Loading sounds remotely can be very handy in live situations and with Omnisphere, you can do this using any MIDI controller. Since Omnisphere’s Browser is MIDI-Learnable, you can have as many Patches or Multis available to you at a gig as you need.
NOTE: Omnisphere has Progressive Loading, allowing you to start playing even while the sounds are still loading.
This section will cover how to load sounds remotely via MIDI using a variety of messages: Program Changes, Continuous Controllers (CC), and MIDI Note Learn.
MIDI Program Change — Allows Omnisphere’s sounds to be mapped to MIDI Program Change messages, just like those transmitted by dedicated Patch-selection buttons on keyboard controllers.
MIDI CC Learn — CC (Continuous Controller) messages are sent by a variety of hardware controllers (knobs, sliders, buttons, pedals, joysticks, etc.). Omnisphere’s sounds can be loaded or changed by any controller that transmits CC.
MIDI Note Learn — You can set it up to select specific sounds by pressing any key on your MIDI controller. Once it’s assigned, this key on your controller will not trigger a sound and be used to load one instead. You will need to be aware of which notes are used in order to avoid accidentally loading sounds. It is best to set these notes at the uppermost (or lowermost) ranges of the controller. If you have a separate external MIDI controller, such as the MIDI Fighter 3D from DJ TechTools, you can program its switches to send very low / high notes (out of the keyboard range) to control the Parts in Omnisphere.
Loading a Patch with MIDI Learn
1. Right-click on a Patch or Multi name in Omnisphere and select the type of MIDI message you want to assign from the MIDI Learn menu.
2. Next, send a program change, move a continuous controller or play a note (depending on the message selected in the previous step) on your controller. Omnisphere will display a brief message (“Learn Done”) above the Utility Menu.
3. You will see a MIDI icon displayed next to the sound name. This indicates that the Patch or Multi is now mapped to a MIDI message.
4. Right-click on the sound name and you’ll see the message type, value, and MIDI channel assigned to that sound.
Sorting
You can learn sounds across different categories and libraries using different kinds of MIDI messages, so in order to keep track of your setup it is useful to employ the “Sort” feature.
When sounds are sorted by “MIDI Learned” order, the MIDI-Learned sounds will move to the top and their assigned MIDI message will be displayed underneath their names.
Unlearning
If you wish to delete the MIDI Learn assignment for a specific sound, right-click on the name and select “Unlearn” from the menu.
The MIDI connector icon will be removed and the sound can then be assigned to another remote MIDI assignment.
Need more help with this?
Spectrasonics Customer Support
