4 Layers Per Patch: In previous versions, you could mix and match 2 sources / layers for each patch.
With version 2.5, Spectrasonics have further beefed up the sonic capabilities, doubling the number of available layers for each patch from 2 to 4, adding 1,000 new sounds to the patch library, and making quite a few more subtle but very welcome tweaks and improvements to the GUI and page layouts that overall contribute to a significant streamlining and refining of the workflow. Whichever styles of music you create, Omnisphere features a large enough factory library for several lifetimes worth of sonic exploration, not to mention an integrated rack effects section, flexible arpeggiator, oscillator sections that provide for FM, ring modulation and granular synthesis amongst the plethora of sound-shaping options, and our personal favourite feature, The Orb: a circular controller that modifies multiple synth parameters simultaneously, in a similar way to an X/Y pad with it’s converging axes, but with added momentum/inertia settings so you can “throw” the controller positioning icon and have it spin at varying speeds and angles of motion (either programmed or randomised), imbuing your patches with either a subtle sense of movement or more extreme modulation that you can record and pick out the best bits from. The Orb, armed to record the modulation I set in motion with the Dice randomise button.
