Review: Spectrasonics Omnisphere 1.0.2

Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Geary Yelton

           
 

BELIEVE IT: THIS SYNTH IS EVERYTHING YOU'VE HEARD

BONUS MATERIAL
More Building Blocks, Timbral Territory
Download the Spec Sheet as a PDF

Just Browsing

FIG. 2: One of three browsers, the Patch Browser makes quick work of finding the sound you need. To avoid the habit of choosing Patches near the beginning of the alphabet, you can shuffle or reverse their order.

With so much content, a quick way to find exactly the sound you want is essential. Omnisphere has three browsers, one each for Multis, Patches, and Soundsources. When it's open, the browser window obscures most other sections; you'll need to close it to see what's behind (see Fig. 2). Because any plug-in is limited to a single-window interface, that's one reason a standalone version would be desirable.

You can categorize, organize, and locate a sound using criteria such as keyword, category, type, and even the first letter of its name. The browser can display information about the sound's author, keywords, and size, as well as playing suggestions and notes on how it was created. You can scroll though lists using your mouse or use MIDI Learn to control selection with MIDI CCs (Control Changes) or keyswitching (see the sidebar “Higher Learning”).

Not Your Average Oscillator

Omnisphere's oscillators are nothing short of amazing. Each Layer has one primary oscillator (along with less obvious oscillators I'll describe in a moment), which plays either Soundsources drawn from its Core Library or DSP-generated synthesizer waveforms. If you select a Soundsource, you can change the sample's start time, apply bit-crushing distortion, or alter the timbre by transposing the sample map without changing pitch.

For synth waveforms, you can choose SawSquare (Fat or Bright), Triangle, Sine, or Noise, with the current shape drawn in a display. SawSquare is continuously variable from sawtooth to pulse wave under the control of the Shape parameter. The Symmetry slider governs width; for traditional pulse-width modulation, just apply a mod source. The Analog knob introduces slight variations in pitch to make the DSP waveforms behave more like real analog waveforms, and the Phase knob affects the oscillator in one Layer relative to the other.

Omnisphere offers a unique approach to traditional oscillator sync; the Hard Sync slider accesses a hidden audio oscillator that slaves to the main oscillator. I had great fun modulating hard sync with the mod wheel, and I got all kinds of organ tones just by applying varying degrees of hard sync to a sine wave (see Web Clip 1).

Also hidden is the modulating oscillator for FM synthesis. Omnisphere's FM synthesis is not nearly as comprehensive as you'd find in a dedicated FM synth, but more akin to the FM capabilities of a good analog synth. Along with the ring modulator, Omnisphere's FM is most useful for generating clangorous sounds.

The oscillators sport some unusual parameters; for one thing, a pop-up menu lets you save, copy, and paste oscillator presets (you also get similar presets for LFOs, envelopes, effects, and other functions). A Wave Shaper section changes a waveform's spectra by introducing polyphonic distortion. You can insert waveshaping before or after the filter or amplifier if desired.

Much more interesting is the Oscillator Voice Multiplier, which has Unison, Granular, and Harmonia modes. Unlike traditional unison mode, Omnisphere's version works polyphonically, each note with up to eight unison voices out of phase, detuned, or octave shifted. Omnisphere's rather comprehensive granular synthesis applies only to samples, of course. I used it to create some truly bizarre variations on some of the more offbeat samples (see Web Clip 2).

Harmonia is a type of additive synthesis that blends in as many as four more single-oscillator voices per Layer. You control the level, detuning, and panning of each additional voice; for synth waveforms, you also control the symmetry, relative phase, and other parameters. You could spend an entire afternoon experimenting with Harmonia mode without exhausting its possibilities (see Web Clip 3). You can save your Harmonia settings as presets, and nearly 30 factory presets are included.

Omnisphere's synthesis capabilities go much deeper than I have space to cover in these pages. If you want to read about the filters, envelopes, effects, arpeggiator, and performance modes, it's essential that you visit emusician.com and read the online bonus material “More Building Blocks.”

A Library Like No Other

To produce Omnisphere's Core Library, Spectrasonics went to great lengths (and, I'd guess, spared no expense) pursuing even the most outrageous ideas in its quest for unique sample content. The burning piano, for example, was legendary even before the plug-in was released, and it sounds much more useful than I expected.

Spectrasonics has managed to breathe real life into most of Omnisphere's Soundsources, and you're bound to find hundreds of sounds you won't find anywhere else. Ever wonder what it sounds like to bow a spinning bicycle wheel? How about tapping a lightbulb and recording the resonating filament? I can scarcely imagine all the sounds that must have been discarded to distill only the most usable source material.

Many Soundsources aren't even used in the Patch library; creating Patches from those ensures that your original Patches will be yours and yours alone. But the easiest way to produce new sounds is to open a Patch and simply swap out one Soundsource for another. If you enjoy exploring new sounds, you could easily spend entire days browsing Omnisphere's Patches; I know I did (see the online bonus material “Timbral Territory”).