Making Rock Synths In Omnisphere 2
on Oct 23, 2015 in Synths & Sound Design 0 comments
May 03, 2018 At Superbooth this morning, Spectrasonics announced a major update of its flagship software synthesizer, Omnisphere. With version 2.5, Omnisphere becomes the first software synth to offer a Hardware Synth Integration feature, which transforms well-known hardware synthesizers into hands-on controllers for unlocking Omnisphere’s newly-expanded synthesis capabilities. May 03, 2018. A complete list of new features and supported synths will be announced upon the official release in mid-Summer 2018. The Omnisphere 2.5 update will initially be released in May 2018 as a Public Beta. All registered Omnisphere 2 users with Standard licenses are eligible to join the Public Beta test. Omnisphere Colossus is a collection of 600 patches (and 130 multis) for Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 synth. Having created factory patches for the release of Omnisphere 2, Colossus is my first commercial release for the synth and is aimed at cinematic underscore and Hollywood action music – though it will also be very useful for atmospheric electronica, ambient and neo-classical styles.
Spectrasonics Omnisphere is known as one of the most powerful and best sounding software synthesizers on the market. It has just received another boost into the audio production stratosphere with its extensive 2.0 update, attracting new users and fans for its sound quality and design. It’s easy to get wrapped up in exploring and playing the thousands of patches available, especially the new additions. And without fault, there are so many usable sounds right of the box that can be used to enhance any production. Producers and composers alike should indulge!
That said, the purpose of this article is to explore the basics of custom synth patch creation using the powerful and easy to use interface in Omnisphere. Not only is the interface design intuitive, but also the complexity of what’s possible can keep the most seasoned music producers busy for months, if not years! If you do a search for custom Omnisphere patches, there are gurus out there selling their wares or offering free downloads of their creations. For those of you starting out with software synth programming, Omnisphere is a worthy investment and a good place to start.
They're both very powerful synths. I only have Serum myself (Omnisphere's price is a bit off-putting), but I have used Omnisphere in the past. What I would highlight as the main difference is that Serum is very good at making stuff that sounds electronic. It's very versatile, but still very much sounds like a synthesizer.
In this article, I will give an overview of how to begin to program synth patches and very quickly find unique and inspiring sounds. I’ll go over types of waveforms, routing and using the modulation sections, where all the magic happens. Along the way, I’ll share some audio clips of my progress. By no means will I be able to cover everything is this short article, but I hope it inspires you to explore Omnisphere or another favorite software synth in your DAW. Come along for the ride as I lead you through my process.
In the Beginning: The Default Patch
When you load up Omnisphere into your DAW, the Default patch is loaded with a ‘SawSquare Fat’ waveform in the Synth window in the Oscillator section. This is the place where we can first select the basic waveform to build from or use a sample instead. For this article, we will be building from the synth generator. There are dozens of different waveforms to choose from including waveforms from Classic hardware synths, analog timbres and digital wavetables. I chose a classic Triangle wave from the top menu.
More Fun in the Oscillator Section
In the expanded oscillator section you have the option to add additional synthesis including FM (Frequency Modulation), Ring Modulation, Waveshaper and choose between Unison, Harmonia and Granular. They all change in the sound in different ways depending on your starting waveform so I would suggest staying in this area for quite a while and explore the options within each section. For my simple triangle wave, I chose to use the Unison section to fatten up the sound a bit. The Unison function makes slightly detuned copies of the original waveform and layers them to create the bigger sound. The spread slider widens the stereo field beautifully. Harmonia is great for creating chords by just pressing one note and Granular, a new synthesis feature in Version 2, is another specialized, but beautiful sound design option.
Synth Design Example 1—‘SawSquare Fat’, ‘Triangle’ and ‘Triangle with Unison’:
Playing with Modulation
Figure 4 – Quickly access Modulation drop down menu by right clicking on any parameter.
Back in the A section overview, I decided to play around with The Shape, Symmetry and Hard Sync sliders in the Oscillator section to bring more character to the sound. I also experimented with modulating each of these parameters through different LFOs operating at slightly different, slow rates. I quickly discovered that I was starting to create an interested Pad sound with evolving character. At this point I also went to my Amp Envelope section and adjusted the attack and release so that it was smooth on both ends when changing between chords. I also turned on the main Filter and modulated the Cutoff through LFO 4. I’ve included both samples with and without the Modulating filter cutoff so you can hear the difference. All these adjustments changed the sound dramatically from the previous ‘Unison’ example, as you’ll hear below.
Synth Design Example 2—Designing a Dynamic Pad Sound with Modulation routing, Filter and Amp Envelopes:
Figure 5 – Modulation Matrix Window in Omnisphere.
The Modulation section matrix window is a great place to try different sources and targets. Anything in the Oscillator section can be modulated with LFOs, envelopes and assigned to controllers like mod wheels. I felt more comfortable navigating this Mod section in particular compared to other software synths I’ve worked with.
Save and Tag your Custom Patch
One of most important steps in Synth patch creation is to save and tag your new sound so you do not loose all your hard work and time. You may find a few different variations of a patch during your synthesis process that warrant saving, naming and tagging for different musical purposes. The First step is to save your sound in the ‘User’ directory, make a Category for (in this case ‘Pad Sounds’) and then name your patch. In the ‘Edit Tags’ Screenshot below, I assigned some adjectives to the various attribute types available. I also added my name to the list as an author of that particular patch. It is important to be as detailed as possible so you can find the patch later when searching for similar sounds.
Figure 6 – Creating Tags for Custom Patches in Omnisphere.
Fun with Effects and Arpeggiation
Having completed one pad sound, I used it as a starting point to design another usable sound. I didn’t touch on the FX or Arpeggiator sections in the previous example, so I experimented with those to come up with another synth sound. I was interested in doing something more rhythmic and staccato. First, I made adjustments to my Amp envelope so I had a shorter Attack and Release. Then, I tried out some Arpeggiator presets, selected something close to what I was looking for, and then edited the timing and velocity. In the FX section, there are tons of directions to go with the sound. In this patch, I settled on using one of my favorite new FX in Omnisphere called Innerspace, an Envelope filter and Stereo Imager. My new result is featured below:
Synth Design Example 3—with Arpeggiation and FX:
Figure 8 – FX Section Rack with Innerspace, Envelope Filter and Stereo Imager.
A World of Possibilities… Guided by You!
The world of synth programming is open to all producers and musicians regardless of experience. Software synths in particular are becoming so accessible that anyone can start to create unique sounds quickly. As I discovered on my journey, my custom patches started with a simple triangle wave and become so much more with just a few adjustments to various parameters. Whether you use Omnisphere or another synthesizer, I hope you feel encouraged to spend time exploring what’s possible.
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At Superbooth this morning, Spectrasonics announced a major update of its flagship software synthesizer, Omnisphere.
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With version 2.5, Omnisphere becomes the first software synth to offer a Hardware Synth Integration feature, which transforms well-known hardware synthesizers into hands-on controllers for unlocking Omnisphere’s newly-expanded synthesis capabilities.
Hardware Synth Integration
The new feature bridges the physical experience gap between software and hardware, allowing users intuitive control along with the ability to easily create and modify Omnisphere sounds by using the familiar layout of their supported hardware synth with minimal setup.
The initial release will officially support over 20 popular hardware synthesizers from Moog, Dave Smith Instruments, Roland, Korg, Behringer, Novation, and Sequential, with more to come. The supported hardware synths cover a wide range of types and price ranges.
The new Hardware Synth Integration feature in v2.5 goes far beyond the typical “MIDI Learn” approaches that many software synthesizers employ.
Under the hood, Spectrasonics’ development team has designed unique “Hardware Profiles” for each supported hardware synthesizer, making the special features of that hardware work seamlessly with Omnisphere, translating MIDI messages from the hardware into satisfying sonic results in Omnisphere.
This new system allows Spectrasonics to enable sophisticated interactions from a single touch of a knob, including the ability for Omnisphere to automatically recall entire FX racks, assign multiple scaled parameters and even instantly create complex modulation matrix routings on-the-fly. The new development system also allows Spectrasonics to add new profiles for new hardware synths in the future.
Most importantly, it’s easy for musicians to use – simply by selecting the hardware synth from the drop-down HW menu.
Expanded Synthesis Capabilities
The new version 2.5 greatly expands the synthesis capabilities of Omnisphere by doubling Omnisphere’s voice architecture to Four Layers per patch. Each patch can now utilize up to 12 envelopes, 8 LFOs and the Modulation Matrix has been doubled to 48 modulation routings. Newly-designed State Variable Filters are included, which were specially created for the OB-6 hardware profile and can seamlessly blend between low-pass, notch and high-pass filter modes. Over 50 new “Analog” Oscillator Wavetables are included and featured in the new hardware profiles.
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Garageband 8 bit error sound. New Hardware Sound Library
Omnisphere 2.5 includes a new “Hardware Library” with hundreds of new patches created by Eric Persing and the renowned Spectrasonics Sound Development team using the Hardware Synth Integration feature. Each hardware profile has a corresponding set of sounds in the Hardware Library which were specially designed using that hardware synth as an Omnisphere controller. The new sounds feature a wide range of categories and many have a distinctly ‘classic analog’ flavor. The new sounds are available for all users, regardless of whether they use hardware or not.
“Since the beginning of computer-based music, the biggest limitation of software synthesizers has been the lack of physical interaction. It’s hard to beat the immediacy of a physical synthesizer that you can touch! We are very excited to be able to finally eliminate that problem by utilizing the world’s finest hardware synthesizers to fully control Omnisphere.” said Eric Persing, Creative Director of Spectrasonics. “We’ve never felt that the worlds of software and hardware synths should be segregated into different ‘camps’. Our virtual instrument users can now experience the joy of the hardware synth workflow and hardware synth users can now fully expand their capabilities into the vast sonic world of Omnisphere!”
Omnisphere v2.5 features:
- Hardware Synth Integration
- New Hardware Library adds hundreds of new patches for all users:
- Over 13,000 Sounds total now included
- Vastly Expanded Synthesis:
- Four Layers per patch
- Doubled Mod Matrix
- New State Variable Filters
- 8 LFOs, 12 Envelopes
- FREE for all Omnisphere 2 users
Hardware Synths supported include:
- Sequential Prophet 6
- DSI OB-6
- DSI Rev 2
- Moog Voyager
- Moog Little Phatty
- Moog Sub Phatty
- Moog Sub 37
- Moog Subsequent 37
- Korg Minilogue
- Roland System 8
- Roland System 1
- Roland SE-02
- Roland SH-01A
- Roland JP-08
- Roland JU-06
- Roland JX-03
- Roland VP-03
- Novation Bassstation II
- Novation Peak
- Behringer Deepmind
* A complete list of new features and supported synths will be announced upon the official release in mid-Summer 2018.
Public Beta
The Omnisphere 2.5 update will initially be released in May 2018 as a Public Beta. All registered Omnisphere 2 users with Standard licenses are eligible to join the Public Beta test. Spectrasonics encourages end users to participate and provide feedback in the Public Beta test. The company says that users who give high quality testing/feedback reports in the Public Beta will be eligible to join the official Spectrasonics Beta Team for future products.
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Eligible users can sign up for the 2.5 Public Beta program through their Spectrasonics User Account.
Pricing and Availability
Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2.5 is a free update to all registered Omnisphere 2 users. Public Beta starts later this month, with an official release in mid-summer 2018.
For more information, check out the Spectrasonics website.