Spectrasonics Atmosphere

Atmosphere is a virtual synth that is pretty good and very easy to use and to install. The only problem that I see with it was the price. I feel like it was overpriced (at the time) but the price may have come down some since. But when it first came out years ago the price of it was just too high . When there are other vst’s on the market that are almost the same but cost even less.


SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I have been using Spectrasonics Atmosphere for years now as a vst (don’t think it can be used as a stand alone) and I havent had any issues yet. I still use it to this day and I purchased it years ago. I have had it on so many different machines and it worked perfect on all of them. Even the ones that are older and really outdated and slow. I have only used it in Fl Studio thinking about adding it to some of my other set ups though.


OVERALL OPINION

If you really take the time to get to Understand everything in Atmosphere (you will need the manual to do this!) then it can really be to your advantage in editing the sounds and parameters for each sound. You can really dig deep and just do some flat out cool stuff with it. It will allow you to bring out creativity that your fellow musicians may lack. But this virtual synth will cost you a pretty penny , which is the downside. I am happy that I purchased it though, but if I was on a tighter budget at the time I probably would have got it. Or if I tried it out before I spent the money I might not have got it because there are cheaper vsts that are almost the same. But hey if you want something good that will last you have to invest!

I didn't have any problems installing the Spectrasonics Atmosphere virtual synth as it was a pretty easy process overall.  I didn't have any issues at all including those related to compatibility.  The interface of the software is pretty easy to follow as the typical functions are easy to find and are easy to use.  It has all the options and features that you expect with synths including filters, LFOs, and amp, pitch, and filter envelopes.  It also has a variety of parameters around these sections so as you can see there is a lot going on.  If you are experienced with synths you will be able to figure out everything quite easily as everything is pretty common.  I haven't seen a manual for the Spectrasonics Atmosphere so I can't say if it would be helpful or not.


SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Thus far, I haven't ever had a problem running the Spectrasonics Atmosphere.  I've been running the software on a Mac Book Pro lap top that has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM.  I am able to run the software quite well on this system and I think that if you have something similar to this configuration you won't have any problems and can probably even get away with using this fine on systems with less processing power...


OVERALL OPINION

The Spectrasonics Atmosphere synth is quite a powerful piece of software and the sounds that are possible are quite varied.  This is a great sounding overall synth as the sounds are realistic and versatile.  The price of the Spectrasonics Atmosphere isn't all that cheap, but does fall in line with what a synth of this quality costs.  If you are looking to add a great virtual synth to your rig, Spectrasonics Atmosphere is one of the best out there that you can get.

Atmosphere comes with a MASIVE 3.7 gig library with more than 1000 patches to be mixed and matched to over 1 million combinations. Three envelopes per layer for Pitch, Filter and Amplitude are available for use in this fully programmable piece of software. I would definitely love to have more exotic flute and string presets included in the next version of Atmosphere. Just the term "Atmosphere" itself screams for more ethnic-influenced instruments/sounds ranging from dreamy sitars to chinese violins.

$375

I LOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVE Atmosphere because of it's large GUI and it's colors are easy on the eyes. hey it's blue for Christ's sake! Users don't have to worry about flipping through screen after screen or clicking on a million drop down menus to figure out out to program sounds of their own. I find that extremely attractive and a blessing for those of us who aren't quite at a doctorate's level on synth programming.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Sound quality is superb. Actually Atmosphere was the first VST that truly put the whole hardware vs. software sound quality to bed. As much as I love my Triton, I'd have to admit that the pads and strings in Atmosphere literally renders Korg's offerings obsolete. Also Atmosphere offers a number of bells, synth leads, and evolving landscapes which were programmed using popular synths such as the Juno8 and Access Virus.

It's software....hasn't crashed on me yet. I've used it on both MAC and PC without any error.

OVERALL OPINION

I'd marry this bytch if I could. I could literally produce an entire album with Atmosphere alone....oh with the help of Stylus Remix for drums/percussion of course. I basically threw away most of my othe VST's simply to spend more time learning how to program Atmosphere while discovering new and interesting sounds while layering patches. If you're into film scoring, synthy hip hop, and electronic music then Atmosphere is definitely for you. It's definitely money well spent especially since you get GREAT SOUNDING patches right out of the box. Many vst's force you to come up with hit sounds on your own. This is definitely not the case for Atmosphere. Hope you'll decide to buy because you'll definitely enjoy this great product. Oh and don't try downloading it bytches. It's worth every penny spent.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: OsamaPigLatin ( 6-, 2005)

This program installed without any problems. It did take a significant amount of time though. It has a pretty large sample library so that is to be expected. Registration was clear and easy, and so was the rest of the installation process. I did not have any compatibility issues in my installation. All the configuration to my system was automatic, Cubase found it easily. The manual is not that great, I found myself searching online sometimes to answer quick questions I had that I thought could have been answered by a more complete manual. Most things are covered though, and it is written clearly and plainly.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

My computer is a Dell with an Intel processor and 2 gigabytes of ram. I also use Cubase on Windows XP. It works very well in this configuration. It has a VST version so it will work with a lot of other PC computers. This program is not really all that CPU and memory heavy, so you can run it on a slower computer without much trouble. I myself have run three of them at a time with no trouble. This also makes me think that it's very stable. I think it only crashed one time, but my computer was a little on the fritz at the time, so it probably was no fault of Atmosphere.

OVERALL OPINION

I have been using this software for a couple years. I really love the great pads you can get from this software. So many songs can benefit from just a light touch of some of these sounds in the background to help support the music. Atmosphere really does that job well. There's a lot of variation you can get, or you can keep it simple. Atmosphere even offers two modes of controlling it - a keep it simple method with only a few controls, or the full hands-on mode with tons of things to edit about the sound. There is of course a great preset library to get you started. From light fluffy airy sounds, to dark gritty ones, you will be absolutely well covered for pads with this software. It's hard to think of anything wrong with this program, I've been very happy with it. It's a great value, I really wouldn't want to have to go without it. I would definitely get it again.