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

[EnGee]

What I liked most is that I didn't need to midi learn my 8 knobs on the nektar impact to trigger the macros! I did that for Massive, but for the 'X' I didn't, so maybe it read the previous info!

Anyway, why people don't play with the macros knobs?! Play with wavetables/modulators/filters and see if you like the character! I mean I can spend one hour with just one preset playing around and get different results! It's a synth, right? Yes, there are few presets compared with the old trusty Massive, but they are coming I hope

[pepelogu]

Do some audio-rate modulations and Gorilla or ART wavetable mode. Absolutely not soft then

Are you an official NI spokesperson? Why are you so keen to promote MX otherwise?

[mladi]

I don't checked the Sadowick video because i don't like to be clickbaited, sorry but only to look at this nonsense title alone should be enough to keep every serious user with a bit of experience away from this sort of reviews.

Anyway, i played around with a few beautiful "BoardsOfCanada " styled presets and this thing is very deeeeeeep and surely it will stand the test of time. I also can't say i dislike the GUI. All in all i'm glad i bought the Komplet12 upgrade in the sale to have it now.

[Rivanni]

This is not to say that MPE couldn't be added in an update down the road.

The list of things that could be added in an update is getting quite long now; too long.
Even you have to admit (I know, you won't) that Massive X is a half baked product at the moment.

[EvilDragon]

I wouldn't call it half-baked (especially not sound-wise - and that's the most important part). The original Massive also received various features in its development cycle, v1.0 wasn't the end all be all. That there are certain features missing, that's fairly evident. We all have features we'd like to see in there (mine would be global pitch bend ranges across all presets, MPE, improved preset browser with tags).

[mladi]

I wouldn't call it half-baked (especially not sound-wise - and that's the most important part). The original Massive also received various features in its development cycle, v1.0 wasn't the end all be all. That there are certain features missing, that's fairly evident. We all have features we'd like to see in there (mine would be global pitch bend ranges across all presets, MPE, improved preset browser with tags).

True and even if everything isn't perfect atm at least we all know that NI will deliver and not suddenly disappear.

[ramseysounds]

A new synth that people have had for 10 minutes and already so many positive and negative comments. Just my opinion.

[digitalboytn]

This is not to say that MPE couldn't be added in an update down the road.

The list of things that could be added in an update is getting quite long now; too long.
Even you have to admit (I know, you won't) that Massive X is a half baked product at the moment.

This is what I said earlier...

NI had to save face and release it by the new deadline, but it looks like it should have stayed in the oven a bit longer...

But when you have the customers lining up,salivating in anticipation,you have to open the doors and let 'em in...

But alas,there is often more pleasure to be found in the eagar expectation,than the actuality of realisation

[monomaker]

Sad to see it released with no support for microtuning, as useful as a chocolate teapot to me and a growing number of users.

Even Arturia managed to support it in the Pigments update, which leaves NI as one of the only major companies to ignore it.

[Rivanni]

A new synth that people have had for 10 minutes and already so many positive and negative comments. Just my opinion.

You mean several hours? Many started using Massive X yesterday.
After demoing for hours I can say it has positive and negative aspects. For now there are too many negative aspects for me. This might be different after a year or so. I will see.

[pixel85]

This is not to say that MPE couldn't be added in an update down the road.

The list of things that could be added in an update is getting quite long now; too long.
Even you have to admit (I know, you won't) that Massive X is a half baked product at the moment.

Well, for some people glass is half empty and for others is half full. From my perspective MX do all what I wanted and expected from it except 1 small bug which I already reported. Do I also must admit that MX is half baked in such case?

[JoeCat]

Does feel a bit rushed - I think we'll see an update in the coming weeks that will already address some of the missing pieces (for me, missing shift-fine control on the knobs would be #1).

Try right button dragging on the knobs.

This is the aliasing that I observe, and it is at -134 dB. You can do this yourself, I'm not going to record a video but ED is right, the distortion at low frequencies does not fold back. In fact, if you roll back the filter at low frequencies these (aliasing) frequencies appear (at the same -134 dB level). At higher frequencies the osc filter frequency has no impact on the aliasing that you see here....

And here's with the filter open. Note, there is distortion of the sin wave, but that is not aliasing and the aliased component is now much much lower...

Went to bed, questions answered. Thanks, gents!

Also, to paraphrase Calamity Jane in Deadwood, "Question I wake to in the morning and pass out with at night: Will Wags be purchasing this synth?" has also been answered.

[SLiC]

MX is a perfectly good synth, it just had a lot of expectation build up with the long delay and also the release of Pigments at 69 bucks may make this one far from a no-brainer for many people who dont have Komplete. If you do have Komplete (as I do) its a nice addition and I am sure it will have plenty of updates to address the many user requests (most of mine have already been mentioned).

That said, Avenger, Pigments Icarus (2 coming) etc will all also be updated so it may never catch up in all respects and it certainly didn't come out and change the game as many thought (hoped) it might...

[whyterabbyt]

Pigments at 69 bucks

where?

[quincy]

Well here's my two cents (for anyone that gives a crap) after a 10 minute browse of presets and a quick tour of the interface...

It sounds great and the CPU is much lower than I might have expected on my 6 year-old i5 MacBook Pro. The interface is certainly complex but there's a huge amount of features and you would expect a learning curve for such a complex synth. To my ears it certainly sounds quite "digital" but that isn't a bad thing - there's more than enough analogue emulations around. It looks like they may have rushed it out a bit to meet the already-extended release date but give it a few months and they'll probably iron out a few issues and add some features.

People have mentioned Pigments here as a competitor. I think that's fair but when I tried it the CPU was quite high and the interface was laggy. It also had a distinctly different "tone" and that can only be a good thing - it's good to have choice and personally I'm glad that all the synths on the market don't sound the same.

I got a total bargain on Komplete 11 in the marketplace forum so Komplete 12 has only ended up costing me about £200 in total so I'm very happy. I've got more new toys than I can cope with!