Native Instruments Massive X 1.6: new morphing and animator engine, and free Player version

Native Instruments releases Massive X 1.6 with a new creative morphing and animator engine, new presets, and a new free version.

I had a bad feeling after Native Instruments Massive X hadn’t received a significant update since 2022. In comparison, Arturia Pigments grows every year with more and more features.

But that feeling faded somewhat with the update 1.5 last March, which added a multi-compressor to the engine. Today, Native Instruments released what is arguably the most significant update yet for Massive X, version 1.6. 

Native Instruments Massive X 1.6 

Massive X 1.6 is here and is a free update for existing customers. It introduces an all-new play view page with an easy-to-use side panel browser and more. You can now search for sounds quickly and easily.

The highlight of the new 1.6 version is the new Morphing engine, allowing you to animate pre-defined macro parameters with an X/Y pad and shift them in real-time.

That’s not all. It also hosts an animator engine that features animation shapes you can move through. Once selected, a cursor automatically moves through the parameters. It also gives you the option to set the speed and whether it retriggers – an exciting feature to apply on a per-note basis.

So far, you can’t design your own animators but I hope the option will be added for Massive X users Each corner of the XY pad also has a randomization function.

Hit Randomize in each corner of the morpher for happy accidents and quick results. Use it to spark ideas, break patterns, and make each sound your own in lightning speed.

Alongside this, it comes with new view switching buttons (play/edit/browse) in the UI, a new Player library with 60 new presets, and other minor improvements.

As a bonus, there’s a new free Massive X Player version that gives you the Massive X engine minus full access to the sound engine. Indeed, it’s a preset player synth with the morphing/animation power. 

Massive X is continuing, which is positive and welcome news. The UI remains a problem child in my opinion, and wavetable import doesn’t work even after 6 years, which is a shame. The new player engine, however, looks like a lot of fun and allows you to quickly design new sounds without having to use the entire engine—a fun new feature.

Native Instruments Massive X 1.6 is a free update for existing users, and the free Massive X Player is available as a free download as well.

More information here: Native Instruments

Update from March 27, 2025

After three years of silence and only compatibility updates, there’s finally news to report about Massive X. That was a long break. 

Native Instruments has just released Massive X 1.5 with a new multi-compressor effect in the stereo effect section. It’s a new effect designed for upward and downward compression. 

That’s not all. Of course, the new update also ships with 60 new presets that expand the factory library again. To access these, you must update the Massive X factory library via Native Access.

Alongside this, they fixed various bugs, including an error in the browser view scrolling. I’d almost given up on MX after three years without significant updates. Phew, it’s alive and well. Good thing.

The new update 1.5 is out now and is a free download for existing users.

Update from May 9, 2022

There hasn’t been a major update for Native Instruments Massive X for two years. Is this the end? Today we know: it’s not the end. Native Instruments has just released update 1.4 with new features.

This update focuses on a major critique from the users, the sound browser. Good news, it’s better than before. Version 1.4 introduces a brand-new browser with expanded functionality, including filtering sounds by tags, text search, user presets, and favorites.

With a bunch of different ‘Sound Types’ and ‘Character’ tags to browse through, you can rapidly narrow down your list of results. According to Native Instruments, this is the first iteration of this browser, and they will add more features in the future.

Yes, definitely a better browser than in 1.0. I wonder, though, why it took three years and why they didn’t do it right away in 1.0.

Then, you work with a new bass enhancer insert effect that provides presence and drive to low-frequency content. Besides this, it also comes with a new 4-pole lowpass mode for the filter with a slope of 24dB/oct. Here too, why not from day one?

Additionally, Control Sensitivity has been added to the Settings menu for the sensitivity response of controls, with nine options ranging from 25% to 250%—more flexibility for more accurate playing. Plus, the factory library ships with 50 new presets.

Yes, Native Instruments is giving Massive X some love, and the plugin is alive. It’s not a stunning update, but it’s a nice and welcome one. The new update 1.4 is a free update for existing users.

Update from May 20, 2020

Good news for Massive X users. After a rather shaky start in 2019, Native Instruments has today released a new update, 1.3, with some new features as well as improvements. Unfortunately, there is still no wavetable import, but there is an inflated noise oscillator section.

Native Instruments Massive X 1.3 now has an import option for your samples into the noise module, opening up new sound design possibilities. For example, you can now import custom field recordings and use them with Massive X.

In a new noise one-shot mode & keytracking mode, you can adjust them according to your taste. If you don’t have your own unique samples, you can use the 50 new noise tables (25 loops, and 25 one-shots) that are included in the new version.

Further, it comes with new parameter readouts, 20 new presets, and bug fixes (Logic Pro X 10.5…). Nice to see that Massive X is further improved. The update 1.3 is a free update for existing users.

Update from November 1, 2019

With much advertising and promise, Native Instruments launched the next generation of Massive Synthesizer in June. The official release of Massive X, however, was anything but nice: many features were missing, no envelope visualization,… and it feels like an unfinished product.

Five months have passed since the launch, and today they released a first major update that much improves, but not everything. 

The new Native Instruments Massive 1.1.0 update adds new exciter, amp, and mod envelope displays that reflect their actual state and respond to user input. Great to see this addition.

Although the UI isn’t a highlight to me, there are now new UI themes (Default, Dark, Light, Flat Default, Flat Dark, Flat Light), including new flat themes that increase compatibility with older graphics.

Then, the Rise/Fall parameter in both LFO Switcher and LFO Random Envelope displays the actual parameter state and responds to user input, and the tracker now has grid labels.

Alongside this, there is finally a full manual available, and it also comes with an update for the preset manager. The latter now has a separate type section for easier browsing, and ships with 60 new presets. Plus, there are various bug fixes.

It’s good to see that you’ve listened to user feedback. I hope there will be more updates to come. The new update 1.1 is a free update for existing Massive X users.

Article from June 27, 2019

Finally, the waiting time is over! Native Instruments has today published Massive X Synthesizer, the successor of their best-known Massive Synthesizer. Massive X is a completely new development from the ground up with a lot of new features and functionalities.

MX again has two wavetable oscillators that have been significantly expanded with 10 different modes, dual phase modulation and more. A bit of a pity: no wavetable editor included, or a function to import wavetables from other synths.

In addition to the new advanced wavetable oscillators, MX features a customizable routing engine that allows you to make your own audio signal path, like in a modular synth. With this, it is possible to use up to 7 sound generators (5 oscillators, 2 noise generators) in one single patch, to route feedback in the filter, using no filter & more.

Further, Massive X offers nine slots for modulation, ranging from creative LFOs, envelopes, four tracker modulators, voice randomization, and three great performer modulators. With this, you can create a wide range of modulation from subtle to crazy/extreme ones.

To refine the sounds or to give even more sound design possibilities, Massive X offers many new effect processors, including the new Dimension Expander (add spatial dimension to your sounds) or the Nonlinear Labs, a new distortion and overdrive processor.

First Look: Massive X is a very good evolution of Massive, although some things are missing in my opinion: no wavetable editor or import function, no visual feedback of the waveforms … Native Instruments promises to release new features in the future as free updates. We can be curious!

Native Instruments Massive X Press Release

Native Instruments today releases MASSIVE X – the much-anticipated successor to one of the most popular synthesizers in the world. Designed and built from scratch, the new instrument builds on its heritage to rethink and redefine the possibilities of a virtual synth. The original MASSIVE, having helped define the sound of modern genres such as dubstep and EDM, became synonymous with an exciting, forward-thinking approach to synthesis that unapologetically embraced its digital DNA. Famous for its intuitive interface and sonic potential – from enormous basslines and soaring leads to evolving ambient textures – it quickly became a staple part of many production toolkits.

MASSIVE X is Native Instruments’ new flagship synth, built by the same team as its predecessor. Based on a state of the art architecture, it delivers pristine sound, and huge creative flexibility for artists and sound designers alike – allowing them to create, modulate, and experiment with sound from a huge range of sources, in any way they like. 

At the heart of MASSIVE X is a rich new oscillator section with dual wavetable oscillators and 170 wavetables. 10 different oscillator modes, each with their own submodes, provide countless ways to create exciting and dynamic sounds or textures.

Three primary sound sculpting controls include wavetable position as a standard control, plus two additional custom parameters for each mode. Two-phase modulation oscillators and an auxiliary modulation input mean MASSIVE X is capable of huge variation right at the sound source – even before additional modulation, effects, or routing are used. 

Switchable filters, noise generators, insert effects, and master effects enable real flexibility when building and editing sound, and a comprehensive preset library provides a wealth of production-ready sounds that also showcase the possibilities of the instrument.

Users of the first MASSIVE will recognize the ‘saturn ring’ drag-and-drop modulation workflow that has been carried over into the new instrument.

Routing has been completely rethought in MASSIVE X. Taking its predecessor’s semi-modular approach much further, any output can be connected to an input, and audio can be routed to or from multiple components simultaneously. The intuitive routing matrix makes creating complex patches and wild sounds possible with just a few clicks. 

MASSIVE X boasts a huge array of modulation sources – with nine slots for creative LFOs or envelopes, four Tracker modulators, Voice Randomization, as well as an exciting new section with three Performer modulators that allow users to draw in up to eight bars of modulation patterns to assign to a parameter. 

For real playability and variation within a single preset, these patterns can then be assigned to a control octave – great for live performance or recording sessions – surpassing the kind of expression normally reserved for traditional instruments, or for generating and controlling complex movement over long periods of time.

In the future, free updates to MASSIVE X will introduce new presets and expand the instrument’s functionality. MASSIVE X will evolve alongside the sounds, music, and sonic cultures it helps to create.

Native Instruments Massive X is available now from the Native Instruments website for 199€/$199.

Massive users can upgrade for 149€/$149, and Massive X is also included in KOMPLETE 12, KOMPLETE 12 ULTIMATE, and KOMPLETE 12 ULTIMATE – COLLECTOR’S EDITION. Don’t forget: all KOMPLETE updates/upgrades are 50% OFF until June 30, 2019.

More information here: Native Instruments

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