Massive X 1.6.1 update (September 2025)!

[EvilDragon]

None of the people you quoted are people involved with developing Massive X, so not sure why you're talking to them like they are.

[markyboard]

Thanks for letting me know ED. The term "we" thrown in at times kind of threw me. I'm glad to hear it's not reprseentative of the developer. I had a fairly recent exchange with another large soft synth developer and well... not so good. Kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

[tq]

That said, ED knows his stuff and probably has some insight...

[frackermak]

Three expansions for £50.
Tempted...
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... tent=owned

[rod_zero]

or 3 expansions and the synth for 150, very tempting

[LoveEnigma18]

These Expansions are fantastic and prove the point that Massive X is such a powerful and beautiful sounding synth.

Although I wish it had a dedicated arpeggiator (and sequencer). I understand we have "Performances" in Massive X, which are more flexible, but sometimes a simple push of button is what we need instead of having to draw and route.

[Sinisterbr]

So, that makes now 6 NI preset expansions, or 900 great quality presets. That's a lot!

[Echoes in the Attic]

Lots of people like to use midi controllers... many people use Ableton Push and you can set it up to globally edit most every plugin without needing to use the mouse and screen. This is not possible with Massive X because you cannot edit parameters directly.

You don't get it. You need to assign whatever parameters to the very top row of 16 macro knobs (preferably only and then control these with any MIDI controller of your choice, especially Ableton Push. This is standardized way to control such a complex synth with knobs.

I know what the macros do. They only work per preset. If I want the first 8 macros to be the Amp Envelope, I have to set that up and overwrite every single preset one by one. Every other synth I have I can set that up once and it works for all instances/presets.

Lots of complex synths have midi learn and parameter automation. That would include Zebra, Dune, Icarus, etc. All synths with many hundreds of parameters and all/most of them can be automated and/or midi learned as needed. There is no reason MX cannot do the same.

Though I can set up the same sort of macros for any synth in Bitwig, it's handy to have the macros as an option in Massive X for hosts that don't have Bitwig's capability... but not having midi learn and parameter automation is a severe limitation in Massive X. I find the sound quality of Massive X to be right up there with the best synths available today. The infrastructure around it however is outdated to non-existent. It's shockingly bad. Something is wrong at NI.

I agree totally. There is no good argument to made that it is "smart" to remove direct parameter automation. It is very limiting and very annoying and a major reason why I do not care to own Massive X. It seems like the sound quality is excellent, but there are lots of great sounding synths. Usability is the deciding factor for many purchases. And NI is going the wrong direction with usability. This is less flexible in that regard that it's predecessor. Not to mention they actually released a new synth that works far worse on touch screen than all of their older products (ie. not really at all). There are two good ways of controlling parameters without a mouse - Host parameter based control surfaces, which is not possible with Massive X aside from Macros, and touch-screens, which also doesn't work. No way in hell I'm using something that forces mostly mouse usage.

[LoveEnigma18]

So, did anyone get any of the 3 new Expansions?

Drive sounds the most useful for me, after that maybe Moebius a little bit.

[rezoneight]

So, did anyone get any of the 3 new Expansions?

Drive sounds the most useful for me, after that maybe Moebius a little bit.

I bought all three because I had a e-voucher sitting around. Drive definitely the most useful for me and love what i've heard so far. Actually like a lot of the sounds in Mechanix too.

[Calenberger]

Drive is very usable indeed.
The other two ones will deliver some gems for sure, but not every preset is my cup of tea.

[rezoneight]

Drive is very usable indeed.
The other two ones will deliver some gems for sure, but not every preset is my cup of tea.

Yeah totally agree. Seems like they want to drive the sound always towards what the original seemed to be used for none of which is useful to me. Honestly one of the worst synths I've bought as far as demos go.

[LoveEnigma18]

So, did anyone get any of the 3 new Expansions?

Drive sounds the most useful for me, after that maybe Moebius a little bit.

I bought all three because I had a e-voucher sitting around. Drive definitely the most useful for me and love what i've heard so far. Actually like a lot of the sounds in Mechanix too.

That's great! How many presets from Mechanix and Moebius do you roughly like or find usable?

I am in the same boat with a voucher in hand, but just wondering if it's worth spending that extra even for that good a price considering only Drive might be the most useful one. Perhaps I can just get Drive for now and get other two when I have a voucher later or during the Thanksgiving or New Year sale when they have the holiday voucher.

Honestly one of the worst synths I've bought as far as demos go.

Do you mean original Massive? You don't like it?

[LoveEnigma18]

Drive is very usable indeed.
The other two ones will deliver some gems for sure, but not every preset is my cup of tea.

Yes, same thoughts too. Did you get any of them yet? I saw you also got a voucher gift yesterday, like me.

[Calenberger]

Drive is very usable indeed.
The other two ones will deliver some gems for sure, but not every preset is my cup of tea.

Yes, same thoughts too. Did you get any of them yet? I saw you also got a voucher gift yesterday, like me.

All three for 40€ (incl. voucher price).
Not too bad for 450 quality presets.