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

[braincandy]

Does Omnisphere ever go on sale such as the holidays?

[Gam456]

No never

[Uncle E]

Eric Persing once set a piano on fire and sampled it as it burned. Dedication.

[seafire]

The KLF set one million pounds on fire...

[Ah_Dziz]

Does Omnisphere ever go on sale such as the holidays?

I bought it on sale from a retailer. A boxed copy for like 20% off. I probably wouldn't have ever bought it otherwise. I've gotten plenty of use out of it, but I was really only interested in a few sample libraries that were included in the library which I think had been originally produced by Eric Persing. Once I had it I definitely used it quite a bit.

[BBFG#]

Okay, scratch plugins and answer what percent of samples/presets/patches do you use? (Hint: the answer should start with a number instead of derailing into a shill of justification).

[noiseboyuk]

Okay, scratch plugins and answer what percent of samples/presets/patches do you use? (Hint: the answer should start with a number instead of derailing into a shill of justification).

High Fidelity. Rob and Laura are over. It looks bad. She's doesn't think there's much chance they'll ever get back together.

Rob : I just want to know where I stand here. What chance?
Laura : What - I don't know what chance we have.
Rob : You can tell me roughly.
Laura : Alright, we have a nine percent chance of getting back together.

Would that help, BBFG? I've used nine percent of Omnisphere's presets.

As with Rob, it's a stupid question, which is why I gave the answer I did. I have 10,000 3rd party presets, and I have 10,000 factory ones (I looked). I haven't, at any point, thought "that's fantastic, I have 20,000 sounds I can use". I haven't gone through them one by one and ranked them.

The point is - and I'll try one last shilling time here - 20,000 is a huge well on which to draw. I search using the tags and get a unique and manageable set - say, 20 - of ones that are relevant to whatever my specific search is. I'm not searching for these in a vacuum, I'm searching to do one specific job - be the next sound in the cue or song I'm working on where I know what I want that sound, in that context, to be. Those 20 can be a springboard and I can then use sound lock or sound match to draw on others outside those 20, fusing them. The possibilities are genuinely infinite.

That's the way the system is supposed to work. It's not a numbers game, it's a different, effective and quick way to work. It's also fantastic creatively, because I'm never getting bogged down eternally looking for stuff. I stay in the zone.

If it's not for you, hooray, you've saved yourself $500. It works for a lot of us, disproportionally those for whom it is their job.

And this is the reason I consider browsers important to any synth. I don't want dumb folders of 300 lead synth sounds and 300 basses. I want to be able to search using meaningful terms to whittle down the possibilities to a manageable size. Put simply - if I can't find a patch in a search, it may as well not exist.

[Lind0n]

my keyboard has gone mad and entered this post 3 times -- so deleting here....

[Lind0n]

....and again...

[Lind0n]

oh is synthfactory dropping a rebranded horizen saturday?...fun
as from my post on the first page, quite crowded vertical now...not to mention what can be done with the freeware/donationware in this category

Yes, HoriZEN 2.5 landed Saturday morning - with associated intro. sale and a truck load of updates...

It's not re-branded: Tracktion liked it enough to just add it to their marketplace.

https://www.tracktion.com/products/horizen

[BBFG#]

Okay, scratch plugins and answer what percent of samples/presets/patches do you use? (Hint: the answer should start with a number instead of derailing into a shill of justification).

I've used nine percent of Omnisphere's presets.
If it's not... you've saved $500.

Didn't read the blather. 9% seems better than many of the other commenters I've read in the threads over the years. I'm aware that any defense of it will be higher than it actually is though. I continuously read what many won't use it for, so it becomes burdened by that bloat specifically and therefore not a justification of the abstract in "possibilities".
Not saying they're bad plugins at all or that they don't have some value. But they seem to be designed for a certain mentality (neither good or bad) and a catch all of sound sources to warrant combined niches (which hit or miss, and generally miss in the majority for everyone.) So you're not using 91% of what is there and probably have bought other plugins to do those.

Spectrasonics is a luxury item more than an essential. So whenever someone asks whether they should buy it or something else, my answer is generally going to be something else. Unless it's a choice between Spectrasonics and drugs/alcohol or other addictions - then yeah, I'd then suggest Spectrasonics.

In a minimalist approach to doing things though, it's a bloated non-sequitur promising everything and delivering 5-10%.

[noiseboyuk]

BBFG - ha. I didn't read the blather either.

[BBFG#]

BBFG - ha. I didn't read the blather either.

So you missed the part where I said they're not bad at all?
They aren't a work horse as much as a show horse is all. And so many of the owners commenting on it verify that.
But they seem impervious to knowing they did!

[jlgrimes11]

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.

Falcon would be the most similar feature wise but it is alot different than Omnisphere as it goes deeper in almost every category.

The main difference is the much smaller sample library and Falcon in general relies less on samples than Omnisphere does. Omnisphere has one of the deepest amount of raw samples. Although Falcon with UVI sample libraries would compete greatly but is alot more expensive.

The other difference is Falcon has a deeper learning curve, it doesn't feel as user friendly and is more open ended than Omnisphere.

I think NI Komplete would be similar to Omnisphere as far as samples. Especially if going Ultimate or Collector's edition but you would be learning many devices.

If you are using Omnisphere as a Wavetable/Subtractive synth and rely less on samples, though there is plenty like Serum or Vital or Pigments.

[Uncle E]

9% seems better than many of the other commenters I've read in the threads over the years.

9% of 15,000.

Not saying they're bad plugins at all or that they don't have some value. But they seem to be designed for a certain mentality (neither good or bad) and a catch all of sound sources to warrant combined niches (which hit or miss, and generally miss in the majority for everyone.) So you're not using 91% of what is there and probably have bought other plugins to do those.

The 91% is easy to navigate past and the price would probably be the same even if there were fewer presets.

Spectrasonics is a luxury item more than an essential.

As you said, they're designed for a certain mentality. Some people don't want to learn sound design and just want to express their ideas. Omnisphere could easily be the only instrument they ever use.