Is Absynth 5 worth getting?

[HoboKa]

http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/absynth-5/

Does anyone know if this worth the $200 price tag?   

[Hipnotyk]

I absolutely love Absynth, despite not knowing it all that well.  It's usually my first option when I'm looking for textures and soundscapes to sit underneath my tracks.

If you have the money, Komplete 10 is worth it and that'll get you all of the other NI synths too (FM8, Massive, Reaktor).

[Nabeel Ansari]

It's not worth getting anything in Komplete outside of actually getting Komplete.

[Nutritious]

14 minutes ago, Neblix said:

It's not worth getting anything in Komplete outside of actually getting Komplete.

I'd agree with the exception of a really good sale on specific components if the whole suite is out of price range.  I picked up Massive quite a while back pretty cheap during some holiday sale.

[HoboKa]

Yeah Komplete 10 is not really an option for me financially.  And like Nutritious, I got Massive on a good sale too :3 

I'll consider getting it then.  Maybe there'll be a sale  

[shadowpsyc]

If Komplete is out of your price range then Absynth isn't really something to consider either, great synthesizer but $200 isn't trivial when $500 is completely out of the question. Komplete is a good deal and you'll wind up spending more in the long run on small purchases anyway. I think NI does some kind of discount if you have an included product like Massive too, you could look into that

[HoboKa]

3 hours ago, shadowpsyc said:

If Komplete is out of your price range then Absynth isn't really something to consider either, great synthesizer but $200 isn't trivial when $500 is completely out of the question. Komplete is a good deal and you'll wind up spending more in the long run on small purchases anyway. I think NI does some kind of discount if you have an included product like Massive too, you could look into that

Wait only $500 for the whole thing??  Makes me wish I didn't already purchase Massive lol  

EDIT

Though if memory serves it was on sale.

EDIT 2

Discounts if I already have a product you say?  Score!  I'll def. look into it.  

[Hipnotyk]

@HoboKa

I did some digging for you on the Crossgrade options for Komplete 10.  Here's their disclaimer:

 

This crossgrade only works for users of KOMPLETE KONTROL S25-88, MASCHINE 2 software (included with MASCHINE STUDIO, and new purchases of MASCHINE and MASCHINE MIKRO), KONTAKT 1-5, REAKTOR 2-5, GUITAR RIG KONTROL 1-5 (but not LE, GO, XE, SESSION or other versions of GUITAR RIG).

You won't be able to install and activate this version unless you own one of the required products listed above! 

[Nabeel Ansari]

I do not recommend buying small things from Komplete, because unless it is Kontakt, you can't crossgrade reasonably.

 

You'll pay full price for Komplete eventually, then have duplicate licenses of those other products and be at a net loss of a couple hundred dollars.

If you want to be frugal in the long run about this, pick up Kontakt on Black Friday for $200, then crossgrade next year for $200 (during the half off upgrades sale). That's $400, so net savings of $100.

[HoboKa]

Okay, thanks for the info guys.  And that sounds like a good idea there Neblix.  

[Kanthos]

Do keep in mind that they may not have those exact sales this year. But, for the past several years, I believe there's been at least one sale on new versions of Komplete.

It's also worth noting that as long as you don't have academic versions, you can get individual NI products removed from your NI account, enabling you to pass the serial number on to someone else and sell the product second-hand. (Of course, you have to find someone who wants to buy the NI product and doesn't already have Komplete, which isn't always easy).

[Nabeel Ansari]

4 hours ago, Kanthos said:

Do keep in mind that they may not have those exact sales this year. But, for the past several years, I believe there's been at least one sale on new versions of Komplete.

It's also worth noting that as long as you don't have academic versions, you can get individual NI products removed from your NI account, enabling you to pass the serial number on to someone else and sell the product second-hand. (Of course, you have to find someone who wants to buy the NI product and doesn't already have Komplete, which isn't always easy).

NI has had those sales consistently for the last 5 years that I have been in the loop on VI stuff... this year Summer of Sound got moved up to Spring, I suppose, but I'd be very surprised if they didn't keep doing Black Friday.

[djpretzel]

Absynth feels like the least essential individual component of Komplete, to me.... it's deep, but there's something about it that just strikes me as incomplete & subpar relative to Zebra2, for instance...

[Hipnotyk]

@djpretzel, I used to think the same thing, but the wide array of Synth Pad and Soundscape presets alone make it extremely useful.  I've taken some time to go through and tag my favorite ones for future use.

Also, the mutate feature is just absurd.  Sometimes when I get writer's block, I'll open Absynth and see what happens with random mutations.  It's like a Pandora's Box with no consequences.  Sometimes I'll get a cool lead, pad or sound effects.

It's not an amazing standalone synth, but it's something that I often find myself coming back to when I need to add some ambient texture underneath a track.

[Nabeel Ansari]

I think Absynth is TERRIFIC. It's not versatile like Zebra 2, but I never tried to compare it on that aspect... I find it more valuable for easy generation of wild but musical textures, and the presets are inspiring for more musically toned soundscapes atmospheres. It's my favorite Komplete synth, but I would agree if one said that it's not worth buying on its own.

[Kanthos]

18 hours ago, Neblix said:

NI has had those sales consistently for the last 5 years that I have been in the loop on VI stuff... this year Summer of Sound got moved up to Spring, I suppose, but I'd be very surprised if they didn't keep doing Black Friday.

They've had Black Friday sales, yes; maybe I misremembered, but I didn't think they all had Komplete at a discount. I recall it wasn't that long ago where they weren't discounting new versions Komplete (or any, though I feel like they were at least discounting upgrades at some point).

At any rate, past sales aren't a guarantee of future sales, though it is likely and possibly worth waiting until November to see for sure.

[Nabeel Ansari]

2 hours ago, Kanthos said:

They've had Black Friday sales, yes; maybe I misremembered, but I didn't think they all had Komplete at a discount. I recall it wasn't that long ago where they weren't discounting new versions Komplete (or any, though I feel like they were at least discounting upgrades at some point).

At any rate, past sales aren't a guarantee of future sales, though it is likely and possibly worth waiting until November to see for sure.

I never said they were discounting Komplete; I said Kontakt is half off on Black Friday.

Also, NI would be fools not to do the sale on Black Friday... like actually. The probability of them not doing it is not enough in someone's favor to plan their buying decisions around.

[djpretzel]

I guess Absynth is a "your mileage may vary" type of plugin Personally, while I *DO* think it's great for sound design & eccentric textures/FX, I just feel that for basses, leads, etc., it rarely produces results I find usable.

I'd like to see its extensive randomization/mutation functionality ported to other synths though - A+ implementation for that type of feature.

[dannthr]

These days Komplete is a no-brainer starter package.

However, for me, I'm not really interested in Komplete all that much--when I started out with Native-Instruments, Komplete didn't exist.  I bought Kontakt 2 about 10 years ago over Gigastudio (super glad how that worked out).  A year or so later, I bought Guitar Rig with the Rig Kontrol.

Now it seems every year they try to tempt me with a Crossgrade price.

The problem for me is that for the longest time, aside from Reaktor, nothing in Komplete really piqued my interest since most of the sample libraries were sub-par or redundant to what I already owned (having been collecting VST effects and instruments for 10 years as well).

Last year I bought Reaktor 6 for like $100 bucks or something, maybe less, and that pretty well sealed the coffin for me on Komplete.

Instead of Battery, I have Geist, Tremor, and a slew of acoustic drum libraries (including Addictive Drums 2).

Instead of the Komplete collection of synths, I have pretty well mastered Zebra 2--I mean, presets are all great and everything, but I haven't used synth presets for a long time (except Init).  When you master an instrument like Zebra, presets lose their appeal over the sound you have in your head.

For fun I did buy Serum and I have owned Omnisphere for ages.

So for me, no, Komplete isn't a great deal.  They don't take into account that I have several of their products when they give me the crossgrade price.  So I've been content, so to speak, just upgrading over the years the individual packages (when they do their summer 50% upgrade sales).

For people just starting out, however, it's a no-brainer--save up, buy it.

Edited April 1, 2016 by dannthr
I'm not as old as I feel!

[Nabeel Ansari]

1 hour ago, djpretzel said:

I guess Absynth is a "your mileage may vary" type of plugin Personally, while I *DO* think it's great for sound design & eccentric textures/FX, I just feel that for basses, leads, etc., it rarely produces results I find usable.

Like I said, it's not versatile, really... but for what it's intended to do, it does best, and if that application suits your needs, there rarely is a better synth to accomplish it with. Maybe Omnisphere, but its interface doesn't yield "wild results" as easily as Absynth does unless you really dig into it.

[Kanthos]

On 01/04/2016 at 11:56 AM, Neblix said:

I never said they were discounting Komplete; I said Kontakt is half off on Black Friday.

Also, NI would be fools not to do the sale on Black Friday... like actually. The probability of them not doing it is not enough in someone's favor to plan their buying decisions around.

Oops, you did say that. Sorry!

The point I was trying to make is that they have had Komplete on sale before, but usually, it's just an upgrade version, so unless it's really close to the start of the summer sale or to Black Friday, there's probably no point waiting to see if Komplete will go on sale.

[Nabeel Ansari]

On 4/5/2016 at 9:49 AM, Kanthos said:

Oops, you did say that. Sorry!

The point I was trying to make is that they have had Komplete on sale before, but usually, it's just an upgrade version, so unless it's really close to the start of the summer sale or to Black Friday, there's probably no point waiting to see if Komplete will go on sale.

But... I never said Komplete was on sale, nor did I ever say to look for a Komplete sale. Actually, afaik, Komplete has never been on sale, ever.

If you want to save money on Komplete, my method is the only actual method of doing it besides secondhand sales; buy Kontakt for half-off (Black Friday) for $200. Then, during the next Summer of Sound (the upgrade sale), crossgrade for half-off ($200). This definitively saves you $100.

[Kanthos]

3 minutes ago, Neblix said:

But... I never said Komplete was on sale, nor did I ever say to look for a Komplete sale. Actually, afaik, Komplete has never been on sale, ever.

If you want to save money on Komplete, my method is the only actual method of doing it besides secondhand sales; buy Kontakt for half-off (Black Friday) for $200. Then, during the next Summer of Sound (the upgrade sale), crossgrade for half-off ($200). This definitively saves you $100.

This is getting comical I didn't say that *you* said Komplete was on sale, or to look for it. That's why I said it was the point *I* was trying to make.

They did indeed have Komplete on sale in the past. But sales on new (non-upgrade/crossgrade) versions of Komplete are rare, so don't count on it.

[Nabeel Ansari]

Just now, Kanthos said:

This is getting comical I didn't say that *you* said Komplete was on sale, or to look for it. That's why I said it was the point *I* was trying to make.

They did indeed have Komplete on sale in the past. But sales on new (non-upgrade/crossgrade) versions of Komplete are rare, so don't count on it.

Yes, I agree with you.