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

[pdxindy]

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.

The lack of a live representation in the envelopes seems like an intended feature not yet there.

The lack of MPE is not half baked. NI doesn't prioritize traditional live expressive playing and new developments like MPE. I have no expectation that 3 years from now MX will support MPE or Breath Controller or Expression Pedal. These things not being there doesn't make MX half baked because NI may well have no plan to ever bake them in.

[JoeCat]

But the GUI. Why one filter? So unintuitive. It's kind of a frankenstein of a synth.

Load Utility module into A/B/C and you have 3 extra (dual) filters.

Missed this!

Back to one of my favorite (boring for others, big for me) features - being able to bypass the filter for the dedicated noise osc - means you can have a separate modulatable filter for noise. Not needed anything fancy, this is perfect for breathy sounds in leads, drifty lo-fi noise, etc.

Gonna be a long weekend

[Elektronisch]

Im surprised some people here say its a halfbaked synth. Its very stable and works well. Kind of like Dune 2 was, it was good but it had some things it was missing. Same with Massive X, it does lack in some inportant areas but itself its stable and works well.

Only thing i dont understand having a restriction for pitch to be only modulated by 1 modulator. Thats a strange one.

[Vortifex]

FWIW, I listened to a good demo of this synth played by somebody who can play rings around me. Here's my 2 cents for whatever they're worth.

There are so many synths available now that it's pretty much almost all down to flavour and user experience/preference. It's hard to think what kind of new 'game changers' are possible at this point, beyond slightly better quality versions of things that already exist.

[pdxindy]

But the GUI. Why one filter? So unintuitive. It's kind of a frankenstein of a synth.

Load Utility module into A/B/C and you have 3 extra (dual) filters.

Missed this!

There's no resonance on those filters though...

[jsp1979]

I'm definitely looking forward to the manual. Still quite a few knobs and what not that have me puzzled.

[JoeCat]

FWIW, I listened to a good demo of this synth played by somebody who can play rings around me. Here's my 2 cents for whatever they're worth....

...So you might be ready to ask, "Why can't you make music with THIS synth?"

Well, I could. Absolutely. But, and this is where I finally stopped falling into this trap, when you take these synths with a sound that's bigger than life, and try to fit them into a track of music, well, you end up having to EQ the hell out of them so that they DO fit. Otherwise, they drown everything else out. All that low end on pads? You know that has to go, thinned out to almost nothing so that it doesn't drown out the vocals.

So I don't need another synth that sounds bigger than life to make music where I only end up destroying half the sound just to make it fit in the mix. I have plenty of them already. And my days of sitting and twiddling knobs and listening to the sound of a synth just for the sake of it are long gone.

That's why I personally don't need Massive X, though I have to admit it sounds wonderful.

I get this. I'm working on library / production music, a lot of tracks ambient / minimal based off of one unique sound /idea. So noodling to a patch forms the bulk of the track, with a few other instruments built around it. So this, Factory, Pigments - perfect.

But when I produce with my band and need patches, its bread/buttef from Monark, Repro 1/5, Operator for FM, etc. Where I've used some more interesting patches from synths like Kontour, it's often been lost in the mix.

OT, but even after all these years I'm still appreciating what more traditional keyboards Wurli/Rhodes can do for a track. I've often noodled my way to a keyboard patch only to replace it with some Wurli emu. Cannot be velocity sensitive distortion to cut through a mix! And I've replaced a number of pads with B3/Leslie emus and called it a day. Also, I choose a Mellotron (with a skinny tech) for the desert island.

[JoeCat]

But the GUI. Why one filter? So unintuitive. It's kind of a frankenstein of a synth.

...
Load Utility module into A/B/C and you have 3 extra (dual) filters.

Missed this!

There's no resonance on those filters though...

True but fine (for me) for working with noise or making a separate pluck out of one of the oscs, etc.

[Stefken]

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?

Why is it so hard to think that someone can just be convinced of something? ED also had lots of praise for all u-he products, and, apart from being a beta tester (one of many) I don't think he's in any other way affiliated with them.

Should one have to justify for liking a plugin? I don't think so.

when you cant argue with the information you attack the individual.

Funny.
I raised the same question today because ED talks like a NI salesman. If I'm correctly informed he does Kontakt scripting and is probably on their payroll as well.
Hardly objective and it shows ...

[pdxindy]

Testing out the demo some more...

There is no numerical readout for parameters. Is there a way to determine the value of a parameter?

No mousewheel support.

[Stefken]

But the GUI. Why one filter? So unintuitive. It's kind of a frankenstein of a synth.

Load Utility module into A/B/C and you have 3 extra (dual) filters.

Missed this!

There's no resonance on those filters though...

I find it a strange omission in a synth with that many features. My guess is they did it for performance. Monark takes quite some juice and if you used 2, people would complain that it takes too much cpu.

[vurt]

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?

Why is it so hard to think that someone can just be convinced of something? ED also had lots of praise for all u-he products, and, apart from being a beta tester (one of many) I don't think he's in any other way affiliated with them.

Should one have to justify for liking a plugin? I don't think so.

when you cant argue with the information you attack the individual.

Funny.
I raised the same question today because ED talks like a NI salesman. If I'm correctly informed he does Kontakt scripting and is probably on their payroll as well.
Hardly objective and it shows ...

ok, what has he said that is actually wrong?as far as i can see, hes answering queries, having had the synth as a beta tester (whether or not he has any other connections to ni is irrelevant to my post here) means he has a little insight into its idiosyncrasies.

again, if you have an issue with anything hes actually said, that's different

[Daru925]

Drag and drop works as copy paste for performers. My apologies

[vurt]

ps: i have no affiliations with any company.

but will accept free cars n shit

[chk071]

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?

Why is it so hard to think that someone can just be convinced of something? ED also had lots of praise for all u-he products, and, apart from being a beta tester (one of many) I don't think he's in any other way affiliated with them.

Should one have to justify for liking a plugin? I don't think so.

when you cant argue with the information you attack the individual.

Funny.
I raised the same question today because ED talks like a NI salesman. If I'm correctly informed he does Kontakt scripting and is probably on their payroll as well.
Hardly objective and it shows ...

So what? He's allowed to have a opinion just like anyone else. This "shill" thing is a paranoid construction, nothing real.

And even i, with my limited knowledge, can say that this aliasing thing is most probably incorrect. Aliasing happens in the higher registers. The sine wave in Massive X produces harmonics over the whole note range. Can't be aliasing, AFAIC. Maybe there's some on top of that, when you go up the frequency. As far as i understood it, every digital synth aliases.