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James... « Good if you know what you're doing »
Published on 08/04/11 at 13:01The name massive is very spot on. This is a huge synth with a huge amount of options. Were it not for the presets, most users would be lost on their first Massive run through. Setup is easy enough though. It's basically plug and play. I use it with cubase and an axiom 25 most of the time. NI assumes that many users will be confused at first by the massive layout, so they provide a nice interface for navigating into desired sounds.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
Like NI suggests, I use Massive for weird leads and bass. It's also good for spacey sound effects and ambient stuff too. It does really well in this environment. There's a lot of versitility to be had just from scrolling through presets. Eventually though the presets get kind of old and the novelty wears off. At this point either two things happen depending what kind of user you are. You read the manual and learn how to use it to make your own sounds fairly quickly, or you get lost in the endless options and parameters and give up on Massive. Typically, if you haven't had a lot of experience with these style synths, you will end up shelving the vst. It took me a while, but I learned it in a few weeks. I have some gripes though. The sequencing functions are not very good compared to other synths I've used. In my experience massive is only good for flat bass and ambient sounds. Sequenced leads fall flat.
OVERALL OPINION
Unless you are confident in your know how of soft synths, you might want to skip Massive. It can be complicated once you run out of presets to keep you afloat. It's not for beginners. For the value it's pretty good. Not phenomenal. I still use it these days, but not as often as my first few months with it. I find it's easier to get usable sounds with other programs.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
Like NI suggests, I use Massive for weird leads and bass. It's also good for spacey sound effects and ambient stuff too. It does really well in this environment. There's a lot of versitility to be had just from scrolling through presets. Eventually though the presets get kind of old and the novelty wears off. At this point either two things happen depending what kind of user you are. You read the manual and learn how to use it to make your own sounds fairly quickly, or you get lost in the endless options and parameters and give up on Massive. Typically, if you haven't had a lot of experience with these style synths, you will end up shelving the vst. It took me a while, but I learned it in a few weeks. I have some gripes though. The sequencing functions are not very good compared to other synths I've used. In my experience massive is only good for flat bass and ambient sounds. Sequenced leads fall flat.
OVERALL OPINION
Unless you are confident in your know how of soft synths, you might want to skip Massive. It can be complicated once you run out of presets to keep you afloat. It's not for beginners. For the value it's pretty good. Not phenomenal. I still use it these days, but not as often as my first few months with it. I find it's easier to get usable sounds with other programs.