Anyone Using the Massive Ensemble? N00b Question

So, I am trying to use the Massive ensemble, having a lot of fun with it...just trying to figure it out....can someone PLEASE answer just one of the many questions I have about this groovebox: The top sequence panel....the one that can change into three different colors...for the life of me I have not been able to figure out what it's for. The definition given when you turn on the "hints" feature is long, but incredibly vauge. Also, is there anywhere online that has a tutorial or any discussion at all about this groovebox? I havent been able to find anything. Thanks so much in advance!

 

Hi!

I don't know if material about Massive is online, but you should find in your Reaktor 5 folder a pdf called "Instrument Guide" with explanations of all the instruments belonging to the R5 library. The "Massive" section starts on page 43.

The top sequencer panel is for modulation purposes. In the right part of Massive you'll find tiny boxes below some of the controls. You can chance their color with the mouse from grey to one of the colors of the top sequencer panel. If you do that the respective sequence of the top sequencer panel is used to modulate this control.

I hope that helps ...

 

I use Massive all the time, mostly for creating loops from very weird source material. Massive lets me turn almost any combination of sounds into melodic as well as rhythmic loops. I have a concert coming up next month in which almost 30 minutes of our music was created entirely in Massive.

The downside to Massive is that the snapshot module really sucks, much clumsier than it needs to be, and i don't trust its functionality enough to set up Massive to sequence the loops onstage. So I make my loops in Massive and then export them all to Ableton Live. It's really too bad, and an incredible oversight by NI not to update theirt snapshot module to work like a simple table or spreadsheet. I have another posting on this discussion about fixing the snapshot module. Hopefully NI will read that post.

Massive's top row of dials is pretty mysterious. After 40 hours or more with this ensemble, I kind of know what dials do, but I can't really explain it in words. Truthfully, I don't play with those dials very often. When a loop I am designing needs something completely different, and i can't get to it using all the other buttons and dials, only then do I start to fiddle with those dials, and especially with the 4 colors that define the modulation sequences. That probably doesn't sound very helpful to you, but maybe it is, because i have created lots of incredible loops with massive, and i think the only way to do it well is simply to start to play with it. Massive has so many levels of modulation that interact with one another, that I doubt anybody (even the designer) knows everything about the instrument.

One of my favorite things in Massive, is assigning those color boxes (which point to the various sequence graphs at the top) to the transposition section. By playing with the numbers in the top and bottom boxes of this transpose section, you can start to develop the most incredible pitched material. I have a few melodies created from fishes thumping their air bladders against their backbones. It sounds like thumps, but then you start playing with the numbers and the sequence graph itself, and out of nowhere, you suddenly start hearing melodies. It's kind of magical.

 

the top row of knobs are for the send effects. one is a delay, the other a "spatializer" - a cheap/non-realistic reverb that actually sounds pretty interesting. you can use the track sends to send channels to them, and the returns up top to hear them. if you look at the panelsets for massive, their are entries in it to access the entire effects.

 

OK sputnik, that's a worthy description. But just knowing what the knobs are connected to, doesn't really help a user set them up to do creative work in the real world. Those knobs are affected by several other layers of modulation, any of which can radically alter the very basis of the sound being fed through it. I guess what i am saying is,YES, they are sends, but they are NOT sends in the traditional way., Trying to set them up as mere sends is like opening up a good bottle of wine and then not drinking it.

 

Thanks! This info has been helpful. Yes, I do own the manual but it's vague(shocker!). I will admit though; this is one of the first ensembles I've actually found it fun to run around blindly on, trying to figure everything out. Listening to the snapshots, trying to figure out how they created the sounds they did with the given samples...that kind of thing. There is still a lot I just dont get; but hopefully with time that will change.

 

Hey ml_tronik,

I totally agree with you about Massive. The only other Reaktor ensembles I've used as seriously are 6-pak, travelizer, and maybe a few of the more bizarre effects. I also use Spektral Delay all the time as a Protools and Live plugin.

As you figure things out, I'd be very interested to keep in touch with you. Maybe if you have any revelations about Massive, you could let me know. I'll do the same for you. You got it right that the manual is nearly hopeless. You can find my email address at interspecies.com.

 

sounds like a deal to me.

 

beluga, i think the problem with the effects section, for me at least, is that both effects are gated somehow, according to the info tooltips, and its kind of an unusual concept compared to your average delay send. i know what you are saying about not fully grasping what outcome you will get when using them - i just figured id explain to the chap what they actually are.

tronik, i agree about the sometimes sketchy documentation, but i have to say that the instrument guide for reaktor 5 is 100x better and more useful than the reaktor 4 one (if you just started at v5, check out the classic instrument guide .pdf included with R5 to see what i mean). im actually impressed that as much work went in as it did towards explaining the ensembles and their respective controls. i mean, electronic instruments 2 costs over 100$ for just an ensemble collection and the user guide that comes with it is nothing more than a sales brochure, really. not that im all that upset, i understand how they all work, but they really shoulda done a bit more, especially if they give the same documentation for the XT version, which is even more pricey.

 

adding to this discussion another few questions. I've created a few snaps of my own, and I've been able to easily access them after saving--no problem. However, I noticed a couple of interesting things this morning and I wonder if anyone can explain them to me. First, I created a new snapshot which is meant to be run at 118 bpm. The issue I have noticed is that when I try to listen to all other snapshots in massive, they are all reduced to that same bpm rate. Also, I had a bizarre incident this morning in which in the middle of working on one snapshot, I scrolled to other snap shots(factory and non-factory) and they ALL contained the same samples that I was using in the snapshot I was working on at the time. Closing the ensemble, NOT saving changes and re-opening seemed to fix the problem, but I lost all the changes I'd made on the one I was working on. Any theories on this?

 

you can use snapshots in the Ensemble Panel to store BPM changes. you need to tick "Set BPM by Snapshot" in the ensemble properties. also the ensemble snapshot will have to be the "Master" in terms of snapshot selection.

"Store by Parent" and "Recall by Parent" will have to be ticked in the Massive instrument, as the Ensemble is now the parent.

sowari

 

Go to your start menu/all programs and click on EIv2. You'll find there's .pdfs for every instrument in EIv2- they just install in a weird spot (they're in your start menu folder under programs in documents and settings). The .pdfs are actually quite detailed...

ew