AudioPilz vs. Absynth: A Punk Rant on the Price of Progress

AudioPilz wastes no time dragging Absynth, Native Instruments’ spectral relic from the year 2000, into the harsh light of 2024. This isn’t just a plugin—it’s a survivor of pseudo-abandonment, manufacturer drama, and what’s allegedly the worst update in software history. If Absynth were hardware, it’d be the battered synth you find at a car boot sale, still humming after decades of neglect.

But don’t mistake nostalgia for reverence. AudioPilz makes it clear: just because something’s old doesn’t mean it’s sacred. Absynth’s reputation is a cocktail of love, loathing, and meme-fuel, and in today’s landscape of endless plugin churn, it’s got as many haters as diehards. The question isn’t just whether Absynth still matters—it’s whether it’s worth a penny more than you’ve already paid.

Absynth’s interface is the stuff of fever dreams—Cronenbergian, alien, and about as user-friendly as a broken pint glass. But beneath the weirdness lurks a monster of sound design. Three oscillator slots, a patch window that looks like a synth had a run-in with a lava lamp, and enough wave-shaping, filtering, and modulation to keep even the most jaded sound mangler busy for weeks.

AudioPilz highlights the plugin’s arsenal: you can draw your own waveforms, stack up LFOs and envelopes until your CPU begs for mercy, and mutate presets into unrecognisable digital sludge. Sure, the FX section leans more “mad scientist” than “polished producer,” but that’s exactly the point. Absynth isn’t here to hold your hand—it’s here to melt your brain.

Just when you thought Absynth might get a proper 21st-century resurrection, Native Instruments drops version 6—a so-called update that’s little more than a dark mode paint job, a space-age preset browser, and a handful of minor tweaks. AudioPilz doesn’t mince words: compared to modern heavyweights like Serum 2 or Pigments, this is a limp handshake at best.

Where’s the innovation? Where’s the fire? Instead of a bold leap forward, Absynth 6 feels like a cash grab for the nostalgia crowd. If you paid for this update expecting a revolution, you’ve basically bought a new coat for your old dog—and the dog’s still got fleas.

AudioPilz ends with a question that should haunt every gearhead: why are we still paying for half-baked updates when a 25-year-old plugin can run circles around today’s shiny new toys? Absynth’s quirks and retro UI might scare off the faint-hearted, but its sound design chops are undeniable. Even after two decades, it stands tall against the latest synths, quirks and all.

Maybe the real issue isn’t the price of updates, but the lack of guts from manufacturers. If you want to see what a true digital oddball can do—and why it still matters—go watch the video. Some things are too weird, too wild, and too brilliant to fit in a review. Trust me, you’ll want to hear this one with your own battered ears.