For years, MPE support in software synths felt like an optional extra reserved for boutique or MPE-first instruments. That's changing fast. In 2026, two of the most widely installed synths in modern production — Xfer Records' Serum 2 and Native Instruments' Absynth 6 — both shipped with full MPE support, and the ripple effects are worth paying attention to whether or not you own either plugin.
What's new in Serum 2
Serum 2's update brought MPE compatibility alongside a reworked effects rack, a new built-in multiband compressor module, improved unison algorithms, and better CPU optimization across the board. The MPE addition means every voice in Serum's engine can now respond independently to per-note pitch bend, pressure, and timbre (slide), so a single chord played on an MPE controller like an Expressive E Osmose or ROLI Seaboard can have each note bending, swelling, or vibrating on its own — something previously impossible with Serum's original MIDI implementation.
Absynth 6 catches up too
Absynth has always had a reputation as an expressive, modulation-heavy synth suited to sound design and ambient textures, so its lack of native MPE support was a notable gap. Absynth 6 closes it, with the synth now responding properly to controllers across the MPE ecosystem, from the Osmose to LinnStrument to Seaboard-family keyboards. Native Instruments' own documentation frames the update as bringing Absynth's modulation depth in line with instruments that were originally designed with MPE in mind, like Zheng and Equator2.
Why plugin-level MPE support keeps expanding
According to a recent overview from Boris FX, by 2026 "every major manufacturer — Arturia, Native Instruments, u-he, Spectrasonics, and increasingly Ableton itself — has either native MPE support or robust per-note expression handling." That's a meaningful shift from even a few years ago, when MPE compatibility was scattered and inconsistent across plugin formats.
Part of the push comes from the hardware side. As MPE controllers like the Osmose, Seaboard, and LinnStrument have moved from niche curiosities to mainstream studio tools, plugin developers have had a growing incentive to make sure their flagship instruments can actually take advantage of what those controllers send. There's little point in owning an expressive controller if half your plugin collection only understands basic velocity and mod wheel data.
Arturia has been especially proactive here, publishing a dedicated MPE compatibility FAQ that lays out exactly which instruments in its catalog — including Pigments — support per-note expression and how to configure them correctly with different controllers.
What this means for your setup
If you already own an MPE controller and have been sticking to a small handful of "MPE-ready" plugins, it's worth revisiting your existing collection. Instruments you might have written off as MIDI-only, like Absynth or older versions of Serum, may now respond fully to per-note gestures after a free or paid update. And if you're MPE-curious but haven't invested in a controller yet, the growing list of software that actually supports the standard makes now a more practical time to start than it's ever been.
The community-maintained VI-Control MPE instrument list is a useful resource for keeping track of exactly which synths and libraries have added support, since new entries are showing up at a faster pace than most players can track on their own. With Serum 2 and Absynth 6 now on board, two of the more conservative corners of the software synth world have effectively confirmed that MPE is no longer a niche feature — it's becoming table stakes.