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I was looking to buy a fairly cheap hardware synth like a Mininova or microKorg to add to my setup, but after looking into Omnisphere (which is the same price) I'm kind of leaning towards that instead.

Just wondered what others thought - if you had the choice would you go for an all-in-one synth/sampler like Omnisphere or instead a small hardware synth? I know it's kind of hard to compare them, but I'm struggling to make an either/or decision...

Personally I'd go for hardware. It just seems more fun to use.

I don't see the point with hardware VA or digital synths unless you're in a band or something.

Software - more versatile once you get to know it, cheaper, less fiddly

Hardware - can be a lot more fun to use (if you're that way inclined), more limited in terms of sound design (for the cheaper models), looks cool



If you're not sure about hardware, in this instance I'd suggest Omnisphere and it's a more viable tool to add to your portfolio. If the idea of twisting knobs appeals to you or you want something more unique, then go with the hardware option.

Recording hardware synths also requires other hardware. If you go this route you also have to concern yourself with patching it into your audio interface. You can't edit the sound after the fact so if you want to do any kind of advanced modulation, you have to just record the midi from the synth instead and then play it back as you tweak things. At this point it's just serving as a midi keyboard and a sound module, in which case I'd rather just have a dedicated midi keyboard and whatever soft synths. Lot easier to edit things after the fact that way.

I'd personally go for Alchemy over Omnisphere. A lot more powerful and cheaper. Omnisphere really shines with its presets and 40 gigs of samples, but if you're gonna want to roll your own patches or want the extra advanced types of synthesis then Alchemy's the one. The money you save could go to another soft synth that offers unique synthesis, something like Absynth or Reaktor Prism.

Hmmm I think I'm going to go for Omnisphere, I looked into Alchemy but I think Omnisphere wins on the library side of things and since I alreasdy have a midi keyboard I'm sorted controller wise. The one thing I've always looked at Alchemy for is the granular side of things, but I've recently just been using FL's Granuliser for that.

Omnisphere all day errday

Today wrote:Omnisphere all day errday

Speaking from personal experience?

Absynth 5 is great. You're not going to get as many layers (I think you can have up to 7 or 8 on omnisphere) but definitely great for textures and synth leads. Also it's only 200 dollars instead of the 500 for omnisphere.

Yeah Alchemy and Absynth would be a much more versatile duo than Omnisphere alone. Omnisphere is super useful for people doing film sound and stuff where you just wanna scroll through presets and find sounds quickly. For doing your own synthesis though, Alchemy + Absynth all the way (although Omnisphere is still quite good here and outshines a lot of other inferior synths)

I got absynth when I got komplete, I haven't really found myself making anything on it though. It has some sweet factory patches buried in the mediocre ones that I have used after tweaking a bit, but I just haven't connected with it. I wouldn't recommend it over omni or alchemy, it's wierd value system is pretty annoying if you are used to typical synths

Dude take the time to get into it! The resonators and cloud modules, lotsa cool stuff. It's definitely unconventional and esoteric in routing but it's pretty powerful for making interesting sounds.

Although, yeah I wouldn't recommend it over the super synths, but it's a good supplement for niche sound design. I really like Reaktor Prism as well for similar kinds of sound design.

If you are going to look into a hardware synth in that price range I'd highly recommend the Waldorf Blofeld, this however is based on the experience of other musicians I know and whose music I respect. Really powerful VA.

I also agree that if you go software I'd go with Absynth or Alchemy over Omnisphere.

As an Alchemy user, I can definitely recommend it.

Take the time to learn it and you may never need another synth. Alchemy 2 can't be too far off now I wouldn't have thought and it looks like Camel have been quite good at listening to what people want from it, so expect it to be sick.

The only gripe I have with it is that it doesn’t feel as user friendly as something like Massive (for instance), but it’s a minor gripe to be honest and more of case of NI doing a really good job with Massive rather than Camel being bad at it.

I’m not sure if people would agree with me, but I’ve not been crazy impressed with the library Alchemy comes with (you can buy additional ones), so if presets are the key, then Omnisphere might be the one for you. The pads on Alchemy have been pretty awesome though.

Mr 50 wrote:As an Alchemy user, I can definitely recommend it.

Take the time to learn it and you may never need another synth. Alchemy 2 can't be too far off now I wouldn't have thought and it looks like Camel have been quite good at listening to what people want from it, so expect it to be sick.

The only gripe I have with it is that it doesn’t feel as user friendly as something like Massive (for instance), but it’s a minor gripe to be honest and more of case of NI doing a really good job with Massive rather than Camel being bad at it.

I’m not sure if people would agree with me, but I’ve not been crazy impressed with the library Alchemy comes with (you can buy additional ones), so if presets are the key, then Omnisphere might be the one for you. The pads on Alchemy have been pretty awesome though.

I've had Absynth for about 2 years now and I demoed Alchemy recently. Personally I like Alchemy better too. Absynth has a thin tone to it to my ear (like a lot of NI products). I think Alchemy is easier to program and I love the ability to save variations of a patch and quickly switch between them.

The extra packs for Alchemy are pretty awesome IMO. They had buy one get one deal while I was demoing the full version. Drunk-buy, I ended up with Guitar Mutations and another one. To me good Alchemy presets are almost like a Kontakt instrument. Tons of tweakability and a high replay value IMO. But, I think they are a tad expensive for me at 65 a pop (avg price).

I still like Absynth though, I don't think I'd sell it to buy Alchemy, but Alchemy is one of the few pieces of software I feel like I "need" and don't have.

mthrfnk wrote:

Today wrote:Omnisphere all day errday

Speaking from personal experience?

yeah definitely. i guess it always depends on what you're after, but even though it's known for the preset library I can't recommend it enough just for the sound-sources alone, and general synthesis too

if u think massive has cool wavetables, check out omni's soundsource library. so many samples, including raw waveforms from all the classic hard synths. And if u like massive's performer, how about envelopes that you can literally draw any point or curve on in whatever shape you want, synced or unsynced and assign to almost anything

if using the synth engine rather than a sound source, it makes a couple square/saw waveforms with symmetry, shape, and hardsync controls, as well as a sick waveshaper and unison/harmonizer which is easy to use. It doesn't actually synth a Sine, but you can always just use the soundsource library's many raw Sine's that are available -- any source u choose will just seve as your oscillator.

It's a deep deep synth, good filters, and not only all those features but you can make 8 patches in one instance with their own MIDI inputs, and it has multi-outs to track your work. You can also run it in "stack" mode where patch 1-8 (or however many you use) respond to the first midi input so it's just a quick way of layering multiple sounds, maybe for thick basses/leads, drones/pads, or just a keyboard stack (piano+synth or rhodes or something)

it also has great electric pianos and shit like that.

Seriously good investment, even if you're not scoring flicks or whatever. Though it does come with all those drones and impacts and hefty hits that you hear in trailers and that kinda stuff


so yeah, i like it a lot. inb4 i pitch for spectrasonics, i don't

Today wrote:

mthrfnk wrote:

Today wrote:Omnisphere all day errday

Speaking from personal experience?

yeah definitely. i guess it always depends on what you're after, but even though it's known for the preset library I can't recommend it enough just for the sound-sources alone, and general synthesis too

if u think massive has cool wavetables, check out omni's soundsource library. so many samples, including raw waveforms from all the classic hard synths. And if u like massive's performer, how about envelopes that you can literally draw any point or curve on in whatever shape you want, synced or unsynced and assign to almost anything

if using the synth engine rather than a sound source, it makes a couple square/saw waveforms with symmetry, shape, and hardsync controls, as well as a sick waveshaper and unison/harmonizer which is easy to use. It doesn't actually synth a Sine, but you can always just use the soundsource library's many raw Sine's that are available -- any source u choose will just seve as your oscillator.

It's a deep deep synth, good filters, and not only all those features but you can make 8 patches in one instance with their own MIDI inputs, and it has multi-outs to track your work. You can also run it in "stack" mode where patch 1-8 (or however many you use) respond to the first midi input so it's just a quick way of layering multiple sounds, maybe for thick basses/leads, drones/pads, or just a keyboard stack (piano+synth or rhodes or something)

it also has great electric pianos and shit like that.

Seriously good investment, even if you're not scoring flicks or whatever. Though it does come with all those drones and impacts and hefty hits that you hear in trailers and that kinda stuff


so yeah, i like it a lot. inb4 i pitch for spectrasonics, i don't

Sold haha, as posted above I really like the look and sound of Omnisphere and the library looks great. I'm actually really interested in score style stuff so even though it's not my main priority it's an area I want to explore.

Thanks for everyone's input, I really am tempted by Alchemy and I know it is held in very high regard, but idk I just prefer the look (and library) of Omnisphere. Also, about Absynth, I've tried it before but I didn't really get into it too deeply, although I agree with the poster that said it sounded "thin", when I tried it out I felt a lot of the sounds were very abrasive - that may be a sweeping generalisation and obviously I could spend a lot more time digging deeper into the synth engine but this time round I'm gonna plump for Omni, maybe I'll pick up Alchemy/Absynth at Christmas

Go for hardware, limiting yourself will inspire greater creativity.

And also greater poverty

alz wrote:Go for hardware, limiting yourself will inspire greater creativity.

Having a workflow that decreases the amount of thought work between you and your music increases creativity from my experience. This can be achieved through hardware OR a limited feature set, but those can also obstruct workflow. And a lot of new hardware is just as unlimited as most soft synths.

I don't need a million synths or samples. But the way I make music, I need really flexible routing options. More flexible than what most hardware can offer me. And spending hours doing work-arounds for things that only need 1 click in a DAW seemed like wasted energy when I want to bang a tune out