Absynth Absent
Yesterday in our report on the new teaser video for Komplete 14, we noted the decision of Native Instruments to omit Absynth from the line-up. The semi-modular software synthesizer was truly ground-breaking on its release in the early 2000s and has grown a huge fanbase over the last 22+ years. Native Instruments have today released a statement, shown in full below, explaining its decision to drop this ageing fan favourite.
“Native Instruments has made the decision to not include Absynth in Komplete 14, and to additionally stop selling it as an individual product. We know that this will be disappointing news for many of you who have been long-time users of the software synthesizer during its 22 years on the market.
We always aspire to provide the best user experience with each product that we offer in our catalogue. Unfortunately, we must acknowledge that this is sometimes not possible due to constantly evolving user needs and technological standards. Discontinuing Absynth was not an easy decision to make, but the resource required to keep the product in line with modern standards has become too much of a challenge. Absynth has also long been in need of updates and improvements, and we are unfortunately not able to provide the synth with the attention it needs.
Due to this, we have stopped all sales and development activities effective immediately. Users who already have a license will not be affected, as Absynth will continue to operate normally. All users with a license will still be able to download and use it on current versions of Windows 10/11 or on Intel Macs up to macOS 12.
We want to deeply thank Brian Clevinger for being such a great collaborator and inspiring creators over the years, and thank all of you for loving Absynth as much as we have.”
While it is sad to learn that there will be no further development of Absynth, it will still be available for download and continue to work for existing customers for the time being at least on their current systems.
The original developer of Absynth, Brian Clevinger, continues to work for Rhizomatic (the original developer of Absynth before its purchase by Native Instruments) on their flagship physical modelling synth Plasmonic:
