Massive

MASSIVE's macro controls offer fast, direct control - automatically mapped to the eight macro knobs on all KOMPLETE KONTROL S-SERIES keyboards, and all MASCHINE hardware.

All of a sound's most important parameters are pre-configured and mapped to these controllers. A single controller can handle multiple assignments – for example, just twist 'Rhythm' and watch how multiple underlying parameters change simultaneously.

The macro controls enable you to customize any of MASSIVE's presets instantly and profoundly, without having to understand the technical structure of the sound. The macro controls essentially turn each sound into a set of possible sounds that seamlessly morph into one another.

Moreover, the macro controls are the most important interface to other applications. They are targets for MIDI assignments, which are easily set using the MIDI Learn function. They are also the first eight parameters that are reported to any host when MASSIVE is used as a plug-in.

MASSIVE's basic structure conforms to the well-known subtractive synthesis paradigm, making it easy to understand while simultaneously ensuring the signal flow is highly flexible. You can place two insert effects at various places within the signal flow. You can also take the signal at any point and route it back to the beginning. For example, you can filter a sound and feed it back into the filter's input. This can create very lively and dynamic results. The flexibility is further increased by placing an insert effect into the feedback path.

You can route any of the oscillator’s signals directly to the synthesizer's output, bypassing all filters and/or master effects. This feature allows a direct 'punch' to be added to layered, highly modulated sounds, for example to add a sub bass.

MASSIVE's various global settings pages allow a variety of parameters to be adjusted – parameters that most other synthesizers leave unmentioned and unadjustable. MASSIVE unveils their true sound design potential. The Keytracking pages map the incoming pitch information generated by your keyboard or sequencer individually for each oscillator and filter. There is even separate keytracking control over the filters' cut-off frequencies and other additional parameters such as a bandpass filter's width or a comb filter’s feedback. This allows effects to be created that can be controlled by simply playing your keyboard.

Like in most synthesizers, you can adjust glide times between pitches when you play legato notes. MASSIVE goes a step further, allowing the pitchbend range or the phase of each oscillator to be adjusted. The Voicing page allows switching between polyphonic and monophonic voice handling as well as several voice trigger options, for example playing musical-sounding trills easily with your keyboard.

Several voices can be triggered by a single note. Much like an orchestra where several violins play the same 'voice', making the sound warmer and more lively, the unisono feature makes your sound thick and vivid. This feature can also be adjusted to extreme settings, spreading your voices over several octaves or filling the stereo panorama – all with just one single note being played.