When Massive was released by Native Instruments in 2007, it soon became a synthesizer many leading music producers turn to. It’s not surprising that its successor, Massive X, brings a ton of excitement and hype! Countless hit records were built using Massive synths. Mike Posner even used the Butterfly Stance stock preset on the Justin Bieber hit Boyfriend. Massive harnessed the power of the modern computer to achieve hardware quality sound and Massive X takes that to a whole new level. This isn’t an update, it’s a completely new synth. These are the best features of Massive X.
Oscillators and Noise Modules
The dual wavetable oscillators within Massive X are the heart of its sound. There are over 170 wavetables and 10 oscillator modes. But you can customize this even further with the added sub-modes each has. You then have the ability to switch in two additional phase-modulation oscillators and assign them to the primaries to introduce movement. It’s even possible to use an external sound source to do this as well. Sources ranging from choirs, voices, rain, machines, and other synthesized sounds give you everything needed to make Massive X a beast for your sound design.
Massive X Filters and FX
Not only do you get to enjoy the many new filters in Massive X, but each have their own sub-mode. All the controls are included in its flexible modulation framework. Its Insert FX can be patched in anywhere along the signal chain for polyphonic signal processing in any way you can imagine. Then add some of the refined Stereo FX to finish your sound. Shape the sound the way you want it.
Unison Voicing
Add some musicality into the synth patch you’re creating. Quickly generate voice variation in both mono and polyphonic modes. It’s even possible to modulate it to play melodic and chord sequences of up to eight bars using the performers.
Routing
Routing just feels so much easier to accomplish versus its predecessor. The software is really intuitive here and the drag and drop functionality is very user-friendly. I really find the entire soft synth to be extremely easy to use which is surprising given the granularity of the customization you can do.
Massive X Modulation
The three Performers let you draw up to eight bars of modulation. There are nine slots for LFO and envelope modulation. The Trackers let you modulate depending on which note you play and the Voice Randomizer adds randomized modulation to any source. Whichever way you want to take modulation in Massive X, you can.
The verdict
Where Native Instruments Massive took soft synths for the last decade, there is no doubt Massive X will continue that into the future. There is no denying the sound that this synthesizer produces.
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