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In my opinion Massive is a pukka synth! If you get bored with the sounds you can make with it, you could always try using some addition plug ins to affect the sound even further. CamelPhat for example, you can make the most basic sound on Massive, run it through CamelPhat, tweak some of the parameters on CamelPhat and you'll have a completely different sound.

The only reason massive seems to get a bad rep is because everyone is copying each others ksds and not creating their own. Also without a lot of external processing your sound isn't going to stick out or sound as good! Take a look at this tutorial I made using Massive where I took the movement I was getting in my bass through massive and automated parameters in different external effects to get something completely different! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcq8nyEg1qU

if you don't want to spend the money Ill let you in on a little secret. You can get a free demo of any software and as long as you don't close the program, you can resample your bass out any program into your DAW as an audio file. I have massive but I usually work with audio anyway for my syths because of the crazy things you can do with resampling. You can see this in my tutorial right here where I make a growl bass out of massive into a huge epic roaring lfo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcq8nyE ... _fRMVdSapw

Massive is my favourite synth for sure. It is a workhorse, and as someone said above, people do use it to make shitty sounds. You can make anything sound shitty though, so that's not a fair judgement in my opinion. I love the depth and space you can create in it, and the up front in your face sounds are just as rad too.

I do feel that I've have made it my enemy in the way that it is so versatile and powerful, I often find whole tracks where every synth part is created in Massive, therefore not spending time getting to know FM8 and Sylenth, etc.

DetoreMusic wrote:if you don't want to spend the money Ill let you in on a little secret. You can get a free demo of any software and as long as you don't close the program, you can resample your bass out any program into your DAW as an audio file.

ahaha I'm totally guilty of doing this too

Forget Massive. Serum is going to take bass music by storm.

I suspect we are talking about modern dubstep (again brostep/tearout whatever), so i'm not even gonna start with guys like Burial, Kode9, Pretty Lights, The Widdler etc. - who sure as hell use a lot of stuff apart from Massive or don't use Massive at all. Let's go to the brostep artists:

-Your boy Skrillex uses mostly FM8 and has said in one of his interviews that the most of sounds which people think were made in Massive, he made in FM8

-Rob Swire from Knife Party has said his favorite synth is Z3ta along with Sylenth and FM8.

-Koan Sound (who are on Skrillex's label OWSLA these days) have said they get 90% of their basses from Malström, in Reason which they rewire into Cubase.

-Bassnectar uses Absynth, Albino, Gladiator AND Massive

-Space Laces uses Sytrus and Albino.

-Modestep use Rob Papen's Blue

-Nearly every "prominent dubstep artist" (using Massive or not) say that you can use whatever you like the most, when they've been asked what's the best synth for dubstep.

Here's just a few examples tho. I think the reason why so many artist use Massive apart from it being a good synth is that it's easy to begin with and other people use it and when somebody goes anywhere on the internet and ask about best synth for dubstep, always the first answer is "get Massive" (I've seen countless of these over here).

I don't own massive.

I made this with all free-ware just yesterday. https://soundcloud.com/tiger_widow/twisty-number

I've also just had a release under Route1audio. It might just be one release but it's a big thing for me. I literally produce out my living room using freeware (and a few give aways from CM magazine) and dedication to a cause.

Don't knock it till you try it. Please for the love of god don't limit yourself to thinking one vsti will make you a decent musician. A producer worth his salt could make a decent tune on very limited tools. A pad producer blames his tools (or lack there of) for a lack of personal skill.

Turnipish_Thoughts wrote:I don't own massive.

I made this with all free-ware just yesterday. https://soundcloud.com/tiger_widow/twisty-number

I've also just had a release under Route1audio. It might just be one release but it's a big thing for me. I literally produce out my living room using freeware (and a few give aways from CM magazine) and dedication to a cause.

Don't knock it till you try it. Please for the love of god don't limit yourself to thinking one vsti will make you a decent musician. A producer worth his salt could make a decent tune on very limited tools. A pad producer blames his tools (or lack there of) for a lack of personal skill.

Fuckin' A dude! I think you've just proved the OP wrong in every way, shape and form possible.

The argument of whether or not massive is a good synth is off topic- of course its good, its just not to everyones taste. But do you need it to make good Dubstep? Fuck no!

Barnski wrote:

Turnipish_Thoughts wrote:I don't own massive.

I made this with all free-ware just yesterday. https://soundcloud.com/tiger_widow/twisty-number

I've also just had a release under Route1audio. It might just be one release but it's a big thing for me. I literally produce out my living room using freeware (and a few give aways from CM magazine) and dedication to a cause.

Don't knock it till you try it. Please for the love of god don't limit yourself to thinking one vsti will make you a decent musician. A producer worth his salt could make a decent tune on very limited tools. A pad producer blames his tools (or lack there of) for a lack of personal skill.

Fuckin' A dude! I think you've just proved the OP wrong in every way, shape and form possible.

The argument of whether or not massive is a good synth is off topic- of course its good, its just not to everyones taste. But do you need it to make good Dubstep? Fuck no!

Cheers mate

All I used was Hadron and a sample of a crackling campfire from freesound.org for the basic tone generation. then BC Chorus, Flange and Phaser, Bifiltertone2 (free with issue 182 of CM magazine), DDMF EQ II (again, free with issue 179 of CM). then a load of automation, bouncing, slicing e.t.c.

@op Go grab all these and have a bash. Or find your own workflow. That's the point, you can't have something handed to you you have to work for it, and lots of cool stuff is very possible with what's out there for free. In many cases free options outperform big money programs. don't feel like you can't "make it" because you haven't got the money to pour into all the flashy stuff. The software industry is an industry, and they want you to think like that, but it ain't true. Just put in the time and swat up on all the information that's out there. We have the internet! use it You'll get better with time.

I don't own massive.

I made this with all free-ware just yesterday. https://soundcloud.com/tiger_widow/twisty-number

Respectfully, I'm not trying to diss...The technical aspects of that track is there. But the sparkle is not.

You can use a hammer to build a house just as good as you can use a nail gun. But you will get the job done a lot faster, with less work, with better tools.

Why do great musicians by $10,000 dollar instruments, $50,000 grand pianos? Why don't musicians use a cheap Casio keyboard on the stage? Yeah, you can play any song on these cheap instruments, but the quality in tone is lacking. When you career depends on it, little things like "shine" matter.

I have bought plenty of synths (because I can now)...before that I've acquired many synths through the usual means. But I still run to massive. So It is not like I have money to throw around. If I could get a free ware massive, I would have ran for it. Then I would have spent my money elsewhere (there a many studio items that I would love to buy if I had the extra cash).

With that said, I'm sure you can find plenty of Great sounding free synths. But massive is worth every single penny you spend on it. Time is money, and with massive, you can get great sounds, with less time and effort.

Nomad76 wrote:You can use a hammer to build a house just as good as you can use a nail gun. But you will get the job done a lot faster, with less work, with better tools.

Yes, this sums up my feelings exactly. I get tired of reading all the "oh you can make great basses with 3x3 osc" etc. Sure, but you can do a ton more, a ton quicker with Massive.

Nomad76 wrote:

I'm sure you can find plenty of Great sounding free synths. But massive is worth every single penny you spend on it. Time is money, and with massive, you can get great sounds, with less time and effort.

NI rep?

as others have stated, it's not the end all answer to synth/bass sounds. i've just started messing with serum these past 2 weeks and it is quickly replacing massive in my workflow. massive is a great one though, that has become increasingly stable/versatile over time with updates without need for a visual overhaul or the addition of gimmicks.

one thing is for sure, if my being signed to a label was contingent on the use of massive vst i would promptly gtfo. that would be ridiculous.

Simulant wrote:

Nomad76 wrote:You can use a hammer to build a house just as good as you can use a nail gun. But you will get the job done a lot faster, with less work, with better tools.

Yes, this sums up my feelings exactly. I get tired of reading all the "oh you can make great basses with 3x3 osc" etc. Sure, but you can do a ton more, a ton quicker with Massive.

But that's not the point. Its not 3x3 vs Massive, its literally everything there is that you can make a sound with vs Massive. What you are both saying is true, but the OP says:

Beare wrote:These days you will never ever get signed to any sort of major label, and probably no minor labels unless your using Massive for your baselines.

And that is just bullshit.

Yeah I agree, it's not essential and never should be. But it should be recognised as a good tool, even one of the best. There are a ton of super capable synths available these days though - IL Harmor, Xfer Serum, U-He Zebra etc.

Reason is better

Samuel_L_Damnson wrote:Reason is better

It's awesome, but Propellerhead rips you so much off I moved to Logic.

didn't xfer records come up with a wavetable synth, like, the other day? maybe that will be the new massive...

Samuel_L_Damnson wrote:Reason is better

Agree with that. I dont use Massive, because i think that it overused. Especially Scrap Yard, Carbon and Modern Talking wt.

Bustemout wrote:

Samuel_L_Damnson wrote:Reason is better

Agree with that. I dont use Massive, because i think that it overused. Especially Scrap Yard, Carbon and Modern Talking wt.

And saw/square/sine waves aren't overused?

I think Massive has still got some life in it, although I'd like to see an updated version with even more features.