Opinions on MassiveX

[EnGee]

Yes, Chipsound synths are interesting indeed. I'm interested in a Sega mega drive emulation. But not sure if I have a use for it, as most of my music is gloomy

[anomandaris1]

What will happen to the original Massive? Will NI continue to develop it or it will get replaced by Massive X?

[Functional]

What will happen to the original Massive? Will NI continue to develop it or it will get replaced by Massive X?

Given that original Massive hasn't seen anything new for years, at this point I'd consider it as software that is no longer being developed - just supported. And Massive X does pretty much everything that you'd do on original one. The only thing that isn't directly possible like it was on original is going for crazy unison values so that when you play a note, practically there are no overtones or undertones, which made sinewaves rather strange to play as you didn't really feel directional change when you played one note after another.

But yeah, unless that is particular feature you're looking for, Massive X is pretty much the new Massive.

[Stefken]

It doesn't even have direct drag & drop modulation.

It has a far better system. Select a target, and you can immediately assign all modulators to it. Or vice versa, select a modulator and immediately assign it to all targets.

It's the only synth I know that has it, and it works really well and fast.

Having things visually spinning around knobs in somewhat realtime

It's really interesting when you design a patch as you immediately see the state of the modulators and link it to what's happening on a sound level. So, Pigments is often used for evolving pads as it's real easy to design them. In the browser, you even see the osc's and filter moving which is also a nice tough to get a feel for the sound.

So very interesting for designing patches. There are times, more when you are just playing and not designing, that they attract to much attention. So I would appreciate a switch to turn them off.

They were smart enough to implement at least that into Serum.

I don't know why you keep bringing up this synth like it's the de facto standard we have to meet or compare with. We moved on since then and seen much nicer implementations (I really like the new Drumcomputer for example).
I would sell Serum in a second if my license allowed it. It was a nice evolution at the time but it's sound is way to harsh for my taste.

[Stefken]

Pigments in particular has those Arturia filters which, while they sound really good up to a point, they sound like plastic once you up the resonance. I haven't tested Pigments 2 yet so I don't know whenever the filters have better models now.

I kinda like the formant one, but they are pretty weak compared to the filters of MX imo.
Unfortunately, as it is quite a limiting factor. I agree with people saying that the sound of Pigments is rather thin. I often boost it with a custom FX rack.

There's a reason why Luftrum, Richard Devine et al have never made presets for Serum.

Hehe. Well, Luftrum's palette is pretty ambient and VA, and Serum is not the synth for that sound.
Good for wub wub and harsh sounds, but not for ambient.

[Ohlson_M]

Pigments in particular has those Arturia filters which, while they sound really good up to a point, they sound like plastic once you up the resonance. I haven't tested Pigments 2 yet so I don't know whenever the filters have better models now.

I kinda like the formant one, but they are pretty weak compared to the filters of MX imo.
Unfortunately, as it is quite a limiting factor. I agree with people saying that the sound of Pigments is rather thin. I often boost it with a custom FX rack.

Unfortunately, I have to agree. Pigments sound is thin, and the presets sound so eerie and strange that they will only fit my needs if I want to create an ambient track when I am high on mushrooms. In comparison, Massive X sounds full and the filters are amazing.

Also, in Pigments 2, I have gotten tired of the constantly blinking modulation in the middle of the GUI.

[Stefken]

Pigments in particular has those Arturia filters which, while they sound really good up to a point, they sound like plastic once you up the resonance. I haven't tested Pigments 2 yet so I don't know whenever the filters have better models now.

I kinda like the formant one, but they are pretty weak compared to the filters of MX imo.
Unfortunately, as it is quite a limiting factor. I agree with people saying that the sound of Pigments is rather thin. I often boost it with a custom FX rack.

Pigments sound is thin, and the presets sound so eerie

You cán work the sounds to give them more oumph.
The VA oscillator also has unison now for example, so that helps.

But yeah, in their 'core essence' , MX has a more full sound with is easily attained, while Pigments excels in modulation.

[Functional]

It doesn't even have direct drag & drop modulation.

It has a far better system.

Haha, no, it's absolutely the worst.

See? Anyone can present opinions as facts. The fact that you admire that thing though gives some great context with many of your statements about MX UI. Let's put it this way; MX was clearly not designed for you in that case, and neither Pigments for me.

[EvilDragon]

It has a far better system. Select a target, and you can immediately assign all modulators to it. Or vice versa, select a modulator and immediately assign it to all targets.

It's the only synth I know that has it, and it works really well and fast.

Actually, Surge has it. At least that second thing you mention. You enable a modulator for assigning, then you just move the parameters you want to modulate by the amount you want to modulate. FXpansion synths also work the same way (but have a pretty detrimental behavioral bug there).

[Functional]

The reason by the way for my dislike of Pigments modulation system is quite simple: assigning modulators is far more often one-off thing than fine-adjusting them. Since you don't have to select the correct modulator in case of MX, it's always easy to adjust it since they're numbered. So I'll happily spend more time to set them up vs. more time readjusting them. Or who knows, maybe I'm alone in the camp of readjusting modulators and people just are much better than me at that sort of thing.

[Stefken]

See? Anyone can present opinions as facts.

Yeah, you should know.
I also have the experience to back it up as I have been designing all kinds of UI's for several decades now (websites, applications, ...) . So what's your experience?

The fact that you admire that thing

There are plenty of people who admire the Pigments UI. Arturia also took their time with this one.
And the sales of Pigments seem to be going very well.

But why always the aggressive posture? I have no problem stating that the Pigments filters are not that good. That fan boi game is pretty silly.

[Stefken]

It has a far better system. Select a target, and you can immediately assign all modulators to it. Or vice versa, select a modulator and immediately assign it to all targets.

It's the only synth I know that has it, and it works really well and fast.

Actually, Surge has it. At least that second thing you mention. You enable a modulator for assigning, then you just move the parameters you want to modulate by the amount you want to modulate. FXpansion synths also work the same way (but have a pretty detrimental behavioral bug there).

Yes, but the novel thing with Pigments is that is works in both directions.
Modulator to target(s) and target to modulator(s). And it's implementation is better then the one from Cypher 2 e.g.. Cypher 2 works modulator to target(s) but my personal workflow is more oriented towards picking a target and then assigning modulator(s). Anyways, in Pigments, you don't have to choose as you can work either way.

[dionenoid]

I don't know why you keep bringing up this synth like it's the de facto standard we have to meet or compare with. We moved on since then and seen much nicer implementations (I really like the new Drumcomputer for example).
I would sell Serum in a second if my license allowed it. It was a nice evolution at the time but it's sound is way to harsh for my taste.

Serum is still the most used and most popular softsynth worldwide. Also the one with the most third party presets available. So i'd say it's pretty much the standard still.

Btw : Try layering MX with Serum. Works really well.

[EvilDragon]

The reason by the way for my dislike of Pigments modulation system is quite simple: assigning modulators is far more often one-off thing than fine-adjusting them. Since you don't have to select the correct modulator in case of MX, it's always easy to adjust it since they're numbered. So I'll happily spend more time to set them up vs. more time readjusting them. Or who knows, maybe I'm alone in the camp of readjusting modulators and people just are much better than me at that sort of thing.

Good point there. And no, you're not alone.

[anomandaris1]

Serum is still the most used and most popular softsynth worldwide. Also the one with the most third party presets available. So i'd say it's pretty much the standard still.

Well, original Massive, Sylenth1 and Omnisphere 2, and Zebra, and Spire also have tons of preset banks for them. About how used and popular is something - this is very speculative (probably stock DAW synths and some freewares like Synth1 and similar see more use than various big name synths)