Mastering Massive

[Axle]

I recently got massive. I can do a few things but i'm just not that good on the theory side of synthesisers. Is there maybe a step-by-step guide on the net somewhere where I can learn Massive in serious detail?? I'm determined to master it lol, and once I become familiar with how synthesisers work then I wont find it hard to use others either.. so.. WIN WIN!!

 

[TongueFlap]

I recently got massive. I can do a few things but i'm just not that good on the theory side of synthesisers. Is there maybe a step-by-step guide on the net somewhere where I can learn Massive in serious detail?? I'm determined to master it lol, and once I become familiar with how synthesisers work then I wont find it hard to use others either.. so.. WIN WIN!!

find out the difference between

Waveforms: square, sine, triangle and saw waves.. that will help you a lot

what are band filters, low pass filters, high pass filters, comb filters etc.

what does detuning do?

what is a voice?

basic stuff like this man will help you a lot, also it will help you understand why and how that sound is created.

ps.. youtube!

 

[Fortune^]

find out the difference between

Waveforms: square, sine, triangle and saw waves.. that will help you a lot

what are band filters, low pass filters, high pass filters, comb filters etc.

what does detuning do?

what is a voice?

basic stuff like this man will help you a lot, also it will help you understand why and how that sound is created.

ps.. youtube!

T Flapper knows. Speaking of which, where/when can I hear some of your productions?

 

[TongueFlap]

T Flapper knows. Speaking of which, where/when can I hear some of your productions?

haha good question, well when i find a spare minute in between label work, my actual job, going to the gym, socalising, mixing, pub and sleep luckily i aint got a gf, or i wouldnt have anytime!

I have loads of started tunes but never seem to find the time to finish them, but i will get round to it... one daaaaay!

as for now, i will help people with their prodction problems.

 

[MrWoggles]

Nice one Tongueflap. I've also got to finish some tracks so I can send them to you, think you migh like. Varying from dark to absolutly filthy.


Oh and regarding massive, look at the presets and then deconstruct them. Look at a super complex preset and play with the knob to find out what it is that they are shaping.

 

[TongueFlap]

Nice one Tongueflap. I've also got to finish some tracks so I can send them to you, think you migh like. Varying from dark to absolutly filthy.


Oh and regarding massive, look at the presets and then deconstruct them. Look at a super complex preset and play with the knob to find out what it is that they are shaping.

sweet.. i beleive you sent some to my dropbox? sorry i aint got back to you yet if they were your tracks.. been on a bit of the busy side.
but deffo man, pop them the over
nice1

 

[luzil]

I recently got massive. I can do a few things but i'm just not that good on the theory side of synthesisers. Is there maybe a step-by-step guide on the net somewhere where I can learn Massive in serious detail??...

Yes, its manual! Really worth a look. There is no way around this if you want to make individual sounds. Massive in general is a combination of a subtractive and wavetable synthesizer, search terms u can look for. Put up a spectrum analyzer when you work with synths to see how ur tuning changes spectrum <-> timbre

 

[sook]

learn the basics of synthesis...
the different types how they
work... then once you understand
signal flow and you wont need a guide
to use any synth...

 

[Axle]

ok, probably a dumb question, but whenever I use filter 2 it just doesnt have an effect on the sound? I moved the bar next to the oscilator I was using right down to filter 2 to see if it was doing anything, but it obviously isnt cos when I do this I can't hear anything at all. :/ The filter is turned on as far as I can tell (the little blue light is on above it). So anyone know why im not hearing anything from it?

 

[DJ Dude]

there is an output fader included for each filter, make sure its not set to 0 (its a common mistake), next check parallel/serial setting (can happen that if your filters are in serial mode and the first one already took away the frequencies you want to filter with the second one, there will be no effect at all) and the mix setting (i guess that might be your problem, if you are making a new sound then the "MIX 1 - only" setting is applied by default which makes no use of the second filter, you need to move the fader down)

 

[Axle]

Ok thanks, ive sorted that out now. the mix level wasnt turned up like you said

One other thing, whenever I play anything that ive made in massive and then put it in the piano roll, I can't seem to change the velocity of the notes. :/ Anyone know why?

 

[DJ Dude]

massive doesn't watch the velocity of the incoming midi signals (from midi keyboard and from DAW alike) unless it is told to do that. however, it is very easy to solve it. in the right lower corner u have your macro controls. for now, ignore the 8 knobs to the right and concentrate on the 4 controls above the small picture of the keyboard. one of them says "Vel". this stands for velocity (surprise huh? ). the most common usage of velocity is to control the amplitude of the synth (= the harder I hit the piano, the louder noise I wanna hear). I assume that you already know where your main amplitude control panel is. you probably also know that it's usually modulated by an envelope (env number 4 that is, by default). we dont want to disable the envelope completely by our velocity control tho, because we would lose the control over the "kicking in & out" of our sound - the amp level would remain always constant depending only on the velocity, thats not what we are looking for. so we use the super fancy sidechain feature of Massive and link the velocity control to the small modulation spot just under the one with the blue 4. make sure the letters SC are highlighted (= the sidechain is working). I made a screenshot to make it all even easier .

And that's it... i guess you already know what we have done here. the sidechaining feature makes our amp envelope "NOT MODULATE AT ALL" when the velocity reaches 0 (= no sound coming out), to "MODULATE MAXIMALLY" when the velocity reaches 127 (= the sound level depends then entirely on the envelope setting) and naturally all the steps between 0-127 are effected proportionaly. don't get alarmed if you are not using any midi keyboard, because this will naturally respond to any velocity amount u draw into your sequencers automation lines aswell. I hope it helps. pls let me know if it's what you wanted to know. cheers