Omnisphere 2 Attack

Omnisphere 2.6 - Endless Possibilities Omnisphere® is the flagship synthesizer of Spectrasonics - an instrument of extraordinary power and versatility. Top Artists all over the world rely on Omnisphere as an essential source of sonic inspiration.

on Oct 23, 2015 in Synths & Sound Design 0 comments

Omnisphere 2 is like universe of sound design and creation in a plug-in. But rather than simply going by the presets, Lynda Arnold is here to help you begin to program your own patches from scratch.

Spectrasonics has released Omnisphere 2, the long-awaited update of the company’s flagship soft synth. Version 2 includes audio import for user-created sound sources, major new synthesis capabilities, 3,000 new sounds, 25 new effects and more features including a wealth of user interface upgrades and improvements to browsing and auditioning presets.
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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!

Watch these Omnisphere 2 video tutorials to become an Omnisphere Jedi.

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.

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.

Spectrasonics

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. Megaseg iphone app. 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.

Watch these Omnisphere 2 video tutorials to become an Omnisphere Jedi.

Step 1 - Get to Know the Modulation Matrix

The Modulation Matrix can be found by heading over to the Modulation section of the Omnishpere Edit window and selecting the magnifying glass. When clicked, the magnifying glass will reveal the following screen:

Do not be afraid. This screen is going to give us the power we need to route any modulation source to any target. The targets will be any parameter of Omnisphere’s Oscillator, Filter, or Amp sections. In addition, we can also assign sources to control parameters of the LFOs, Envelopes, and Morphing inputs as well! More about that later..

Step 2 - Assign an LFO to Panning

Let’s start simple. To assign an LFO to modulate the panning of the amplifier, Simply choose ‘LFO 1’ from the source area, and then assign Amp > Pan in the target area.

Now we have LFO 1 controlling panning, but all the time. This could be annoying, and make us a little seasick after a while of listening. What would be good is to use something like the ModWheel on our controller to control how much the LFO is going to affect panning.

This is called ‘Second Order Modulation’. Congrats. You are now officially a sound junkie. Second Order Modulation is simply a modulation source controlling the parameters of another modulation source.

To create second order modulation where the ModWheel is controlling the depth of the LFO, assign ‘Wheel’ as a source, and ‘LFO1 depth’ as the target.

We can still hear the LFO altering our panning, but less.. and when we turn the wheel up, the panning is accentuated. To have the LFO depth completely zeroed out when the ModWheel is down, simply turn the target parameter slider to the left until it reads ‘0’.

We can hear now that the panning isn’t as extreme as it was before.. try altering the ‘Depth’ parameter of the Wheel in the Mod Matrix. Now we have the LFO back to its full range of motion.

Step 2 - Getting to know your LFOs

To get out of the Mod Matrix, simply click the magnifying glass next to ‘Mod Matrix Zoom’ again. Head over to the LFO section, and make sure LFO 1 is selected.

To change the LFO waveshape, simply click on the up and down arrows next to the LFO wave. Change it to a sine wave shape:

Now check out the little blue ‘+’ symbol above the arrows we were just clicking. When lit, this means the LFO is moving in only a positive direction, in the case of panning, we would be getting center to right. When we turn this parameter off, the sound will now pan in both a positive and negative direction, panning through the full stereo field. Have a look in the Modulation area, and we can see how the LFO’s range changes.

Below the waveform, we can see that the LFO is set to ‘Legato’. This means the LFO will only retrigger if we lift our finger off of a note and strike a new note. If we hold a note down, and move to another note while it is held, the LFO will simply continue. There are 3 other modes:

Free—The LFO runs without retriggering
Note—The LFO restarts on every new note pressed
Song Position—When the DAW song starts, so does the LFO

When the LFO is set to ‘SYNC’, it will follow the tempo of our song.

Delay will delay the oncoming LFO, Rate is for the speed, and Depth is basically the ‘how much?’ knob.

Okay. Now for some envelope action.

Step 3 - Get to Know Your Envelopes

The envelope that will always be assigned to a synth is the Amplitude Envelope. Let’s head over there now.

How simple! ASDR.. Attack, Sustain, Decay and Release. These are the most popular stages of an envelope.

Attack - How long the envelope takes to come on
Decay - How long it takes to reach the Sustain stage
Sustain - What value the Envelope will hold at while a MIDI key is pressed
Release - How long it takes for the envelope to return to a zero state

Now, let’s look under the hood. Click that little magnifying glass next to the ‘Envelopes’ sign and..

Now we’re talking. Let’s add some points on the line by or right-clicking in the envelope line area, and mess around a bit. Notice that when right-clicking we get a list of some interesting preset line shapes:

Try adding some of these types and listen to what they do. Alter the curve between points by simply grabbing the line between the dots, and pull up or down. Now we can create whatever shape of envelope we like

Step 4 - Use Preset Envelope Shapes

Now for the crazy stuff. Click and hold on the disclosure triangle next to ‘Envelopes Zoom’ and choose Rhythmic Envelopes > Fancy Groove. Check out that crazy envelope!

Hold down a note and listen to it. Interesting, huh? Now let’s sync the envelope to our song by selecting the ‘Sync’ button on the lower right. When recording in a DAW, the envelope will now sync to the song. As you can imagine, this makes for some very interesting possibilities if we were to head back over to the Mod Matrix!