Review: Omnisphere Aira by Sonic Underworld

by Steven McDonald

Omnisphere Aira offers a small but well polished and focused sound set with distinct synthetic flavors. With well-known synth artists such as Vangelis and M83 being cited as inspirations, it’s no surprise that Aira’s connective tissue is an analog synth flavor with plenty of interesting modulation going on the background.

Jump to the Videos of Omnisphere Aira by Sonic Underworld

Jump to the Demos of Omnisphere Aira by Sonic Underworld

Review: Omnisphere Aira by Sonic Underworld

Omnisphere Aira is Sonic Underworld’s 2nd Omnisphere sound set. It is a much smaller offering than its big brother, Cygnia, but the size is well offset by price, polish, and focus. With well-known synth artists such as Vangelis and M83 being cited as inspirations, it’s no surprise that Aira’s connective tissue is an analog synth flavor with plenty of interesting modulation going on the background.

Omnisphere Aira sells for $35.00 from Sonic Underworld

Thoughts

Aira doesn’t cover as many categories as Cygnia, but it definitely covers the most essential and common ones you’d expect it to: ARP/BPM, Keyboards, Pads/Strings, Percussion Organic, Synth Bass, Synth Mono, Synth Poly, and Playable Textures.

Something I always think about in sound sets is the complexity of the patches – if they are all overly busy and complex, it can be hard to use the in a mix. If they are all very simple and bland, then there’s not much uniqueness or character. Aira does a good job of hitting both of those extremes with a good spectrum in between. I was a big fan of the keyboards section inCygnia, and the same goes for Aira – nice and simple and clean key sounds that don’t just sound like pianos and offer something unique.

If you’re into retro synths, there’s plenty of love in Aira for you as well. You’ll find a lot of that analog warmth and character across several of the patches, which helps the sound set to feel more unified. The Vangelis inspiration is definitely noticeable! Many of these sounds are very much enhanced by modulation via CC1 (modwheel) and CC2 (aftertouch). Imagine analog synths doing things that only Omnisphere can.

I’ll end my thoughts with a quick list of my 5 favorite patches and the reasons I liked them. Many of the reasons I’ll list here are applicable to several patches, so I think they’ll give a good overall summary of what Aira has to offer.

“Magic Reaktor” – A keyboard patch that keeps it simple for maximum usability. This one is mostly a sort of soft synth bell sound, but with a portamento synth flute layered subtly into the background. The flute is just audible enough to make melodies a little more interesting.

“Ninth Planet” – An ARP/BPM patch that turns your keyboard into an instant sci-fi generator. A simple enough synth arp with lots of space and delay that plays nicely with chords or single keys.

“A Dark Switch” – There are probably lots of patches like this on other synths, but I love the simplicity of a monophonic synth bass with plenty of sub. An added filter sweep that slowly moves in the background plus modwheel control of a Low-pass filter make this a lot of fun to play with.

“Goodbye Blue Sky” – Another highly analog synth flavored patch. This time it’s a pad that starts very dark and mellow, but gets incredibly bright and piercing with some modwheel movement. It’s definitely not a new concept, but this one is very clean and spacious and makes for some great evolving lush chords.

“Spaceports” – A playable texture with a very airy timbre. It definitely has a fundamental tone, so it’s useable for chords, but it works well atonally. There is some modulation going on that adds depth without being overly busy.

Facts

Omnisphere Aira contains 128 patches for Omnisphere 2 across several of its key categories including ARP/BPM, Pads/Strings, Synth Bass, Keyboards, and more. Its patches utilize CC1/Modwheel and CC2/Aftertouch for extra modulation.

Omnisphere Aira sells for $35.00 from Sonic Underworld