Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Massive Evaluation

Massive is a super useful VST. That sounds vague, but trust me; it's worth it. The amount of variability and customization you can achieve with its tools are quite impressive. Although it's drum and rhythm section could use a bit of work, the synth gives you a lot to work with (pretty much everything else).

First, I'd like to say, if you want good drum sounds you're not going to find them here. I know I said that already, but I cannot stress this enough. What I did for most of my tracks was find drum samples online and import them into the Impulse drum machine in Ableton. I'd recommend you do the same should you use this and focus on the more melodic aspects of the song. When you get to that part, boy howdy is Massive happy to accommodate. Ignoring the plethora of pre-made effects at your disposal, there're just so many customization settings. Literally every, single aspect of the sound is mapped out on the Synth tab, giving you te ability to harness the exact sounds you want. For me, this proved a bit difficult, as I didn't really understand certain labels within the tab. However, after fiddling around with it quite a bit, I felt pretty good at manipulating certain effects.

And, while we're on the subject of effects, dear God are there a lot of them. The leads hit hard, the bass hits harder, some beats are genuinely interesting (although I most likely wouldn't utilize them). I really love utilizing the Lazarus bass in this specific VST just because of its evil distortion. I do wish the brass sounded a bit brassier, but I probably could've messed around with the settings a bit more in both Massive and Ableton to get the desired sound. But almost any sound you can think of is in here. If you were looking for better vocal effects than the ones in Ableton ('cause, man, those are bad) then you've come to the right place.

I do have an issue with the lac of an arpeggiator in the program (or, at least, there wasn't a readily apparent one). This issue was easily remedied by utilizing the arpeggiator in Ableton, but I would've preferred not switching constantly between the two. But that's really minor, and, really, the only problem I had with this VST. Everything else is super easy to understand, and, if you don't understand it, super easy to manipulate. It works well with Ableton and was easy to install. I don't know what else you could ask for.

Now, I utilized Massive a lot for the final project I was doing (a student-run television show where I did the music) and I really liked what I had on offer. The producers of the show asked for relatively specific tracks and I did my best to accommodate them. Mostly, my compositions were acoustic, to give it a sort of "indie darling" feel, but I had to use electronic music quite a bit as well. I've attached a few clips that showcase some work I did in Massive.

"Outside Cool Party" was pretty easy. The producers wanted a subby, bassy piece of music as if electronica was being blasted from within a house. I took one of the beats within Massive (one of the ones I swore not to use) and ran it through Ableton. After getting the BPM I wanted, I applied a low pass filter and a sub booster, giving it that sound. I'm pretty happy with the result, but I do wish I had added more variety to the track. Then again, I thought the scene would be shorter.

"Party Beat" was a bit more of a challenge. I just wanted to compose a bit of generic techno for this scene (bunch of kids having a good time at a rave essentially), but I didn't even know where to start. Well, I figured the drum beat would be best, so I attempted to make one using the Impulse drum machine built in Ableton. I was really happy with how "housey" the drums turned out and moved on to the melody. I knew I wanted some sort of trance vibe, so I wanted an arpeggiator with a brighter scale. All of the synths used were in Massive (three total). One just rises and falls over and over again whilst panning between your left and right ear. Another is a simple lead with the "Housier Than Thou" Arpeggiator. The other one is a sample essentially that plays over and over. The scene was about five seconds long, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

"Fight Club Beat" was absolutely bonkers. I must've written something for it three or four times before I settled on what I have here. I'm not totally happy with it, but it served the scene better than my previous iterations. Before shooting and editing, the producers simply told me to make a "rap beat." I had a pretty good idea of what this might consist of, and went about making said "rap beat". I was really happy about the songs I did make, utilizing chopped up samples of classical pieces of music and distorted melodies. However, when I played that with the scene, it just didn't fit. I set about making a new one using the same process. The bass in the beat is a Lazarus bass with the gain turned down. It has a sort of broken electronics feel that I really like. However, that's the only thing I used from Massive. The drums are Impulse and the siren is a looped siren, delayed to play over itself and reverbed up the schnowzer. I wish I had more time with this track (namely the drums, 'cause the kick sounds to airy), but I'm satisfied with the result.

Get Massive, if you can. It's a great VST that will only help you in the long run. One of the best synths I've used this semester as well. Trust me. It's good stuff.

Links:
"Outside Cool Party" (https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Outside%20Cool%20Party.wav?w=AABKfMW_wLube9hSlVX085N0ePWL6jugnTFCGf9ekWdk7g)

"Party Beat" (https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Party%20Beat.wav?w=AABS1XGNNowCCxKvJDHVN-AJkjxbJeSTnmucGa41m8hdSg)

"Fight Club Beat" (https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Fight%20Club%20Beat.wav?w=AABdj6mvHTDeVaww6H3rljNNUjTTUhYmgW8nCj2kV6iqXw)

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