The ARP OMNI is not just a synth, it's more of a predecessor to modern day performance keyboards with its 3 distinct sound engines: Strings, Synth, and Bass. It's string engine utilizes a divide-down tone generator that technically gives it unlimited polyphony. Its classic string sounds will be instantly recognizable to any fans of Joy Division, The Cars, or Kraftwerk. One might even say that the OMNI's string engine played a big part in establishing the sound of New Wave. A "hollow" waveform mode gives the strings a more synth-like touch. In either mode, OMNI's strings are lush and beautiful sounding, especially when combined with a long reverb or even a phaser (for that classic Jean Michel Jarre string sound).

The string section features Bass, Cello, Viola, and Violin registers.

Its synth is a simple single-oscillator design with a single envelope generator, a warm sounding ARP low-pass filter, and single LFO. This synth is capable of some quirky and musical sounds and serves as a great complement to the String and Bass engines. It doesn't boast all that much low-end and its strength really sits in the middle register.

The bass engine is somewhat of a hidden gem as it pulls off a surprisingly convincing electric bass that's both punchy and warm sounding and mixes well with the built-in synth. Sitting in the mix, this bass provides some serious low-end without being overly in-your-face. Both the 16' and 8' octaves can be mixed for an extra chunky octaver-style effect.

To get the cleanest possible tone out of this pristine ARP OMNI, I recorded it using a DIYRE FE2 DI Box with CineMag transformer, high-end Rheingold Music cables, and Antelope Audio converters. The instrument's self noise has been reduced using subtle AI-assisted spectral de-noising to make sure these sounds will still sound very clean when being heavily processed. To allow for ideal sustain behavior, the string samples are looped within at least 3 full waveform cycles.