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

Fun for the Whole Family

I was almost instantly impressed with Omnisphere's ease of use, especially considering the inherent complexity of such a sophisticated instrument. Balancing depth with accessibility must have been a considerable challenge for the user-interface design team. Its GUI makes it equally usable for both beginners and advanced synthesists.

In many ways, I consider Omnisphere the Photoshop of sound design. You can go very, very deep, but you can also create new and original sounds quite quickly without ever consulting the documentation. Speaking of which, the Utility menu opens the HTML-based Reference Guide. You can also access online support and download a dynamite collection of tutorial video clips. Some topics covered in the videos aren't mentioned in the current version of the Reference Guide, but Spectrasonics expects an expanded version to be available before you read this.

What Dreams May Come

This was a difficult review to write, mostly because Omnisphere pulled me in the moment I began investigating any of its features. I'd discover something it could do, and before I knew it an hour had passed. I could scarcely believe how easy it was to create cool new sounds from the materials it provides (see Web Clip 4).

With so much sample content, you might expect Omnisphere to be a virtual rompler; it isn't. If you need a gigantic raft of versatile orchestral instruments or drum kits, you'll want to look elsewhere, but what you do get is absolutely outstanding. Omnisphere offers the advantages of both sample playback and traditional synthesis, which you can easily combine in a 2-Layer Patch. Most of its focus is on electronic, often organic, sounds rather than traditional acoustic instruments, but that's what synthesizers are for, isn't it?

Omnisphere comes awfully close to fulfilling my vision of a dream synth, and it's already becoming an extension of my musical persona. True, its additive and FM capabilities won't replace instruments dedicated to those types of synthesis, and its lack of a standalone version is disappointing. (You could run a lean host such as Defective Records' VSTi Host or Brainspawn Forte, but it still wouldn't be the same as a freestanding soft synth.) It wasn't difficult to push my computer's CPU to its limits, and at least once I encountered a redraw bug.

Is it worth half a grand? Undoubtedly, and it's a bargain at that. I'm telling everyone I know: do not walk, run to your computer and order Omnisphere. Whether you want a huge, ready-made selection of first-class synth sounds or you want to build your own timbres from the ground up, I promise you won't regret it.

Senior Editor Geary Yelton's 41-year fascination with synthesizers (since the release of Wendy Carlos's Switched-On Bach) continues unabated.

Higher Learning

Even a function as ubiquitous as MIDI Learn gets the deluxe treatment in Omnisphere. You can assign virtually any function to any MIDI CC message, Note, or Program Change, and you can automate those functions in your host program. You can save MIDI Learn templates and load them into any Patch, display an HTML report of all MIDI Learn assignments, and more. Not every control responds to modulation, but every knob, slider, and button does respond to external control sources and automation.