this new update is AMAZING

powerful sounds, amazing effects.. imo starting to think it sounds better than usual suspects virus ti
some patches are very cool for electronic music
the new library is great

 

lovely post Kate, here are some flowers for you

Spoiler: more

 

Last edited: Nov 4, 2025 at 2:29 AM

I tried the new Omnisphere (as I've tried the previous ones), and from a sound design perspective a lot of the sounds are just beautiful, no doubt about that.

But... I personally find OS a tad overwhelming. There's just too much happening and the presets are just too thick. If I wanted to fit these into a mix, be it tunes or a video soundtrack there would be a lot of thinning to do to make them fit.

Still, it's a great piece of software but it's just not for me. But I imagine for Omnisphere fans it's Christmas come early now and next Xmas too!

 

So far, I'm loving it. My only gripe is the omission of the custom "default folder", though the "auto recall" option is rather handy... CPU usage is fairly reasonable, with no audible artifacting. It tops at around and a hair over 30 percent on my i5 iMac, but tends to stay around the 10-20% rage when the preset isn't too demanding! It's kind of like a new car (without the dramatically different redesign, it looks very familiar, the interior looks sleeker, has more bells and whistles, but what's under the hood is what REALLY blows you away. I applaud Spectrasonics, once again!

Edit: Upon further investigation, and yes, it's a new release but some patches do begin to distort badly... Not sure if it's to do with the CPU, because the CPU readings seem to be in a safer range... And the "auto-play" audition feature likes to sustain notes instead of giving me a single 'blip' note in O2. Dunno if that's a bug. Otherwise, this is an excellent start! Really loving the introduction of semi-obscure synths!

 

Last edited: Nov 4, 2025 at 4:50 AM

I noticed that the part volumes are redlining on many many patches, it was definitely not your cpu, check your "Main" tab on the patch and turn the volume down on that if you see red. Definitely looks to be a bug. For now I just turn it down if the patch is too hot.

 

Hey everyone, in Ableton you can run Omnisphere 2 & 3 semi side by side by doing the following -
The only downside is, more drive space will be needed as you will need both the v2 & v3 libraries.

Use Omnisphere 2 as vst2 & Omnisphere 3 as vst3 or vice versa.
Have your Omnisphere 2 & 3 libraries on the same drive, but name the v2 library Omnisphere2
& the v3 library Omnisphere3. Now say you want to use Omnisphere 3, just move the Omnisphere3 folder
to your STEAM folder & rename it Omnisphere. & if you want to use Omnisphere 2, rename the Omnishphere folder back to
Omnisphere3 & move it out of your STEAM folder, then move the Omnisphere2 folder to your STEAM folder & rename it Omnisphere.

There will be no licensing issues as the AUDIODAT16 is for v2
& AUDIODAT19 is for v3. & using vst2 & vst3 means both versions
can reside on your system.

The reason I done this, is I have 652 3rd party preset banks tagged with Omnitag, & they make the v3 browser very slow, I can't even refresh the browser without v3 crashing. All these 3rd party presets are a tagged mess in v3 as Omnitag is not compatible with v3.. Using v2 & v3 semi side by side is working great. Omnisphere 3 is now fast when changing categories
& is no longer crashing when doing a browser refresh. So now I can still use all my nicely tagged 3rd party presets in v2,
as well as the new factory library & features in v3. I thought this may be useful for anyone who has had the same experience as me.

NOTE -
You will not be able to use 2 & 3 at the same time in a DAW session. It's either one or the other in each project.
& make sure you don't load Omnisphere 2 with the v3 library in your STEAM folder.
Or load Omnisphere 3 with the v2 library in your STEAM folder. Doing this will mess up your v2 or v3 libraries.
Also don't keep the v2 or v3 libraries in the STEAM folder at the same time. even though the one not in use will be renamed,
It safe practice to only have the one you are currently using in the STEAM folder.

 

Last edited: Nov 5, 2025 at 2:24 AM

On cubase that would not work as the vst2 and vst3 share the same plugin ID. Also between omni 2 and 3. Cubase will only show one. But here V3 seems to load old v2 projects fine. Anddddd both will use the same steam folder anyway and they can't load each others library.

 

What about launching one inside Patchwork, Komplete Kontrol or Maschine kinds of wrappers? The library thing would probably not pose a problem on 2 external drives, right? You'd install one, symlink it so that version does not even look to drive 2, then install the other copy and symlink it to the other drive. That way it gets called up by the different volume names with no conflict.

 

Is that why the audio goes berserk and turns into a buzzing, crunching mess? I could've sworn it was something to do with the CPU. Thank you.

 

yes it is, the synth works and sounds beautiful if you are willing to forgive some patches having their part/main outputs about 6db too loud.

 

BTW not going to mention where, but the MacOS version of OS3 just dropped...

 

might you dm me? its not the sister. thats really the only place i frequent.

 

The macOS version dropped on the russian tracker. It's not available yet though, as the status is -
Giveaway awaiting review by moderator. GUISEPPE patched it & is using R2R's keygen is in their release.
That's why it's not hit the sister site. Because having another teams work in your release, breaks SCENE rules.

I think it will be released on the sister site soon. But it will be a patched [Use R2R Keygen] release.
The keygen will not be included in the release like it is on the tracker.
macOS users will have to get the keygen from R2R's Omnisphere 3 release.
& GUISEPPE should say CRACKER: TEAM R2R in their nfo.

 

Last edited: Nov 5, 2025 at 4:44 AM

Spectrasonics Omnisphere 3 v3.0.0-TCD || TCD | 11.2025 | 45 MB
Spectrasonics Omnisphere 3 STEAM Core Library || AudioZ | 02 November 2025 | 56.7 GB

Spectrasonics forces you to use version 3; you simply have to overwrite the STEAM or Omnisphere folder.

Using both versions in parallel? That's not possible and isn't supported. The installer overwrites the old version to avoid conflicts (e.g., with VST/AU plugins). If you absolutely need to keep the old version (e.g., for compatibility testing), you could back it up manually and uninstall it, but this is risky and unnecessary.

Spectrasonics Omnisphere v3 Core Library [STEAM] --> (59 WinRar Files) --> Unpacked = 56,7 GB

The New Version 3 "STEAM" subfolder "Omnisphere" looks like this:

Defaults 3.89 MB
Documentation 37.6 KB
Settings Library 2.55 GB
Omnisphere 56.7 GB
Soundsources 51.6 GB
Wavetables 2.51 GB

These numbers aren't 100% accurate because I also have my own sound banks installed.

- First, manually delete the old version 2 "Omnisphere VST3" in C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3.
- You will find the new installation of version 3 in: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Spectrasonics

 

Last edited: Nov 5, 2025 at 10:08 AM

1) My guess is they are all contained in "Core Soundsources" which has been reorganized so each source has it's own .db file (vs. combined) but the existing filenames are left as dummy placeholders for compatibility reasons.

Waveforms has also changed. Everything is in ~BundleArchives.db, but ~BundleArchives.db2 (added in 2.5?) is left as 0 bytes too.
~BundleArchives.db had an XML <fileSystem> with byte offsets to the waveform data in Omni2, but that's gone in Omni3 so I think it handles that internally now.

2) There is no setting in the UI (likely buried in the registry or xml somewhere). You have to move the folder, then it will bark at you to locate it when it's missing.

 

And Omnisphere v4 will get a completely new and user friendly directory-category-preset-manager (hope so..)!
I find it actually absolutely terrible. The directory selection menu is so outdated and uncomfortable! Also no good favorites view.