Massive X - the thread

[Functional]

I will leave this one here

Alright guys, I'm calling it: Massive X is kind of like the new litmus test. Except instead of determining how acidic or alkaline a liquid might be, it determines just how terrible the person reviewing it is.

To be fair, Sonic Sate, Music Radar etc- are all critical of the things mentioned. NI just screwed up, it was late, they rushed it out...they should have launched it as a preview or something with a lost of what will be added. I am sure they will fix it over time but right now I think most people are range from a bit disappointed to very disappointed....the more people loved the original Massive the more disappointed they seem to be!

Sonic State review:

I'm pretty sure that "Sonic Sate, Music Radar etc-" are not all critical about whenever notes are sustained when playing qwerty (like, I really doubt they give a damn, we have midi keyboards for that) or that you can't load Massive (a totally different synth!) presets into Massive X. And I'm also certain that none of them are looking at the UI and are like "yeah uninstall this, it looks like star bucks".

We're all critical here of many things about Massive X. I can bring up countless posts made by me and others where we criticize shortcomings of Massive X and only hope that they will be handled in future updates. That's not the point. The point is that somehow Massive X has managed to rustle jimmies of clueless people in particular up to the point where they just start whining about it in their YouTube channels in a very, spectacular way. I haven't actually seen it before with synths, that's a new thing. Before I've seen it with games though, many, many times. People being frustrated over not paying attention to things or just some utterly minor grievances (or not even realizing that maybe they don't belong to the target audience) and then making a whiny video about it.

Look at the sonicstate review for example. Why is it that he can point out these shortcomings without whining about them? Why can he make a well rounded video that actually showcases the cool stuff about Massive X as well, rather than just focus on the trivial features that every synth has? My guess is, because there's more professional integrity behind him than there is behind some of these other people.

[Functional]

Also, I loved the original Massive. I hated the Maschine MK1 that I got (and eventually got Massive for free with it). And now I love Massive X, far more than Massive. I can do things with Massive X that I could have never achieved with Massive X.

[recursive one]

too many areas that had a step down instead of up.

What areas exactly?

Imo, the sound quality/character is definitely not one of them.

[perpetual3]

I will leave this one here

Alright guys, I'm calling it: Massive X is kind of like the new litmus test. Except instead of determining how acidic or alkaline a liquid might be, it determines just how terrible the person reviewing it is.

To be fair, Sonic Sate, Music Radar etc- are all critical of the things mentioned. NI just screwed up, it was late, they rushed it out...they should have launched it as a preview or something with a lost of what will be added. I am sure they will fix it over time but right now I think most people are range from a bit disappointed to very disappointed....the more people loved the original Massive the more disappointed they seem to be!

Sonic State review:

Yes, the defense of MX is kind of mind boggling. I do think the sound is incredible, but lots of short comings.

[chk071]

too many areas that had a step down instead of up.

What areas exactly?

Imo, the sound quality/character is definitely not one of them.

Yep. I'd agree that the GUI is a step down, maybe the preset browser as well (although i never browse presets). What i also can understand is the lack of feedback for modulations and parameters values. That's something i would like as well. But then, the GUI would probably become "Massive-ly" crowded. Unless they build in a single display to show the active parameter. That would be an option.

[Stefken]

There are far more pertinent issues. Does your operating system have a browser? Why don’t you use that to create directories and organise things? Some DAWs even allow you to browse using their built in browser.

I tried making directories inside the user directory... MX doesn't see them

No, everything is like hardcoded. I tried to fool the noise sampler to add more samples but no. Any change you make on file level is not reflected.

[Functional]

what I was trying to get at earlier is: do you guys think Massive X shipped with a laughable browser on purpose in order to increase indirect hosting of this vst with either maschine or kk?

historically, most people had a problem with the idea of sub-hosts, are they trying to force it into the mainstream?

not saying it's aliens but... aliens, and all that.

...huh? You know, at least in Cubase you can just save the whole channel along with inserts and everything. I'm sure most hosts can do this and as such, the answer is that it's probably not that. Far more probably it is because the added functionalities in browser are probably down the priority list compared to other things. Which would you have rather first: a browser with categories and what not or midi learn? I can most definitively say midi learn

[PatchAdamz]

Here is an experiment in sound design.

This is a single preset done with Massive X.
It uses extensive controllers to allow live playing changes, some automated, some triggered.

As it plays, morphs, additions, subtractions of elements are done on the fly throughout.

This demonstrates the capability Massive X has to create unique, "outside the box" instruments with interesting controllers.

X-Game:

https://soundcloud.com/vintage-synth-pa ... -massive-x

Very interesting... Is this included in your "X-Squared For Massive X" presets?

Its a variation on one from the X-Squared set.

[sinemotor]

I really wish the Performer was polyphonic in MX. The Stepper from OG Massive was a great feature as well...

[Jim Rosebrook]

The point is that somehow Massive X has managed to rustle jimmies of clueless people in particular up to the point where they just start whining about it in their YouTube channels in a very, spectacular way. I haven't actually seen it before with synths, that's a new thing. Before I've seen it with games though, many, many times.

It's pretty simple.. these shallow complainers are after eyeballs for their channels. And naive and/or tribal-minded people jump right on this silly and destructive phenomenon.

[Functional]

I really wish the Performer was polyphonic in MX. The Stepper from OG Massive was a great feature as well...

What do you mean by "polyphonic"? Asking because it can kind of mean two things: either you want to make chord sequences (or otherwise polyphonic sequences) with it or you mean polyphonic kind of like how the LFO's are? The latter should be doable so I'm not sure why they didn't choose to make it poly but the former, a lot would have to change to make that happen, they might as well make some sort of "master performer" in a separate form for something like that

[functionform]

I love the sound of this guy, but I'm getting crashes left and right. All I'm doing so far is slight modulation of some unison width param I think iirc. Very unstable sadly. They should have delayed to work the issues out.

[acYm]

well if my hypothesis holds any weight and we're indeed "meant" to run massive x in NI's new KK sub-host infrastructure, I wouldn't hold my breath for midi learn either...

[pdxindy]

I find myself liking the sound but disliking almost everything else. When I load it up and look at it I don't get that slight buzz of "woop, time to make sounds!" like I do with other synths that I enjoy. Said it before but it feels like I'm staring at medical equipment in a lab or something.

I never found the original Massive to be inviting either. To me an inviting synth is something like Thor. But in any case MX is a grown up synth for experienced users that’s why it reminds you of a lab. It you want something inviting from NI use Super8 or Monark.

I disagree about MX being a grown up synth for experienced users. It is not smartly realized and does not seem like a clear and coherent vision at this point.

Not having parameter automation does not meet my expectation of a grown up synth.

Not having midi learn also doesn't meet my expectation of a grown up synth.

If I want to see all the targets on say a Macro knob, I have to click on as many as 18 different tabs. There is no visual cue whatsoever that a tab has active targets applied.

MX has a number of glaring deficiencies and a poor workflow.

[pdxindy]

I will leave this one here

After watching that one, i got an understanding the guy is so full of himself he was expecting a synth tailored to what he wants and needs.

Why do you have to personally attack the guy? He made a video explaining what he liked and didn't like and specifically in comparison to the original Massive. The points he made were factually accurate... how much they matter to an individual is subjective of course.