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Macbook Pro Audio & Omnispere 2

 
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fjs714
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Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 398

PostPosted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 5:23 pm    Post subject: Macbook Pro Audio & Omnispere 2 Reply with quote

Hi fellas,
I'm planning on getting a Macbook Pro just for Omnispere 2 and some of Plug-in-gurus sound libraries for Omni 2. Does anyone with a Mac think that the sound card installed is good enough to get the best sound from those libraries? Im recording into a Zoom 24 and I don't know if I need an audio interface. What do you think?
Thanks Frank
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voip
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Joined: 27 Nov 2014
Posts: 3758

PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 12:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Macbook Pro should be fine, although a detailed spec wasn't given in the posting so not able to be definitive. 2.7GHz dual core plus 4 GB of RAM should give a useful working setup. More/faster would be better. A few of the Omnisphere 2 patches are processor hogs out of the box, but most aren't, and, in any case, they can be tweaked to reduce processing load; Spectrasonics make suggestions for the things that can be done.

Omnisphere 2 requires quite a bit of hard drive space (~50GB), plus an equal amount may be required for the install files.

A VST host is required to run Omnisphere, as it's not standalone.

The soundcard should be good enough for most purposes. Connect direct to the Zoom 24, or via a mixer if other sound sources are being used. Set the Macbook Pro output volume high, to the max, even, and set the Zoom 24 for line in with the usual level adjustments for fine tuning headroom and distortion. Ommnisphere's own sound engine can also be overloaded, especially when using multis comprised of patches that are intrinsically loud, in which case Omnisphere's individual patch volumes will need to be reduced to suit. All pretty intuitive stuff, though. Something like the Korg Kontrol 49 offers a handy interface as its controls can be mapped in Omnisphere to make patch volume and other adjustments easy during a performance.

An external USB soundcard could easily be added later, if needed.
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fjs714
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Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 398

PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi voip,
Thanks for responding. I just got off Ebay now looking at the Macs. The model was a 2012 13" i7 single core----16Gb Ram ---2 Tb SSD hard drive. I didn't know Omnisphere wasn't a standalone! What exactly is a VST? Do you mean something like Komplete?
Thanks frank
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voip
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Joined: 27 Nov 2014
Posts: 3758

PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Omnisphere is basically a VST plugin (Virtual Studio Technology - a Steinberg-defined specification for integrating software audio synthesisers with effects plugins, audio editors and recording hardware of software). Omnisphere requires a host to create the necessary software environment in which Omnisphere and other VSTs can run.

Older versions of Komplete will not support third party VSTs so won't work with Omnisphere; a newer version needs to be installed. Alternatives include Ableton Live, Cakewalk Sonar, and many others. There are also free hosts available; search the internet for free VST hosts. It is possible to have a number of different hosts installed, each of which could be used to run Omnisphere. Omnisphere only needs to be installed once to be able to do this. Hosts will generally look for VSTs already present on the system during installation of the host.

For some useful background info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Studio_Technology

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SanderXpander
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Joined: 29 Jul 2011
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 12:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Most VST synths run as a standalone. But if you want better patch and controller management and perhaps later on add another synth or two it would be worth it to invest in MainStage which is cheap and was created for that purpose.
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 12:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

By the way I would definitely reserve some money for an interface. While you might be able to work with Omnisphere to your satisfaction this way it is entirely possible that the latency and sound quality will be too disappointing for you.
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fjs714
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Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 398

PostPosted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 1:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks guys
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