Omnisphere 3

[jtnyc]

Spectrasonics just replied to me. I still wonder why the product page says Ventura, but good news!

Hi,

Thanks for reaching out!

Omnisphere 3 will work on Mac OS Monterey. : )

Please just ensure that your computer meets the RAM and processor speed system requirements for Omnisphere 3 before upgrading:

[Lawrence]

Outstanding, thanks for reporting back.

[jtnyc]

Outstanding, thanks for reporting back.

You're welcome. It's funny, now that I know I can upgrade I've been looking at every walkthrough I can find. While it looks like a lot of solid additions have been made, just listening to the new content doesn't excite me all that much. Sounds like A LOT more of the same. Not saying it's bad, in fact a lot of it sounds quite good, but a lot of it sounds very old school rompler like which I have no use for. It just doesn't seem to get into any new ground that hasn't already been covered in O2. The new effects look good and the addition of being able to use them outside of Omni is intriguing, but I've never been a fan of their FX UI's. Tiny mix sliders, multiple pages. Always felt clunky to me.

I can still see myself updating, but in the end I'm afraid it will not add all that much except more time spent sifting through a boatload of new sounds that I kinda already have in one form or another. Then again the refreshed look (I always hated the neon blue fonts in the browsers in O2) and the global controls, new organization etc are intriguing, so we'll see.

[Lawrence]

Because I never upgraded from Omni 1 (STILL haven’t gone through all the patches) it will likely be a bit more intriguing for me.

[jtnyc]

Because I never upgraded from Omni 1 (STILL haven’t gone through all the patches) it will likely be a bit more intriguing for me.

I agree. 1 to 2 felt like a big deal to me, so 1 to 3 should be epic. Enjoy!

[Guy Rowland]

a lot of it sounds very old school rompler like which I have no use for. It just doesn't seem to get into any new ground that hasn't already been covered in O2.

I associate old school rompler with the old workstations, and I wouldn't say that was true of Omni 3 at all (or 2 for that matter). It feels another level from that for sure. But while there's endless variety, that's nothing dramatically new sonically, just a bit more sheen and / or pleasing grit perhaps.

I honestly don't know what I'd expect more than it has tbh. It covers everything I'd ever want.

[jtnyc]

a lot of it sounds very old school rompler like which I have no use for. It just doesn't seem to get into any new ground that hasn't already been covered in O2.

I associate old school rompler with the old workstations, and I wouldn't say that was true of Omni 3 at all (or 2 for that matter). It feels another level from that for sure. But while there's endless variety, that's nothing dramatically new sonically, just a bit more sheen and / or pleasing grit perhaps.

I honestly don't know what I'd expect more than it has tbh. It covers everything I'd ever want.

I don't look at Omni completely like an old rompler. Not at all, just some of the content. There is quite a bit of either not very deep sampled or one shot type stuff that feels romplery to me. The plucky guitar stuff, vocals and some of the tuned percussion come off that way to me. BUT, there is so much more it offers. I like Omni, but honestly for synth stuff I generally prefer my u-he synths and for realistic sample based acoustic instruments I prefer many Kontakt libraries. Omni always has a big, deep, fairly processed sound which is great, just not what I always want.

So Guy, while I have you, regarding the newly mastered O2 patches vs the legacy old O2 patches, do the patches have the same names or is there an extension on the legacy ones. How would I tell which is which? Also I had an exchange with support and asked about being able to select All before filtering further and they said it is possible. I know you have been on about this being an omission so I'm now unsure. Maybe they misunderstood my question or I'm missing something. Is it not possible?

[Guy Rowland]

So Guy, while I have you, regarding the newly mastered O2 patches vs the legacy old O2 patches, do the patches have the same names or is there an extension on the legacy ones. How would I tell which is which? Also I had an exchange with support and asked about being able to select All before filtering further and they said it is possible. I know you have been on about this being an omission so I'm now unsure. Maybe they misunderstood my question or I'm missing something. Is it not possible?

So the browser ALL behaviour is pretty clever in this regard.

As discussed earlier in the thread, Dolby's Guitaret appears no less than 7 times - 6 identical ones in various new categories and 1 legacy one:

Ambient Dreams - Synths
Electronic Underground - Synths
Experimental Organic - Textures
Retro Vibes - Synths
Scoring Electronic - Synths
Warm Tones - Synths
Omnisphere Library - Retroland (legacy version)

If you search All categories, all sub categories, you just get one result, which as it happens is for Ambient Dreams. The rest don't show up. including the legacy version. Same result for searching All Omnisphere - the legacy area is excluded.

Only if you search Legacy do you get the legacy version.

Basically you get one of the new versions unless you deliberately restrict your searches to the legacy areas.

[Guy Rowland]

Another issue has come to light with the new browser - star ratings applied to one patch are not applied to all the other instances of the same patch.

Say you are Electronic Underground and love Dolby's Guitaret. You give it 5 stars. The next day you want to find it again... you can't remember where it was but it had Dolby's name in it. You search the entire Omni library but oh no - there's no patches with the 5 star rating. That's because although it has correctly found Dolby's Guitaret, it has retrieved a different version of it (the one in Analog Vibes as it happens).

I know things will improve, but I do think they've made a fundamental mistake with organising things the way they have. They've made things so much harder for themselves and their users, and it's gonna be confusing forever.

They could have achieved their desired end result by repurposing something that has always been in Omni but is rarely used - Projects. Projects are just collections of patches - or as we know them, playlists. Their new directories could just as easily have been playlists, with the browser reorganised so they default to factory playlists with nice artwork - you could easily add a 2nd field of sub-playlists too so it looks identical to the Omni 3 experience. But under the hood, it remains as it was in Omni 2, and if you want to search by directory it's just a click away. You'd be able to search All patches and All Spectrasonics as you always did.

Instead they did the low tech and high workload solution - copy the same patch multiple times and give everything totally different standards to everything else they ever made that can never be reconciled. It did create an illusion of 40.000 patches I guess.

Thing is - I really shouldn't have this thought - they COULD still do this. They COULD undo that mistake. It's a bespoke coding job to just reorganise their database into a different format and display things accordingly. It would feel the same to users who like the Omni 3 approach, but it would give Spectrasonics themselves and us HUGE benefits. It wouldn't undo any of their work, just rationalise it.

[jtnyc]

Another issue has come to light with the new browser - star ratings applied to one patch are not applied to all the other instances of the same patch.

Say you are Electronic Underground and love Dolby's Guitaret. You give it 5 stars. The next day you want to find it again... you can't remember where it was but it had Dolby's name in it. You search the entire Omni library but oh no - there's no patches with the 5 star rating. That's because although it has correctly found Dolby's Guitaret, it has retrieved a different version of it (the one in Analog Vibes as it happens).

I know things will improve, but I do think they've made a fundamental mistake with organising things the way they have. They've made things so much harder for themselves and their users, and it's gonna be confusing forever.

They could have achieved their desired end result by repurposing something that has always been in Omni but is rarely used - Projects. Projects are just collections of patches - or as we know them, playlists. Their new directories could just as easily have been playlists, with the browser reorganised so they default to factory playlists with nice artwork - you could easily add a 2nd field of sub-playlists too so it looks identical to the Omni 3 experience. But under the hood, it remains as it was in Omni 2, and if you want to search by directory it's just a click away. You'd be able to search All patches and All Spectrasonics as you always did.

Instead they did the low tech and high workload solution - copy the same patch multiple times and give everything totally different standards to everything else they ever made that can never be reconciled. It did create an illusion of 40.000 patches I guess.

Thing is - I really shouldn't have this thought - they COULD still do this. They COULD undo that mistake. It's a bespoke coding job to just reorganise their database into a different format and display things accordingly. It would feel the same to users who like the Omni 3 approach, but it would give Spectrasonics themselves and us HUGE benefits. It wouldn't undo any of their work, just rationalise it.

This seems crazy. I knew there were 2 different versions of patches regarding legacy and remastered, but 4 and 5 versions just to have them sit in different categories (libraries as they call them). That's ridiculous. Hmm... very strange decision. As you say, those "libraries" should just be filled with alias's of those patches like a playlist.

I have another question for you Guy. Do the dropdown menus throughout the UI have white or dark backgrounds? In Omni 2 they are dark which I like. In the walkthroughs that I've watched I see both. Sometimes the directory dropdown is white in others it's dark. In others the directory was white, but other dropdown were dark. Seems weird. I really prefer dark because it's easier on the eyes and sits with the browser nicely. I wonder why I'm seeing both? Maybe a Mac/PC thing? Or DAW specific?

[Guy Rowland]

The drop down menus are all white background in Win 11, jnyc.

[jtnyc]

The drop down menus are all white background in Win 11, jnyc.

Thanks Guy

[Lawrence]

Guy, have you been in contact with Spectrasonics about your concerns, and if so have they responded?

[Guy Rowland]

Guy, have you been in contact with Spectrasonics about your concerns, and if so have they responded?

I have and they have!

Thanks so much for reaching out and for the thoughtful message. We really appreciate the support you’ve given us over the years.

Thank you for you taking the time to organize this group feedback and share it with us. I’ll make sure your document and observations are shared with our development team.

Thanks again for your time and for being part of the Spectrasonics community!

and...

Here is a quick follow-up from our team –

Thanks for the feedback and compiling the forum posts. We appreciate your passion for sound organization and for Omnisphere over the years.

Eric and the DEV Team will get back to you with a thorough reply to all the points raised in a few weeks after things calm down a bit, as this will need to be a rather long reply.

Eric and the team have put a great deal of thought and care into designing the new browser and organization system and we are happy to discuss all the changes with you, why they were made and of course improvements that can be made as well.

[Lawrence]

Guy, have you been in contact with Spectrasonics about your concerns, and if so have they responded?

I have and they have!

Thanks so much for reaching out and for the thoughtful message. We really appreciate the support you’ve given us over the years.

Thank you for you taking the time to organize this group feedback and share it with us. I’ll make sure your document and observations are shared with our development team.

Thanks again for your time and for being part of the Spectrasonics community!

and...

Here is a quick follow-up from our team –

Thanks for the feedback and compiling the forum posts. We appreciate your passion for sound organization and for Omnisphere over the years.

Eric and the DEV Team will get back to you with a thorough reply to all the points raised in a few weeks after things calm down a bit, as this will need to be a rather long reply.

Eric and the team have put a great deal of thought and care into designing the new browser and organization system and we are happy to discuss all the changes with you, why they were made and of course improvements that can be made as well.

Good on you, Guy. I’m very curious about what they come back with.