What workhorse synth would you buy if you couldn't get Omnisphere?

[cryophonik]

OMG, I never realized we are required to track and report our use of presets by percentage to justify our purchases to other KVR users. To make matters worse, I’m guilty of making patches in Omni without using ANY of the sample library. I think I saw a cop in our neighborhood a little while ago. Do I need an attorney? Am I going to jail?

[noiseboyuk]

OMG, I never realized we are required to track and report our use of presets by percentage to justify our purchases to other KVR users.

The best thing is that BBFG didn't read that 9% was a joke, boasted about not reading my post and got upset when I didn't read his.

It's another day in KVR, folks!

[cryophonik]

How many people who own Komplete have made exhaustive use of it? Most people with a full time career and family probably don’t have time to fully explore more than 5-10% of the total available sounds, let alone make use of them in their music. And, talk about a hard-drive filler! The good news is that storage is cheap and Komplete is an excellent bargain even if you’re only using a small fraction of its instruments and content. Same goes for Omnisphere IMO.

[Uncle E]

OMG, I never realized we are required to track and report our use of presets by percentage to justify our purchases to other KVR users. To make matters worse, I’m guilty of making patches in Omni without using ANY of the sample library. I think I saw a cop in our neighborhood a little while ago. Do I need an attorney? Am I going to jail?

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

[BBFG#]

As you said, they're designed for a certain mentality. Some people don't want to learn sound design and just want to express their ideas. Omnisphere could easily be the only instrument they ever use.

Agreed. And they seem well suited for those that play in churches and those that do commercial jingles.
They got a lot of use in soundtrack design a couple of decades ago, not nearly as much now though. So it relies and rests more on its laurels these days. Things I use to use it for are mostly replaced by Pigments now. But that's a different character.
The OP specifically asks what to consider if Omni can't be. And much of this thread is the choir preaching to why it's the way, the truth and the light. Even though they constantly leak out they don't even believe that.
Funny thing is, those that hate it are simply dismissed by the worshippers and those of us that see it as good tool rather than a totem magic amulet are descended upon like flies on fresh meat. So it's better to swoosh them away before the eggs get laid.

[vurt]

How many people who own Komplete have made exhaustive use of it?

i completed massive and fm8, im now working through reaktor, finished the factory, now the dlc that is the user library!!
probably take as long as tinder did to complete...

[Gam456]

In the digital era of 80 et 90, many tracks and hit was using preset
Someone like Jean michel Jarre used preset many times
I don't see why a preset would be a problem

[syntonica]

My biggest peeve about their presets is that there's a preset, and then there's ten more variations of that preset with minor tweaks. I'd rather the creator just put a note in to say Tweak This for exciting variations, rather than artificially boosting the preset count. I'd probably be much happier with an Omni Lite version with, say, ~10Gb samples and 2k distinct presets that I can tweak myself.

Anyway, if somebody uses 9% compared to my <1%, I'm quite happy for them!

[digitalboytn]

SynthMaster 2 or SM3 when it's ready to roll...

Really great synths and true workhorses....

[IvyBirds]

But they seem to be designed for a certain mentality (neither good or bad) and a catch all of sound sources to warrant combined niches (which hit or miss, and generally miss in the majority for everyone.) So you're not using 91% of what is there and probably have bought other plugins to do those.

Spectrasonics is a luxury item more than an essential......In a minimalist approach to doing things though, it's a bloated non-sequitur promising everything and delivering 5-10%.

When the main complaint about a sample based software synth is that is has to many samples and/or presets that sounds like a pretty damn good product to me

Omnisphere has 10,000 presets if you find use for 5-10% percent of them that's 500-1000 presets

Can you name a single software synth you own that has 500-1000 presets that you find useful? My guess is you can't. I know I can't. My guess is if we are honest most of us can't, and none of is use more than 5-10% of the presets on any of our software instruments

I didn't buy Omnisphere to get 10,000 presets, I got Omnisphere because using it I can create pretty much every sound I can possibly imagine, and if I browse the thousands of presets I can find hundreds more that I could have never imagined

That's easily worth $479 to me and is a tremendous value

I have spent more than that on dinner and drinks with the wife

Like every other software instrument I own, Omnisphere is just a tool. If you don't have the want or the need for a deep powerful sample based instrument with a very large a diverse sample library than Omnisphere is not the right choice for you go get Diva and call it a day

[syntonica]

...
Can you name a single software synth you own that has 500-1000 presets that you find useful?
...

Of those that I own: CRX4, Diva, Hive.

-By useable, the preset is either immediately usable, or can be easily and quickly tweaked.
-They have been supplemented by only free preset packs.

I'm sure others can easily add to this list.

[BBFG#]

Too many samples is not my main complaint, having to dig through them is. And that actually isn't my main complaint either. I feel the worst thing about Omni, etc. is the user base of apologetics that interject themselves in topics that specifically ask for alternatives to it.
"Cringy".
And I'll second the last comment with Diva, Zebra, Pigments, AnalogLab, Halion. But I especially like the plugins where I can archive things I never use to a backup drive and not have to dig through again unless I want to.

[igorius]

The initial post now really makes me wish I had Omnisphere too.

[noiseboyuk]

Too many samples is not my main complaint, having to dig through them is. And that actually isn't my main complaint either. I feel the worst thing about Omni, etc. is the user base of apologetics that interject themselves in topics that specifically ask for alternatives to it.

But it's inevitable, isn't it? What can I get that's like Omnisphere but cheaper? You have to define what makes Omnisphere Omnisphere before you can say what else is out there like it, and that seemingly gets everyone upset. BBFG couldn't bring himself to read why I find it invaluable and unique, seeing it all as a load of blah noise. He just wanted an figure on what percentage of patches were useful. I gave him one plucked from my ass - 9% - that is totally fictious and meaningless. He'd missed the point (twice).

That's a very KVR thing. Reducing things to X or Y features, putting oscilloscopes on filters to measure their worth. A synth is an ecosystem, a UX philosophy combined with its sonic possibilities. The end result is what we engage with, or not.

The OP went with Serum as a solution. It may be a great synth, but to me it's absolutely nothing like Omnisphere at all. But what is?

And round we all go.

[IvyBirds]

...
Can you name a single software synth you own that has 500-1000 presets that you find useful?
...

Of those that I own: CRX4, Diva, Hive.

-By useable, the preset is either immediately usable, or can be easily and quickly tweaked.
-They have been supplemented by only free preset packs.

I'm sure others can easily add to this list.

Well then if that is your definition, Omnisphere has 10,000+ usable presets, because every preset it comes with is easily tweaked