Absynth is back and more peculiar than ever after a 16-year hiatus.
In the world of soft synths, Absynth has long stood as a cult favorite. Debuting in 2000, it quickly drew the attention of the growing community making music on computers. Its last major release, Absynth 5, arrived in 2009, and Native Instruments officially discontinued the instrument in 2022, citing limited resources to keep a product in need of modernization afloat. Now, Absynth makes a grand resurgence with version 6, developed in collaboration with the original designer Brian Clevinger, and featuring presets from Brian Eno and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.
The core appeal remains intact in Absynth 6. It remains a robust semi-modular virtual instrument with multiple synthesis engines to choose from and extensive modulation capabilities. You still have traditional subtractive synthesis with a vast array of waveshapes, from simple sine waves to buzzy, complex chords — and you can even draw your own waveform. In addition, it includes FM synthesis, a sample player, and a granular engine.
That combination places it in the same league as flagship super-synths like Omnisphere, Serum, Pigments, and Native Instruments’ Massive X. But where Absynth 6 stands out is its envelope system. Rather than sticking to a standard four-point ADSR or even a six-point DAHDSR envelope, Absynth offers envelopes with up to 68 points. These envelopes can be looping, single-shot, or time-synced. The modulation architecture is extraordinarily powerful.
This capacity is a big reason Absynth excels at evolving soundscapes. Native Instruments describes Absynth as being “weird by design,” and that descriptor is hard to dispute. Many factory presets drift away from typical sci-fi or horror cues, leaning toward texture and atmosphere. If you’re into ambient work or scoring, Absynth is a compelling tool to have in your arsenal. To boost its cinematic versatility, Absynth 6 also supports up to eight-channel surround sound, a capability scarcely found in other software instruments.
New in Absynth 6 is support for MPE, which adds even more expressive potential to its already intricate sounds. On compatible controllers such as the Push 3 or the Roli Seaboard, pressing harder or sliding a finger along the surface can open a filter, bring in a new oscillator, or increase the feedback on the Aetherizer granular effect on a per-note basis. This allows you to emphasize the highest notes in a chord while keeping the root note dark and subdued.
The most immediate visual change is the AI-assisted preset explorer. Rather than a simple list of sounds, Absynth defaults to a collection organized by vibe. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Obsidian’s graph view or the XO sample manager. While it can help surface surprising options within the library of more than 2,000 presets, it can also make it trickier to keep track of what you’ve auditioned or what’s new to you.
For those who want a quick preset tweak without diving into the deeper sound-design sections, patches offer up to eight macro controls, and there’s a Mutate button that semi-randomly applies minor changes to the loaded sound to generate a new variation.
Absynth 6 is priced at $199 for new users. If you already own Absynth 5, you can upgrade for $99.
Would you lean toward using Absynth 6 for atmospheric scoring and sound design, or do you prefer the straightforward workflows of other flagship synths? What kind of sonic experiments are you most excited to try with its expansive envelope and MPE features?
