Massive demo?

[jivamukti]

Massive crashes Live 5.02 when the demo times out and I delete that instance and I try to load a new one in the same project.

[meister eder]

Now that's interesting... definitely not how it's explained in the manual (or in any of the pre-release documentation I read).

Would you maybe bring this to the attention of the devs? I'd really be curious if this is the intended way it should work and they just thought it's too compicated to explain in the documentation, or if this is somehow 'slipped in' while designing the EQ...

[meister eder]

Massive crashes Live 5.02 when the demo times out and I delete that instance and I try to load a new one in the same project.

Why run 5.02? You can download the free update to 5.1 from the Ableton site. If you don't need Universal Binary (for Intel Mac), even the update to 5.2 is free.

[contrast]

-- Low shelf in center position menas Mid band is flat.
-- Low shelf turned to the left means Mid band becomes a Notch if you want so, or in other words, the Low Shelf knob sets the negative gain for the Mid band Peak at the same time.
-- Low Shelf turned to the right at the same time sets the positive gain of the Mid band Peak.

This can't be totally right because, if you load a blank patch and go tweak the boost control, you hear a difference in the sound (and in this case low shelf is centered which from your description seems to mean that there should be no difference).

Then, you can sweep the frequency control and hear it move, again leaving low shelf centered.

I just double checked this with the latest version and it seems to still work the same way.

Are you seeing different behavior than this??

(btw nice to see they fixed the doubleclick low shelf bug and it now centers instead of going hard left, that one was bugging me )

[Radek]

You think Sylenth is comparable to Massive? Feature-wise they are in completely different leagues.

Of course not - I wasn't thinking that.

However Sylenth will give you quality basses, leads, pads and other synth type sounds at fraction of Massive cpu utilisation. At lower price too and the same goes for Komplexer.

It's not saying Massive is bad or whatever but it's clear it's rather a specialized type of synth. For an usual synth uses it's an overkill imho both in functionality and cpu utilization.

[meister eder]

This can't be totally right because, if you load a blank patch and go tweak the boost control, you hear a difference in the sound (and in this case low shelf is centered which from your description seems to mean that there should be no difference).

Then, you can sweep the frequency control and hear it move, again leaving low shelf centered.

Is the sound change while sweeping very obvious or just very subtle (and thus maybe placebo)? Not that I want to insinuate that you hear the grass growing [can one say that in English?], but on my first tests on this I also thought I could hear some very very subtle changes. With the analyzer on it turned out it was placebo what I 'heard'. There is absolutely no change to the frequency spectrum when the Low Shelf knob is at center position.
This is with the standalone and AU version on OSX (PPC) in demo mode.

[contrast]

No, I tried it with boost all the way up and all the way down, and of course with such settings it was very, very obvious and clearly worked correctly.

I am on a PC, maybe this is an issue with the Mac version only?

[jivamukti]

Ok after initial tests I can say Massive sounds good. The sound reminds me of Sytrus. The phase mod (I'd like to have another mod osc) and wavetable mods alone can create a great variety of timbres. FM-like (with phase mod), glassy, cutting and aggressive sounds are a piece of cake. Two or even one osc and a two-voice unison make big leads. The GUI is great and quick to learn.

I think the performer is too restrictive. You can't draw a slope over multiple steps. I couldn't also (yet?) manage to get it sound as analog as I'd have liked to. I'd love to have a kind of digital-analog hybrid sound, warmth with digital timbral flexibility. Well that may not have been on NI's mind when they made the synth.

Of the presets Acid Bass, Emeralds and Fleischmuetze had IMO a typical Massive sound.

I have Absynth, Reaktor, Sytrus and a couple of VAs, and to find out whether M would make a difference in my sonic arsenal I've got to play more with the demo.

[meister eder]

I am on a PC, maybe this is an issue with the Mac version only?

Must be.

Still, if it is a 'bug' in the Mac version, it is a quite complex one, turning the Boost knob into a Width (Q) knob....

[jivamukti]

You think Sylenth is comparable to Massive? Feature-wise they are in completely different leagues.

Of course not - I wasn't thinking that.

However Sylenth will give you quality basses, leads, pads and other synth type sounds at fraction of Massive cpu utilisation. At lower price too and the same goes for Komplexer.

It's not saying Massive is bad or whatever but it's clear it's rather a specialized type of synth. For an usual synth uses it's an overkill imho both in functionality and cpu utilization.

Yeah it's not a bread and butter synth. And we don't really need more basic VAs, do we? I like the way you can twist and push the envelope on the average VA sounds with Massive and so I don't see it as a "specialized type of synth". Well, to each his own. That said, the CPU load is high, as in Reaktor and Absynth.

[acid1]

I think the performer is too restrictive. You can't draw a slope over multiple steps.

That was my only gripe as well, however I doubt the 30 minute limitation demo gave me enough time to really play with it.

I love it so far

[meister eder]

I am on a PC, maybe this is an issue with the Mac version only?

Must be.
Still, if it is a 'bug' in the Mac version, it is a quite complex one, turning the Boost knob into a Width (Q) knob....

Just got confirmation from a fellow Mac user, that on his Mac too the EQ in Massive works like I described.

[John Vulich]

I'm just not a big fan of Wavetable synths like the PPG, Malström and Massive. I find that I can get much more interesting sounds from Wavesequencing/Vector synths like Wavestation and Xphraze. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the waves, that are scanned in a wavetable, are generally closely related to each other and don't lend themselves to very dramatic and varied tones. I'm sure that this is due to the fact that I compose Ambient music and I like long evolving sounds that I feel I can get easier from Wavesequencing. Oddly enough, the only Wavetable synth that I've ever found interesting is Surge. Not sure why though. Maybe because it allows for many different ways to modulate the Wavetables.

[needle]

I just finished playing with it and all I can say is... Massive? More like ASSive!

[TotcProductions]

Ok, finally Tried this for a little bit......Although, I must admit to only browsing through the included presets....I'm a bit dissapointed....well, not really dissapointed, just not as impressed as I anticipated being. I don't think there's much soundwise I couldn't do already with a few of my workhorse synths.

Will dive into designing sounds myself though, and see if that changes my mind........