Massive X: Status/Future?

Well, M1 does support ARM version of SIMD instructions, which is called NEON, so it's a matter of translating between them. Not all of AVX1 instructions might have a 1-to-1 translation though, and this is where things get problematic (i.e. you get performance hits), so in this case things require some actual proper thought and work put into things.

All in all, even though SIMD translation libraries do exist (i.e. SIMDe), it's far from a "plug it in and it works" sort of deal.

You always purchase things "as is", this is always stated in each and every EULA. No other promises.

 

Well, technically you are correct, but I bought it as part of an Ultimate package, before it was released. NI made all kinds of claims, it’s release was postponed etc etc When it was released it was completely unfinished. The animatied GUI was not ready, It had no manual etc

In the software world, this is ‘accepted’ but with the caveat that the customer expects a degree of refinement of the product. Bug-fixes are universal. Are you saying that we have no right to expect them?
Without the expectation of some ongoing development, a lot of software would not be marketable.

I am a fan of NI. I am invested. But I would not recommend their products at this moment in time, and I am not in a hurry to buy more product. There are other companies making competitive stuff, that seem to meet their customer’s expectations.

 

Yes, MX release has been delayed two or three months. But NI gave users some kind of "present" to apologize. I do not remember what it was, probably a voucher or free plugin or Maschine Expansion....

There were six updates since the release, so there were bugfixes and smaller or bigger improvements.... There was not big progress. NI probably originaly planned more... But the new owner of the company changed the things.

 

It was never even promiised, or shown in promo materials, that it'd be there in original release, though.

Of course not.

Nothing that directly affected MX development, really, no.

 

The very idea that this pretty important part of the GUI wouldn't be animated even if it wasn't explicitly stated in promo materials would be a funny joke. As I say, it is about meeting expectations, and 99% of buyers would have expected that feature as standard in 2019!

ED, I have a lot of respect for you and your knowledge. You are an incredible source of info on all things NI, and I have used your tips since I got on board with NI 3 years ago.

But...you do not have to defend their every misstep!

 

I'm not. For example, releasing without a finished manual was pretty bad. (I love manuals!)

I really love those random statistics pulled out of nowhere

I still disagree that "missing animations" is supposed to be considered a bug or a missing feature. Maybe it was never even planned in product design stage, and subsequent addition of it was listening to user feedback?

 

Well...They had a static set of envelope graphics that did not change with altering the ADSR values. Making the graphic reflect the values was pretty much the first mod they introduced.
I read plenty of reviews around that time, and probably all of them commented upon this initial omission. You know, this isn't just my opinion here!

 

"Probably all".

Yeah I know it's not just your opinion, but an over-generalization is still an over-generalization

 

Especially when you know that the large majority of users are not touching anything and simply rely on presets.

 

Well, maybe. Manuals, in the early days, would have facilitated getting out of the preset trap. Lols. As would a useful GUI. And browser. More lols.

 

I wasn't talking about Massive X but how software instruments are generally used. It's far from what you seem to suggest 99% of people are after. Otherwise, we should just release a player and sell sound packs.

 

I believe it was a 50$ voucher which meant a free expansion or credit towards an update/upgrade.

 

Yes, I also remember, that it was something more usable than 25$ voucher. I was pleased. And yes, I bought an Expansion using it.

And, I confirm, that I am so lazy, that I use just presets. I have never ever made my own one. And my wild gues is that less than 1 in 1 000 of users create their own plugins. Maybe 1 in 10 000.

 

I think that what folks who invested in MX wanted was a synth that could be programmed...with features that comparable synths had as standard on release.
You and ED can quibble that my figure of 99% was an invention. Of course it was...but maybe you’re in a good position to reflect on the reviews if MX when it came out, and the comments on this forum. While it was accepted that MX had a lot of potential, on release it was unfinished...

 

I personally wouldn't use the word unfinished but it didn't have all the features some users were expecting.
I also agree with some of the feedback in this thread and it would be great to see some improvements.

We definitely reflect on the feedback and we know we need to keep moving forward despite the large majority of our users loving the synth.

 

oh don’t worry, I love it too. It’s my ‘goto’ synth. It’s what I’m learning ‘synthesisers’ on. It has pretty much everything... but many things frustrate me, and many things DID frustrate me when it first arrived...

 

That's completely fair and I also wish we can take it to the next level. I'm definitely keeping an eye on the roadmap and we'll update here whenever I get some news on new features.

 

OK, but even you would benefit from a preset browser with filters and favorites, wouldn´t you?

No manual on release? Rudimentary preset browser? No visual feedback on ADSR curves? Parameter readouts only been added about one year after release?!? No VST3? That and more pretty much is what I´d call the impression of unfinished.

That sounds good! (Like Massive X.) Thanks Matt, for showing official signs of MX not being considered dead.

Hm, I missed out on that one, it seems. Would have alleviated some pain. Matt, could you PM me some more info on that?


To sum it up: No roadmap yet, but growing awareness for customers` needs, with serious expression of willingess. That´s far more answer than ever before. A spark of hope.

 

This is not really a metric for something being "unfinished". Neither are the envelope graphics not animating (I will fight anyone on that one! ). Please separate whatever your personal expectations are with what would actually be a part of product design (OG Massive also doesn't have parameter readouts, intentionally by design, and manual mentions it!) and/or technological feasibility at the time. VST3 is a company-wide topic and consider how many different products there are, it's not something you do one-off, it's something you do at internal framework level for all of them

 

Hi guys,
I'm glad to see i'm not the only one who thinks MX will need a big update.
Before it came out, I hesitated with Serum, but I preferred to wait, because the original Massive sound was just amazing, and because I thought NI was going to set the bar higher than Xfer to make an incredible next-gen synth!
Honestly, today I am very disappointed...

For me:
- Visualisation feedback (filters, wavetables, enveloppes, LFO etc... as in all software...
- Preset browser
- A second filter
- Unisson by OSC! (to have the sub in mono for example, but the middle/high in stereo)

And all that says Lucas, i'm agree.

When i see Pigments 2 or Serum, it drives me crazy to not have acces to this in MX....