Omnisphere 2 and Komplete 11 overrated?!?

[FrankJaeger]

Does anyone else here own omnisphere 2? I just recently purchased and installed it and I honestly must be missing something. The sounds aren't bad at all but they just seem so ordinary. I read tons of reviews raving about how unique it is and how powerful it is and how people were utterly blown away, but I'm just not that convinced...

Granted, I haven't been through every patch but what I have been through is really nothing special. I spent almost $500 and feel like I've been totally jipped.

The same goes for Komplete 11 which was also nearly $500. I just want to get some honest feedback because I feel like I could have bought a slew of REs with superior sound quality, much better factory patches and better utilization of my single core i7 CPU.

EDIT: I make Hip Hop/Trap beats and full songs in Reason alone.

[Psuper]

It all boils down to knowing what you're looking for, and for what reason.

I have "must haves" and "fun to mess around with" options. Both have different budgets and expectations. My must-haves are covered, so most of the things I buy anymore are just entertainment value in whatever form it takes, and sometimes takes on the 'must-have' attribute 8)

I personally avoid anything sample-based and prefer modeled or programmed instruments, or simply pure live recordings. I've omitted most "fun to mess around with" stuff in my existing workflow. Clean and simple creates an environment that helps me focus, and even then its hard to do sometimes - always ideas popping.

So depending on the "why" determines the value you'll find.

[QVprod]

Echoing above ^ it's always best to buy things because the fit a particular need you have. I have Komplete 10, but I mainly bought it because I needed Kontakt and the price difference between Kontakt and Komplete 10 at the time was only $100. That said Kontakt and the libraries that came with K10 is where I get the most use out of it because I needed better 'real' instruments than what was available for Reason (before 9.5). I use the SSL fx and the Transient master as well though. Reaktor gets used only for a free tape sim from the Reaktor User Library. I barely use anything else.

[FrankJaeger]

Echoing above ^ it's always best to buy things because the fit a particular need you have. I have Komplete 10, but I mainly bought it because I needed Kontakt and the price difference between Kontakt and Komplete 10 at the time was only $100. That said Kontakt and the libraries that came with K10 is where I get the most use out of it because I needed better 'real' instruments than what was available for Reason (before 9.5). I use the SSL fx and the Transient master as well though. Reaktor gets used only for a free tape sim from the Reaktor User Library. I barely use anything else.

@Psuper as well (I haven't quite figured out how to multi quote yet)
Well I bought the packages because I needed some new Synth sounds (the Kontakt sampler was just a plus) as my beats tend to take on a cinematic vibe and read that Omnisphere delivered the goods. It could be that these two packages are so widely used that I've already heard most of the sounds before and that could be why they sound so lackluster. Who knows. I was planning on buying Nexus as well but am reluctant to now for worry of the same thing happening.

[normen]

Seriously how blown away could one be by the sound of a single note without any context? Sometimes I really wonder why people expect from sound libraries what they should expect from the music.

[EnochLight]

Does anyone else here own omnisphere 2? I just recently purchased and installed it and I honestly must be missing something. The sounds aren't bad at all but they just seem so ordinary. I read tons of reviews raving about how unique it is and how powerful it is and how people were utterly blown away, but I'm just not that convinced...

Granted, I haven't been through every patch but what I have been through is really nothing special. I spent almost $500 and feel like I've been totally jipped.

The same goes for Komplete 11 which was also nearly $500. I just want to get some honest feedback because I feel like I could have bought a slew of REs with superior sound quality, much better factory patches and better utilization of my single core i7 CPU.

EDIT: I make Hip Hop/Trap beats and full songs in Reason alone.

** Slowly raises hand..

I picked up Omnisphere 2 last month when it was on sale for Black Friday. I've spent some time with it, and I'm.... underwhelmed, to say the least. There are some truly awesome patches inside, and as a preset-tweaker guy, I appreciate them.. but is it worth the money I paid for it?

Meh... I have buyer's regret. Wondering if I'll keep it or put it up for sale at some point. We'll see - if I'm not using it in my productions regularly over the next 6 months, I may let it go.

[joeyluck]

Seriously how blown away could one be by the sound of a single note without any context? Sometimes I really wonder why people expect from sound libraries what they should expect from the music.

I'm not sure if anybody here mentioned just playing a single note. But I get where you're coming from.
But I think the argument here is in terms of a piece of software that is ~$500 and what it should do and how it should inspire out of the box.

Of course, a great composer can do great things with anything. But nobody would be buying new synths and plugins, etc. if they aren't looking for new tools to supplement and to be inspired. It's a shame there is no demo of Omnisphere.

[Psuper]

All good followup points, surprising given the nature this thread could have headed to.

To piggy back on the "been around, heard the sound" point, its one of the more compelling reasons I choose the audio sources the way I do. While you can take any sample source or patch and adjust it to obscurity, those that have been around a long time are most likely to sound similar if featured. I find work better served simply creating/finding that sound you want with alternatives to commercial samples, and a wonderful escape from the 'next best, next month' loop.

[normen]

But nobody would be buying new synths and plugins, etc. if they aren't looking for new tools to supplement and to be inspired.

My suspicion is that most sales go to people who think the new plugin will make their music better

[FrankJaeger]

But I think the argument here is in terms of a piece of software that is ~$500 and what it should do and how it should inspire out of the box.

This.

I was expecting song starters and inspiration, but what I got was just a little more cookie cutter than bread and butter. There's definitely some useable stuff here though to keep things on the positive side.

[FrankJaeger]

** Slowly raises hand..

I picked up Omnisphere 2 last month when it was on sale for Black Friday. I've spent some time with it, and I'm.... underwhelmed, to say the least. There are some truly awesome patches inside, and as a preset-tweaker guy, I appreciate them.. but is it worth the money I paid for it?

Meh... I have buyer's regret. Wondering if I'll keep it or put it up for sale at some point. We'll see - if I'm not using it in my productions regularly over the next 6 months, I may let it go.

Lol.. I feel your pain brother.

For me also, the EDM library is virtually useless since I make Hip Hop and Trap beats. I like to genre bend a lot though so maybe the EDM patches will make it to one of my songs in the future.

[dpcoffin]

Somehow I'm guessing that the key line in your initial post is "I make Hip Hop/Trap beats and full songs in Reason alone." and I don't really know what that says about what's useful to you and what's not; I don't make or listen to either, frankly—might like 'em if I did, but my thing is sound design and solo instrumentals. Plus Reason's only one of several DAWs I use.

But since you actually bought Omni and K11, I'll assume you must have thought such enormous and so non-genre-specific sound collections COULD be useful despite your tight focus on just these genres (instead of, say, a $1000 bunch of sound sets, romplers and loop collections specifically aimed at what you do…?), so I'll take a stab at a response, too, even though our perspectives on music and what makes a good tool for doing it are probably worlds apart:)


First, there's some good Omnisphere/Reason chat and info in the forum here:
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=7504561&hilit=omni

I've owned it since it was Atmosphere and honestly also never felt I really got my money's worth until I knuckled down and learned how to use it as a tool, rather than a preset collection, which has always been so vast it's almost pointless to try to "get" it just from playing through them for a few hours or days. Doing that is exactly why it felt so unengaging to me…

But then I started following pluginGuru's YT videos and learned a bunch about it, and found that it works best for me to see it as a MONSTER sample and wave collection neatly placed inside a really deep and often quite unique synth engine that's not really hard to use, in fact it's beautifully designed—truly cla$$$ A. Factor in that you can load your own samples and it's become about the coolest sound and instrument-making tool I've got.

To quote myself from that other thread, "…IMO the best thing to do first is to find just a few factory patches you like and dive right into swapping in different synth and samples. I've just spent the better part of a week exploring nothing but the very first factory patch in the list when you set the Category and Directory to ALL (Flying Wings of Love) , loading in new sounds, synths, and fiddling with endless modulations—don't miss Random, which is triggered by every note on; the option paths are truly fractal…and often stunning.

Or start auditioning sounds sources and adding ratings for easy use later. You'll very likely start seeing that at least a few sample libraries you might have previously lusted after are redundant now:)

AND be sure to add some of your own as User samples. You can do batch imports just by dragging folder contents into the STEAM folder, under Soundsources/User. Of course you can't create multi-samples (only the factory sources offer that, and some are quite detailed), though PGuru has excellent demos about layering multis to get similar results. But if anything can make magic from a single sample, it's Omnisphere…

Under FX, don't miss Innerspace under Creative, and Thriftshop Speaker under Amplifier—even deeper rabbit holes:)

Hey, look:)

Welcome to the Omniverse:)"

Komplete as a whole has always be WAY more than I need or will ever get around to even checking out, but the parts of it I do use I use heavily (Kontakt, Absynth and esp. Reaktor, plus all the extra devices in Komplete that only run in Reaktor—AND the enormous and astounding User Library) and they always seem to be about the same money to update individually as to grab all at once with the reliable, regular Komplete upgrade sale deals.

And now that I can get basically everything else inside Reason for a few sub bucks any month I decide to concentrate on Reason as the tool of the hour, it feels like I already have all of them, too!

YM will obviously V, but since you have 'em, might as well put some time into learning them, no?:)

[QVprod]

(I haven't quite figured out how to multi quote yet)

Multi quoting is manual. Literal copy paste.

Well I bought the packages because I needed some new Synth sounds (the Kontakt sampler was just a plus) as my beats tend to take on a cinematic vibe and read that Omnisphere delivered the goods. It could be that these two packages are so widely used that I've already heard most of the sounds before and that could be why they sound so lackluster. Who knows. I was planning on buying Nexus as well but am reluctant to now for worry of the same thing happening.

With that in mind don't buy Nexus. It'll basically give you more of the same thing with less tweakability. Essentially here's where basic synthesis knowledge and sound design come in.For the future I'd say when you need more synth presets, you don't need to buy more synths. Just buy preset packs/refills for the synths you already own. If you're going to buy a synth (or collection of synths) get if for it's unique capabilities and or/sound.

I picked up Omnisphere 2 last month when it was on sale for Black Friday. I've spent some time with it, and I'm.... underwhelmed, to say the least. There are some truly awesome patches inside, and as a preset-tweaker guy, I appreciate them.. but is it worth the money I paid for it?

I think I commented in the other thread when you bought it, that I've never been impressed by Omnisphere because of what Reason is capable of doing natively. I think heavy Reason users are harder to be impressed by it to the same degree that most are. Same thing with the Komplete stuff. Massive is nice but I'm still more likely to pull up a Thor or Subtractor if I wanna design a quick sound.

[FrankJaeger]

(I haven't quite figured out how to multi quote yet)

Multi quoting is manual. Literal copy paste.

Well I bought the packages because I needed some new Synth sounds (the Kontakt sampler was just a plus) as my beats tend to take on a cinematic vibe and read that Omnisphere delivered the goods. It could be that these two packages are so widely used that I've already heard most of the sounds before and that could be why they sound so lackluster. Who knows. I was planning on buying Nexus as well but am reluctant to now for worry of the same thing happening.

With that in mind don't buy Nexus. It'll basically give you more of the same thing with less tweakability. Essentially here's where basic synthesis knowledge and sound design come in.For the future I'd say when you need more synth presets, you don't need to buy more synths. Just buy preset packs/refills for the synths you already own. If you're going to buy a synth (or collection of synths) get if for it's unique capabilities and or/sound.

I picked up Omnisphere 2 last month when it was on sale for Black Friday. I've spent some time with it, and I'm.... underwhelmed, to say the least. There are some truly awesome patches inside, and as a preset-tweaker guy, I appreciate them.. but is it worth the money I paid for it?

I think I commented in the other thread when you bought it, that I've never been impressed by Omnisphere because of what Reason is capable of doing natively. I think heavy Reason users are harder to be impressed by it to the same degree that most are. Same thing with the Komplete stuff. Massive is nice but I'm still more likely to pull up a Thor or Subtractor if I wanna design a quick sound.

I tried copy pasting and it didn't add the quote matrix to the text. Just text.

I bought Omnisphere for its library because I heard the patches were superior to a lot of other synth's libraries. It just turned out to be untrue. As far as nexus goes, won't be shelling out anymore money for extra synths. Thanks for the heads up on that too.

[QVprod]

I tried copy pasting and it didn't add the quote matrix to the text. Just text.

Open the posts you want to quote in multiple tabs using the quote button. Copy and paste the quote text from one tab into the other.

[FrankJaeger]

Open the posts you want to quote in multiple tabs using the quote button. Copy and paste the quote text from one tab into the other.

LOL.. Duh!! Right....

This is how I feel now:

[keysperson]

I have both and Artuia Collection V and Synthmaster. The reason I throw in Synthmaster is because it looks like a toy, but the programmers are so good they make it shine. Omnisphere in some ways while it can do probably much of what Synthmaster can do doesn't have great patches in my opinion. They sound toyish or applied to soundtrack noises and things like that. I would say get Native instruments Komplete and Arturia's stuff first. Then get synthmaster than omni because unless you know how to roll your own patches you may feel let down. I have been trying to program it. But it doesn't explain what the various filters for example are supposed to mimic. or like rapture, The envelopes are not providing templates that you can use for general midi patches which is exactly what they are trying to avoid. Anyways there are sellers of sound for Omnisphere and by reputation Skippy's are supposed to be really good. I don't own any of his but people seem to like them. Anyways its a matter of figuring out what each synth does. Omni has almost as many effects as Amplitube. Which I don't own, but I do own Revalver and Guitar Rigg, both of which are excellent. Good luck

[hurricane]

Although you CAN make excellent and authentic sounding Hip Hop and Trap sounds with Omnisphere, I don't think I would recommend Omnisphere to someone who makes Hip Hop & Trap. Like how I wouldn't exactly recommend Sylenth to someone who makes Enya new age or Mariachi music.

All of you who having Omnisphere second thoughts - I don't know what you were expecting. If you plunked down that much money on a synth, I imagine you must have done your research before you bought it. But lol, I don't know how the Hip Hop guy decided Omnisphere was perfect for his type of music. I mean, it still CAN be, but you're going to have to create some custom patches because I don't think Vandalism or Vengeance have created any Omni sound banks yet.

I bought Omnisphere because it is perfect for MY type of music, which is new age, film, top-40 pop, and synthwave. And it IS perfect for that. I liken it to a hi-end Roland Workstation - something like the FA-08. In fact, if Omnisphere was a hardware workstation, it would probably cost as much as the F-08 (almost 2k).

If you just bought Omnisphere for the presets and are judging it primarily on the presets which don't fit your style of music (which is what I am reading in this thread) then you have done yourself a disservice and honestly, you should have known better. There are tons of videos and audio demos out there, and Omnisphere's style is pretty widely known.

With that being said, by no means do I mean that you can't use Omni for Hip Hop or Dub or whatever, because you can. It's like Reason.

So either give it another chance and actually go deeper, or sell it. But don't talk shit about it because it isn't shit. It's just not for YOU.

Happy New Year, ya'll.

[33db]

Does anyone else here own omnisphere 2? I just recently purchased and installed it and I honestly must be missing something. The sounds aren't bad at all but they just seem so ordinary. I read tons of reviews raving about how unique it is and how powerful it is and how people were utterly blown away, but I'm just not that convinced...

Granted, I haven't been through every patch but what I have been through is really nothing special. I spent almost $500 and feel like I've been totally jipped.

The same goes for Komplete 11 which was also nearly $500. I just want to get some honest feedback because I feel like I could have bought a slew of REs with superior sound quality, much better factory patches and better utilization of my single core i7 CPU.

EDIT: I make Hip Hop/Trap beats and full songs in Reason alone.

I didn't care for Omnisphere but I do like NI's stuff, everything they put out (except their xmas gift Phasis) is tip top.
Love Maschine, Massive, Kontakt has some great horns and pianos, and if you like tweaking things Reaktor is a dream come true.

I think you should spend more time with Komplete, I honestly don't see how sound quality is going to be lower than RE's.
In fact, I would go so far as to ask what software you do like.

[joeyluck]

Although you CAN make excellent and authentic sounding Hip Hop and Trap sounds with Omnisphere, I don't think I would recommend Omnisphere to someone who makes Hip Hop & Trap. Like how I wouldn't exactly recommend Sylenth to someone who makes Enya new age or Mariachi music.

All of you who having Omnisphere second thoughts - I don't know what you were expecting. If you plunked down that much money on a synth, I imagine you must have done your research before you bought it. But lol, I don't know how the Hip Hop guy decided Omnisphere was perfect for his type of music. I mean, it still CAN be, but you're going to have to create some custom patches because I don't think Vandalism or Vengeance have created any Omni sound banks yet.

I bought Omnisphere because it is perfect for MY type of music, which is new age, film, top-40 pop, and synthwave. And it IS perfect for that. I liken it to a hi-end Roland Workstation - something like the FA-08. In fact, if Omnisphere was a hardware workstation, it would probably cost as much as the F-08 (almost 2k).

If you just bought Omnisphere for the presets and are judging it primarily on the presets which don't fit your style of music (which is what I am reading in this thread) then you have done yourself a disservice and honestly, you should have known better. There are tons of videos and audio demos out there, and Omnisphere's style is pretty widely known.

With that being said, by no means do I mean that you can't use Omni for Hip Hop or Dub or whatever, because you can. It's like Reason.

So either give it another chance and actually go deeper, or sell it. But don't talk shit about it because it isn't shit. It's just not for YOU.

Happy New Year, ya'll.

I've actually never understood the genre classification of many instruments for something as diverse sound-wise as hip hop. Maybe by hip hop sub genre or location? Many times hip hop is defined by the tempo and groove, but even then we see faster tempos and different grooves of hip hop. Hip hop can be sampling and looping a variety of instruments/genres, it can include guitar and strings played from a keyboard, it can be acoustic instruments played live, and it can utilize just about any synth; software or hardware. So I would say, without being very knowledgable of Omnisphere, that it could be used for hip hop. Because to me, what can't be?

I think then it comes down to an appreciation and inspiration from the sounds when you play it yourself. And it's too bad Omnisphere doesn't have a trial period or demo mode.

[QVprod]

Although you CAN make excellent and authentic sounding Hip Hop and Trap sounds with Omnisphere, I don't think I would recommend Omnisphere to someone who makes Hip Hop & Trap. Like how I wouldn't exactly recommend Sylenth to someone who makes Enya new age or Mariachi music...


I bought Omnisphere because it is perfect for MY type of music, which is new age, film, top-40 pop, and synthwave. And it IS perfect for that. I liken it to a hi-end Roland Workstation - something like the FA-08. In fact, if Omnisphere was a hardware workstation, it would probably cost as much as the F-08 (almost 2k).

I suppose so considering Eric Persing (Spectrasonics owner) programed most of the classic Roland synths/workstations. Though FA-08 might be an insult. Maybe an Integra-7. Though Reason would probably be in the same category.

I can understand the recommendation because just about any synth can be used for hip hop and Omnisphere contains both 'natural' and synth sounds. For Trap especially, just need a variety of bells .

[hurricane]

I suppose so considering Eric Persing (Spectrasonics owner) programed most of the classic Roland synths/workstations. Though FA-08 might be an insult. Maybe an Integra-7. Though Reason would probably be in the same category.

Well I know this and you know this, but if the hip Hop guy was aware of this (maybe you were aware, hip hop guy?) that would have told him what to expect from a synth workstation Eric created, which is why I had very good feelings about buying Omnisphere 2 a looooong time ago (and why I have 3 Roland romplers in my studio loaded with 8 exp boards - Omnisphere fits right in nicely)

And the FA-08 has a "massive sound collection inherited from the flagship INTEGRA-7," that's why I mentioned it. : )

[QVprod]

And the FA-08 has a "massive sound collection inherited from the flagship INTEGRA-7," that's why I mentioned it. : )

I'm just nit picking lol. Though having played the FA I'm not too impressed with it. The Integra has a lot more to it than the FA-08 since the FA-08 is missing the supernatural synth engine (only has the supernatural acoustic engine). Only the strangely discontinued Jupiter 50/80 had the full functionality of the INTEGRA-7... I'm still confused about that.

[FrankJaeger]

Although you CAN make excellent and authentic sounding Hip Hop and Trap sounds with Omnisphere, I don't think I would recommend Omnisphere to someone who makes Hip Hop & Trap. Like how I wouldn't exactly recommend Sylenth to someone who makes Enya new age or Mariachi music.

All of you who having Omnisphere second thoughts - I don't know what you were expecting. If you plunked down that much money on a synth, I imagine you must have done your research before you bought it. But lol, I don't know how the Hip Hop guy decided Omnisphere was perfect for his type of music. I mean, it still CAN be, but you're going to have to create some custom patches because I don't think Vandalism or Vengeance have created any Omni sound banks yet.

I bought Omnisphere because it is perfect for MY type of music, which is new age, film, top-40 pop, and synthwave. And it IS perfect for that. I liken it to a hi-end Roland Workstation - something like the FA-08. In fact, if Omnisphere was a hardware workstation, it would probably cost as much as the F-08 (almost 2k).

If you just bought Omnisphere for the presets and are judging it primarily on the presets which don't fit your style of music (which is what I am reading in this thread) then you have done yourself a disservice and honestly, you should have known better. There are tons of videos and audio demos out there, and Omnisphere's style is pretty widely known.

With that being said, by no means do I mean that you can't use Omni for Hip Hop or Dub or whatever, because you can. It's like Reason.

So either give it another chance and actually go deeper, or sell it. But don't talk shit about it because it isn't shit. It's just not for YOU.

Happy New Year, ya'll.

You come off very condescending in this post. I bought it, like any other synth, to hopefully make some quality music and wasn't happy with my purchase. END OF STORY.

Hip Hop is very versatile and can incorporate the sounds of almost any other type of music, which is how hip hop started, by sampling other genre's
records for drums and the like. One prime example of this in recent history is the Migos and Marshmello song "Danger" which has a slight EDM vibe to it. So don't say it doesn't fit my style of music as that's far from true.

[hurricane]

You come off very condescending in this post. I bought it, like any other synth, to hopefully make some quality music and wasn't happy with my purchase. END OF STORY.

You bought Omnisphere 2 AND Komplete 11 and you're dissatisfied with BOTH, lol.

You just bought the wrong tools for the job, pal. Do your research next time before you splurge.

So you should edit your topic - "Omnisphere and Komplete 11 overrated for HIP HOP?" The answer is YES. For someone though who does say....hybrid film scoring? No way is it overrated. Omnisphere 2 at least, is an essential tool.

Yeah you should sell both and buy like $800 worth of those lo-fi REs.

I'm not condescending I'm just giving it to you straight. Don't let me hurt your feelings.