Native Instruments Massive X Synth - Sequel to Massive (Out Now!)

[Stefken]

"MASSIVE X will grow, adapt, and evolve with regular free updates – both inspired by, and to inspire, the cultures it helps to create. "

This is a nice statement. Obviously it was rushed, but a third delay would have been commercial suicide (not mentioning making them a laughing stock). I think it bundles nicely with Hive. The UI, I'm afraid we're stuck with it for the most part. Some brushing up here and there but not as it should be.

[4damind]

Well, of course it's a matter of taste but compared to presets by pro sound designers they all fall way flat. IMO of course.

Anyway, i'm sure a lot of talented sound creators are already hard at work making actually usable sounds out of this thing.

Maybe some of the well known sound designers like Aiyn Zahev, Bigtone Studio, Ruta etc. would add a bit different character. I agree that most of the presets are bit experimental, so not the best for users searching for bread & butter sounds.

[Stefken]

I would also like to see what sounds Aiyn Zahev and Howard Scarr would bake with this synth.

I'm a bit surprised Zebra2 has barely been mentioned as the extensive routing is something that Zebra has been doing a long time already.

[EvilDragon]

I'm a bit surprised Zebra2 has barely been mentioned as the extensive routing is something that Zebra has been doing a long time already.

Without feedback between modules, though. Or even feeding back a module into itself (you can do that in MX).

[Sound Mechanics]

Well, after my first outing... it's complex but a grower, reasonably intuitive compared to other synths in this class... great wavetables (& reading modes) and filters (though expected).
The oscillator modulators and noise options are great for sound adjustments - so much potential!

My only gripes, which will probably get updated, are lack of visual envelopes that can be edited in the envelope screen itself - standard on most synths nowadays,
and dedicated presets page,
and an easy on/off info. button to give some information as you hover over parts of the interface.

Nice synth... another sound designers dream!

[recursive one]

I really like the unison, sounds great. Any reason why it's only global and there are only 6 voices though? I'd prefer it up to 9 and also avaiable for each oscillator before the filter.

Overall I really like the sound character, it has some of that depth and presense which I miss in some other popular synths (sorry for the vague words). I agree that the presets mostly sound quite unusual and experimental but they show that the synth must be really good for anything psytrance/psybient-related.

[PatchAdamz]

Nice synth... another sound designers dream.

Life is good....

[Fantasie]

sorry if it has already been answered somewhere, but I don't understand Mod 1 and 2 in the Routing area.
What are they for? Also, what is the white square on the left side of them?

[anomandaris1]

Ok sound and presets, but too CPU heavy for its own good. And it's takes too much hd space.
Original Massive on max quality internal settings and sample rate (set in the daw options) sounds as good (in most cases - not counting registers and resonance settings that are unusable musically), but uses way-way less CPU.

[EvilDragon]

sorry if it has already been answered somewhere, but I don't understand Mod 1 and 2 in the Routing area.
What are they for? Also, what is the white square on the left side of them?

Drag any of the modulators into the white square. Now you can patch modulators within the patchable areas.

[EvilDragon]

Ok sound and presets, but too CPU heavy for its own good. And it's takes too much hd space.
Original Massive on max quality internal settings and sample rate (set in the daw options) sounds as good (in most cases - not counting registers and resonance settings that are unusable musically), but uses way-way less CPU.

Well that's just not true. Massive at Ultra and all 64 voices going off takes way more CPU than MX with all 64 voices going off, over here at i7-6700K. Want screenshots?


This is with Massive X, "Matrix Rainfall" patch from Synth Pad category, with amp envelope release set to max, and smashing my MIDI controller to get all 64 voices going:




This is Massive with "Binary Dream" patch set to 64 voice unison, and enabling everything (noise, modulation osc doing everything, both inserts routed and bypass active:




They're both in the ballpark.

[frackermak]

some of these patches are slotting soooo nicely into my songs

[Fantasie]

sorry if it has already been answered somewhere, but I don't understand Mod 1 and 2 in the Routing area.
What are they for? Also, what is the white square on the left side of them?

Drag any of the modulators into the white square. Now you can patch modulators within the patchable areas.

Got it, thank you! Wow, really cool feature.

[ysengrin]

Well that's just not true. Massive at Ultra and all 64 voices going off takes way more CPU than MX with all 64 voices going off, over here at i7-6700K. Want screenshots?

For me the presets in Massive X are very CPU hungry. I just played a few presets and the utilization went up to 20-24%, so for my usecase it’s a huge increase.

[EvilDragon]

See screenshots I posted (edited my post). They're very much in the ballpark over here, with the same maxed out polyphony with all voices going out.


What's your CPU?