Review: Traveller by Triple Spiral Audio

Inspired by Kerouac and the open road, the sounds of Traveller are full of movement and character, sporting a very avant-garde approach to cinematic sound design.

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Review: Traveller by Triple Spiral Audio

Triple Spiral Audio’s Traveller is one of the first Omnisphere soundsets to utilize the new features of Omnisphere 2.5. With names such as Sigur Rós, Vangelis, Boards of Canada and Ramin Djawadi cited as inspirations, Traveller has a very modern approach to its sound design that blends analog synths with organic soundsources using Omnisphere’s powerful modulation abilities. Hence the name, Traveller focuses on sounds with lots of movement. This tendency makes some patches a bit overly complex at times, but also results in some very unique and inspiring effects that might make you want to come back for more.

Traveller sells for €44.95 from Triple Spiral Audio

Thoughts

Traveller brings new presets in the following categories: ARP/BPM, Guitars, Hits, Hybrid Organic, Keyboards, Pads/Strings, Synth Bass, Synth Mono, Synth Poly, Textures Playable, and Soundscapes – what I would argue are the “key” categories.

It’s easy to tell why the library is called Traveller – nearly every sound has loads of complex modulation to add movement and interest throughout. Holding the keys down, even on short patches like keyboards, usually reveals a long tail of elements floating about. This can be a double edged sword – for me, I generally prefer more playable instruments that aren’t overcrowded with delays, filter sweeps, etc. But I recognize the usefulness of more complex sounds as well. The problem is that unless you are doing really experimental/avant garde music, it can be really hard to bring some of these sounds into an existing mix, unless you strip them down a bit – which is a much easier task than creating your own complexities. I feel that the “Synth Bass” categories is less guilty of over-layering than the others. Some of this might be due to the idea of using all four layers in every single patch. I think some categories, such as keyboards, are more conducive to fewer layers.

On the other hand, there is some truly awesome and unique sound design going on thanks to the complex layers in many cases. I think the Soundscapes category is the strongest overall. As I said before, it’s definitely easier to turn off layers that you don’t like than it is to create your own sound design from scratch – so the optimistic way of looking at it (if you share my views) is that you have plenty of good starting points to easily strip down to your liking. If swirling and moving sound design is your thing, then there’s no way you’ll be disappointed with Traveler. I can undoubtedly say that this soundset is a gold mine for modern and aleatoric soundscapes that break the more traditional molds.

Favorite Patches:

KEY – Dropping: A cool hybrid keys sound with an interesting timbre and lots of delay. It’s great for sparse melodies and a modern, cinematic sound. The combination of a darker tone and spacious delays and reverb give it an excellent sound for solo parts.

BPM ARP – Sharply: A quick and punchy synth arp that really cuts through a mix with a hard attack and high frequencies. This can easily be toned down a bit with envelope shaping and EQ to be more of a subtle synth as well. It does well to add a kind of manic movement and rhythm to whatever you use it in.

BPM ARP – Take it Away: This one is a very analog acid-bass sounding pulse with interesting modulation on filters that give it a little bit of that “talking” effect you hear in electronic music. It has plenty of character, but not so much going on that it’s unusable in a mix. It makes for a good retro-inspired bass rhythmic pulse.

GTR – Ghost Tower: This guitar patch is pretty far removed from being a guitar, but it has a sort of bell-esque (think big bell tower) attack with a very distorted and creepy drone tail. It sounds huge and spacious, and the textures in the drone are very rich and full. It’s tonal enough to play a slow melody on, but the textures alone could make for a great tension soundscape.

SC – Hiding Place: The entire Soundscapes section is fantastic, but this one stands out to me as the perfect “one key” suspense/tension generator. A very low and rumbly drone fills out the bottom end while some distant filter movement adds very subtle movement to the background. This patch made me want to go play the games “Limbo” or “Inside”.

Facts

Omnisphere Traveller contains 200 presets and 50 multis for Omnisphere 2.5, utilizing soundsources from Omnisphere 2. All patches use all four layers made newly available from Omnisphere’s 2.5 update.

Traveller is available at https://www.triplespiralaudio.com/product/traveller-omnisphere-2-5-soundset/ for €37.95.

Traveller sells for €44.95 from Triple Spiral Audio

Demos of Traveller by Triple Spiral Audio

Videos of Traveller by Triple Spiral Audio