Massive X !

Discuss VST stuff here!
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Boombastix
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03 Dec 2019

selig wrote:
02 Dec 2019
dusan.cani wrote:
02 Dec 2019
If you haven't noticed there is 1.1 update out several weeks ago...animated envelopes and new themes. That white theme perfectly suits the actual winter time.

Here I found drum and bass soundpack for MX, I recommend to listen the audio demo:

https://bhksamples.com/product/bhk-ni-massiv-x-dnb/

But beware ! This fantastic synth is far from producing only D&B or dubstep stuff...
This update is welcome, but what I didn't realize was that the envelope "animations" are just that - unlike other synths with visual envelops, you cannot interact with these. They are "display only". Not sure why such limitations are imposed on this synth, but it's still a wonderful instrument. Maybe I'm getting lazy in my old age, since when I started the only thing "visual" about an envelope was the position of the knobs/sliders!!! ;)
Hey, beats menu hopping in a 1U rack synth from the 90's :ugeek:
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visheshl
Posts: 1235
Joined: 27 Sep 2019

05 Dec 2019

So in short(from the information i got thru this thread), its a great synth
But...
Static envelopes and lfo images
You can't see what the modulation is doing.
No custom wavetables.
Only one filter.
Seems unfinished...and rushed
The sounds aren't really what you can't get with other similar synths.
It need some avx jargony instruction set to even install, which means new computers only...which means more spending for a lot of users...
Its unfinished but we will sell it to you right now, and keep updating and tell you that it'll grow with you at no extra cost...
Its a lot more expensive...
But there are themes...hooray ?

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Boombastix
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06 Dec 2019

visheshl wrote:
05 Dec 2019
So in short(from the information i got thru this thread), its a great synth
But...
Static envelopes and lfo images
You can't see what the modulation is doing.
No custom wavetables.
Only one filter.
Seems unfinished...and rushed
The sounds aren't really what you can't get with other similar synths.
It need some avx jargony instruction set to even install, which means new computers only...which means more spending for a lot of users...
Its unfinished but we will sell it to you right now, and keep updating and tell you that it'll grow with you at no extra cost...
Its a lot more expensive...
But there are themes...hooray ?
This is a discussion mainly between us who have the synth. The short story is: It sounds great, and it is much deeper than you think. You benefit mostly if you want to design sounds, if not, then get Arturia Analog Lab and Synthmaster Player, both have huge amount of good presets. Don't get Massive X for presets, but get it to design sounds with one of the (probably) best monster synths available. Demo and design sounds - then you'll know. By the way, there is more than one filter, and everyone who tells, "no custom wavetable", probably do not understand Massive X, just ignore the ignorance.
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dusan.cani
Posts: 472
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Location: Slovakia

06 Dec 2019

Boombastix: You said it very well...

m.arthur
Posts: 115
Joined: 21 Oct 2017

06 Dec 2019

visheshl wrote:
05 Dec 2019
So in short(from the information i got thru this thread), its a great synth
But...
Static envelopes and lfo images
You can't see what the modulation is doing.
No custom wavetables.
Only one filter.
Seems unfinished...and rushed
The sounds aren't really what you can't get with other similar synths.
It need some avx jargony instruction set to even install, which means new computers only...which means more spending for a lot of users...
Its unfinished but we will sell it to you right now, and keep updating and tell you that it'll grow with you at no extra cost...
Its a lot more expensive...
But there are themes...hooray ?
So don't buy it then. Spend your dollars elsewhere, done, hooray.

It's an amazing synth, though. People love to throw shade in every corner of the internet, to focus on negatives, to act like anything short of Total Perfection is a bowl full of diarrhea. Cool, great, this is all very meaningful and productive. More than half the points in the list above also describe 90% of all soft-synths ever, yet in the case of Massive X, this means bring out the firing squad. Logical.

Synths will always be largely a matter of, get this: Personal Taste. One person's tastes will be entirely different than another, let alone one person's actual 'needs' with a synth.

In my personal opinion: Massive X is the best-sounding soft-synth I own. Absolutely. It is, in two words, fucking stellar. It's also incredibly deep and provides a wealth of fascinating, complex, inventive sound design options. It's a sound design dream. I also happen to love the UI. Working with the new Dark theme, I feel right at home with the synth every time I open it. Am I wrong, because much of what's on the above list is factually true? The important thing is we all fight about it, right?

There are these things called demos, anyway. None of 'the information you get in this thread' is worth anything against you just demo'ing the thing yourself, so what's the point? Why decide on a synth based on a bunch of goons in a forum? That includes me, of course. Go grab the demo and make up your own mind.

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visheshl
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Joined: 27 Sep 2019

07 Dec 2019

I just summed up what i read in the thread...im not buying it anyway, reason is good enough for me and now its a vst plugin...but im just saying that its like a cult of apple...oh this feature is not available, but nevermind its a great product, some other product has far better stuff, but nevermind this one is the best, it costs a lot more but nevermind its the best...from what i gathered from this thread...i dont care about massive that much, im not a pro anymore, i just make music to satisfy myself now...any way if it works for you good for you, i just found it amusing that people in this thread were pointing out lots of negatives but still sayin massive x is awesome.

STIM
Posts: 31
Joined: 28 Aug 2019

09 Dec 2019

*Edit* Nevermind, had to move it to the correct folder.

I've just purchased Massive X in the sale, and though I've checked that my CPU is AVX compatible (which it requires) I can't find it when I use either Reason 10 or Bitwig Studio.

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miscend
Posts: 1955
Joined: 09 Feb 2015

09 Dec 2019

visheshl wrote:
05 Dec 2019
So in short(from the information i got thru this thread), its a great synth
But...
Static envelopes and lfo images
You can't see what the modulation is doing.
No custom wavetables.
Only one filter.
Seems unfinished...and rushed
The sounds aren't really what you can't get with other similar synths.
It need some avx jargony instruction set to even install, which means new computers only...which means more spending for a lot of users...
Its unfinished but we will sell it to you right now, and keep updating and tell you that it'll grow with you at no extra cost...
Its a lot more expensive...
But there are themes...hooray ?
I'm sure they added graphics to the LFOs, modulation routing and envelopes in an update? But honestly you should just use your ears. Hardware synths don't have animated envelopes and that has never been an issue ever. The lack of second filter was to save on CPU, as the current implementation is state of the art and very taxing. Although you can put a lower quality filter on to one of the fx slots if you desperately need a second filter. But limitations on synths are a good thing in my opinion, even synths like Avenger and Falcon have limitations, you can't just do anything you want.

As for custom wavetables. I think that's by design. You already have an unlimited sound palette with the included waveforms. I agree with Urs from U-he who said most of these custom wavetables end up sounding the same anyways. You're better off just providing the user with a large library of high quality professionally made wavetables that can cover all bases. Which is why U-he Hive doesn't have custom wavetables. The original Massive didn't either.

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EpiGenetik
Posts: 410
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Location: Glasgow, EU

10 Dec 2019

visheshl wrote:
07 Dec 2019
I just summed up what i read in the thread...im not buying it anyway, reason is good enough for me and now its a vst plugin...but im just saying that its like a cult of apple...oh this feature is not available, but nevermind its a great product, some other product has far better stuff, but nevermind this one is the best, it costs a lot more but nevermind its the best...from what i gathered from this thread...i dont care about massive that much, im not a pro anymore, i just make music to satisfy myself now...any way if it works for you good for you, i just found it amusing that people in this thread were pointing out lots of negatives but still sayin massive x is awesome.
For the purpose of balancing this in a way that might clarify this "cult", most of the people who have this "unfinished masterpiece" are Komplete onwers who didn't pay for it anyway, and this whole thing is a dream come true :D

m.arthur
Posts: 115
Joined: 21 Oct 2017

10 Dec 2019

visheshl wrote:
07 Dec 2019
i just found it amusing that people in this thread were pointing out lots of negatives but still sayin massive x is awesome.
So, to your brain, for a thing to be 'awesome', it must have zero flaws? Nobody should say a thing is 'awesome' unless it has absolutely no negatives? Well reasoned, sir. Indeed.

anyway, I'm done with this nonsense. Please take your straw-man, finger-pointing, 'cult'-accusing nonsense to a forum who gives a shart.

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visheshl
Posts: 1235
Joined: 27 Sep 2019

10 Dec 2019

To the other commenters, i agree, must be a great synth, the limitations are ok, im not saying anything about the synth, i know massive is a good synth, my comments were about how this thread reads, thats all.
Its ok to not have everything in a synth, however i think stuff like custom wavetables is not too hard to implement, if europa and serum can have it, why not massive x...thats my reasoning, however i agree with urs heckman that most wavetables will end up sounding the same, but it would be a nice addon.

Anyway, cheers
Whoever likes it, good for them, whoever doesn't, good for them too.

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visheshl
Posts: 1235
Joined: 27 Sep 2019

10 Dec 2019

Boombastix wrote:
06 Dec 2019
visheshl wrote:
05 Dec 2019
So in short(from the information i got thru this thread), its a great synth
But...
Static envelopes and lfo images
You can't see what the modulation is doing.
No custom wavetables.
Only one filter.
Seems unfinished...and rushed
The sounds aren't really what you can't get with other similar synths.
It need some avx jargony instruction set to even install, which means new computers only...which means more spending for a lot of users...
Its unfinished but we will sell it to you right now, and keep updating and tell you that it'll grow with you at no extra cost...
Its a lot more expensive...
But there are themes...hooray ?
This is a discussion mainly between us who have the synth. The short story is: It sounds great, and it is much deeper than you think. You benefit mostly if you want to design sounds, if not, then get Arturia Analog Lab and Synthmaster Player, both have huge amount of good presets. Don't get Massive X for presets, but get it to design sounds with one of the (probably) best monster synths available. Demo and design sounds - then you'll know. By the way, there is more than one filter, and everyone who tells, "no custom wavetable", probably do not understand Massive X, just ignore the ignorance.
👍👍👍

dusan.cani
Posts: 472
Joined: 16 Oct 2018
Location: Slovakia

10 Dec 2019

As for discussion about absence of second filter.

There are two main ways how to utilize two filters setup in MX:

1) You can use SVP parallel or serial filter type. These sound FANTASTIC if used on appropriate source. You can achieve dozens of different filter curve blends between LP, BP and HP mode. Also Plateau mode is beatiful.

2) On the routing page you can connect oscillators to parallel output: for example send them to the filter slot and also to the one of insert slots. On the insert slot you can use Utility module which provides LP and HP correction filters suitable also for subtractive filtering tasks. Blend it together with Filter slot and you have parallel filter setup. You can also alter this routing, for example connect another insert before insert or before filter slot to introduce additional sound shaping possibilities.

Routing in MX is very powerful. I LOVE IT.

Last time I was totally astonished how amazing FM sounds can MX also produce. I used second wavetable as the FM modulator via Aux send and the whole new world of FM textures opened to me.

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selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
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Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

10 Dec 2019

visheshl wrote:
10 Dec 2019
To the other commenters, i agree, must be a great synth, the limitations are ok, im not saying anything about the synth, i know massive is a good synth, my comments were about how this thread reads, thats all.
As for discussions about discussion, while it's not strictly against the forum rules to do so, I always have to wonder why someone comes into a thread just to comment about how the subject is being discussed.
And for what it's worth, nothing in this universe is perfect, so everything that we call "awesome" is also flawed in some way.
Carry on discussing Massive X.
:)
Selig Audio, LLC

dusan.cani
Posts: 472
Joined: 16 Oct 2018
Location: Slovakia

11 Dec 2019

A good showcase how versatile MX is:


dusan.cani
Posts: 472
Joined: 16 Oct 2018
Location: Slovakia

17 Dec 2019

Another, very powerful feature of MX:

- filter FM

A lot of MX filters have FM option with ability to use anything you want as a FM source. This way you can heavily alter the character of filter - from the nice clean filter sound to various dirty tones based on type of FM source. I suggest to route Wavetable Osc 2 to filter FM and change waveform and pitch of the oscillator. I LOVE it.

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Boombastix
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Posts: 1929
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17 Dec 2019

dusan.cani wrote:
17 Dec 2019
Another, very powerful feature of MX:

- filter FM

A lot of MX filters have FM option with ability to use anything you want as a FM source. This way you can heavily alter the character of filter - from the nice clean filter sound to various dirty tones based on type of FM source. I suggest to route Wavetable Osc 2 to filter FM and change waveform and pitch of the oscillator. I LOVE it.
Feel free to share some of your patches if you want, I haven't had that much time yet to sound design, but I'll get there, eventually...
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manisnotabird
Posts: 475
Joined: 20 Feb 2015
Location: Austin, TX

17 Dec 2019

Does anyone have a good semi-technical description of what filter FM does beyond the obvious "modulates the filter cutoff at audio rates"?

dusan.cani
Posts: 472
Joined: 16 Oct 2018
Location: Slovakia

29 Dec 2019

If I create one instance of MX and then trying to delete this instance by "Delete All in Group", Reason will stop working and freezes...does it happen also to somebody else ? It works OK if more than one instance of MX are created. I am running Win 7.

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selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
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Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

29 Dec 2019

manisnotabird wrote:
17 Dec 2019
Does anyone have a good semi-technical description of what filter FM does beyond the obvious "modulates the filter cutoff at audio rates"?
It's similar to AM at low resonance, similar to FM at high resonance (even more like FM if the filter is self resonating).
Selig Audio, LLC

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Boombastix
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Posts: 1929
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Location: Bay Area, CA

30 Dec 2019

dusan.cani wrote:
29 Dec 2019
If I create one instance of MX and then trying to delete this instance by "Delete All in Group", Reason will stop working and freezes...does it happen also to somebody else ? It works OK if more than one instance of MX are created. I am running Win 7.
What version. Did you update to 1.2.0? And what Reason version?
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dusan.cani
Posts: 472
Joined: 16 Oct 2018
Location: Slovakia

30 Dec 2019

Version 1.1.0 and Reason version 10.4d4

I didn't update to 1.2.0 because there are some issues which will be fixed in next update.

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Boombastix
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30 Dec 2019

dusan.cani wrote:
30 Dec 2019
Version 1.1.0 and Reason version 10.4d4

I didn't update to 1.2.0 because there are some issues which will be fixed in next update.
OK have the same versions, but on Win 10. No problem deleting MX though. I tried to delete 3 different way, no issue.
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jlgrimes
Posts: 661
Joined: 06 Jun 2017

04 Jan 2020

This is slowly becoming my fave synths for 808s (it used to be Massive).

Sounds cleaner than Massive but not sterile like how Serum can be raw.

Very user friendly synth too.

It is a bit CPU heavy though (the original Massive was the same when it was released though), but hopefully it might get a bit more leaner overtime via updates.

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Boombastix
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04 Jan 2020

jlgrimes wrote:
04 Jan 2020
This is slowly becoming my fave synths for 808s (it used to be Massive).

Sounds cleaner than Massive but not sterile like how Serum can be raw.

Very user friendly synth too.

It is a bit CPU heavy though (the original Massive was the same when it was released though), but hopefully it might get a bit more leaner overtime via updates.
Lol, yeah you can use MX for a simple mono bass. I did the same a few weeks ago to make a square SH-101 style bass, I almost felt ashamed to use such a power synth for something that "simple". But man, that bass just sits perfect in the mix and it is HUGE, it made the whole track basically.
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