play to Eric persing though, he has always been on the cutting edge of sound design. I still hate the distorted reality sample cd I bought way back in 1997.
I very like SynthMaster, excellent synth!
http://www.kv331audio.com/
One of my best purchases
What you mean - Omnisphere as your best purchase or SynthMaster?
lucafrancini saidOne of my best purchases
I mean Omnisphere
I love Omnisphere, just finished a soundtrack for a short and used it for about 90% of the score, loaded 3 instances into the sequencer and still ran really smoothly. I think its great for electronic / synth and atmospheres / FX