Predator vs Massive?

VST, AU, AAX, CLAP, etc. Plugin Virtual Instruments Discussion

Predator or Massive

Rob Papen Predator
25
37%
Native Instruments Massive
42
63%
 
Total votes: 67

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Massive Predator 3

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Lotuzia wrote:Btw imo a synth *doesnt go in a direction*, or *lends itself etc etc*. Its a machine, an instrument, it just does what humans want, not the opposite.
That is nonsense... Different synths have different sonic characteristics... Or what, you now claim that all filters sound the same?

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Lotuzia wrote: Well what you said first was : " As I said, you cannot directly modulate a parameter via Modwheel, Pitch wheel, Breath or Expression in Massive. .....If you like to play in realtime with a keyboard, then it is a big hassle. .......I mention it when Massive comes up because it never occurred to me that you could not directly assign Modwheel to cutoff "

So provided you used the trick I mentioned you can assign mod wheel to cut off in a flash, especially when you design your own presets from scratch.
I said you cannot directly modulate a parameter via Modwheel. This is a fact.

And I also mention the 'trick' which is obvious and I have known of for years. And I explained why it is problematic. Lots of people do not design all their own presets from scratch. Lots of people use presets and/or modify existing ones. Existing presets already have various parameters assigned to the macros, so there is not an empty macro that one can just use 'in a flash'. I also explained a number of specific situations where it is problematic and causes unnecessary work simply because NI couldn't be bothered to put in the basic modulation sources that most synths have.

If you are happy using it, fine. Lots of people are.

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Curious re: envelope opinions.
I do feel more control with Massive; can get snappier.
Is this just visual placebo?
Filter isn't as nice though
..what goes around comes around..

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I voted for Native Instruments Massive
Image

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Both are great - I have Predator as a Reason rack extension that opens up a wealth of control and tweaking possibilities for many parameters by using Reason's rich automation capabilities that are "hardwired" into the Predator rack extension itself (e.g., by right-clicking on a particular knob). And that's in addition to what you can do when you flip Predator over in the rack to reveal its cabling and input/output options!

So to the extent that some commenters feel that Predator's control/automation possibilities are limited either standalone or as a VSTi plugin, they may want to consider using Predator in Reason as a rack extension.

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pdxindy wrote:
Lotuzia wrote:Btw imo a synth *doesnt go in a direction*, or *lends itself etc etc*. Its a machine, an instrument, it just does what humans want, not the opposite.
That is nonsense... Different synths have different sonic characteristics... Or what, you now claim that all filters sound the same?
Hmmm I think I lost you ( or maybe you lost me ... dunno )

All I said is that you can make Massive sound smooth, lush, soft and expressive and I provided around 10 mn of audio demos of presets in isolation to try to underline this etc etc

Never did I say that all filters sound the same. I think the confusion is between the character of a preset, and the unique character of a synthesizer. These are quite different things, even if they are in some way related. :shrug:
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Lotuzia wrote:I think the confusion is between the character of a preset, and the unique character of a synthesizer. These are quite different things, even if they are in some way related. :shrug:
Exactly my thoughts too. Presets in Massive are harsh, but they are made this way. This is how the opinion about the synth character went into the masses.

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Massive doesn't have a built in vocoder -1

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I own licence for Massive and only tested Predator. i Prefer predator i newer get Warm Massive sound. why i own Massive? becouse comes with Komplete...

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btw, those interested in Predator, Blue 2 has the same audio engine. And they cost the same price.

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I think Predator has different filters at least bur i check. and i have own licence for Blur 2.

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JPQ wrote:I think Predator has different filters at least bur i check. and i have own licence for Blur 2.
Don't know about the filters. I have Blue 2 and really like it. But there are still some work toward the quality would be appreciated. One of them is making more accurate audio precision up to one sample. it's not important for pad sounds, but it would be useful for basses and leads. Not sure if they consider these thoughts though, as they concern about the subsequent increase in CPU load.

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Some of the perception of Massive as harsh/metallic sounding may come from the fact that it's a wavetable scanning synth and many of the wavetables are rather edgy-sounding. It can get pretty nasty fast if you let it. You do have to take care which wavetables you combine, what indexes/position modulation you specify, and how you use the filters to tame excessive overtones. The same can be said of the PPG Wave, Waldorf Microwaves/Blofeld, etc. I noticed the Virus TI seemed more forgiving, but its wavetables seemed to be a tad less on the aggressive side mostly and it has a somewhat more subdued-sounding top end in general (granted, I'm going from memory - it was five or six years ago when I had a TI).

I played around a bit with some resynthesized Massive wavetables in Zebra at some point. The results with Zebra's very different-sounding filters (well, different-sounding engine period) were rather nice. Same thing with the PPG waveforms - patches came out sounding somewhat PPG-like, but Zebra's engine put a new spin on it.
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Vectorman wrote:Some of the perception of Massive as harsh/metallic sounding may come from the fact that it's a wavetable scanning synth and many of the wavetables are rather edgy-sounding. It can get pretty nasty fast if you let it. You do have to take care which wavetables you combine, what indexes/position modulation you specify, and how you use the filters to tame excessive overtones. The same can be said of the PPG Wave, Waldorf Microwaves/Blofeld, etc. I noticed the Virus TI seemed more forgiving, but its wavetables seemed to be a tad less on the aggressive side mostly and it has a somewhat more subdued-sounding top end in general (granted, I'm going from memory - it was five or six years ago when I had a TI).

I played around a bit with some resynthesized Massive wavetables in Zebra at some point. The results with Zebra's very different-sounding filters (well, different-sounding engine period) were rather nice. Same thing with the PPG waveforms - patches came out sounding somewhat PPG-like, but Zebra's engine put a new spin on it.
Ho Vectorman! Nice post. How did you resynthesized Massive wavetables in Zebra?

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