Spectrasonics OMNISPHERE 2

Beth,

I can't believe you would ask such an audacious question :-)

Audacity is free software developed under the GNU Public license - which means anyone can add to it as long as they put the code back into the system. Kind of like Linux (which is GNU) vs. Windows for operating systems. Audacity is meant for recording and editing audio, not MIDI or MIDI controlled things. I assume that is why it's called AUDacity. The Digital Audio Workstations we have been talking about are all geared for MIDI and audio (some with very sophisticated MIDI editing and control functions).

Audacity is adding MIDI support over time I think, but I'm not sure it's there yet. I think they just came out with Version 2.0. Not sure if it is optimized for 64 bits either. It's a fine free audio editing tool. But it's not good for Omnisphere or things that require MIDI controlled plug-ins - just plug-ins that are meant to work on audio.

However, there may be better experts in Audacity here than me.

Rich

Thank you very much for clarifying without condescending, Rich.  I have some limited experience with audacity to record vocal tracks.  I am not using MIDI at this time, and am completely lost in these discussions.  I don't even really understand what MIDI is.

I suppose there are some people who would just tell me to stick w/acoustic instruments and forget about theremin if I'm not an electronics wizard.  But I still want to learn to play the thing musically!  I shouldn't need a degree in electrical engineering to do that, should I?

Cheers,

Beth

Beth,

The only thing you need is desire and commitment (and a good ear won't hurt coupled with a bit of talent). If you are comfortable working in the analog world - stick with it and improve there. Look at what Peter does without even using a computer. The computer is just one of many tools (and has its own set of dangers and pitfalls - in some cases great limitations - but then again there are great plusses as well).

MIDI only reared its ugly head because Omnisphere is a MIDI controlled digital instrument. You don't need to know a thing about MIDI to create great music. But if you are using Audacity you do have to know some basic analog recording engineering fundamentals to get the best results. But of course, your ear is the final arbiter (or maybe your ear coupled with an objective 3rd party listener - as Peter points out).

Rich

Well, finally got the Omnisphere2 upgrade. Lots of new sounds and very easy to build up multis (patches composed of multiple individual sounds) and layer things to quickly get complex textures. You can also import any audio file and manipulate it through the sound engine.

Omnisphere shines for writing Electonica but it also has lots of very realistic guitar, voice and string samples in addition to a lot of ethnic sounding stuff. But as we said, you need a DAW to use it as it only runs as a plugin.

Here's a short cue I wrote for just Omnisphere sounds and Etherwave (processed with Waves HDelay and PSP N2O in a few ways). I can see why Omnisphere has become a staple for composing in the film, TV, video and gaming industries.

Omnisphere2 & Etherwave demo

I'll add some examples of more traditional acoustic usage when I get a chance. Also you should know that you can attach a wide variety of built-in (58) effects (and chain them) to each patch you create - limiters, delay, reverb, phasing, etc. This really widens up the sonic possibilities without having to use a lot of extra external effects from other sources. The cue above all used the Omnisphere effects as well. And you can set up a sequencer on each patch to create amazing rhythmic patterns. 

This gives a bit more idea that there are samples in Omnisphere (mostly borrowed from earlier Spectrasonic products) that are totally non-electronic in nature. Perhaps not many of you care a whit, but Omnisphere can be used in a zillion different ways to create accompaniments for theremin pieces. I'll do up an example of their guitars which are really nice too. And some really, really nice ethnic instrumental samples. Lots of strings as well (however there are many string libraries out there that are much more realistic - but if you want a smooth string pad, Omnisphere has many great ones as well as some theatrical sounding strings).

Anyway, I was playing around with their Voice Library (which is inherited from their great Symphony of Voices product that used to be the best vocal sample library out there). Lots of choices now. They have a number of Jazz syllable samples that are interesting. Kind of liked the "Dah" sample, so I wrote a little piece trying to use a bunch of different articulations and dynamic ranges to test it out. The samples break down a bit here and there in different voices and the dynamics are not consistent so each voice will need to be manipulated dynamically based on its range (a common issue with samples). Another issue with a sample library that covers the entire choir range is that there will be a cutover between male and female voices - and that cutover might not be where you want it. In that case you need to use individual SATB samples if you can. You can hear some of that in the example I made here as well that uses this one all inclusive "Mixed Jazz Stack Dahs" set.

This is written and played by Notion4, each voice has C2Audio Breeze reverb on it then sound file was exported to Cubase where additional dynamic shaping was added along with EW Spaces Convolution reverb on the mix along with some Wave tape emulation stereo widening. Could do more in terms of dynamic expression.

But in the end, even this is a God-send for composers who want to get an idea of how a piece will sound. I just don't happen to have four really great singers at my disposal right now. I can certainly see writing a much simpler vocal accompaniment to a different theremin melody using this sample (as this is obviously no theremin piece).

Dah Dah! - for acapella quartet