Absynth 6

[bmanic]

I sort of feel like it sounds like the old Absynth, which was cool in its day, but now sounds sort of flat.

[Milkman]

So how does it compares to Plasmonic? Which one would you choose if you could have just one?

I literally have plasmonic open in my DAW right now, at the same time as Absynth6.

So A6 has been crashing cubase 14 and 15. Not sure what daw you use. So far Bitwig hasnt crashed.
Plasmonic is one of my fav synths, and does physical modeling, mpe stuff pretty nicely. The interface feels familiar and absynth-like, but its simpler and more minimal overall. Its not really a 'spiritual successor' of absynth, but it is definitely brian clevinger's sound, and I would miss it hugely if I didnt own it...

Absynth6 is definitely Absynth, and after 3 hours on it I feel as attached to it as earlier version, the crashing notwithstanding.(twice in 3 hours)

Its got A4, A5, A6 presets as well as a few special banks, and there are presets from brian eno, arovane, etc. I am... stunned by some of the A6 presets and how playable they are(the macros are mapped expertly, sound is easy to shape), namely the Eno ones, and I am absolutely in love with the sounds coming from A6.

Edit: omg Im high, messed that up. Meant to say- if I owned NO absynth, I would choose absynth6 over plasmonic, for sure. Its an essential thing. If I DID own absynth5, I would choose plasmonic because the difference between absynth 5 and 6 isnt huge enough to justify missing out on plasmonic!! haha

[Milkman]

Final thoughts:
I have to admit that it was a nice step to resurrect this plugin. But its just the first step. And IMHO, if you load Absynth and Pigments (or other big name) side by side, the difference is screaming. Or just load Vital... the text to wavetable feature is something, that could Absynth have....
On the other hand , drag and drop modulation can be used?
Speaking about "AI" tools in plugins, i still consider Sonic Charge Synthplant preset generation and patternarium for microtonic as the best examples of usage(+ beatspace!), and I dont find such in Absynth that could be equivalent. So this makes the whole absynth comeback not really important to me.
But thats just me, a bit pessimistic.
sure NI will introduce fantastic free updates to Absynth in the future. Sure ?

Did you just say, in so many words, that absynth6's return isnt important to you BECAUSE there is no AI slop inside it? That's your whole reason? lmao are you even real?

The reason "AI" isnt in A6 is BECAUSE the dev knows better and actually wants to sell it to people.

[soundman007]

I feel the same way…it looks pretty generic now…but I enjoy the larger window for sure. MPE is what I’m excited about!

Actually the browser looks a bit like Synthmaster 3. It has even got the same way of auditioning the sound and the same star system.

[Caine123]

played around with it yesterday some time and I didnt do a A/B comparison yet, to sum it up shortly, 100% happy that it came back but at its current state i expected just more and not such a hefty price! compared to other vsts this is really a price tag which is not justified? (cough cough Omnisphere 3 upgrade, twice as much but offers so much more.... and this after 10 years!).

all the new additions seem to be good enhancements, i dont need this AI marketing crap and the browser is ok but nothing WOW, MPE sadly cannot use it but great to see, all the other enhancements are NICE it seems and improves the synth especially the UI but didnt fiddle too much with it yet.

Downsides:
- no drag and drop, @EvilDragon, you stated to checl FL Studio settings but it was confirmed other DAWs have probs too.@NI (i know no one is here) come on, what excuses are there to not have such an option in 2025? does no one check any other vsts? this is such a huge point i cannot accept in 2025.

- modulation visualization, make it optional if people dont like it, but I like to have some visualizations... not a big pioint but yeah would have been nice

- still no FX parallel usable? why? i expected more to do with the FX in the new version

there is some more but have to leave for the moment. for a 199 Euro synth and an upgrade of 99 Euros!!!! this is a real disappointment. for myself im still glad to have bought it to hopefully show Brian and NI that they hopefully continue to get back these classic VSTs with longer support and hopefully more updates with enhancements (still i supported this upgradeprice which is at the same point against my look on it....)

one hand fully happy it got back and with a nearly shadow drop! Glad it seems Brian gets hopefully recognition back! and thats why i bought it, maybe wrong to support this price but yeah.... now hopefully there will be improvement patches without selling it as Absynth 7 .

[noiseboyuk]

Is it just me or do some preset auditions not match the preset?

I was pulling my last remaining hair out for a while on a preset that was clearly not right, turned out it was having the MPE engaged when I wasn't using MPE. (might not be the same thing as your issue of course).

[BBFG#]

No fronts.
Present a more complete bug free product and earn the sales.

[soundman007]

I'm disappointed in general as it is only a GUI update in its core. Anyway, I might update when 50% discount. I'm not in hurry as I still can work with the 'blurry' magnified Absynth 5 (which has a far nicer futuristic design than all these new soulless GUI).

For the moment I am gonna hold off too. $ 99 may be fair from a certain point of view but it is steep and I have A5 so I can hang on till the price comes down and some improvements have been implemented.

[EnGee]

I'm disappointed in general as it is only a GUI update in its core. Anyway, I might update when 50% discount. I'm not in hurry as I still can work with the 'blurry' magnified Absynth 5 (which has a far nicer futuristic design than all these new soulless GUI).

It's not, new filter, new sampled editing capabilities, browser, MPE, poly aftertouch... I'm missing some things here, but this is not just a new GUI, if those things don't interest you, then welcome to the world of upgrades, for me personally a better way to deal with samples was on the list, MPE and a new filter or two were also.

I don't know man! For me, it is just a GUI update with some minor additions. I don't do MPE nor poly aftertouch. The browser idea is good though, just like XO from XLN Audio. A new filter? That's it?! give me a break!
I really hoped for audio engine upgrade (upsampling .. etc) to bring it on bar with Massive X, Phase Plant, Icarus (and possibly the upcoming Zebra 3), but unlike those amazing modern synths, Absynth is still the same sonically.
I think I'll stay with Absynth 5 and purchase Zebra 3 in the near future while it is with an intro price (I hope it will be released soon ). That makes more sense to me.

[Caine123]

i hope for a great Absynth future, but let's see if the sales are not gonna be well NI might be saying "oh we did try and got nothing back" well then, the obvious was dont wrong, pricing. but let's see ;D

[Rivertropic]

So how does it compares to Plasmonic? Which one would you choose if you could have just one?

I literally have plasmonic open in my DAW right now, at the same time as Absynth6.

So A6 has been crashing cubase 14 and 15. Not sure what daw you use. So far Bitwig hasnt crashed.
Plasmonic is one of my fav synths, and does physical modeling, mpe stuff pretty nicely. The interface feels familiar and absynth-like, but its simpler and more minimal overall. Its not really a 'spiritual successor' of absynth, but it is definitely brian clevinger's sound, and I would miss it hugely if I didnt own it...

Absynth6 is definitely Absynth, and after 3 hours on it I feel as attached to it as earlier version, the crashing notwithstanding.(twice in 3 hours)

Its got A4, A5, A6 presets as well as a few special banks, and there are presets from brian eno, arovane, etc. I am... stunned by some of the A6 presets and how playable they are(the macros are mapped expertly, sound is easy to shape), namely the Eno ones, and I am absolutely in love with the sounds coming from A6.

If i HAD to choose, I would choose absynth6 -- IF I DIDNT ALREADY OWN ABSYNTH5. If I owned no Absynth, I would absolutely need to own A6 over plasmonic lol. I hope this very long reply helps in some way haha

Thank you, that's very useful information.

From what little I know about Absynth, I really like the direction they've taken with the interface. I've always snubbed this synth, for some reason. Not that I don't like it, but I've always felt that I already had enough instruments, and I've always wondered what I was going to do with it. Ultimately, this modernization seems legitimate to me.
Now, you say that Absynth is more complex than Plasmonic, which I already thought was a fairly complicated instrument.

Having tried it a few times, I really liked the physical modeling and routing, while I was a little more skeptical about the envelopes and how you interact with them.

Absynth seems to me to be a step forward in terms of interaction: from what little I saw last night, not knowing the synth particularly well, I see an instrument with three oscillators, a choice of algorithms, then input into one filter and then another, with possible modulations. Then everything is propelled into a special FX, with possibly additional modulations, and an envelope paradigm that seems extremely well thought out: I feel like they've managed to literally blend the feel of control of an MSEG with the simplicity of traditional ADSR; I don't know if I'm explaining myself well, it's more of a feeling than a reality.

Plasmonic, on the other hand, seemed much more complex to me. Did I miss something?

Sorry for the long post.

NI seems back on track with this one; Happy Clevinger, happy me, see Absynth as a future classic.

[nusound mind]

Yes. I experienced exactly this, however when i test it out in the cart I have a 50(cdn) $ discount for reasons unexplained. I have the '3 classics' or whatever it's called from Plugin Boutique, which if I recall included Abysynth, Massive and FM8 as a bundle.

OK, this is interesting.

How might one find out that they have an unexpected discount/coupon? Is it simply by putting a NI purchase in one's cart?

I know that I have a $25 coupon from a purchase (almost certainly will use on Absynth 6, if it will apply), but I only know from an email after the purchase. I don't see any indication of it in my account.

Yeah I just logged in, put it in the cart, went to checkout and it showed final price w/ discount and tax applied.

I'm a little surprised there apparently isn't any oversampling option. For those who've bought it or demoed; how much has the sound quality/fidelity improved?

I'm glad it has the legacy engine so it retains the character and personality of the OG Absynth, which is what I was hoping for, but I do agree the gui looks a little vanilla. I'd like some different skin options. I liked the solid green style of the original personally.

[machinesworking]

It's not, new filter, new sampled editing capabilities, browser, MPE, poly aftertouch... I'm missing some things here, but this is not just a new GUI, if those things don't interest you, then welcome to the world of upgrades, for me personally a better way to deal with samples was on the list, MPE and a new filter or two were also.

I don't know man! For me, it is just a GUI update with some minor additions. I don't do MPE nor poly aftertouch. The browser idea is good though, just like XO from XLN Audio. A new filter? That's it?! give me a break!
I really hoped for audio engine upgrade (upsampling .. etc) to bring it on bar with Massive X, Phase Plant, Icarus (and possibly the upcoming Zebra 3), but unlike those amazing modern synths, Absynth is still the same sonically.
I think I'll stay with Absynth 5 and purchase Zebra 3 in the near future while it is with an intro price (I hope it will be released soon ). That makes more sense to me.

I seriously do not get in the slightest comparing it to those synths? Absynth 5 here is a PITA of a GUI at this point, it's small on a 1080p. I'm not much of a preset user, at least not in their original form, so the GUI is super important to me. Plus I do use MPE. There's so much that's drastically improved. The preset morphing for one. So again, you don't use or care about the things they improved, doesn't devalue them, it's just not for you. There is still nothing like Absynth, if you think it's in need of an audio engine upgrade, you just don't get the thing, at all.

[j wazza]

It sounds pretty much the same as the last one to me and can't see many new features apart from mpe. I loved absynth 5 but agree that it can sound a bit flat and digital sometimes like all native instruments synths but absynth is still great for ambient sounds. I think I'll stick with version 5 instead of paying to upgrade, it's a synth Id only use every now and then for a pad or something.

Serum 2 was a free upgrade with a noticeable upgrade in sound quality. I personally wouldn't pay for just a new gui and mpe. It should be a free upgrade or add a bit more imo.

Seems like a bit of a cash grab from NI like everything they release these days. They probably release an upgrade every time their executives run out of money to buy cocaine and hookers

[EnGee]

There is still nothing like Absynth, if you think it's in need of an audio engine upgrade, you just don't get the thing, at all.

Yes! I don't get it! What's the point of the upgrade if I get Absynth 5 sound, that I already have, for $99 (that means NZ$171)!
It is mostly for soundscapes and effects. I have better synths for lead, bass and pads, that, still, I can do soundscapes and effects with them. I also have unique synths that I can replace Absynth with (like Aparillo by Sugar Bytes). So, you are right, I don't get it and this upgrade is not for me.