Omnisphere 2 Hardware Integration

LPF83

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Omnisphere 2 Hardware Integration
« on: September 26, 2020, 08:50:45 AM »
I've owned Omnisphere for like 10 years, and although I did upgrade to version 2.0, I've toyed around with it but never used it much, because it offers a little TOO much.  It sounds fantastic, but it's kind of a swiss-army knife, and the same aspects that put me off of workstations are exactly the same reason I rarely reach for Omnisphere.  I enjoy the "individualism" of hardware instruments, and finding ways to work their limitations, sound profile and personality into the musical process.  I never really wanted a mega-synth that does everything, because the idea is less musically inspiring to me somehow.

Hardware integration is one of those things I've been meaning to try (it was one of the big features of version 2), but only got around to trying it today.

Well...I'm SUPER impressed!   It works as advertised, and honestly if more soft synths did this, I might use them more.   I tried it with the Prophet 6 and Rev 2 profiles.  For example, when I selected FX on the P6, it modified the FX rack in Omnisphere and replaced existing rack FX with the Omnisphere equivalent, and on the Rev2 when using the Modulation buttons and controls to map destinations, all of the modulations were setup correctly (in real time) in the mod matrix in Omnisphere. 

Great job by Spectrasonics!   Given the flexibility and sample/synthesis possibilities of Omnisphere, it's kind of like turning one of your existing synths into a ProphetX or Quantum (assuming you already use a DAW anyway).

Here is a complete list of the supported hardware synths (quite a good showing for Sequential):

https://support.spectrasonics.net/manual/Omnisphere2/25/en/topic/supported-hardware-synths


This may be old news for some, and apologies if it's already been posted or reviewed.  But I was glad to discover this among my existing set of tools.





« Last Edit: September 26, 2020, 08:53:13 AM by LPF83 »
Prophet 10, OB-X8m, Prophet 6, OB-6, 3rd Wave, Prophet 12m, Prophet Rev2-16, Toraiz AS-1, Pro 2, Virus TI2, Moog SlimPhatty, Hydrasynth desktop, Korg Minilogue XDm, Roland JP-8080, Roland System-8, Roland SPD-SX SE / Octapad, Maschine, Cubase/Ableton/Akai MPC

Shaw

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Re: Omnisphere 2 Hardware Integration
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2020, 09:38:09 AM »
Of of my favorite tricks is to layer my OB-6 with the Omnisphere "hardware integrated" OB-6... there's some magic to be had.
"Classical musicians go to the conservatories, rock´n roll musicians go to the garages." --- Frank Zappa
| Linnstrument | Suhr Custom Modern | Mayones Jaba Custom | Godin Multiac Nylon | Roland TD-50 | Synergy Guitar Amps | Eventide Effects Galore |

LPF83

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Re: Omnisphere 2 Hardware Integration
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2020, 02:23:23 PM »
Of of my favorite tricks is to layer my OB-6 with the Omnisphere "hardware integrated" OB-6... there's some magic to be had.

I've only begun to play around with it, but from what I've read the integrated mode for each synth allows use of wave tables generated from that synth's oscillators.  Should be fun!

Omnisphere is really quite powerful -- would love to see them overhaul the UI, it feels very 2008 to me.  This is why it made my day to realize I could now fully operate it without looking at the UI, using the Prophet/OB-6 keybed and knobs, with the best hardware to software integration I've seen to date.
Prophet 10, OB-X8m, Prophet 6, OB-6, 3rd Wave, Prophet 12m, Prophet Rev2-16, Toraiz AS-1, Pro 2, Virus TI2, Moog SlimPhatty, Hydrasynth desktop, Korg Minilogue XDm, Roland JP-8080, Roland System-8, Roland SPD-SX SE / Octapad, Maschine, Cubase/Ableton/Akai MPC