What's new

Massive X is Out!

You say that is if I depend on NI. I don’t. In all cases I prefer play and vsl over my kontakt libs which I rarely use. Every year the komplete upgrade is JUST BARELY cost justified, which is brilliant marketing I have no problem with that. This year they took advantage of our trust. It will not be forgotten.
 
I finally had the time to test this yesterday and so far the experience has been very positive! This might actually keep me happy until Zebra 3 is released. Well done NI!
 
I updated mainly for Massive X and did not see any special requirements when upgrading when they announced K12. For me it turned out ok, but really would not have liked it if it turned out that my computer would not have been working. This requirement should have been placed in bold letters in the requirements when K12 went live and Massive X was announced.

In regards to Massive X, really loving it so far despite some odd decisions with no numeric values at lfo's and other knobs, static images with the envelopes (or don't use images at all or make them dynamic). But soundwise I really enjoying it and you can make some really crazy and deep stuff with it!

I updated for Massive X only, too. I LOVE the (semi) modular nature, the new modes, the FM stuff.

Absolutely mystified by the lack of MIDI learn. Surprised also about the ADSR curves with no values/animations. I'm assuming these are coming? Same with a manual?

Weird launch, but a very cool synth for sure.
 
I updated for Massive X only, too. I LOVE the (semi) modular nature, the new modes, the FM stuff.

Absolutely mystified by the lack of MIDI learn. Surprised also about the ADSR curves with no values/animations. I'm assuming these are coming? Same with a manual?

Weird launch, but a very cool synth for sure.
Agreed! I am stoked with its release and am very excited to learn everything in it. But the lack of ADSR curve visual feedback and midi learn is strange. From a developer standpoint, this looks like they were trying to get a workable feature set out and available as soon as possible. No visual feedback on ADSR seems critical though...

Good news is that it seems to be relatively bug free (operationally) except for the patch name not pulling up when opening a project and then having a few random crashes on saving the patches. Not sure about the latter one.
 
AVX how i can check if prosessor supports is or not? is offtopic but realted fact this plugin needs it.
 
No visual feedback on ADSR seems critical though...

No, it's critical that the plugin is stable and sound engine works as it's supposed to. Visual feedback is not a critical priority when you consider other, more important things :) That's not to say that it won't come in an update, and there will be updates.

AVX how i can check if prosessor supports is or not? is offtopic but realted fact this plugin needs it.

This has been mentioned already in the thread, and you can always google it.
 
Regardless of intent, I think Native Instruments could have done a better job of spreading the word about the AVX requirement of Massive X—especially considering that AVX compatibility isn't something that users are in the habit of checking for yet.

The issue gets especially thorny for Komplete users who may not be aware of differing system requirements within the collection.

Nonetheless, most experienced users are aware that the older our computers get, the less likely they are to be compatible with the latest software. That makes it increasingly important to check requirements carefully before purchasing software. (I realize there's some debate as to whether those requirements were posted at the time and point of purchase.)

The one positive I can see for those without AVX computers who bought Massive X is that their license will still be valid when they buy their next computer, which will likely have AVX. I realize that's a small consolation now, but it's better than nothing.

Best,

Geoff
 
Last edited:
No, it's critical that the plugin is stable and sound engine works as it's supposed to. Visual feedback is not a critical priority when you consider other, more important things :) That's not to say that it won't come in an update, and there will be updates.
Developer semantics I suppose ;) ha! I agree with you. I meant “critical” as in “seems like it’d be high priority for usability and polish” after any stability bugs are ironed out. I don’t think anyone is under the impression (at least after using it) that this is a true v1.0 according to NI standards. The current feature set is a homerun though! A few usability/visual tweaks and it becomes the bar for future synths. I’m really liking it so far though!
 
My impressions are: looks great, sounds great, love how I'm starting to understand it already and I can't until it's finished.
 
Regardless of intent, I think Native Instruments could have done a better job of spreading the word about the AVX requirement of Massive X—especially considering that AVX compatibility isn't something that users are in the habit of checking for yet.

The issue gets especially thorny for Komplete users who may not be aware of differing system requirements within the collection.

Nonetheless, most experienced users are aware that the older our computers get, the less likely they are to be compatible with the latest software. That makes it increasingly important to check requirements carefully before purchasing software. (I realize there's some debate as to whether those requirements were posted at the time and point of purchase.)

The one positive I can see for those without AVX computers who bought Massive X is that their license will still be valid when they buy their next computer, which will likely have AVX. I realize that's a small consolation now, but it's better than nothing.

Best,

Geoff
I think they could have used it as a marketing tool. Hey..."Massive requires AVX while the competitors don't...here's why it is great and what it means."
 
AVX how i can check if prosessor supports is or not? is offtopic but realted fact this plugin needs it.
If you'r on Mac, paste this command line into the Terminal App <sysctl machdep.cpu.features> and press return.
If your CPU supports it it'll show one of those: AVX 1.0, AVX 2.0, AVX-512...
 
I think they could have used it as a marketing tool. Hey..."Massive requires AVX while the competitors don't...here's why it is great and what it means."
That's the approach Audio Ease originally took with Altiverb which, at the time it debuted, required AltiVec.

Best,

Geoff
 
At the end of the day I had to ask myself this.

What is more important to me, a maxed out Mac Pro 5.1
working smoother than I could ever of dreamed of (back in the day) or 1 synth.

The answer is obvious.

Being a Mac user we didn't have much choice other than to stick with the 5.1 (cost wise it made so much sense) one day I will update but it will be when the New Mac pro's drop in price.

;)
 
At the end of the day I had to ask myself this.

What is more important to me, a maxed out Mac Pro 5.1
working smoother than I could ever of dreamed of (back in the day) or 1 synth.

The answer is obvious.
;)
How much are you selling your Mac for?
 
So, I'm wondering if @TheUnfinished and @Mikael Adle have had a chance to start creating soundset packs yet :) or is it a bit too early?
Thanks for the interest Mornats.
I've had it for awhile and am experimenting. Whether it results in something commercially available, time will tell.
Designed some sounds among the factory presets, "Oceanic Storm" for example, should you want to have a listen.
 
Thanks for the interest Mornats.
I've had it for awhile and am experimenting. Whether it results in something commercially available, time will tell.
Designed some sounds among the factory presets, "Oceanic Storm" for example, should you want to have a listen.

Cool, I'll certainly have a listen to that any any others you did for it.
 
"I bought Massive X and didn't realize it's not supported on Windows XP. Sure, it says so in the Specifications page, but I didn't read it. I mean come on, lots of people are still running XP offline? Right? Is NI ready to lose all Win XP users' business going forward?"
 
Well...you wanted NI to develop an non AVX version of the plugin. But doing so would have (probably) delayed the release and made the synth less efficient for everyone else. So...

I'm not qualified to get into the technical details, just trying to put the cold, hard business case forward. Sad though it might be.
I'd personally never ask for something that would add/mean limit to other users.
Was thinking about both AVX and none AVX requirement versions.
Some devs already provide this alternative (may be not a lot of them though).
Anyway, I also can pretty well understand that NI decided not going for such a scenario.

As a side note, may be we are nuts but that's what make us interesting...
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom