Native Instruments has released Absynth 6.2, a free update for owners of Absynth 6. According to Synth Anatomy's coverage, the update leaves the sound engine untouched and focuses entirely on workflow. That may sound dry, but for expressive players, workflow is exactly where a deep soundscape synth lives or dies.
What is new in 6.2
The headline addition is a focus mode that expands a single channel so every module's parameters are visible at once, with the selected module editable underneath. For a synth famous for its labyrinthine envelopes and modulation routing, this removes a lot of tab-hopping.
Subpresets are the second big change. You can now save settings for waves, envelopes, modules, channels and effects, then reuse them in other patches. Each section gets its own browser with folders and previews, so a favorite evolving envelope no longer has to be rebuilt from scratch.
Smaller but welcome touches include solo and mutate controls in the channel headers, clearer module headers and dialogs, and an on-screen keyboard whose keys can be replaced with macros. Macro assignments can also be reordered by drag and drop, and several can be moved at once.
Why MPE players should care
Absynth 6 arrived with support for MPE and polyphonic aftertouch, and the practical way to use it is through the 16 macros: you assign MPE pressure or slide to a macro, and that macro drives whatever parameters you have wired to it. Version 6.2 does not change MPE handling, and the update notes do not mention it, so nothing here alters how the synth receives per-note data.
What changes is how pleasant it is to build those mappings. Reordering macros by drag and drop means you can place your two or three expressive macros first, where you will find them quickly. Subpresets mean a well-tuned "pressure opens the filter, slide morphs the wavetable" setup can be stored and dropped into new patches rather than recreated every time.
A practical MPE setup idea
If you play a controller such as an Expressive E Osmose, a ROLI Seaboard or a LinnStrument, a simple approach works well:
- Dedicate one macro to pressure and route it to a filter cutoff and a slow modulation depth.
- Dedicate a second macro to slide (CC74) and route it to an oscillator-mix or wavetable-position parameter.
- Save the module combination as a subpreset so you can reuse it across patches.
Keep the macro ranges modest at first. Soundscape patches often have long envelopes, and a pressure response that is too aggressive can make slow evolving textures jumpy.
Pricing and availability
Absynth 6.2 is free for existing Absynth 6 users. For new buyers, Absynth 6 is listed at $199 / £179 / 199€, with an upgrade price of $99 / 99€ for owners of Absynth 2 through 5. It is available from Native Instruments and from partners such as Plugin Boutique.
The bigger picture
Updates like this one reflect a quiet trend: after a flurry of "now with MPE support" announcements, developers are spending time on the tools that make expressive mapping practical. Per-note data is only useful if you can wire it to something musical without friction. A cleaner macro workflow, reusable building blocks and an on-screen keyboard for auditioning without a controller all lower the barrier.
If you already own Absynth 6, the update is worth installing and a good excuse to revisit your MPE mappings. If you are still deciding, the sound engine is unchanged from 6.0, so reviews of the original release remain the best guide to how it sounds. For more on what "MPE support" does and does not guarantee in a plugin, see our earlier piece on what MPE support in a plugin update really means.