Spectrasonics’ Omnisphere 3 review: Still a must-have plugin

Available now for $499 / $199 upgrade

When a software instrument becomes a standard in multiple industries— the way that Omnisphere did almost immediately after its release in 2008— it’s easy for a developer to become progressively complacent. Omnisphere is such a household name by now that I’ve even heard naysayers refer to it as a “mere ROMpler” in an attempt to discredit or invalidate its status.

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However, Spectrasonics has taken the complete opposite route with Omnisphere, repeatedly pushing boundaries in almost every direction by continuously coming up with new creative tools and improved workflow solutions. For this reason, Omnisphere is a staple in music production, motion picture, and video game scoring, as well as sound design, with its hybrid system giving users access to a powerful synthesis engine, for an almost endless sound library that lets you create or adapt sounds for any application.

Naturally, the flowers of success sow the seeds of competition, and today there are a range of alternative options that profess to do a similar thing. Although they are unique instruments in their own right, UVIFalcon, ArturiaPigments, Serum, and ReFX Nexus have each been influenced in different ways by Omnisphere.

But Omnisphere 3 assures that it’s still undisputed in its power.

Using Omnisphere 3

Despite the sizable download, setting up Omnisphere 3 is remarkably hassle-free, and it takes up the same amount of hard drive space as the previous version, which is just over 62 GB. This includes 18 new patch libraries (with 26,421 patches) and three legacy libraries (9,242 patches), as well as 5,590 sound sources and 152 multis. This may seem like an overwhelming abundance of sounds, but they are carefully curated into separate libraries for different applications, and search results can be filtered within the browser by adding or removing keywords, moods, or timbres.

As you open Omnisphere 3, you are met with the newly-designed Global Controls section, which gives you immediate access to the essential parameters. The way these controls interact with the different synth sections actually varies intuitively from one patch to another to give you the most responsive sound shaping experience. From the get-go, this is immediately elevated with the expanded library of Hardware Integration profiles.

This means that the chances of you having one of the supported devices are high, and I’m delighted to find my Virus TI on the list, which made exploring the new sounds and features far more fun. Another thing that Spectrasonics gets right is that Omnisphere 3 scales perfectly onto a 13-inch laptop display and performs remarkably well on my M2 MacBook Air, even with the library content installed on an external hard drive. Although this may sound rudimentary, you’d be surprised how many aspiring plugin instruments there are that can’t seem to get this part right.

What sets Omnisphere 3 apart?

The beauty of using Omnisphere is that there are so many ways to get great sounds. If, for instance, you like creating synth sounds from scratch, you have a choice of either using sample-based sound sources or a wide range of DSP wavetable-based oscillators, as well as a wide selection of filter types. At every turn, you can choose to take the traditional approach, leveraging features like vintage oscillator drift, classic glide modes, and the new dual frequency shifter, or you can break into undiscovered territory with the uniquely innovative modern creative tools, including unison phase scatter and MPE support.

One of Omnisphere’s superpowers, even from version 1, was its modulation capabilities. With a simple right-click, you can turn nearly any parameter into a mod destination and assign it to a range of sources such as LFOs, envelopes, or even bias sources, which are a more complex version of the traditional keyboard tracking parameter. What’s even more impressive is how the monstrously flexible mod matrix lets you target parameters in one or across all of the four synth layers.

Of the feature additions, Quadzone stands out to me as a simple yet effective new trick that lets you morph between the layers using the note positions on the keyboard, velocity, or a fader, which can become a modulation target. Omnisphere has always offered a dynamic response to performance-style control, so whether you’re using a hammer-action keyboard or an Osmose, the Quadzone, as well as the Stack and Live Modes, will let you map each part you need to play in a song in a way that evolves and lets you interact with the other musicians on stage.

Another truly exceptional feature is the upgraded Omnisphere FX rack, and it’s a concept that other plugin designers have borrowed from Spectrasonics instruments. In Omnisphere 3, there are 35 new effects modules, including classic compressors and EQs, reverbs, delays, distortions, and unique creative effects. What’s more, you can now use the Omnisphere FX rack as a separate processor in your DAW, à la Soundtoys, with a selection of rack presets for working with vocals, guitars, drums, and even mastering.

Is Omnisphere 3 still a must-have plugin?

If you take music production even semi-seriously, the chances are that you already own Omnisphere and some of its incredible expansions, such as the Bob Moog Tribute Library and Sonic Extensions. If this is the case, you’ve probably already forked out the $199 upgrade fee, which also covers Omnisphere 1 license holders.

For the uninitiated, you might be wondering why you would spend $499 on a plugin. Rather than comparing Omnisphere to other plugins, I prefer comparing it to high-end workstation synths like the Korg Nautilus, Yamaha Montage, or Roland Fantom, in terms of its sound creation and performance potential.

Put this way, the price tag becomes more than reasonable, and the fact that you can run an instrument of this level perfectly on a consumer-grade laptop makes it even more formidable.

Omnisphere’s true strength lies in how it offers a platform that delivers immediate sonic wizardry to absolutely anyone, from a bedroom producer or touring stage performer all the way to an experienced sound designer.

Key features

• Native AU, VST, AAX
• 18 new sound libraries
• Redesigned browser interface
• New synthesis features including Quadzone, Frequency Shifter, and MPE support
• New sound sources and EDM wavetables
• Expanded Hardware Integration support
• 35 new effects modules and effects rack plugin functionality

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