Eric Persing showing off his OMG-1 synthesizer | |
| Born | 22 July 1963 |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Sound design |
| Website | https://www.spectrasonics.net |
Eric Persing is a sound designer, professional synthesist and producer in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as the Founder and Creative Director of the leading music software and virtual instrument company Spectrasonics. He has been a major contributor to all of Spectrasonics' products, including Omnisphere, Keyscape, Stylus RMX,[1] Trilian, Atmosphere and Trilogy.[2]
Persing started working for the Roland Corporation as Chief Sound Designer[3] from 1984 to 2004,[4][5] where he worked on many influential synthesizers and music-related products such as the Roland D-50,[6] the JD-800, the Roland JX, JV, JP, XP series synthesizers and many others. Even today, his sounds can be heard in many productions.
Omnisphere 1 by Spectrasonics (@KVRAudio Product Listing): Omnisphere combines a wide variety of hybrid realtime synthesis techniques, an epic library of 'Psychoacoustic' sounds, and many innovative features that have never been seen before in any hardware or software synthesizer. Omnisphere is designed with a unique user interface containing progressive layers of 'zooming' to accommodate the.
At the 2011 NAMM Show, as part of a joint promotion with the Bob Moog Foundation, Persing exhibited the OMG-1 synthesizer, a unique synthesizer of his own design that integrated a Moog Little Phatty with an Apple Mac Mini and two iPads running virtual instruments, all housed in a custom curly maple cabinet.[7]
Important influences for Persing are Vangelis, Kraftwerk, Jan Hammer, Yes, Genesis and Thomas Dolby.[8]
Awards[edit]
In 2011, Persing and his team accepted the TEC Award for 'Best Musical Instrument Software' for Omnisphere version 1.5.[9][10]
References[edit]
Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 Wiki 1
- ^'Stylus Virtual Groove Module'. Canadian Musician. Norris-Whitney Communications Inc. via Highbeam research. May 1, 2002. Archived from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- ^'Spectrasonics Artisan Eric Persing'. Spectrasonics. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- ^'Roland meeting stresses educational market'. Music Trades via Highbeam Research. Music Trades Corp. March 1, 1990. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- ^Battino, David; Richards, Kelli (2005). The Art of Digital Music. Backbeat Books. p. 76. ISBN0-87930-830-3.
- ^The Church Collective interview
- ^Vail, Mark (2014). The Synthesizer. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 54. ISBN978-019-539481-8.
- ^Vail, Mark (2014). The Synthesizer. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 221. ISBN978-019-539481-8.
- ^KVR audio interview
- ^'The 27th TEC Awards Winners'. Tecfoundation.com. 2012-01-20. Archived from the original on 2012-08-20. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
- ^'ILIO News: Spectrasonics' Omnisphere has won the prestigious 'TEC Award''. Ilio.com. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
External links[edit]
This is not a complete description of all Omnisphere can do. If you want a complete review you better head over to the Sound on Sound website and make sure you read the manual! This is also just a very personal opinion on Omnisphere and the reasons why, for me, it's a great product.
Omnisphere is a rompler. There's an extremely large amount of sampled 'soundsources' available plus a very decent amount of modeled analog waveforms. All go through a subtractive synthesis engine that allows you to sculpt the sound to your liking. A big bunch of effects really put the icing on the cake. I'd don't think I'd buy these effects to mix with, but as a complement to the sound engine I think they're fine.
Omnisphere is not a sampler, meaning you can't use your own samples and create complicated keymaps, switches or round robin setups. I'm fine with that as I never use my own samples to create realistic instruments anyway. You can however import your samples and use them for granular synthesis and that I really love. You can create whole soundscapes from a short field recording or a sample from a record.
Usually I'm not a fan of multi timbral VST's. I'd rather open new instances on new tracks, because that way every instrument has it's own track in my DAW and I can easily sculpt the sound further with other plugins. Spectrasonics warns us that using multiple instances will cause extra overhead, so I was glad to find that setting up a multi in Omnisphere is really very easy. I'm having no trouble at all.
Omnisphere does one thing very well that not many VST's offer nowadays. I've always loved the sound of the Roland D-50 and Korg Wavestations. They offered kinda realistic recreations of real instruments, but really excelled at creating hybrid sounds: subtractive synthesis based on samples. Apart from Absynth I don't know any plugin that does this well, and in fact, Omnisphere does this a lot better, I think, because it's synthesis engine is so much simpler to use.
Omnisphere's huge sound library and synthesis engine becomes even more powerful if you have one of the supported hardware synths. My Nordlead has really gotten a new lease of life with Omnisphere. With the Nordlead acting as a fully integrated controller I'm tweaking away on sounds the Nordlead could never do. Software has suddenly become more hands-on then it has ever been for me.
Omnisphere is definitely the most expensive VST I have. It cost me more than many of the DAW's I've used. But the alternative to buying Omnisphere for me was not another VST. It was buying a hardware synth, because I really need that hands-on control to stay inspired. Suddenly, with the hardware integration and a Nordlead sitting next to me the price made sense. Great sonic possibilities, hands-on control, total recall from within the DAW, it's hard to beat.
If you have something like a Bassstation2 or a Miniloque and are looking for different sounds to complement these instruments Omnisphere is a unique proposition.
I do wish some user interface elements were just a little bigger. The ability to switch on or off layers, effects and the arpeggiator right from the main page is awesome, but why are these LED-like switches so damned tiny? The magnifying glasses that open the detailpages are also a bit too small to my liking. The whole interface of Omnisphere can be scaled, but only 1x will fit my 15' laptop so that does not help me much.
Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 Wiki 1
There's one more thing: the arpeggiator is great. It's very flexible and, yes, it's also very easy to use. You can do old fashioned arpeggiated chords and basslines, but it's also possible to choose any of the percussive patches and use the arpeggiator as a stepsequencer to create beats. I've had lot's of fun with it.
ps: I contacted support because Omnisphere was not storing my preferences. I was impressed by their quick, knowledgeable and friendly replies. It turned out the standalone application and Ableton Live were not running with the proper administrative rights on my system and they helped me set it up correctly.