Omnisphere 2.6 Update came out today, the new arpegiator is awesome, but does anyone know if you can use that to control external hardware? Is there some way for it to generate midi out or create a midi file export?

You can capture the arp midi and drag it to your sequencer. Check out some of the 2.6 demos on youtube.

Question: I have 4 keyboards on the compatibility list. Can I connect all 4 and drive Omnisphere for performance purposes? What do I need to make this happen beyond plenty of USB ports? Although I may only have my hands on 2 at a time, I might like to run some arp sequences running on the other two.

I’m running a 2.3GHz i5 MacBook Pro from early 2011. Underspecd for Omnisphere but i still want to buy it. Anybody using successfully with my specs?

I'm pretty sure the answer is "yes" - but it might require 4 instances of Omnisphere to accomplish. Maybe there's some fancy MIDI routing that could make it work with fewer, but I don't have a way to test that out, so good luck!

Yeah actually i'm using the exact same computer (upgraded with a SSD). Can't believe it's so good 8 years after

Great to hear. I’ve also upped the memory and the hard drive. Still chugging along just fine.

Regarding the hardware keyboard integration thing, are the special patches for those synths available within Omnisphere WITHOUT those synths? (I obviously know you won’t have the specially mapped hardware control over them, but can you still play them and edit within the plugin?)

Yes, you don't need the hardware. You can access all the patches at any time.

This video has a full explanation:

Are versions 2.5 to 2.6 the first time Omnisphere included sounds specifically designed to sound like hardware synths (i.e. virtual analog emulations) to coincide with their new hardware synth integration paradigm, or have hardware synth emus always been included in the extensive O-preset mix?

And, for those that have been using hardware synths to play the O’s emulations of those synths... like, for ex, the Prophet-6, OB-6, Voyager, MS-20, etc... how good on are the emus, say relative to the top soft synth hardware emus developed by Diva, Repro, Arturia’s V Collection 6, NI, etc.?

I don't have any of the hardware synths supported, but I know it's not meant to emulate the hardware precisely, just give you a flavour of it. The main idea is to be able to control Omnisphere via your hardware.

For pure emulations stick with Diva and Repro.

Seconded. It's not an emulation, but it will absolutely give you the "feel" of the synths.

Using one of the supported synths will then blend that synth's controls into any of the others, and you end up with a hybrid sound of sorts.

Another great update. I hadn't even gotten around to upgrading to V2 until the latter half of last year, so for me, it's been just a steady stream of extra goodies the last few months. It's stopped me spending on a new hardware synth more than once, TBH. The add-ons and overall evolution of features this synth has seen since its introduction surpasses even the Virus TI's growth from OS1 - OS5. A decade ago, I kind of saw Omnisphere as sort of an elegant container for a great sample library. Now it's a pretty powerful synth even if you never touch the samples, and with those factored in too, it's the closest thing I have to a "could conceivably do a whole album with one synth" instrument.

Random thought: I really like running the sampled Jupiter 8 oscillators through the new state variable filter.

I don’t think they were going for emulations. Just reinventing the synth based on the given controls. To me it way cooler than emus because I have no interest in an Andromeda clone... I have a real one. But I’m excited to hear Omnisphere sounds based on the Andromeda layout.

Well, count me in. I’d like to have one goto soft synth sound design platform that can be easily controlled with my hardware synths, to stay as ergo and tactile as possible. I’ve been really impressed with all the Omnisphere demos and direction since 2.5. This definitely looks like the one for me.

I still need to go through the process of setting up my hardware synths as MIDI controllers for the emu soft synths like Diva, Repro and Arturia’s VC6. It sure would be cool of these leading emu companies would go ahead and develop those hardware interface templates to make this process more seemless and robust, like O has done. So, for ex, if you want to control Repro from your Prophet-6, it’s already been setup and is ready to go for you in a well thought out way, with ways to control the enhanced functionality of the software using the hardware that makes sense. Of course, you can always tweak or alter what knob controls what function if you wish.

To correct a few posters above, yes they are in fact emulations. If you view the wavform in the loaded osc you will see they have the exact wavform, and the filters to match. Given this, I consider it an emulation, others may disagree.

This was my initial impression as well. That they went for a close emulation of the “core” sonics of each supported hardware synth, which serves as a wonderful bridge or launching off point into other sonic territories that only Omnisphere could manage, all controllable through the hardware interface.

This seems to me the way to go, as opposed to sort of winging it with kinda close emus. And, of course, keep expanding on those core sonic emulations of each supported synth to build on the launch pad foundation and the synergy between the h/w and O.

The “hook” are the close hardware synth emulations. If those don’t sound right a disconnect will remain with the user making it seem just like an ordinary hardware synth controlling another soft synth.

They must have really put in the overtime pulling this all together, which is impressive indeed. I’m very curious to hear these in my own setup. This could be my “digital synth”, not in hardware synth form like the Quantum or Pro-X, but in all O-supported hardware synth forms, making it a scalable mega digi synth that becomes an integrated part of my whole electronic setup and an extension of it, which includes the synths, sequencers and samplers.


Just musing, but I suppose the Moog One is or will be in the works... that’s going to be interesting! It really makes for the ultimate knobby hardware multi-timbral, poly synth interface, imo. I’ve also got a second computer monitor right next to mine, so the O’s interface would be close.

yeah should be very interesting once I get in the thick of it. Also, the arpeggio they updated is by far most powerful I've used, pretty amazing work there. It's like they cataloged every arp in existence and added all those features to one consolidated unit.

Just played with the new 2.6 sounds this evening- Really, REALLY good stuff!

Yes, it seems thats going to be the deciding factor for me too to go with Omnisphere instead of other synth collections and emulations. Eric Persing is once again miles ahead. The NI control keyboard standard is not enough for anything else than preset switching. Roland Cloud only supports the System-8, not even their own JD-XA or Boutiques.

What do you guys reckon, will they be able to support more complex synthesizers like Quantum at some point? That would be amazing, since it got a lot of similarities with Omnispheres own engine and the haptic user interface to handle it.

Coolshop have this on sale today for £259 so I've bought it, seems a very good deal considering the amount of sounds plus the recent updates.

I've just sold my Ultranova which has covered most of the cost

Omnisphere is just sick, and the updates are outstanding. As a NI komplete owner, its always an interesting upgrade, by interesting I mean `overpriced`. The value in omnisphere `free` upgrades blows NI out of the water. I am ready to give Spectrasonics more money at this point, it's that good, and as far as a vst synth goes, its #1 imo.

Omnisphere sounds great but i have a few issues:

- No way to see what the new sounds are after a patch. When there’s 14,000+ patches this is kind of a problem

- is there a way to turn off FX with one button from the main window? I usually want to disable FX immediately and having to go to the FX page and remove modules from the rack or turn down the send slider is a pain

- On my top of the line 2014 mac book pro, it eats a LOT of CPU. Can’t really have more than one instance without cpu spikes.

- The update check is often wrong. It will say no updates when there are updates available and vice versa.

- The VSTis for both of their products seem to have issues in certain DAWs. It seems to be related to needing to open the GUI for them in order to have them fully working..

- The default level/gain staging of the patches seems super super loud and blown out compared to other VST instruments.

But features wise it dominates everything.

You can see all the new patches by searching for '2.6'.

They sound great... but basically nothing at all like the synths.

D50 sounds a lot like a D50, because samples.

In the case of my Nord Wave there's nothing in Omni that claims to replicate directly but the concept of a Nordish waveform plus a sample is sound. HW controlling the Omni basics is excellent, even though this is not an emulation.

To disable FX, click on the little light amd turn it off, no?

Great update!

I’ve tried it with the Prophet 6, and was shocked at how far off Omnisphere sounded. Good, but very different. I’ll try it with the 12 next week. (I’m away)

Im not sure how omnisphere could be more accommodating in terms of instant gratification for commercial jingelers, and such. Much of my reference comes from the multitude of init patches as a starting base. lets not pigeon hole this software for producers making a simple buck, it is very powerful and stupendous palette for the sound designer.

There will be a few patches that if you just look at your keyboard, the CPU usage will spike, but most patches with probably fall in the 10-15% CPU usage range. I have a 2.6ghz i5, so your mileage may be a tad less.

Yes there is. You can choose which versions presets to browse by choosing the version you want to hear in the patch. (Right click an attribute heading to change it to 'version'.

Yes, just click the little light under the FX button.

This one is highly dependent on patch and FX. The reverb plugin often has it's 'CPU' parameter maxed on the presets so that's one quick was to get some CPU back.

I've never had that issue. Also, it's great it's so clear that there's an update our as there are so many plugins which don't.

Can't say i've heard of that one. What doesn't work without the GUI open?

It can be very loud to be fair, but just set your levels appropriately.

Oh yeah.

Still various great features that i've not see any other DAW implement yet. Sound match and parameter locks for example are brilliant. Why is nobody else doing that with the patch browsers?

Don't forget the Orb iPad app as well. I find it pretty handy now and again. How many software synths have their own dedicated iPad apps?

I'd like to see some more development on it as there's a few more cool things that could be done with it for sure.