Spectrasonics Announces Omnisphere 2.5

[DonaldM]

Just saw this news from Spectrsonics regarding the upcoming release of Ominsphere 2.5. It will include hardware synth integration and add many news sounds, patches and multis. Best of all, the update is FREE for all 2.0 users! There's a good video on it on the page with Eric Persig. They essentially have created profiles of several different hardware synths which will allow those to be used as full on controllers for Omnisphere, capturing the unique flavor of each different one. He said they have about 20 profiles created so far, and will be adding all the time.


There's a partial list of what will be supported on the web page. Sadly, I don't see my Yamaha Motif XS listed there! I really hope they will add that one. In fact I don't see ANY Yamaha's included on the list, which I find puzzling. Wonder if there's a licensing thing with Yamaha?


Anyway...it still looks cool and if you already have Omni 2.0, the upgrade is Free.

[Stig Eliassen]

Thanks for sharing. I love Spectrasonics - it's great stuff!

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

Just saw this news from Spectrsonics regarding the upcoming release of Ominsphere 2.5. It will include hardware synth integration and add many news sounds, patches and multis. Best of all, the update is FREE for all 2.0 users! There's a good video on it on the page with Eric Persig. They essentially have created profiles of several different hardware synths which will allow those to be used as full on controllers for Omnisphere, capturing the unique flavor of each different one. He said they have about 20 profiles created so far, and will be adding all the time.


There's a partial list of what will be supported on the web page. Sadly, I don't see my Yamaha Motif XS listed there! I really hope they will add that one. In fact I don't see ANY Yamaha's included on the list, which I find puzzling. Wonder if there's a licensing thing with Yamaha?


Anyway...it still looks cool and if you already have Omni 2.0, the upgrade is Free.

I don't think it's a licensing deal at all but the way Yamaha synths talk back and forth to the outside world which is a nightmare. The only thing that seems to work well with any Yamaha synth/module is Yamaha's own s/w. Try putting a MIDI monitor on the incoming MIDI stream to your computer (snoize for Mac users and midiox for Windows) and you'll see what I mean. Not all controls put out standard messages if the output anything at all tot the outside world. I know my old Motif 7 doesn't.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by musicman691

I don't think it's a licensing deal at all but the way Yamaha synths talk back and forth to the outside world which is a nightmare. The only thing that seems to work well with any Yamaha synth/module is Yamaha's own s/w. Try putting a MIDI monitor on the incoming MIDI stream to your computer (snoize for Mac users and midiox for Windows) and you'll see what I mean. Not all controls put out standard messages if the output anything at all tot the outside world. I know my old Motif 7 doesn't.

That should be a major issue, though. Presumably the MIDI implementation chart is readily available and its just a matter of assigning the correct numbers to the desired parameter controls. Might take a bit more effort with a Yamaha, but it shouldn't be prohibitive. I have no problems getting the knobs to work on other things using MIDI CC learn, for example. So creating a Motif XS profile shouldn't be all that difficult.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

That should be a major issue, though. Presumably the MIDI implementation chart is readily available and its just a matter of assigning the correct numbers to the desired parameter controls. Might take a bit more effort with a Yamaha, but it shouldn't be prohibitive. I have no problems getting the knobs to work on other things using MIDI CC learn, for example. So creating a Motif XS profile shouldn't be all that difficult.

Do all the knobs and controls on your XS send MIDI CC data? There are quite a few on my Motif 7 that don't send anything at all. Very inconsistent implementation at least on the old keyboards - depending on what mode it's in knobs that previously sent MIDI data won't.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Do all the knobs and controls on your XS send MIDI CC data? There are quite a few on my Motif 7 that don't send anything at all. Very inconsistent implementation at least on the old keyboards - depending on what mode it's in knobs that previously sent MIDI data won't.

All the knobs do, yes. In Performance mode, the 8 faders will as well. I can actually use them to control faders on tracks in PT if I want. I don't do that often, as there are only 8. However, it can come in handy if you want to record some automation, for example, and have a bit better control than just moving the mouse.

[zedhed]

Originally Posted by Stig Eliassen

Thanks for sharing. I love Spectrasonics - it's great stuff!

+1

[DonaldM]

So I heard back from Spectrasonics on my inquiry about whether or not the Yamaha Motif series synths would be profiled for Omnisphere. Here's the reply I got back:

Our focus with the 2.5 hardware integration is to implement essentially one-knob per function synthesizers as controllers for Omnisphere.

The technology we developed for this update relies on individual knobs sending out CC messages – due to the nature of the workstation you’ve suggested, it is unlikely to be included as a hardware profile.

So apparently the hang up is the fact that on the Motif's the knobs have multiple functions depending on what you select for them. Other synths have similar features, so highly unlikely profiles will be created for any of them either.



It would have been nice, but not a deal breaker either. One can still use MIDI CC learn, and you get all the other new features as well.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

So I heard back from Spectrasonics on my inquiry about whether or not the Yamaha Motif series synths would be profiled for Omnisphere. Here's the reply I got back: [/FONT][/COLOR]


So apparently the hang up is the fact that on the Motif's the knobs have multiple functions depending on what you select for them. Other synths have similar features, so highly unlikely profiles will be created for any of them either.



It would have been nice, but not a deal breaker either. One can still use MIDI CC learn, and you get all the other new features as well.

Not surprised to see this. I guess they don't want to rely on people having their XS in Performance mode. All goes back to what I've written about before - getting third party material to work with anything Yamaha is almost impossible given Yamaha's programming.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Not surprised to see this. I guess they don't want to rely on people having their XS in Performance mode. All goes back to what I've written about before - getting third party material to work with anything Yamaha is almost impossible given Yamaha's programming.

I disagree. I've been using my Motif XS as my main controller for years, and have had no issues. Like anything else, you just have to take a bit of time to learn what does what. At church, I use their MOXF to control Reason on my laptop where I have several multi-layered setups for different songs, some with 1 or 2 keyboard splits. No issues whatsoever, as long as I set it up correctly on both ends.