This great sounding FM synth was used by Skrillex. FM8 is probably not a synth for beginners, as it takes a while to get your head around FM synthesis. Nevertheless it's still a great synth used by plenty of pros.
10: Native Instruments FM8
Jul 16, 2019 A top 5 rant video about plugins that are better than Omnisphere 2. These plugins can do the exact same things synthesis wise as Omnisphere 2 (minus the huge 60gig library of sounds). Omnisphere 2.6 overview: Omnisphere is the only software synth in the world to offer a Hardware Synth Integration feature. This remarkable innovation transforms over 65 well-known hardware synthesizers into extensive hands-on controllers that unlock Omnisphere’s newly expanded synthesis capabilities.
Pro's
+ great presets
+ ability to morph patches + great arpeggiator
Cons
– no 'sample import' option Follow us on YouTube - Learn to produce like a pro!
– FM synthesis isn't easy (probably not a synth for beginners) 9: Spire
Spire is an awesome additive hybrid synth. It sounds very modern and punchy and has a lot of great presets. Our only wish is that it would have envelope shapes shown in a display, like Serum. The envelopes are great though!
Pro's
+ very nice oscillator warping (with display!)
+ very good presets + plenty of features like Modulation Matrix
Cons
– envelope shapes not shown in displays
8: U-he Diva
U-he Diva is a synth very similar to the Minimoog. It has a very analog-like sound quality and is pretty simple to use. It probably won't create crazy complex dubstep wobbles, but it's perfect for more classic synth patches.
Pro's
+ easy-to-use interface
+ great analog sound quality + good presets
Cons
– CPU heavy
– limited flexibility – no arpeggiator 7: Reaktor 6
Reaktor 6 is a synth for you if you like to build patches from scratch. It gives you a lot of flexibility in the wiring part (lower part of the screenshot) while keeping things clean at the top.
Pro's
+ ability to create your own patches using Blocks
+ nice analog warm sound
Cons
– blocks are monophonic
– CPU heavy – building synths with blocks isn't for beginners 6: Kontakt 5
Kontakt 5 is a sampler used a lot in film score compositions. It has a lot of high quality libraries which allow give you access to realistic sounding instruments. It has a free version called Kontakt Player. As for free libraries we made a list some time ago with 10 of our favourites.
Pro's
https://yellowmachine584.weebly.com/sony-vegas-pro-12-download-free-mac.html. + a lot of professional sample libraries
+ a great factory library + plenty of free sample libraries
Cons
– some libraries are huge (Hans Zimmer piano is 450gb)
– every library is a separate purchase and they're expensive – RAM & CPU heavy
If you're interested in free kontakt libraries, check out this article!
5: Omnisphere 2
Omnisphere is probably the biggest ROMpler - with over 50gb of sample libraries it gives you access to incredible instruments. You'll find here everything, starting from classic pianos and ending on the most bizarre sounds. Mount and blade warband a clash of kings download torrent. Now Omnisphere is also a wavetable synthesizer which allows you to import sounds and transform them into synth patches.
Pro's
+ incredible patches & instruments
+ ability to load up your own sounds + wavetable synthesis in the new version
Cons
– very big (50gb+)
– some presets are way too loud – external sample editor necessary to loop samples you want to import 4: Nexus
Nexus is also a ROMpler - it plays sample libraries you buy in expansion packs. It allows for modification of every sound with filters, EQ and effects. The patches in Nexus are very high quality and instantly usable. Nexus found its way to studios of David Guetta, Steve Aoki or Marshmello. It's a must-have for EDM production.
Pro's
+ great library of samples & presets
+ incredible built-in patches + ability to edit every patch
Cons
– quite big (10gb+)
– you need to order expansions for more sounds 3: Sylenth1
This synth's warm sound has made its way into the studios of producers such as Flume or Martin Garrix. It's great for basic sounds, but its limited possibilities will make it difficult to create complex sounds. Still, it's a great synth which you can hear in hundreds of EDM hits. Its another advantage is its simplicity which makes it a great synth for beginners.
Pro's
+ great warm classic sound
+ very simple to use + great preset packs
Cons
– limited possibilities (no wavetable synthesis or FM modulation)
– not the best effects – no LFO customization
Check out our packs of sylenth presets!
2: NI Massive
Mac app for creating logos. Massive is probably the synth that built dubstep, but its useful for much more than that. Its biggest attribute is the sound which is, as the name suggests, massive. Strong wavetables are here supported by very good effects.
Pro's
+ very good built-in wavetables
+ incredible preset packs + great chorus effect
Cons
– can be confusing to beginners
– no compression effect
We offer lots of massive presets, check them out here!
Bonus: Free Online Course
Learn the basics. You will understand the interface and signal flow of Serum as well as the basics of synthesis. We will have a look at all OSC's, we will apply filter envelopes to various knobs, using different filter types and talk about the ADSR curves.
Pro's
+ it's free
+ learn how to use serum + over 70min of content
Cons
– Nope, no cons here! :)
Omnisphere 2 Vs Serum1: Xfer Serum
Serum, with its incredible potential of loading up sounds and transforming them into wavetables, combined with easy to use and awesome-looking UI, is clearly the most popular soft synth today.
Check our in-depth music production courses, take a look inside: Free Mini Course: How to use Serum
Pro's
+ powerful wavetable synthesis
+ very visual, relatively easy to learn + plenty of very good effects
Cons
– CPU heavy
– brighter sound than most synths – weak built-in presets
See these Serum presets by PML
Follow us on YouTube - Learn to produce like a pro!
Author: k-pizza
I’m a music maker who likes to share his experiences with other producers. I regularly show up with tutorials, articles & project files at PML.
Skype lessons with me: http://bit.ly/pml_s_one2one
Omnisphere and serum: Two giants of the software synth world.
We’ve all wondered how they compare to each other, and today, after thorough analysis of both, we will come up with a winner.
It is, however, important to note that this article isn’t an attempt to determine which one of these beastly VSTs are ‘the best.’
What is actually the best is far too subjective for any one person to ascertain.
What you are about to read is merely a comparison of 2 industry leading virtual instruments in order to help you understand the differences and similarities between them.
If you’re on the fence about purchasing either one, or if you own both and struggle with which one to use for a particular task, you could benefit from the information in this article.
If you’re not familiar with either of these, we strongly recommend checking them out.
You should also check out splice, where you can try out serum and other plugins for free for 3 days and then pay a monthly fee starting at 4.99$.
We’ll start with the most obvious differences, then we will break things down into various sections:
Obvious Differences
Omnisphere 2 is an 8-part multitimbral VSTi, meaning you can play up to 8 different sounds at once with one instantiation.
What Is Omnisphere Vs Serum
Serum can only play one sound at a time, so if you want to play more than that, you’ll have to have to use a different instantiation for each different sound you use from it.
Spectrasonics hasn’t provided a demo of Omnisphere 2 yet, so there is no way to test it out unless you buy it. A demo version of Serum is available with Splice.
To get more acquainted with each synth, please check out the links below:
Oscillators
Omnisphere 2 comes withover 400 new waveforms each of which is a morphing wavetable.
Ethnic instruments and unusual sound sources like a burning piano are also included and can be used as oscillators.
Additionally, you can add your own sounds and use those as oscillators or mangle them in the granular synthesis section.
However, when compared to other dedicated granular synths like Mangle or PadShop, Omnisphere 2 falls a bit short in terms of editing features.
Serum on the other hand, comes with 144 wavetables and also gives you the ability to draw waveforms or load your own sounds and use them as oscillators.
Aside from being an “advanced wavetable synth”, Serum is also capable of performing additive and VA synthesis with classic waveforms (saw, square etc.) + a sub oscillator + noise oscillator.
Because of the array of waveforms and synthesis techniques that can be applied in both synths, they both could very well be referred to as modern hybrid synthesizers.
Filters
Serum has a variety of filter types. All the filters from Xfer’s LFOTool are included in addition to some new ones like Flangers, Phasers and the dirty sounding French LPF.
There are also Dual Filter types allowing you to morph between filter types.
Omnisphere 2 boasts a more flexible filter engine and 8 new filters giving you the ability to create your own filter sound with stereo control, drive and a host of other parameters to further customize your filters.
Also, it now includes all of the filters from GForce Software’s virtual synth, “impOSCar”.
Modulators
Personally, my favorite thing about Serum’s modulators is how easy it is to drag and drop a modulation source to a destination.
This makes for a much faster workflow when creating or editing complex a patch.
Then there are the drawable LFOs, Envelopes and Macros which, depending on your preference, are more fun to play with than mousing around with percentages or virtual knobs.
Omnisphere’s Modulation Matrix is unbelievably massive and flexible!
Almost every parameter can be modulated and there are a plethora of modulation sources and targets.
All 4 Effect Racks’ parameters, all the granular parameters, all the FM parameters, numerous parameters in the arpeggiator and envelopes can all be modulated by a multitude of sources.
But with all this modulation power, there is no drag and drop ability.
Effects
In addition to Serum’s classic synth effects and advanced effects such as a multiband compressor, Serum can be used as a dedicated FX processor as well.
Off the top of my head, the only other synths I can think of that have this feature are Native Instruments Absynth 5, FM8 and Reaktor 6.
The results of running an audio source through an effect with synthesizer parameters can be extremely inspiring and a lot of fun!
Omnisphere 2 has a wider variety of effects.
Vintage effects like echoes, choruses and compressors as well as various reverb types are included. Serum revolution vol 1 download.
And remember, all of the parameters in each effect can be modulated. This does come at the cost of higher CPU usage, however.
I’d be curious to see what kinds of sounds could be generated if Omnisphere 2 was able to be used as a dedicated FX processor, but that feature isn’t available.
Overall Winner
I think Omnisphere 2 has a better sound library and is well-rounded as far as sound selection thanks to some of the best sound designers of our time, Eric Persing and Diego Stocco. Therefore, it takes the prize.
Serum may have a more flexible wavetable engine and deeper sound design capabilities with the wavetable editor, formulas and additive engine.
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