MASSIVE X Review
Native Instrument’s Massive X might be one of my favorite synths, I don’t use it quite as often as some of my favorites, but nearly every time I sit down with this one, I have a moment of clarity. I can’t quite put this into words, maybe it’s just the sun setting while I make pads, creating the perfect atmosphere for any synthesizer. But I seem to notice these moments more often with Massive X. It’s somewhat of a strange synth, part wavetable, part FM, part modular, part physical modeling, it doesn’t quite do things the way you’d expect, but does some things in a uniquely useful manner. Once you get used to a few of the peculiar aspects of Massive X, and find the sonic areas it excels in, you’ll understand why I’m so fond of it. The UI is mostly flat with a main front panel that has synthesis and effects up top, and modulation/ routing at the bottom. Each module of the sound engine can be freely routed, but being there is only a handful of fixed modules, I think a more fixed routing design would make more sense compared to the free floating “Reaktor” style interface.
Massive X is incredibly good for warm lush pads and all sorts of metallic industrial tones. I can’t say it’s “the best” for kicks or bass, as the filter routing and distortion options don’t quite behave how I’d desire, but it obviously can do good bass if you want. The filter and insert effects are pre-unison, meaning as you add unison voices they wont sum up and distort as a whole, but instead the distortion will also be duplicated, or whichever effect you choose to use. Same goes for the FM, which they’ve done a great job with. I’m not sure if it is the amount curve or range they’ve used, but I’ve found Massive X to inspire me to study FM more than some other synths. One of my favorite aspects of Massive X is the feedback system. On the surface it is simply a knob with a high-pass switch, but when you rearrange the feedback input/output in the routing matrix you will find many creative uses. For example the filter and insert effects can all be placed inside the feedback loop, as well you can even output the feedback into the Aux FM input. Consider that the feedback is also polyphonic and handled before unison summing.
SYNTHESIS
The core of Massive X’s synthesis is two wavetable oscillators and an array of phase distortion effects. A common complaint is the lack of wavetable import, and that phase distortion is really just specialized tables used in a particular way, but for what this synth is, I don’t find this an issue. Wavetable import is cool, but often leads you towards a particular workflow, where the table does most of the work, I tend to use simpler shapes in Massive X, and do more sound design via FM, feedback, and insert effects. Each of the 10 phase distortion effects also have a few sub options, and two controls each. This is enough for me to play around with and explore for some time. Below the main oscillators are two FM operators, these have 6 shapes each and tuning defaults to ratio rather than semitones, which is a nice touch for FM based workflow. Following the oscillators is a noise section, with 2 sample based noise generators. Theres a decent variety of creative noise sources, and you can load in your own. Phase and unison are handled in the “voice” menu, which also includes some chord shapes for unison voices.
FILTER
Massive X’s filters sound incredible, I’m not sure if they are analog modeled and I don’t have the credentials to say how good they are compared to others on any technical level. But I’ve always found them to provide just the right flavor to my sounds. I particularly love “blue monark” which I can only assume is a moog clone stripped from the Monark Reaktor ensemble. Creak is a non-linear filter, with some interesting breakup on high resonance, and the others are just plain fun options. What really keeps me coming back to Massive X though, is the comb filter, this one sounds great, and it’s rare to see combs alongside an actual feedback loop, meaning you can actually insert an effect into the feedback and back into the comb. I appreciate the inclusion of allpass frequency, which creates some atonal sounds while remaining musical, as well as the comb defaulting to being keytracked.
EFFECTS
Massive X has a LOT of effects, between the three insert effects slots and three send effects, there’s a wide variety of options to choose from. Effects range from your typical revers, delays, chorus, distortion, to some more obscure options including a few utilities. You can use the insert effects as extra oscillators, FM oscillators, or extra filters. As well on the utility front, there is a “track delay” which lets you offset phase, blend phase, add lag, and even invert the signal. There’s quite a bit you can play with on jus this one effect, having phase inversion built into a synth is a bit of a secret weapon. The quad chorus, phaser, and reverb are very pleasant for built in effects. Having a built in EQ is always nice, even if it is simple, but a compressor would have been a great touch. The built in “nonlinear lab” just doesn’t quite cut it for me and never seems to give sounds the finishing polish I’m after.
Anima: Probably the most unique and powerful effect in Massive X, this one gets used in most of my presets. Described int he manual as a tuned delay line, it contains several combs which are keytracked to match your pitch. These delay lines are spread out via the smear control and can be audio rate modulated in “fast” mode. The result is somewhat magical, it’s one of those “use your ears” effects. Subtle motion and just the right settings can make this effect bloom and add unique dimansion to your sound. Something about it seems to sonically “glisten”.
Freq Shifter: Always nice to see these in synthesizers, a powerful tool alongside ring modulation, they can really make things scream. It’s particularly nice being able to insert both frequency shifting and ring modulation into the feedback loop and into the auxiliary FM input. That’s kind of the theme with this review, it’s fun to use things in
conjunction with feedback and FM.
DIstortions: Massive X includes quite a few different distortions to choose from, there is a folder, distortion, and bitcrusher, as well as the aforementioned nonlinear lab. I can’t say I’m too fond of most of them, perhaps I’ve been using them wrong, or maybe I’m just not making the right sounds for them. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I think it mostly comes down to Massive X not being my go-to “bass” synthesizer. I’ll have to give it a go next time I make leads, as the original Massive was my main pick for leads, and maybe this will change how I feel about these distortions.
Delay: The built in delay is simple, but has a neat option for tempo synced delays. Just like the LFO, as we’ll discus later, this delay gives you five time divisions to pick from. You can assign these however you want, which may seem unnecessary at a first glance. The main purpose this serves is to provide the option for modulating between select delay speeds without needing to pass through undesired timings. On most delays this would be almost useless, as when jumping between delay rates in tempo sync mode usually causes extreme glitching. In Massive X they’ve done something different, I don’t know how (maybe parallel delay lines?), but there is no artifacts when jumping delay rates, it simply changes instantly. It is worth playing around with this as there are a few creative uses not otherwise possible outside of Massive X.
MODULATION
The modulation section is handled via a drag and drop type system that runs across the middle of the synthesizer. There are three pages of three sources for your main modulation, each source can be switched between one of four modes. There’s a page of three “performers” and each of the four “trackers” get their own page. The trackers detect either note pitch or velocity, and allow you to remap the values however you want, this means you can design custom keytracking that affects certain key ranges more prominently than others, or have different velocity curves to use simultaneously. Just to the right of the trackers is the “VR” a static “randomizer” that I don’t suggest using, as it cycles between 8 predetermined values, it’s main use is to give each note a different tuning, but it’d be nice if there was more variety. Last is the routing page, which allows you to freely route any of the main modules within Massive X. This routing system lets you run effects in parallel, or series, or both at the same time. You can have OSC 2 enter the chain at any point, or use any module’s output as an FM source. It’s a very fun aspect of this one to be able to rearrange the signal flow to your own personal liking.
Performers: The performers are an interesting take on MSEGs, they are freely drawable, but also offer a variety of editing tools and brushes to work with. Their size and layout assumes you’ll use them for creating complex patterns and sequences. They are capable of polymetric sequencing and you can swap between 12 sets of performers via the lowest octave of your keyboard. I’ve yet to use this, but I’m sure it could be quite fun.
Envelope/ Exciter: There are two types of envelopes to pick from, depending which range of time you want to focus on. The normal envelope can go incredibly slow, up to 100 seconds decay/release and 16 seconds attack. It’s not quite an ADSR, as there’s a few hold and shaping options, and the sustain location might trip you up on first use, but it’s really quite versatile for sculpting an exact curve. The exciter envelope is focussed on shorter transient/ pluck type motions, it doesn’t display it’s time in seconds, but has lots of control in the milliseconds range for defining an exact click or snap.
LFO/Random: The LFO is pretty interesting, this is likely where most people get tripped up, there’s several options for syncing, looping, and triggering that can be a bit confusing at first. On top of that, the shape switcher is already a new concept, it allows you to switch between LFO shapes on the fly, even randomize them. Then there’s the rather unorthodox rate sync mode, which has a slider that picks between five different divisions. All this makes for a bit of a confusing setup, but I can understand why they made it this way, it gives you loads of options to work with. For example, the sync mode switcher is actually really cool, by setting five different divisions, you can ensure that randomization only hits specific timings, or makes some more common than others. This is nice for including dotted or triplet timings, without including every variation. As for the random, it’s mostly the same, but you have controls for smoothness, jitter, and threshold, which each give some unique characteristics.
When you look at the inclusion of both a keytracked comb filter and an “exciter” envelope, with the ability to insert effects into the feedback channel, Massive X is actually a very capable physical modeling synthesizer, and I think this is what gets overlooked the most. I think people assume it is simply a straightforward wavetable synth, missing the table input feature from more powerful wavetable synths. The name “Massive” X doesn’t help this either, as it premises this synth around continuing Massive’s legacy. Had they given it a different name, I don’t think we’d see the same backlash or negative opinions, had they placed the physical modeling details front and center I think Massive X would be much more highly regarded. While being one of my favorite synths, it really doesn’t get as much use as my other favorites, Massive X is much more of an experimental sound design powerhouse than a bread and butter synth. I have loads of fun with it every time I use it, and for this reason I think it’s best suited as a musical starting point, rather than a tool you reach for mid production. This is the synth you use when you’re looking for ideas, not when you already have them. Massive X invites exploration and is a bit of a mad laboratory. If you take a bit of time with it, and learn to find the sweet spots rather than resting on tried and trusted synthesis methods, Massive X will hopefully surprise you with how incredible it can sound.
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MASSIVE X: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/4-Synth/10604-MASSIVE-X?a_aid=61c378ab215d5