Massive X - the thread

[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.

That is so stupid. I don't mind having to go into the OS to create a directory structure... but blocking that from happening?

I see no other constraints then time to make a proper browser, so I'm pretty sure a good browser is coming.

[Firebird]

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

I like what you've done there. It's wonderful, what can be accomplished with a single preset.

Yes, outstanding!

One question, are all the effects also part of the preset?

All effects are part of the preset.

That preset includes controllers for the effects, filters, tone, wave positions, Pulse width, individual OSC volumes, etc.

There are a lot of subtle changes that can be done due to the modular nature of Massive X and the controllers.

The effects actually don't sound bad.

Effects seem outstanding to me.

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

Yes, the effects sound excellent.
Nice to see an example of something so deeply programmed.

[chk071]

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.

I did not attacked him at all?

you said "the guy is so full of himself". That is a personal attack.

Claiming with self importance that you have the one proper opinion why someone else should uninstall his plugin IS being full of yourself. It's also about being an authoritarian leader figure. I guess they call it "influencer" these days.

[Spirit2017]

Massive X sucks

[Functional]

That is so stupid. I don't mind having to go into the OS to create a directory structure... but blocking that from happening?

Don't call it "blocking" unless you know the exact details of how it works. See, here's the alternative explanation:

If you recall (or if you have read) about the osc modes, there is one of the modes called "formant". For this particular mode, it appears that each wavetable has additional metadata in them. What this means is that they probably had to set up a new format which uses some sort of greeting protocol with the engine and, unless your custom wavetables obey to it, they are just going to ignore custom wavetables because the engine literally does not know what they are and has nothing programmed inside that would make it recognize them.

The noise oscs don't appear to have any pre-requisite for such metadata, but they likely use the same format anyway then.

Of course, this system comes at a cost: we might not be seeing custom wavetables unless, perhaps, NI releases a tool to convert wavetables into the proper format and perhaps allow us to add our own formant metadata into the files. So I'm not sure overall if the whole formant osc mode is worth this cost but I guess time will tell. I'm not all too excited about it personally, but I think I might have future usecases for it.

[chk071]

Massive X sucks

Super helpful.

[perpetual3]

The only reason I can surmise for NI’s claim that the synth will be developed for a long time and that updates are coming, is that it will be. I don’t recall them ever making a similar claim, perhaps for maschine but I stopped following that development.

Also, I made a big report at the NI MX support site and I received an email response that same day. That’s never happened before, and more to the point very unlike my prior experience with NI (which quite frankly sucked).

[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.

I did not attacked him at all?

you said "the guy is so full of himself". That is a personal attack.

Claiming with self importance that you have the one proper opinion why someone else should uninstall his plugin IS being full of yourself. It's also about being an authoritarian leader figure. I guess they call it "influencer" these days.

Seems like some of you live in great fear of being brainwashed into deleting MX against your will... must suck to be so weak minded

[pdxindy]

That is so stupid. I don't mind having to go into the OS to create a directory structure... but blocking that from happening?

Don't call it "blocking" unless you know the exact details of how it works. See, here's the alternative explanation:

you are talking about adding wavetables and noise files and I am talking about making preset directories to organize user presets into categories

[Functional]

you are talking about adding wavetables and noise files and I am talking about making preset directories to organize user presets into categories

Right, the comment you responded to talked about the noise osc so that's why I thought you meant that

Creating new directories probably won't help at all because I suspect the preset browser sorting system isn't based at all on the file directory but instead the metadata of the presets themselves. They probably wanted to design it initially so that you can set it all up inside MX rather than go to the file browser and that's probably what they will do

However, I might be very wrong here. I just doubt they really blocked anything as much as just not have it coded in yet

[chk071]

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.

I did not attacked him at all?

you said "the guy is so full of himself". That is a personal attack.

Claiming with self importance that you have the one proper opinion why someone else should uninstall his plugin IS being full of yourself. It's also about being an authoritarian leader figure. I guess they call it "influencer" these days.

Seems like some of you live in great fear of being brainwashed into deleting MX against your will... must suck to be so weak minded

"And the sky cleared up, and showed its real face."

Wonder why you criticize someone for his personal attacks in the first place though, if you're not one bit better.

BTW, it's perfectly possible to criticize something without telling people to uninstall the thing. Just so you know. It's his personal opinion about the things. And he might even see some things right. But, he can GTFO, if he tells me i should uninstall the plugin. Who the eff is he to tell people to do so?

And... how effing insecure do you have to be to watch such videos, and let someone else make up your mind.

[Stefken]

That is so stupid. I don't mind having to go into the OS to create a directory structure... but blocking that from happening?

Don't call it "blocking"

The noise samples are just wav files but it actually takes more work to dynamically reflect changes in the file structure than just hardcode it. So I wouldn't call it active blocking.

As for the wavetables. Dunno. They used a proprietary format while a lot of WT synths use a format that can be interchanged. I can't say anything about the formant metadata, but it feels to me that NI didn't want us to use their wavetables in other WT synths by using a format that these other WT synths can't read. If NI needed extra metadata, they could probably have expanded on existing formats?

[Stefken]

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.

I did not attacked him at all?

you said "the guy is so full of himself". That is a personal attack.

Claiming with self importance that you have the one proper opinion why someone else should uninstall his plugin IS being full of yourself. It's also about being an authoritarian leader figure. I guess they call it "influencer" these days.

Seems like some of you live in great fear of being brainwashed into deleting MX against your will... must suck to be so weak minded

Yeah, I digged his frappuccino comment. That was pretty funny. But I can make up my own mind, thank you very much.

[fisherKing]

I will leave this one here

The direct comparison with the old massive certainly shows too many areas that had a step down instead of up. Being more than 10 years apart fgs.

the new massive sounds so much denser, richer... than the original one. everything else (IMHO) comes second; the sound is what we use our sound-making tools for.

Yes, round in circles we go.
I'm also active in graphic design, UX design, photography and painting, so apparently I'm more graphically oriented than you. And that's just fine. People have different priorities.
I do like the sound, and I think there is a pretty large consensus that Massive X sounds good. There is IMO also a large number of people who have issues with the UI. And with my experience, I'd say that's justified.

But, if the UI doesn't 't interest or bother you, all the better...

i do care about what i have to look at/interact with. and i've skinned (not my work btw!) some of my plugins... and am generally hesitant about truly 'ugly' plugins.

but i find MX challenging, not discouraging to work with. and, again... the sound. i use a synth plugin to make music, and that's, for me, what matter most: the music.

[pdxindy]

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.

But then, the GUI would probably become "Massive-ly" crowded.

That is part of designing a proper Gui. There is tonnes of wasted space on one hand, and a lot of features that are common anno 2019 (and were there in the original) that aren't there on the other hand.
The gui is frankly a joke.

I like the basic visual appearance of MX... but yeah, the workflow of the GUI is really poor. And I include in that stuff like midi learn and automation as GUI features that are missing.

Then no visual cues for mod targets which leads to lots of wasted tabbing and having to go into routing to disable/enable modules and not being able to just right click the module in the main window. No numeric display, no undo/redo. It would be useful also to have an option to disable modulators.

There are also lots of choices within choices... but I'm not sure how I might do that differently... so still thinking about that one.