Absynth is something of a cult classic in the soft synth world. It was originally released in 2000 and quickly found an audience among the growing number of people making music on computers. But the last major update, Absynth 5, was released in 2009, and Native Instruments officially discontinued the instrument in 2022, citing a lack of resources to continue supporting software that was in dire need of modernization. But now the Absynth makes a grand return with version six, created in collaboration with original designer Brian Clevinger, and featuring presets from Brian Eno and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.
The core of what made it so beloved is unchanged in Absynth 6. It’s still a robust semi-modular virtual instrument with several synthesis engines to choose from and extensive modulation options. There’s traditional subtractive synthesis with a ton of waveforms to choose from, ranging from simple sine waves to buzzing complex chords – you can even draw your own waveform. There’s also FM, a sample player and a granular engine.
That puts it in a league with other flagship supersynths like Native Instruments’ Omnisphere, Serum, Pigments and Massive But where it manages to surpass even those powerful plugins is with its envelope system. Instead of a standard four-point ADSR (attack, decay, sustain, release) envelope, or even a six-point DAHDSR (delay, attack, hold, decay, sustain, release) envelope, Absynth 6 envelopes have a maximum of 68 points. These can be looping, single-shot or time-synchronized. The modulation system in Absynth is absurdly powerful.
This is part of what makes it possible to excel in evolving soundscapes. Native Instruments labels Absynth as “weird in design,” and it’s hard to argue with that tagline. Many of the factory settings aren’t the sort of thing you’d find in the score of a science fiction or horror film, designed with an emphasis on texture and atmosphere. If you’re into ambient or musical music, Absynth is an intriguing tool to have in your arsenal. To complement its cinematic versatility, Absynth 6 supports up to eight-channel surround sound, which is basically unheard of.
Also new to Absynth in version 6 is support for MPE, giving the already quite complex sounds even more expressive options. If you press harder or slide your finger up on a compatible controller, such as the Push 3 or Roli Seaboard, you can open a filter, enter a new oscillator, or increase the feedback on the grainy Aetherizer effect on a note-by-note basis. That means you can highlight only the highest notes in a chord progression, while the root note remains dark and muted.
The most immediately noticeable change to Absynth, however, is the new AI-powered preset explorer. Instead of just a list of sounds to click through, Absynth defaults to a collection of points organized roughly by atmosphere. It looks similar to Obsidian’s graph view or the XO sample manager. Personally, I’m not a big fan. It’s no problem finding surprises in the library of more than 2,000 presets. But it makes it difficult to keep track of what I’ve done, which is new to me.
If you want to quickly tweak a preset without having to delve into the various sound design tabs, patches have up to eight macro buttons, and there’s a Mutate button that makes semi-random small changes to the sound you’ve loaded to create a new variation.
Absynth 6 is available for $199 for new users. But if you already own Absynth 5, you can upgrade for just $99.
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