# Omnisphere vs Komplete vs Alchemy Discussion



## bigswifty (Feb 24, 2013)

Hey fellas,

I've just switched my PC rig over to my new laptop, and have begun the search to find the ideal VSTi synth to accompany S2.0 and my AxeFX 2. 

In this thread I would love to hear your opinions on products such as Omnisphere, Kontakt/Komplete, Alchemy and any others of which you've had experience with or would recommend!

I'll start by saying that I have used Omnisphere in the past and very much enjoyed working with it. The interface is well presented and easy to use, and many of the included samples are of incredible quality. However, it always felt lacking to me because of the absence of proper raw instrument samples like pianos, horns, ethnic percussions, etc. 

I have no experience with Komplete, but have heard samples used in Kontakt and they sound pretty great. I have no experience with Alchemy either, but I just skipped through a demo video on youtube that sounded fantastic. 

Ideally, I'm looking for these options:
- Great sounding synths and strings for progressive music (think DT/Chimp Spanner/Porcupine Tree etc)
- Atmosphere patches for ambient sections and sound design.
- High quality piano, organ, horn, etc samples to use with my midi controller for recording. 
- All the bells and whistles to tinker and create new sounds
- Great UI and productive environment.

Feel free to comment with any and all opinions! Let's hear what you guys like to use


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## Leuchty (Feb 24, 2013)

If you can afford Omnisphere, go for it.

I couldn't therefor I went with Absynth. Also, look for free VST's there are literally thousands on the net.


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## Larcher (Feb 24, 2013)

I have omnisphere and I think it's pretty neat, but very hard to manage. I've heard nice things from absynth and it is much less expensive!


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## bigswifty (Feb 24, 2013)

^ Omnisphere is great, but I want to avoid the large cash investment if I can, simply because it lacks raw instrument sounds. 

However, I will probably end up with Omnisphere sometime in the future anyway 

Does Absynth generate only synth tones or will I find quality piano/horn samples within it as well?


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## Larcher (Feb 24, 2013)

dbrozz said:


> ^ Omnisphere is great, but I want to avoid the large cash investment if I can, simply because it lacks raw instrument sounds.
> 
> However, I will probably end up with Omnisphere sometime in the future anyway
> 
> Does Absynth generate only synth tones or will I find quality piano/horn samples within it as well?



That I do not know, what I do know is that east/west thing gives you a fuck-lot of pianos/orchestras/horns and all those nice things, but it is not inexpensive


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## waroftheancients (Feb 24, 2013)

If you're looking for virtual instruments of piano, brass, strings, choirs, check out EastWest/Quantum Leap

Not sure if they are in your price range, but it's awesome just to listen to the samples and think of what you could do.

Check out Goliath if you want an all-around package.


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## Narrillnezzurh (Feb 24, 2013)

Are you considering Komplete, or the synths _within_ Komplete? Komplete is a collection of just about every VSTi Native Instruments has ever released, and while certainly awesome, it's very expensive.


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## bigswifty (Feb 25, 2013)

Waroftheancients, thanks for the heads up on EastWest! Had completely forgotten about those guys, looking into Goliath!

^^ I was refering to Komplete as in the entire big package. Reason being is that they have an online promo for it for 399 or 499. I checked out Kontakt on its own and it is the same price lol.

Also, does Reason 5 hold a candle to any of the aformentioned soft synths?
Thanks for the replies so far dudes!


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## axxessdenied (Feb 25, 2013)

I saw Komplete 8 Ultimate on sale for $699 at musiciansfriend or guitarcenter last night (maybe it was sweetwater )!


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## TMM (Feb 25, 2013)

I've been looking for similar virtual instruments, and EastWest seems to be pretty near unbeatable in the 'real instrument' and ambient realms. Just listen to any of the demos on the Ra page. Plus the EW PLAY interface is awesome.

As for synth stuff, EW has some good offerings, but they don't strike me as being so far beyond the competition as their 'real' offerings. I actually really like the NI Carbon and Prism synths available in Reaktor. I mean, Berlin is the techno capital of the world or something, isn't it? I'd expect the best electronic plugs to be German. GForce and Steinberg have some interesting soft synths, too (Minimonsta & Dark Planet, for example). Omnisphere sounds great, and does have a ton of good sounds, but to me was difficult to navigate.


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## Winspear (Feb 25, 2013)

For your requirements, Komplete hands down. The synths in there are enough to cover all grounds, and of course there is Kontakt with all the raw instruments which are wonderful.

Alchemy is fantastic but you wont be finding anything normal in there - just like Omnisphere.

Off my head..Komplete contains:
Absynth (ambient based synth)
Massive (synth)
FM8 (Fm synth)
Guitar Rig (Guitar amp sim / multifx (perhaps one of the most intuitive interfaces I've ever used when it comes to modulation and automation - I use it all the time outside of guitar!)
Kontakt - raw samples of many instruments.
Battery - pad based drum orientated sampler
Reaktor - Like MaxMSP but friendlier. You can make ANYTHING in this, and download user creations for absolutely anything. It's a programming environment - don't expect to make stuff in it with ease. 
Most (or all, if I've missed nothing out) of the other things in Komplete are expansions for the above plugins.

Get Komplete hands down


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## Sam MJ (Feb 25, 2013)

I'd probably either get komplete or get a synth and samples separately. If you go for the second option I'd get Zebra2 and VSL SE vol 1.

I haven't used zebra but it's supposed to be awesome and I've been shopping around for samples quite a bit recently. Personally I don't like the EWQL sound, the reverb is baked into the samples and IMO makes them sound a little washy so you're kinda stuck with that sound, also the brass doesn't sound great to me. 

VSL on the other hand doesn't have quite as many instruments and it doesn't have multi mics BUT they're recorded on a silent stage so no reverb on them. This means you can add your own and go from small intimate sounds to big halls . Also you can upgrade parts later on if you want and you get alot of really nice articulations with it!


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## bigswifty (Feb 25, 2013)

Appreciate the feedback!!

I'd say Komplete is looking like my best option at the moment. For $399 I think it would be wise to scoop it up and start learning what knobs to turn to make these plugins sound great!

Still gathering info though, Zebra2 looks pretty cool


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## bigswifty (Mar 2, 2013)

waroftheancients said:


> If you're looking for virtual instruments of piano, brass, strings, choirs, check out EastWest/Quantum Leap
> 
> Not sure if they are in your price range, but it's awesome just to listen to the samples and think of what you could do.
> 
> Check out Goliath if you want an all-around package.



I think my first option has swayed from Komplete 8 to Goliath now.
Nonetheless, I still have a few questions. Is this the only sort of all-rounded package offered by EW/QL? It's got 40gb and certainly seems to cover pretty much everything I need, and Goliath comes in at about $250! 
Not bad 

I know Sam MJ above mentioned that the reverb was sort of baked into the samples for Quantum Leap stuff.. to me that isn't a big issue. They all sound great to my ears and very sufficient for what I need. 

I'm now kind of looking away from Komplete 8 though. After reading many forum threads on X vs Y vs Z, it seems that Komplete is a great package, but comes with a lot of bulk. I would use Kontakt for sure, but I've heard that everyone and their dog uses this VST and that the sounds are becoming somewhat stale to the recording crowd. I've also read that the synths are kind of "cold" sounding, and don't hold a light to Omnisphere in the slightest. Which is okay, because I plan on getting Omni down the road anyway. Also, I have no use for things like Guitar Rig and Massive, and have heard that the piano add-ons in Komplete are pretty bad..

Goliath right now seems to cover a lot of ground for a compelling price, and EQ/QL has a pretty damn good rep with the audio crowd. Plus, Richard Henshall of Haken uses East West Quantum Leap sound libraries for their recordings, and that alone is a pretty damn good swaying point for me. 

If anyone cares to chime in still, please do! 
Can never have too much information


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## pushpull7 (Mar 2, 2013)

dbrozz said:


> - High quality piano, organ, horn, etc samples to use with my midi controller for recording.



Tough to do w/o kontakt. W kontakt there are options. I find "vintage organs" to kinda suck. VB3 is the best sounding organ, but it's not x64. Horns are VERY difficult to get right in the sampler arena. I don't even know what to recommend any longer. Chris Heins are.......kinda meh (I have one of the saxes, hasn't been updated in years I don't think)

Edit: forgot about E/W.


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## Scattered Messiah (Mar 2, 2013)

Go for Komplete.
I have the package, and it's literally impossible to find something you ca't do with the tools you are given.
[Warning: might take away quite some time just fooling around, huge fun factor!]


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## Enselmis (Mar 2, 2013)

True that^.

Komplete is super awesome, totally worth the case. Give it a shot if you can! Massive will blow your mind as well as Absynth! If you're a real synth nut then goof around with reaktor cause i'm pretty sure you can achieve any sound that you could possible envision.


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## bigswifty (Mar 2, 2013)

Thanks for chiming in guys!

It's kind of overwhelming.. trying to pinpoint which product to drop $400+ dollars on when they basically do the same things. 

I've leaned back towards Komplete 8. I heard quite a few samples, and they sound pretty good for what I need. Also, Kontakt seems to be the industry standard for sampling, so it would be handy to have in case certain libraries really sprung out at me in the future. Goliath's big downside would be that it caps off at 40GB (can't add-on), apparently EW/QL's "play" software is pretty buggy and the baked in reverb could get annoying.

Can anyone give their opinions on the stock kontakt libraries? I've heard reviews ranging from "hell yea, these samples rock!" to "ignore the standard kontakt samples, they're old and overused, but the add-ons are great and limitless".

A sort of list of priorities to gauge what I'm going for is:

- Pianos and synths first. In the vein of Porcupine Tree, Chimp Spanner, etc.
- Orchestral stuff
- Horns and brass
- Ethnic percussion and instruments

Komplete has some decent sounding pianos. I'm sure they would sound great within a mix, but I've also heard people state that the pianos are basically unusable  To each their own I guess.

The synths are probibly great, even if sounding "cold". Absynth can do some cool things, really wanting to try that out! FM8 looks great too.

Orchestral stuff I've heard is decent. There are upgrades and other sample libraries available that would really boost the usability of this area.

Horns and brass seem to be a downside. I'm not too picky here, they would be used every so often in a reggae/ska project. I've learned that horns are very difficult to sample well. Upgrades available also.

Komplete comes with the Africa Percussion add-on, which sounds great. I would use this for tool like tabla and conga sections. Chill african vibes, mon!

Anyway, you guys who have posted so far have been extremely helpful. I think I will drop the cash on Komplete, hibernate for a couple months, pump out some demos and then grab Omnisphere by next Christmas. 

Cheers!


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## bigswifty (Mar 2, 2013)

Just purchased Komplete 8 
Appreciate all the useful info you guys provided!

If the pianos turn out to be unusable, I've looked into the Galaxy Vintage D piano vsti, which seems to be a great plugin for a relatively low price!

Stay tuned for some demos


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## Stealthdjentstic (Mar 2, 2013)

Cool, i will


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## pushpull7 (Mar 3, 2013)

dbrozz said:


> Just purchased Komplete 8
> Appreciate all the useful info you guys provided!
> 
> If the pianos turn out to be unusable, I've looked into the Galaxy Vintage D piano vsti, which seems to be a great plugin for a relatively low price!
> ...



Galaxy vintage D is good. The pianos are hit miss in komplete. I like the NY but I hate the vienna. You certainly won't be bored for the next month


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