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

[Maeldron]

What a clever developer decided to avoid numberic values all over the knobs.
The more I use Massive X the more I love its concept and its sound results!

What’s the advantage?

[Stefken]

It's funny how some people believe a synth will sound better if it can produce waveforms that look perfect in an analyzer, while it's actually the opposite. It's the imperfections that make a synth sound great.

Belgium..12 points.

[pdxindy]

Given how little CPU this thing uses, I definitely wish that it had been a Reaktor release instead.

I'm so glad it is not a Reaktor synth. And the CPU is startlingly low.

[pdxindy]

I think if they left one or 2 things like envelopes and the preset browser kind of sparse it's because they had so many things to work on and had to choose. Fair enough. It's really important to get the overarching structure right so if a piece is added later it doesn't break things.
There is so much here that is great.

Yeah, plus NI is inexperienced with non Reaktor synths. They have not made one in a long long time!

[EvilDragon]

BTW just found out this after some testing. Looks like MX is doing all its DSP internally always at 88.2k, then resamples at the end to your project's sample rate. This is why there's no difference in level of aliasing when you switch to higher sample rates. So if you're at 44.1/48k, it's effectively doing 2x oversampling by default.


This is actually consistent to how processing is done in NI's recent Mod and Crush Packs - they all process internally at 88.2k then adjust to your project's SR.

[Maeldron]

But there is such a thing as having basic functionality expected @2019.
Like, ADSR curves that actually move instead of a static image.

u-he synths also don't have moving images for ADSR envelopes (well, only Hive 2 can show something via the scope, but that's a bit different), I don't see you bitching about it

And they also don’t have non-functional GUI elements. What’s there is working.

That’s already enough for me, but:

Filterscape shows you the moving sequencer
MFM shows you something (I guess it’s the reflection moving or what)
Presswerk has several bars and even several GUIs depending on how you use it
Color Copy also has animated feedback about what’s happening
Twangström: same
And all the u-he synths that have a sequencer, animate it. One way or another.

But if they would do none of these, that wouldn’t make them alpha. Having half-finished features that have corresponding non-functional GUI elements does make a software alpha.

I bought a few beta u-he products. When they released the stable version, I hardly noticed any change.

I’m not here too often, and I know no one. Just due to curiosity, are you working for NI?

[Maeldron]

And is there a law somewhere that a "flagship synthesizer" should have animated ADSR graphs?

It would be enough that a non-functional GUI element would not take significant space on my display.

When I work with any DAW, my biggest issue is always the lack of space. And that’s with an 5k display.

On my 15" MBP, if MX didn’t have the decorative envelopes, I could put an oscilloscope right under it. That’s something I usually do. But it doesn’t fit because of the two blue elephants and the blue snake who, in exchange, do nothing.

Not counting the time I wasted on thinking about "Am I doing something wrong?"

[Yorrrrrr]

This thing can’t make a sine?. Or it can. A saturated, full of harmonics, exciting sine wave.

[EvilDragon]

It makes both the nice saturated sine, and a clean sine.

[Functional]

And they also don’t have non-functional GUI elements. What’s there is working.

Seriously quit your whining, it's getting annoying. "Oh there is a magnifying glass, this must mean that there is a search bar!"

If there was a search bar which didn't work, at least you'd have some grounds to whine about it but there is even no search bar to begin with. Speaking of which, did you know that it took ages until u-he made a proper preset browser with search function?

Filterscape shows you the moving sequencer

So do the performers, which are equivalent to the filterscape seq.

And all the u-he synths that have a sequencer, animate it. One way or another.

Just like the performer (which is sequencer in Massive X) moves.

But if they would do none of these, that wouldn’t make them alpha. Having half-finished features that have corresponding non-functional GUI elements does make a software alpha.

Seriously, this amount of whining is stellar at this point. This is like asking a crying baby "Why are you crying?" and watch the baby try to come up with the answer: the baby doesn't usually even know. You're complaining about sequencer not showing where it's at (when, in fact, it does show) and "non-functional GUI elements" which apparently are limited to a magnifying glass that makes you somehow think that there is a search function even though that icon is used for a preset browser that doesn't have a search function.

This is just pathetic.

[Stefken]

You're saying : it's all functional ?

[Yorrrrrr]

It makes both the nice saturated sine, and a clean sine.

The clean one through filtering?

[EvilDragon]

It makes both the nice saturated sine, and a clean sine.

The clean one through filtering?

Yeah use the Filter knob below the wavetable position control, roll it all the way down, voila clean sine.

[Functional]

https://gyazo.com/d47fddf7de5f1fee239e36848121ba53

Here, the performer is moving. Amazing!

[chk071]

This thing can’t make a sine?. Or it can. A saturated, full of harmonics, exciting sine wave.

Dunno where that even comes from. I see no harmonics in the analyzer on the sine wave, when you deactivate the filter. The filter adds harmonics. Whether that is due to saturation (i guess so), or something else, i can't tell.

Massive_X_Sine_01.jpg

Massive_X_Sine_02.jpg

That's both with the filter deactivated.