Dear Woody, Omnisphere is NOT a Rompler!!!
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- I sharethe interesting backstory about how I got a copy of SPECTRASONICS OMNISPHERE and then do a demo and review of the synthesizer architecture, oscillators and sound sources. Discussion about romplers and some of the Omnisphere patch and layer features such as unison, granular, fm and much more!
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#omnisphere #spectrasonics #syntheizer
What is a ROMpler (that's how it should be written). A TLDR history. ROMpler is a term that was coined in the 80's/90's, when samplers became popular (but was very expensive). A ROMpler is a instrument that relies on samples, but only can play them from ROM (hence it's name, and spelling).
A ROMpler needs to have two characterisics: 1) It can only play back samples, provided in ROM by the manufacturer. 2) It has no (or very limited) freatures to manupulate these samples. That's what differs digital synthesizers, such as the D-50, M1, etc. from ROMplers.
Popular examples of ROMplers were EMUs Proteus series, and several low-cost Roland instruments. ROMplers were also often included on early gamimg cards (and consoles), as well as audio cards (SoundBlaster type cards).
What makes Omnishere NOT a ROMpler is not that it uses samples as sound sources, but that it has quite extensive synthesis facilities. Strip away all these and you got yourself a ROMpler.
i think you said it much better than I could. Allow me to pin you Sven!
Even by that definition, there is some wiggleroom: the D50 had pwm, the ESQ-1 had osc sync, AM and pwm, and I would have a hard time calling the Wavestation a rompler. I suppose the term rompler has come to mean simple sample playback - not that there's anything wrong with that.
@@jbognap You're absolutely correct. None of those should be considered ROMplers
I always thought the difference as essentially the difference between two Roland products - the D110 (samples + synthesis) and the U110 (sample playback only). Even the Roland S-series samplers have more synthesis capabilities than the U-series … ROMplers :)
But you have to Romplers are also real Synthesizers too. The common misconception that people think they are preserve boxes but they are wrong. They aren't any different than ay other Digital Synthesizers that have LFOs, Filters, Arpeggios, Oscolaters. The PCM waveforms makes up each Oscolaters that you can shape and manipulate and scope the sound how you want it to sound.
First thing I noticed with Omnisphere when I got it was it's unbelievable sound engine, using nothing but the init preset and a couple of the different features. Watching you do this video Woody took me right back to that time! I know exactly how you feel, because I felt the same!
that's totally it, i didn't even touch the envelopes, filter, modulation or fx (apart from the verb) and it sounded pretty tasty.
I'm glad that this video now exists. I've have been an Omnisphere user for more than fourteen years. This was at a time when I first got into software-based synths as I also added whatever Arturia had at the time and right before they started calling their bundles the "V Collection". It was very clear that it was a powerful synth engine with tremendous versatility and flexibility that, I think, makes it worth more than its weight in gold. And similarly, this would be a synth for the long term because of its deep function and the potential to be tastefully expanded and refined over time. Seeing how the software synth - as well as the larger music-making - landscape has changed and expanded in that time, it's interesting to see how Omnisphere anticipated some things that would inform future instruments.
The term "rompler" has admittedly rubbed me the wrong way for years. This is because it is often used as a pejorative to "discredit" an instrument because "it's not a real thing; it's just a toy" or any equivalent response. It also didn't help that this was when I was growing up and starting my own music-making journey and was not in a position to get perhaps "the good stuff". Whatever instruments you use should be because it sounds good to you, first and foremost. Knowing about its particular architecture is a bonus I suppose, but it's going to come down to a subjective experience.
To reiterate some other comments made, I think Omnisphere got brushed with the "rompler" tag because 1) the focus was on its massive sample library (the OG installation disks were *seven DVDs* if you can believe it) and 2) people who got access to it right away were already using certain presets. In a way, this reminds me of how the Yamaha DX7 got its reputation through its preset because configuring it was a PITA and it was just easy to use its presets. But again, I think that tag was incredibly reductionist as it can do a lot more, even compared to software that came after it. Not too shabby for a fifteen-year-old instrument.
Finally, that was a nice exchange between the company and the consumer. It's good to see that can still be a thing =]
well said derek, that's funny with the DVD installers! nowadays I think it comes on a thumbdrive or ssd if you buy the box version, or download if you're patient!
Rompler or not, I think we can all agree this is an absolute monsterous synth. And I need it in my life. Now. :)
hi xav, no doubt about that.
Assuming it was James Bernard from Spectrasonics, and boy does he know his production tools! In my opinion Omnisphere is a desert island synth/rompler and still the best that is out there!! Good video Woody!
Omnisphere is the best $500 I ever spent. I've used it in almost every track I've ever made. Love it! 🌞🌞🎶🎶🎹
Once upon a time, back in the 80's I "dreamed" of wanting to know how to programme great sounds. Not any more. Think of it like driving a car, there are so many people involved - the Designer, The Manufacturer - The Factory, The "Mechanic", The Driver, and The Passenger. Only a few of us can be motor car designers, and its the same with keyboard sound generation, the earlier most of us recognise that we do not have to be the sound designer, unless that's what we want to do for a living.
Being able to change a battery or a light bulb, or adjust the heating in the car, does NOT make me a car designer, and I do not need to be.
Same in music, most of us just need some decent sounds, and the ability to tweak them a bit to meet our needs, and it is only occasionally that we ever get into the weeds.
Especially in these days where the fundamental oscillators based on samples enable us to produce far more complex tones than whatever could have been created by single cycle oscillators, lets just admit for most of us we are predominantly preset junkies, and there is nothing derogatory about that statement. Nothing, it is who we are, and we are not less of an artist or musician, for sticking to what we are best at - choosing patches that enhance our creativity, not spending hours tweaking a patch, when its much faster to search for one that fits the musical idea best, and most of the time, there may not be any need to tweak.
Todays workstations have caught up, with hundreds or thousands of sounds, that now give Omnisphere lots of competition.
Just play a Motif/MODX+, Roland Fantom/ 0 Series, a Nord, or one of the more recent stage pianos - Yamaha CP or YC, Roland RD2000, and Omnisphere begins to look and sound a bit of an amorphous animal, not quite a dedicated synth, and not quite a workstation - cos using a mouse to navigate all those parameters must be absolute hell, like trying to programme a DX7 without the programmer... Tedious....
Woody, never heard "rompler" before, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. I'm an old man who love habits (using a Korg Triton classic since 2002 with PowerTracks Pro which is the only sequencer I've ever used, starting at 1992 to this day). I'm an avid fan of your channel, bit rarely comments, so again thanks for sharing your love to synths with us all these years.
thank you eric, and congrats on your fab triton, one of the greatest ever romplers (well until you install the MOSS board then it becomes a different beast!).
Stunning new presentation and studio in your videos Woody! Assuming this is your new place, looks amazing and well worth the wait and effort. Congrats! I've never tried Omnisphere but you've wet my taste buds. My fave plug-in synth at present is u-he Diva which is amazing in its quality and analogue-ness. I've also just purchased Pianoteq 8 from Modartt which has blown my mind away as to how good modern modelled virtual pianos can sound and react to playing. I certainly remember my introduction to 'ROMplers' - I've always thought of them as sample based synths without the sampling feature. So I guess Roland D50, Korg M1, Roland Sound Canvas, the list goes on.... 😊
@midinots i like you simple definition of rompler, and thanks, yes it's the new place.
It's more appropriate to call it a hyper virtual sound creation workstation .... IMO of course. I've still got most of Eric (& Adrian Scott)'s classic 80's synths, and Omni is just a fantastic, super versatile virtual extension of all the learning and new VSTi audio tech of the moment - remains my go-to Plug In. My hat remains off to Eric and the team there!! ❤😉🙏🎹🎶💥
i second that emotion.
@@WoodyPianoShack 👌
ROM = Read Only Memory
ROMpler = a sample playback machine that doesn't have the ability to actually introduce new samples (doesn't make it bad, necessarily)
UVI Falcon is not a ROMpler, but I often consider my usage patterns with it very similar, as in, I buy an expansion for it, of which I have many, and I use that sort of like a ROMpler. I think Omniphere is similar for many users.
UVI Falcon has the ability to take in arbitrary sound files as multi-samples, so it is indeed a sample playback beast. The term "sampler" almost doesn't work anymore, because the microphone on your cellphone leads into a sampler, they're so ubiquitous that we don't think about them anymore. In the 8-bit days you would get a dedicated sampler which only function was turning an analog signal into a digital one, also known as a A/D-converter. There are now so common we don't need to refer to them as "samplers", we just call them "the microphone (input)" .
Omnisphere also has the ability to import whatever sample you want, so calling it a ROMpler is definitely not correct. Perhaps it is just an odd term for a VST where any ROMpler will eventually store its data in RAM and can it be overwritten on the hard-drive. Nothing about it is "read only" except perhaps its usage pattern.
One of my favorite features is its hardware control integration. Controlling Omnisphere with my Minilogue XD and Deepmind 12 modules is a blast!
Great that you should receive Omnisphere NFR Woody, well deserved.
It’ll be more than interesting to learn more about it.
yeah, looking forward to doing the same. there's a lot of depth, you could probably make a couple dozen videos and still not have covered everything.
I'm fortunate enough to have had Omnisphere since version 1 + the Moog Library + Keyscape. It's pretty much the lynchpin of my entire DAW library; everything else tends to revolve around or complement what Omnisphere (the mothership) does. A truly amazing (and fathomless) virtual synth. Really, I think in all this time (years) I've barely even scratched the surface (the presets it ships with are just too compelling).
A "rompler" is a sampler except you can't change the samples or re-record them because they are read-only as they are stored in a ROM. However, you can often tweak the instruments programming by using sysex messages. A lot of VST instrument libraries also based on samples are very similar to romplers because you can't change the samples, so it's not really a stretch of the mind to call them like this. As you demonstrated, Omnisphere does have synthesizer capabilities - just as the D-50 does... But it's also true that electronic instruments are (or were) judged first by the quality of their presets as a lot of people would buy and use them for these very presets. So in a way , many people are using synthesizers just the same way as romplers (even if they are not technically)
No, you can't tweak sounds of a Rompler, a Rompler, is your typical GM sound module. Where you might be able so layer, split, and tweak the effects and store them as patches/performances. But if you can tweak the filter, it does no longer qualify as a Rompler. ReadOnlyMemoryPLayER. Sample and Synthesis or S/S was used for soundmodules/workstations that had synthesis capabilites.
Rompler was misused in the early days of internet, when people started to call every Sample/Synthesis synth they did not like for a Rompler.
The fact that the sound source is a sample, does not put in to the Rompler Category, even if the sample itself that can not edited, as long as there is a synthesis engine, it is not a Rompler.
The D-50 isn't a Rompler, nor the Wavestation, nor Rolands JV series.
If a synths with sample is the soundsource, is a rompler.
In that case every analog synth with fixed waveoforms are preset machines.
If the samples are fed in to a synthesis engine, then it isn't a rompler.
Rompler has a meaning, and we should not change it.
Although there aren't that many Romplers made today, except for the sound engine of many digital pianos, that does not the term is free to be used for things that aren't romplers.
@@TheJonHolstein Well explained, thanks for this.
@@TheJonHolstein No, You're clearly didn't read me carefully. I am not saying the D-50 is a "rompler" at all. I know of its LA- Synthesis and that some of its preset patches don't use any of its rom samples. Yes, you can tweak patches or instruments settings on many "romplers" using sysex, I know because I did. That doesn't mean everybody did that and it depends to what extend they tweaked the parameters. It's not "synthesizing", it's more "customizing" even if it could change the sounds a great deal.
Anyway there is no strict definition contrary to what you might say apart from "a sound module with builtin samples in rom and no ram to store custom ones". Calling something with just a filter a "synthesizer" is a bit of a stretch, as even some "cheapo" consumer grades sound modules had resonant filters and LFOs to "spice up" the often very short samples a bit. I would really not call that true sound synthesis considering the limitations. If anything with just a filter is a synth then "romplers" probably don't exist by your standards.
What I am also saying is a lot of people are using Synths "as if" they were "romplers" because they are mostly using presets, for whatever reasons - For example, it feels complicated for them do design sounds and they just want THAT sound for which a particular hardware is famous for, and they just want to compose or play with it. There is no wrong in that, being a musician or composer doesn't make you a sound designer.
@@michipeka9973 if you could tweak it, it wasn't a rompler. Hands on control is not what puts it in the sample and synthesis category.
No, the E-mu proteus is considered a rompler yet you can customize the instruments. Now anything generating sounds with electronic circuits IS technically a "synthesizer". But when we're talking about synthesizers in general we expect more possibilites and the possiblity to generate something "from scratch" by using basic waveforms as building blocks.
A lot of the heritage of Omnisphere was born in the Roland D50, that also was not a ROMpler, it had what was probably the first VA synth engine for sustained notes with small samples for the start of sounds.
Awesome software. Thanks Woody. Looking forward to some more info on this software from you in the future. Have a great weekend🎹🎼🖥
thank you lee, i've already got a couple of omni vids in the can so stay tuned. same to you!
Omnisphere is pretty unique. It's probably one of the most flexible standalone plugins you can buy, particularly with it's layering and fx. It can be a bit overwhelming, but it has the most incredible sound sources. The only other thing that comes close is UVI Falcon and that doesn't have as easily accessible UI (more for power users/sound designers)
Good on you Woody for clarifying this for viewers
I haven't been able to create one track without using Omnisphere in some way. I have all of Spectrasonics main synths, and you can literally buy their collection and never need anything else. Their synths, FX, and interfaces for them are top notch. The only reason you'd need anything else is if you need a more realistic guitar, or orchestral instruments. Sure, there's other synths that may do one or two things better, but unless you need that particular thing, you don't really need anything else. Omnisphere will likely always be my go to synth. Great video brother! Glad you were able to dive more into this powerful synth!
hi agent, yes, i'm wondering myself, could you do everything with just omnisphere? for the kind of music I make, perhaps. of course it doesn't do orchestral, brass, strings and stuff, so you would need to complement it with spitfire or NI komplete for the full palette.
Very nice, it's hard for me to imagine needing anything else if I had this! I wonder if it has as many filters as it does waveforms.
Omnisphere is a spherical buffet with an integrated salad bar and beverage station.
thanks for the clarification!
@@WoodyPianoShack Always happy to help! ☺️
Check out the filter envelope there mind blowing the shapes you can create way beyond the usual ADSR shapes ,and the different sounds you get from these shapes fantastic , the more you use it you see why is so expensive. The GOLD STANDARD of SYNTHESIZERS
I've had Omnisphere + Keyscape for a few years & still haven't got past the presets!!!! I'm not tecknicle at all but wow, I love the sounds 👍☺
Nice vid. Omnisphere is one of those on my bucket list too, the only things holding me back thus far have been cost and size. Your vid has moved it higher up that list! It does seem an incredible tool.
You might consider a look at BT Phobos & Parawave’s Rapid at some stage, both of which are top notch and share similarities with Omnisphere
thx for the tip, i'll try and help you with your decision, i understand the dilemma.
Sorry, probably didn’t make myself clear there. I already own BT and Rapid, I thought others might benefit from your thoughts on them. Cheers Woody
Omnisphere is everything!
I understand why Woody used to think of OMNISPHERE as a ROMPLER. It's a workstation, really, and like other hardware workstations (like the TRITON) and software workstations (HALION, FALCON, PIGMENTS), it has (a) a massive library of sounds (b) makes making multi-layer sounds (MULTIS) easy and (c) has a wide variety of processing/FX and the libraries of sounds/presets that come with it is huge.
OMNISPHERE is probably the most important workstation for professionals these days. It fills a similar role in a modern studio in 2023 to the role that an ACTUAL ROMPLER keyboard would have filled in the 1990s. Any type of instrument sound, synthetic or acoustic, you will find a large amount of sounds. Probably there are more expansions available to buy for Omnisphere than for any other workstation/synth.
Omnisphere's closest competitors are HALION and FALCON. Calling it a "power synth" as the owners of the product do, is in my opinion selling it short. It's a workhorse workstation instrument. The biggest critique I have for OMNISPHERE is that you can do 99% of what it does in Pigments and pigments is 1/5th the price.
oh no, please don't bring another contentious term "workstation" into the mix! rompler is bad enough!
I have used Omnisphere (and Atmosphere before that) since release. My number one tip refers to a common complaint that the presets are too wet and processed sounding. I make it a habit of almost always turning off the FX while searching sounds in Omnisphere and then rebuilding the effects to my liking either in Omnisphere or with external effects plugs.
An easy way to do this is to clear the FX and then enable Sound Lock for effects only. Then as you browse presets, nice and dry. Of course, some sounds in Omnisphere REALLY rely on effects.
I think that Omnisphere is a wonderful instrument, with gigantic features. I need to buy it together with Keyscape. The only problem is that they never make discounts or bundle offers. But I will get them sooner or later
Try buying it second hand with a license transfer. I did so and saved about a 100 bucks. Spectrasonics are great to manage the license transfer and you can confirm with them that the potential seller is real and contacted them beforehand.
It is worth every penny. Amazing product. Yeah they don't make sales except on boxed versions from time to time like on Sweetwater on black friday maybe.
But they did make nice discount on the newer Sonic Xtensions when you buy more than one you get a nice discount.
@@mistral-unizion-music Where can I find someone who sells a licence?
the reason I hadn't already bought it long ago was the lack of a demo, since it's a lot of money without being able to try it out first. lack of discounts is I think quite ethical towards existing customers who paid in full.
One software synth to rule them all.
I like to think of romplers as sample ROM based synths where you cannot change the oscillator waveforms in meaningful and modulatable ways, e.g. via PWM, Oscillator Sync, FM, AM, Wavetable scanning, additive and granular. The M1, JV series and Motif are romplers. They can include longer samples of wave movement capturing the sounds of Osc sync, pwm and wave scanning, but those characteristics are not user modifiable. However, for most people, the labeling of romplers is academic, because M1, JV and Motif were the best selling boards of all time and some of the greatest music ever was created with them.
You can manipluate the sound and create your own patches from scratch. Rompers are real synthesizers because they have LFO's, filters, envelopes like any other digital synth.
Hello from Italy.
I'm stumbled on your channel on the video where you pick just 2 VSTs, and now this one appeared on my suggestion.
I like your videos and the quiet "pace" they have (maybe i'm old, yes :D )
It would be great if, once you're fond on Omnispere as you're in U-He synths, you'll make a "workflow" comparison video, telling us what you think is the most ... confortable? to work with from the "idea" of the sound you had to the final result.
that's a great idea, thank you my friend from italy. i don't tend to make my own sounds from scratch, I take presets and tweak them to what I want, but that's something I could demonstrate. ciao!
I feel like romplers are presets only using either sample or waveforms without the ability to shape or modulate or if at all very little options. Much like older entry level Casio's and Yamaha's, General Midi ect.
that's a good definition too!
I disagree if you actually owned one. They have Envelopes, Filters, LFO just like any other digital synthesizer. I own about 6 different hardware romper's myself and i can create my own sounds from scratch as the PCM based waveforms makes up for each osc layer. What's a synthesizer with out Envelopes, Filters or LFO? There is a reason my MOTIF ES keyboard says Music Production Synthesizer printed right on the front of. same with my Roland Fantom-XR they clearly says 128-Voice Synthesizer/Sampler model printed on the face plate. Other wise Korg, Roland and Yamaha would be lying to themselves. My Fantom-XR is a PCM Based Synthesizer with a sampler on-board that can act like an AKAI hardware sampler like the S900 which is two things in one rack unit. My E-MU Proteus 2000 has over 50 different Z-plane filters.
all the spectrasonics stuff (Omnisphere, Trillian, Keyscapes, Keyscapes Creative & Stylus RMX) are the greatest. In all truth, all the Spectrasonics stuff could, in theory, make entire musical tracks.
Omnisphere is a hybrid soft synthesizer that can do everything about the sound synthesis. That's all here =)
It's not so complicated as NI Reaktor, but very friendly for the synth-performers. And my choice is NI Reaktor + infinity number of the user ensembles/instruments/Fxs for it. More than it, I can even to make changes in the core of these tools by myself for my needs.
Very nice video, Woddy. Thanks again.
I’ve always looked at it from a far.,.looking to getting into this video 😊
Omnisphere is the best synth sample player I’ve owned it’s also a work station got a fair few synth Styles and traditional style modules tones of filters and FX the arpeggio is feature packed it does cover a lot of ground and is easily worth the money.
My Alesis Quadrasynth is a rompler with 8 MB of samples in ROM. Who needs a resonant filter when you have 8 different samples of a resonant filter sweep! :p
that's hilarious!
I've always translated Rompler as ROM Player, ROM being hard-coded samples, thus 'sample player.' Tomayto, tomahto. But Omnispere has always taken it to 11. I don't know why they decided it's time to rest on their laurels, but OS is still a great app today. Have fun...
Woody, i found this on wikipedia.
Notable romplers
Ensoniq Mirage (1984) was one of the earliest samplers to use ROM-based samples.
Korg M1 (1988), the Korg M1 was one of the first commercially successful ROMplers. It features a range of iconic sound presets, including the famous "M1 Piano" used in 1990s house music.
E-mu Proteus (1989) was popular among producers for its high-quality samples and ease of use.[2]
Kurzweil K2000 (1990) was one of the first ROMplers to incorporate a powerful synthesis engine V.A.S.T, making it a favorite of musicians and sound designers alike.
Roland JV-1080 (1994) was used extensively in electronic, film score and pop music in the 1990s.[3][4]
Yamaha Motif series (2001) is known for its realistic sounds and extensive synthesis capabilities.
Native Instruments Kontakt (2002) is a virtual instrument that offers a vast library of samples and an intuitive interface for creating custom instruments.[5]
brilliant list, i would agree with that.
...yeah, this is where quoting wikipedia gets one in trouble: Mirage and Kontakt are samplers, K2000 is both, and Motif - similar to D-50 mentioned in the video - has got snippets of samples which are heavily modified so they become a thing of their own (AWM2 from Yamaha and L.A. from Roland). JV-1080 is PCM based so neither oscillator nor audio samples. Whereas E-mu Proteus and Korg M1 are thee quintessential ROMplers. 😉
@@mack_solo the PCM waveforms are Oscolaters. You an layer them, manipulate the sound and create your own patches like any other Digital Synthesizer. Romplers have LFOs, Filters and envelopes. Any real Synthesizer would have those otherwise it wouldn't be a synthesizer.
So... is it something like the Falcon, with more defined and simplified structure?
Check out Tom Wolfe’s Omnisphere tutorials in which he shows you in detail how he creates a patch. After a few you really begin to grasp some of the possibilities within Omnisphere.
0:02 where is that video? Link please in the description if possible? Cool video.
Very interesting!... Manufacturers are listening... that's awesome!
it's funny, you never know who's watching... maybe even one of my heroes!
Like you, I'm an old schooler. I don't get caught up in any of that. Romper, Stompler whatever ompler.
It's an amazing tool to make music. That's the start and end of it for me
bottom line right there
Surprised to see that there are waveforms from SE-02. Is there something special about them, or they couldn't use Minimoog waveforms for some (legal) reason?
Though it could be argued that any wavetable synth is also a Rompler 😛After all, the waves are all sampled.
Omnisphere is the Jupiter 8 of the soft synth world.
As far as I know there where devices from AKAI with a bunch of CD's containing samples. They connected via Midi to a keyboard.
If this where not ROMPLERS, I don't know.....
I wish Spectrasonics could make a discount on their products at least on a Black Friday, because I’ve never seen this happens )
they never discount which I wouldn't have an issue with because it would suck if you paid full price, only to see it drop. my only wish would be to offer a demo version as it's a considerable amount to pay up front without trying it out.
@@WoodyPianoShack Or an introductory edition, lite edition or whatever.
I think of a "rompler" as a sort of basic sampler, with a large "grab bag" of different samples, and not being particularly good re articulation.
No, Rompler as a word has a meaning ReadOnlyMemoryPLayer, so it fits your average 90s General midi module, without any synthesis capabilities. It could also be used for arranger keyboards, even most digital pianos, but they have their own words.
Roland D-50 and JV-/JD-/MC-series for example were not Romplers, nor the Korg wavestation. Yamaha had a bunch of products with no synthesis, though, that were Romplers.
In the early days of the internet, however people started calling every Sample and Synthesis synth they did not like Romplers as a derogatory term, and it spread form there to apply to products that weren't actually romplers.
But we should not accept that. A rompler is a rompler, and if a product isn't a rompler, it isn't, and we should call it something else.
Omnisphere is the best vst synth 👌🏼
I was really impressed with the "Sawtuth" 😂👍
it's what i do best! :)
To be argumentative, you could stack 4+ samples of a Saw wave and detune and pan in a ROMpler.
yes indeed, that's why I hesitated after I said it! i knew this comment was incoming!
Then try some osc sync,, oh, you can’t on romplers :)
Fantom and all other ZenCore instruments have unison stacking for PCM as well, which behaves like Omnisphere, not making the polyphony monophonic, as on analog synths.
A Rompler is NOT just a synthesizer which uses PCM files as oscilators. In my term a Rompler is a synth which can ONLY have a rather small ammount ROM Samples, attack elements or wavetable waveforms as its oscilator source and can't "sample" itself. But the name "Rompler" is kinda silly as it can mean so much different dependent on how you define it. In my book as soon as you have a way of putting either user samples or extra waveforms into it in some form being it via a diskette, a wave Rom card or any in betwen the newest media formats it stops being a Rompler, and today you can put your own samples in even a M1 with an usb programable wave card. And most Romplers have at least a basic set of ADSR EG's for filter and amp. So it's just as much a synth as anything else. Just my 2 coins ... feal free to disagree 😅The name came as a bit of a tease of those that couldn't afford a full fledged Sampler, or realiced very fast that sampling yourself is not for everyone. You just want a decent set of bread and butter sounds , and it is kinda a joke itself as practically 99% of end users don't had the knowledge and gear to do quality multisamples when the first decade of samplers came around and they were tedious and clumsy to work with even for 1 shot samples. It could take hours just to get a reasonable usable loop point if you were to use it as a polyphonic sound. Which was also why Romplers became so popular. Look at a company like Roland. They still using the same old soupe of sounds today that were made 30 years+ ago for the first U and D series Romplers and people still use them 😃.
You can btw very easy create Unison sounds on many Romplers but like every synth it will just take 2 oscilators and half your polyphony. But thats also why softsynth's is so usable cause your not bound to the hardware limitations. you can just stack as many instances as your pc can manage and make a huge sound without using eg a chorus plugin. I remember as I back in the days stacked the Sax'es in the M1/T3, detuned and panned them when we played "Vikingarna" covers 🤠🎷
No, rompler is your average General Midi module of the 90s. You could sometimes layer or split and you could possibly even change settings of the effects, so it may have had patch/performances saving capabilities. But if it used any form of synthesis to the samples, it was a Sample And Synthesis synth, or S/S sometimes.
Romplers was misused in the early days of internet as a derogatory term for any Sample and Synthesis synth that people did not like.
The thing that defined a rompler was't that there were no storage for samples, but the fact that it could only play them as recorded, so no synthesis parameters.
If it had filter, it wasn't a Rompler, it was a Sample and Synthesis synth.
There aren't that many Romplers made today, except for digital pianos and arranger keyboards. And they are then called that instead.
But we should not reuse the term to mean something differnt.
i don't think the term rompler can only be applied to synths of a certain era, or with small amounts of memory. As Jon has mentioned a few times, it just means samples stored in ROM, but there is no size or date limit.
@@TheJonHolstein But they are instill real synthesizers. They have LFO, Filters, Envelopes just like any other Digital Synth. there is very little difference besides the Osco being PCM sampled base waveforms. You can manipulate and shape the sound. All Romplers even have basic sawtooth, Square, Sine waveforms as well so that you can program and create your own synth patches your self with the use of all the filters, layering, envelopes.. Romplers are simply referred to as PCM based Synthesis as one form of a digital synthesizer similar to FM, Wavetable, VA, or Physical Modeling synths..
@@TheJonHolstein Beside the very first and cheapest Arranger boards most of the GM modules like the Roland GS/GM modules is also a "basic" Synth since it has adsr filter and amp EG's, and you can modify it almost as much as any other sample player module. You just can't save a user preset. the editing uses ctrl change and sys ex instead. I believe It's only some of the first Samplers and Sample players like the Proteus and Roland D and U series that had very limited filter settings that goes underthis category. Most things beside cheap Digital Pianos for home usage today have fully fledged synth editing, even arrangers. The focus just isn't on the editing and actual sound design. More on having sounds that sound great OOTB and is easy to play.
I never liked the term Rompler either as you said it was a deterorgating term that ignorant people came up with. Even the old MODules from back in the Amiga and DOS days is in theory a cheap synth even it sounded horrible but people were using it as a cheap solution to make music as pro gear required a small fortune to invest in.
I think we may be confused by this made up term, "rompler". It is my understanding that a rompler is an instrument that only plays the preset samples, and does NOT allow us to edit the sounds, only allows us to edit the sounds in a very simple way. My favorite hardware digital poly VA synth of all time is the Roland Gaia, it uses digital samples of basic waveforms but allows full subtractive editing of these digital sample waves. I would never think of calling the Gaia a rompler. The Yamaha MX series is a perfect example of a rompler, we can do minor editing of the sounds, but none of any of these common deep editing architectures: subtractive/FM/granular/linear. No matter if digital or analog, and no matter what the waveform is: a sine wave, a trumpet, a piano, a violin; it is the deep editing control that removes the "rompler" name from the synth.
Enjoy that
I don't think the "shape" and "symetry" sliders are just scanning a wavetable. I believe they rather do waveshaping and wavefolding, which are technics of manipulating a signal that can be found on analog synth such as "west coast " or modular synth. I don't know Omnisphere that much but it seems to have very impressive synthesis capabilities. Thank you for this presentation.😊
that's fully correct afaik, these controls are warping the waveform in real time, not scanning through wavetables!
Hoi Woody is there a way to map the controlers to my launchkey 49 MK3 can't get it to work ? 😪
Hello! thanks for the great video. Can you show the other side of Omnosphere, namely the work with samples, both built-in and third-party, user-defined. It would be very interesting to see your sound design session. And another question, do you like Halion and Falcon?
that might be going a bit deeper than I like, since I'm not a synth programmer or sound designer. please go check out Pluginguru channel, he's covered that I'm sure. Haven't tried the other two, their apparent complexity has held me off so far.
Thanks for putting the record or should I say vst straight cos me beening a beginner thought it was a romper and now it's not thanks 👍
Woody emerges from Jumanji and discovers Omnisphere. What year is it?!😂 ROMler is a disparaging term for synths that either don’t offer much editing beyond the samples themselves, or the interface is too inaccessible to bother.
that's often the case xp50, which is actually a great example of rompler in my book! funny, for me it doesn't have disparaging connotations, but I loved my M1, D10, and D70 so go figure! :)
@@WoodyPianoShack - the XP50, although relying on internal and a large variety (19 8mb expansion boards) of samples and perhaps many people not bothering to edit the presets, it was a full featured PCM synth with relatively well- accessible parameters for the time.
Is a wave table synth also a rompler?
Historically a ROMpler is a sample player. But time went on. I see the term valid for every instrument that doesn't allow to build your own sounds from the ground up. There is an instrument that only has one button (forgot its name). It uses synthesis, no samples, but you can only press the button to get a random patch. That surely is a ROMpler as well.
Interesting. Good item.
What are you using for a camera on the first section of this video? Is it on a tripod Woody?
hi yes, it's a sony zve10 on a tripod, why are you asking?
Thanks for inspiring us 🎉
you're always welcome ron!
@@WoodyPianoShack just off topic Woody, but it sure is OK to refill the energy we spill on our indoor sound explorations.
Having natural Vit.D3 and K2 on daily basis is awesome for the majority of us. And Clorella tablets/powder and Omega 3 ( cod-liver oil ), Zinc, B12 and Potassium will be great to sustain the basic harmony keys of our body.
Just saying (from a veteran paramedic point of view). No pun intended. Blessings to you all.
Nope, it's not a Rompler. :)
And for sure, Spectrasonics named this product properly!! It so vast!! I suppose the next one may be called, 'Omniverse'!! 🙂
Romplers are also real Synthesizers too. The common misconception that people think they are preset boxes but they are wrong. They aren't any different than ay other Digital Synthesizers that have LFOs, Filters, Arpeggios, Oscolaters. The PCM waveforms makes up each Oscolaters that you can shape and manipulate and scope the sound how you want it to sound. There's a reason why the Roland JV-1080, Yamaha MOTIF and Fantom were marketed as Synthesizers. My Roland Fantom-XR littery says Synthesizers right on the faceplate. So does my MOTIF ES keyboard.
well said, fully agree!
@@WoodyPianoShack Yes! plus the older MOTIF's had option to add FM and VA expansion boards to them making them similar to Roland's LA concept by combining PCM based with VA or FM synthesis. They took that concept away in the MOTIF XS/XF but brought it back in the MONTAGE with the FM synthesis built combinding both PCM/FM. I did hear that the Montage gotten discontinued but I guess that's no surprise given that workstation boards are on decline as not many people sequence on hard ware much anymore these days. Synths with without built in sequencers will still remain in demand. I gotten rid of my MPC 5000 and my MOTIF ES6 is in the closet now that I moved away from hardware sequencing switch back to recording my MIDI in the DAW. I have 5 rack mount sound modules now including the MOTIF-Rack ES all connected to my MOTU MIDI interface. I'm basically Hybrid that uses modern soft synths with my legacy rack mount Rompler Synth hardware collection.
At the basic level, all digital synth have to read some kind of table to generate table don't they? dependent on what features are what kind of data manipulation
No, most modern synths don't bother with table lookup anymore unless they're wavetable
@@NamelessSmileThanks for the reply. If they are not reading tables, how are they generating the waveforms? Is it some sort math function? Inquiring minds want to know.
@@dessiplaer yeah basically, if you have a counter counting from 0 to 1 (in steps 1/sample rate) = x . then do sine(2pi * x * frequency) you'd get a sine wave. (And there's equations for all the other basic waves)
@@dessiplaer say every sample you say x = x + (1 / sample rate )
Then if it gets to 1 set it back to zero
Then do sin(2pi * frequency * x)
Then you have a sine wave. (Just x without doing the sine stuff would be a sawtooth, counting up and resetting at one to zero).
i don't love omnisphere because of heavy samples but it was interesting watching you explaining it's "sample-less" possibilities
update: i installed it and tried it BUT turns out you can't use it without 56gb library so actually it has no analogue possibilities at all! so IT IS ROMPLER and spectrasonics can go sleep instead of saying to anyone that it isn't rompler. it is ROMPLER!
Nooo, the software is perfect, it may take a second to load, but never have isues with the quality, like Diva wich is a demanding memory, even you can play with no problems with intel I5, I7 even better.
@@vpjpuente that's the point! with u he u have to sacrifice ur cpu and ram and with omnisphere u have to sacrifice ur ssd\hdd. although i think it's possible to use omnisphere without samples as analogue synth only if it's not cpu heavy.
and meanwhile other synths are just perfect
@@vpjpuente it is rompler! i tried it! it doesn't work without 56gb library. what a nerve this spectrasonics has to say to Woody that omni is not rompler when in fact it is rompler!🤦🏻♂️
I too hear the sounds are wonderful in Omnisphere, but a hudge learning curve, and it's expensive.
0:43 - All words are made up
What controller were you using on this demo please?
hi neelen, this is a novation launchkey, i will publish a video about using it with omni soon.
Omnisphere is a ROMpler..ROMpler... ROMpler. (Just hoping they would send me a free copy for saying this, 🙂. Regards
It's not complicated:
It's a synth. And it plays samples.
I've been using it for 5 years, now.
Keep it short and simple.
I'm thankful for this review and thankful he wasn't wearing a romper during this review.
OK cool but would you recommend buying this especially for house music or neo soul? How are the pianos, organs, bass, plucks?
That would be overkill in my opinion, there are VSTs and libraries more suited and cheaper for those genres.
i'm sure you can use it for some sounds, but omni is not a one-tool for that kind of music, it does not cover piano,ep, organ or your bread and butter sounds, or even drums. might want to compare to one of the NI komplete bundles.
@@WoodyPianoShack i have an older version of komplete and i really dont like it.
I had no idea omni has no pianos, organs or rhodes, thanks
@@jimbotron70 ok such as ? i need qulaity piano, organ, bass etc, if you listen to the quality of mark rubellit track reach out that has great sounds in it,
@@leejohnson197733 Search "neo soul sample pack" around, also Lounge Lizard VST, Spitfire Audio VSTs.
I am not ROMplophobic....Some of my best friends are ROMplers....🤣🤣🤣🤣
For sure Omnisphere is ALSO a rompler, it relies upon gigabytes of samples for a reason...
that's true, although as demonstrated it doesn't have to rely on the sample library, it can do some nice sounds without it! perhaps you don't even need to install the library!
ROMpler implies that there isn't much synthesis involved with the samples. But I don't think there's an actual definition. Some people call a synth "ROMpler" if it uses samples in any way, but that's not really accurate. You could say it CAN be used as a ROMpler, but there is quite a bit more you can do with the samples besides speed them up or slow them down. I'm not sure why people think you're always supposed to play those fake acoustic sounds realistically. If you want the most realism, you could just play the acoustic instrument itself, and record it with a mic. Otherwise, your realistic samples can be merely a starting point for more sound design using some synth engine. Omnisphere is not a ROMpler because you can do all that stuff within Omnisphere. My digital piano IS a ROMpler because I have to use another synth, fx pedals or software in order to use its samples for further sound design.
great comment adam, 100% & thanks.
Technically the oscillators are wavetable, not VA
hi alyx, disagree because a normal wavetable is a set of samples, here they are algorithmically generated, or perhaps a mix of both.
sweet..;)
I seem to have been using the term Rompler wrongly. Oops.
you can now start calling your kross a rompler!
Is this Omnisphere 1 ?
latest version whatever that is
Romplers :,)
ohh, dear, Woody, you properly could’nt have known, that lot’s of omnisphere haters, use this exactly term “Romplers”, as a haters agument, meaning that, omnipshere is a just a cheap sample player, which is not true at all.
I know you mean it as a positive compliment, because after all, much of the omnisphere sources is sample based, its not easy to know what omnipshere is or not.
If i’m correct, Omnisphere use real realtime software based oscillators to create synth sound.
Omnisphere Filters is pretty advanced, and sound very close to “analog” audio filters, big and fat, which hardly no other synth is caple of.
There is allso the “Unison / drift function”, in omnisphere which simulate that analog chorus fx, not to mention the many super awsome fx , omnipshere have.
Omnisphere has a real powerfull audio engine.
You just don’t find any other synth than omnisphere , that has this high quality sound.
If you like omnisphere, maybe you would like to buy omnipshere?, sorry i could’nt stop mention, buying.
Do i hate other synth, no, i like them all, i will buy them all😂.
hi henrik, i thought you said it well, better than me, yes it has a DSP engine (they call it STEAM engine - nice!) to generate the synth waveforms algorithmically.
Yes, i mean it in a positive way, hope i dont sound too harsh, if so, then i am sorry.
Grandpa with his roompler😂
You are forgiven
pheww!
you poor thing ....lol your beginner experience with Omnisphere ....
you will do just fine ,,,,,
for your next trick ...manupulate the sample with granulizer or hammonia
YES Omnisphere is a a ROMPLER.... GIGABYTES and GIGABYTES of patches (samples) proof the point.
Being capable of manipulate these samples, does NOT make it Virtual Analogue or Digital in any way...
Way overpriced - ROMPLER.
BTW; One can modify any sample in any rompler with ease ;)
the conclusion I reached is that whilst it can be a rompler, it doesn't have to be!
Woody I love your videos and have been following for a few years now. But I feel the need to kindly ask that you stop moving so much. Your edits make it feel like you’re always stepping toward the camera. Create a mark on the floor and stick to it. Nothing but love fella. Keep up the good work.
hey there steve, thanks for the feedback. i must admit, this no accident, it's a deliberate thing I'm doing. i like the dynamic style of stepping up to deliver a line. what do the rest of you think?
If it is not a rompler.. why is Roland still milking Eric's integral "accomplishments" then?
No worries about calling Omnisphere a rompler. Many of the people who paid their own money for it call it that and probably spend most of their time in the sample-based section. Spectrasonics can take a Valium on this one.
Rompler means ReadOnlyMemoryPLayER, and refers to product like classic general midi modules, without any synthsis capabilities, it has nothing to do with synths that use samples as their sound source. Sample and Synthesis, or S/S was typically used for synths that had sample as their soundsorce and then fed it through a synthesis engine.
So Rompler is a term, that in no way has any connection to Omnisphere.
And we should not start using Rompler for something that isn't a Rompler.
don't be harsh on spectrasonics, they were super cool and chill with me, and I appreciate the gesture to allow me to try it out for myself. :)
Maybe someone buy me one on birthday 🎉
Find computer synths just overwhelming and soulless
I always did too but try Diva or Avenger they got more flavor compared to most vsts.
It sounds nice, but the UI is terrible. A lot of wasted space and too many clicks for things that can be accomplished way easier in other synths.
i agree, the workflow could use some streamlining in places, like pressing Esc key to take you out of a zoom popup, instead of having to click on the X.
The fact that this can't function as a rompler too is what has been keeping me away from this software, it's a shame that they are limiting the usability to just synth while having this compulsive behaviour of stuffign the library with lots and lots of useless sounds.
"can't function as a rompler", is that a typo, not sure what you mean, although it is not just a rompler, it can do that too.
Omnisphere got misgendered. 😂
I love omnisphere, but I removed it from my system, its great nut over hyped
i've heard that a few times, but there seem to be more users that swear by it, will be interesting to see where I land.
@@WoodyPianoShack I dont use it enough, it is great , but most of the third party libraries for cinematic and gaming stuff sound similar, but thanks for the post