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

[Functional]

What’s funny is, if this were a hardware synth, they’d be pooping their pants over it over at GearSlutz. I guarantee it. And I make that guarantee with absolutely no way of ever getting called out on it.

And when you tell them that wouldn't it be cool if you had this as software instead and they'd be like "DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH CPU THAT* WOULD TAKE?"

*non-linear DSP to emulate that "analog sound"

[realtrance]

Time to fix the lightbulb.

[realtrance]

If it doesn’t ring it ain’t my thing.

[realtrance]

Still?!

hello dave.

Uh oh.

[Functional]

If it doesn’t ring it ain’t my thing.

put a ringmod on it

[vurt]

Still?!

hello dave.

Uh oh.

im afraid i cant do that dave.

[bartoszkwiecinski]

Is Massive X NKS ready?

Of course, it's a NI product, it's going to be NKS ready.



Mate! Thanks for all this support here!

[ew]

Yes, if I remember correctly, Absynth was a project that was developed by someone else and that they picked up. Also the reason why there will never be a followup on Absynth.

Ah- I wouldn't necessarily say that. Brian's still around, and he still works for NI. He was hired by them after they picked it up.

I follow the analysis that they spent too much time in Kontakt and Reaktorland and lost touch with vst development.

Quite the opposite. Back in 2010, they were actually thinking of stopping Reaktor development. Fortunately, they reconsidered.

ew

[Stefken]

Back in 2010, they were actually thinking of stopping Reaktor development. Fortunately, they reconsidered.

Well, they reconsidered and we are now 9 years later.
That's a long time in softwareland.

[c1c2]

Well, after spending some more time with the beautiful beast: There is some really heavy distortion going on in some patches, Wish I could control that...

[agharta]

Do you guys think there's any chance NI might allow it to be run on non-AVX systems.
I mean, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be happy to take the hit rather than be without the VI altogether.

I very much doubt that they took the decision to mandate AVX lightly which would mean that they must have integrated it deeply into the code meaning there is no easy way back.
On top of that when you see how unfinished this software seems to be they have other priorities.
Time to move on if you have old hardware.

[Stefken]

Still?!

hello dave.

Uh oh.

im afraid i cant do that dave.

Still having the quirks of the old model huh?

[ghettosynth]

Yes, if I remember correctly, Absynth was a project that was developed by someone else and that they picked up. Also the reason why there will never be a followup on Absynth.

Ah- I wouldn't necessarily say that. Brian's still around, and he still works for NI. He was hired by them after they picked it up.

I follow the analysis that they spent too much time in Kontakt and Reaktorland and lost touch with vst development.

Quite the opposite. Back in 2010, they were actually thinking of stopping Reaktor development. Fortunately, they reconsidered.

ew

Do you mean developing Reaktor further? I think that what Sefken meant was that for the last decade or so that all of their instrument products have been Reaktor or Kontakt based. That they almost gave up on the product in 2010 doesn't change that fact.

Wasn't the original Massive their last new native synth/instrument plugin?

[DavidCarlyon]

Going into my evaluation with he highest amount of scepticism, being extremely critical, looking for something to really dislike, and being one of those that do believe that the aliasing could be a problem when leveraging modulations, I can only say that I produced some of the most amazing, unexpected sounds using MX that I wouldn’t even have thought of being able to do with my other synths (perhaps I should re-examine them more closely).

Lush, expansive, deep, powerful, dimensional. These are words I would use to describe the kinda of sounds possible barely scratching the surface of the synth. I couldn’t believe the depth to sounds I could easily come up with, often times shocked that I wasn’t using any delay, reverb or other effect. The comb filter is truly amazing. The routing engine is well thought out. As I was programming, I was struck by the stereo imaging. I was so immersed the sound.

So good.



Yes, I think the GUI is terrible. Yes, it feels absolutely unfinished to me.

Good, balanced post. I agree with everything here. Similar to my experience.

Agreed. This is actually the synth I was looking for when I bought a Peak. I was hoping for something really juicy and lush. Expansive. I feel like getting that sound out of Massive X is effortless. The Peak nearly went back to the store a number of times... but I found it’s true calling and decided it was worth keeping for that. Instead of juicy and lush, I got hard and confident. More suited to monophonic sounds and massive (pun not intended) unison bass and lead sounds. Massive X is like sunlight filtered though exotic forests and sci fi inspired cathedral windows. The Peak is like a laser light show that gets projected on top.

What’s funny is, if this were a hardware synth, they’d be pooping their pants over it over at GearSlutz. I guarantee it. And I make that guarantee with absolutely no way of ever getting called out on it.

I hear you on the Peak. I actually really liked it when i tried one out...but it seemed more the pristine and crystal clear type from my limited (though much enjoyed) play on one. I actually think novation did a great job on that one.
But it does also make you realise how good software is now. Massive has a hell of a range. I have just been getting beautiful pads out of this thing. Only today did i try and do some basses with it - man the unison (and entire voicing section) is incredible. Plus the distortion effects are top notch (love the folder)
All in all it is a great time to make music. I am still utterly thrilled with Hive 2 and Dune 3 - both of which haven't been out long. I don't see Massive as being a mile ahead of them, it just has it's own character.

One trend i really like at the moment is that recent synths have been a bit more idiosyncratic - which makes them feel like individual instruments in their own right. The west coast influence is also making synths really fun to program, with the ability to make unique sounds with interesting movement with ease.

[yehboy1]

My colleagues and I just conducted a double blind placebo-controlled study and have concluded that Massive X is indeed a synthesizer.