Are 100 Liquid Drum & Bass NI Massive Presets Worth $19?

If you're building liquid drum and bass tracks in NI Massive, the Liquid Drum & Bass NI Massive preset pack by 5Pin Media is one of the more focused options available at $19. This is 100 Macro-driven presets aimed squarely at the jazzy, soulful end of the genre: think Calibre rolling bass lines, Spectrasoul pads, Alix Perez atmosphere. It's not a general DnB pack. It's not a Reese bass toolkit. It's liquid, and it stays there.

Quick verdict: At $19, this is a satisfying purchase for any producer already working in Massive who wants to dial in liquid DnB tones fast. The sound design leans soulful and warm, the Macro controls let you shape patches without cracking the hood, and the included WAV loops and MIDI files make it genuinely useful beyond the preset browser. The main caveat: if you don't already own NI Massive 1.5.1 or higher, this pack does nothing for you. And if you're more interested in heavy neuro or classic Reese territory, the balance of presets here will frustrate you.

Where It Belongs

You're sketching a mid-tempo liquid roller at 174 BPM. You need a sub bass with enough movement to feel alive, a few pad layers that sit back without cluttering the mid-range, and something poly and bright to hold the top end together. That's exactly what this pack is built to do.

The 34 bass presets are the foundation. For liquid DnB, that count is right: you don't need 80 bass patches when you need 2 or 3 that actually work in a full mix. The 20 poly presets and 20 pads give you the harmonic scaffolding the genre depends on. Throw in 11 stabs, 8 leads and 7 FX patches, and you've got a full toolkit for a soulful, Calibre-influenced session.

The 59 WAV files and 27 MIDI files aren't filler. If you're building a track from scratch and need drum loops or bass lines to reference against your synth patches, they're there. The drum samples pull from 5Pin Media's own Liquid Drum & Bass Horizons pack, so they're matched in tone.

Where It Doesn't

This is not a neuro-funk pack. It's not a Reese bass pack. If your DnB sits closer to Noisia than Calibre, skip it. The soulful, jazzy reference point is baked into every patch.

The poly and pad presets dominate the bank. With 40 of the 100 presets sitting in those two categories, producers who mostly need bass and lead variation might find the balance annoying. You're getting 8 leads total, which is thin if leads are central to your sound.

And the hard dependency on NI Massive 1.5.1 or higher is a real wall. If your Massive licence has lapsed, or you've moved to Massive X, this pack sits idle. Worth checking before you buy.

How To Use It Well

Load a bass patch and reach for the Macros immediately. Each preset is designed to be reshaped at the Macro level, so tone, filter movement and effect depth are all accessible without opening the oscillator panel.

For liquid DnB, bass movement is the whole game. Automate the filter or the effect level across a 16-bar section and you'll get the kind of organic variation the genre relies on.

Load a MIDI file into your DAW, route it to one of the poly presets, and play it back against one of the included drum loops. Adjust your gain staging before you commit to anything.

The pad presets tend to have longer attack times, which is right for the genre. If a pad feels slow coming in, check the Macros before you assume it's wrong. There's often a Macro controlling the envelope that you can tighten without touching the patch internals.

The Verdict

We think this pack earns its place at $19 for producers already in the Massive ecosystem who love the soulful, Calibre-to-Spectrasoul zone of liquid drum and bass. The Macro-driven design makes it genuinely usable in a session, not just a preset browser you open once and forget. The WAV and MIDI additions are a clever touch that push the value up.

But if you need NI Massive and don't have it, the maths changes fast. And if your production style pulls towards heavier, more technical DnB, the jazzy balance here will leave you cold. For the right producer, it's a brilliant time-saver. For the wrong one, it's just 100 patches that don't match the sound in your head.

Specs & Technical Details

Developer	5Pin Media
Price	$19
Plugin Format	N/A (NI Massive preset pack)
OS Support	Mac / Windows (dependent on NI Massive)
Activation	N/A
CPU Usage	N/A (dependent on NI Massive)
Trial Available	N/A
Version Reviewed	N/A
Presets Included	100 NI Massive presets
WAV Files	59 loops and one-shots
MIDI Files	27
Required Software	NI Massive 1.5.1 or higher

Score Breakdown

Category	Score	Notes
Sound Quality	4.0/5	Owners describe sounds as immediately addictive with strong variety across the liquid DnB range
Value for Money	4.5/5	100 presets plus 59 WAVs and 27 MIDI files at $19 is a fair deal for the content on offer
Ease of Use	4.0/5	Macro-driven design makes in-session shaping fast; no need to dig into patch internals
Features	3.5/5	Good range of categories but pad and poly presets dominate; lead count is thin
CPU Efficiency	N/A	Performance is dependent on NI Massive, not the pack itself
Overall	4.0/5	A focused, genre-specific pack that delivers for liquid DnB producers already in the Massive ecosystem

At $19, this pack is a smart buy for one specific type of producer: someone building liquid drum and bass in NI Massive who wants the soulful, jazzy reference points of Commix, Zero T and Calibre built into their preset bank from day one. The Macro control across all 100 patches is what keeps it out of the "browse once, forget forever" category.

Hard pass if you don't already own Massive. And honestly, if heavy or technical DnB is your lane, the balance here won't serve you. But in the right hands, this pack is a genuinely satisfying shortcut to a sound that's hard to dial in from scratch.