Native Instruments has announced the return of a legendary semi-modular synthesizer built for creating textures and soundscapes that evolve and breathe, adding new, otherworldly dimensions to your sound.
Developed in partnership with the original creator of Absynth, Brian Clevinger, Absynth 6 adds a sleek AI-powered browsing experience and modern compatibility.
Absynth’s signature suite of effects and groundbreaking hybrid engine combine granular, FM, wavetable, and subtractive synthesis for sounds that go beyond patches to create entire soundscapes.
“Our very first product – nearly 30 years ago – was a synth”, says Simon Cross, Chief Product and Technical Officer at Native Instruments. “Returning to Absynth brings us back to the heart of what inspires us. It remains one of the most singular instruments in electronic music, and we always knew its revival could only come with the involvement of Brian Clevinger himself.”
“When I originally created Absynth,” says Brian Clevinger, “I wanted an instrument that invited people to lose themselves in sound. Seeing it evolve into Absynth 6 has been genuinely moving. It still has that strange, alive quality, only now with the range and precision to inspire a new generation of explorers.”
Absynth 6 represents an evolution for one of the best loved soft synths of all time, one that enabled a generation of producers and composers to create never before heard sounds across ambient and dance music, and scores for film, television and videogames.
Reflecting this heritage, Absynth 6 launches with a suite of presets, created by musicians that best embody this restless creativity; Brian Eno and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith at launch, with more to be added in future updates.
Absynth 6 features
- Unique sounds: A hybrid semi-modular engine combines subtractive, FM, sample-based, and granular methods.
- Living modulation: Sculpt textures that breathe and transform with the hyper-detailed 68-point envelope generator.
- Inspiring mutations: The classic Mutator offers intelligent preset generation with depth and randomness controls for instant inspiration.
- Modern expressiveness: Full MPE and polyphonic aftertouch support enables nuanced, per-note performances.
- Surround sound and microtuning: Absynth 6 features true multichannel surround spatialization and MTS-ESP support for global microtuning and new harmonic systems.
- Preset Explorer: The preset library is arranged into an intuitive visual map so musicians can browse sounds by timbral quality, or as a classic browser.
- Mind-bending effects: Spatially bend Absynth’s unique suite of creative effects like Aetherizer and Cloud Filter with per-effect surround control.
- Legacy patches and presets: Explore vintage patches all the way back to Absynth 1, and load your own presets from Absynth 4 and 5.
- New artist presets: From Brian Eno, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Richard Devine.
Abysnth 6 for Windows and Mac (VST3, AU, AAX and standalone) is available to purchase at the Native Instruments store and from Plugin Boutique, priced $199 USD / €199 EUR / £179 GBP. Owners of Absynth 2-5 can upgrade to Absynth 6 for $99 USD / €99 EUR.
