The Orb

Omni TR was designed to make the iPad the ideal control surface for Omnisphere’s innovative ORB. The ORB is both a remarkable sound manipulation tool and an intuitive performance interface—it can be thought of as a “circular controller.” With a single gesture, you can instantly manipulate a sound in a variety of ways. Best of all, the ORB works automatically with every Patch, even User Patches, so there’s no setup necessary.

The ORB is a fun and intuitive way of introducing movement and animation into the sound by simply moving the cursor with your finger. As the ORB moves around the concentric circles, it morphs between automatically generated parameter scenes in Omnisphere’s STEAM engine in a highly intelligent and musical manner—all Patch dependent—manipulating the sound in either subtle or radical ways appropriate to that particular Patch.

The ORB’s unique dynamic results are based on Radius and Angle controls. The Angle defines which scenes or sets of parameters it manipulates, and the Radius defines the intensity of those manipulations. The closer to the edges of the circle the cursor is moved, the more dramatic the changes will be. Moving the cursor to the center of the ORB or pressing the CLEAR button returns to the sound of the original Patch. The overall intensity of the sound modifications can be determined with the DEPTH slider.

If you don’t like what the ORB has created, a complete new set of manipulations can be chosen by simply pressing the DICE button, which instantly creates a brand new group of intelligent sonic modifications and effects with which to experiment. There’s no limit to how many serendipitous sonic variations the DICE can create-opening up the vast power of the STEAM engine to every user, regardless of their synthesis knowledge. For advanced synthesists seeking maximum flexibility, the ORB can also be setup manually and used as a modulation source in Omnisphere’s Mod Matrix.

The INERTIA controls of the ORB allow the creation of a “movement trail” after releasing the cursor, just like a ball might roll and bounce off the walls of a circular enclosure. It is also possible to record performance movements directly into the ORB and play the performance back in sync with the host. The ORB’s movements and sonic results are saved within the Patch, Multi, or the host’s session for later recall. The movement of the ORB can also be automated in the host. Each Part in Omnisphere has its own ORB, which means that multiple ORBs can manipulate different sounds simultaneously.