Reaktor 6

[GaryG]

Well, finally upgraded to v6 (thanks to the founder of this very site).

What a blast, blocks is way too much fun, think I'll be plundering the UL for months........

To those who upgraded from v5: Did you find anything missing from the v6 library? It looks like all the old favorites are there and the Electronic Instrument collection ensembles are present. Only missing the v3 & v4 legacy libraries but probably not much of real use in there anymore. I've copied all the v5 stuff into a sub folder for now to sort through sometime... Cheers.

[windspace]

And those who use Reaktor, how much does it integrate to your setup- do you use it's sequencers, do you build your own things that combine both sequencing and sound sources, do you also use it for effects?

Since upgrading to 6 I have been trying to work in some Blocks ensembles with a little success. Still learning...that will likely be your experience as well if you haven't used Reaktor much! But, I enjoy learning anyway, and learning to produce sounds is one of the best things 😃
Blocks seems to have invigorated the builder community and there many awesome blocks and blocks ensembles there.

Here are a couple that I particularly like from the UL:
Antique.ens
FM1 Test Ensemble
(Sorry I can't post links from my iPad to the UL, but from the UL page, search for these using the 'Blocks' filter.)

I also get a lot of use from several granular ensembles. Dron-e is awesome for creating drones from samples. I use Grainstates a lot (it's a factory ensemble), there are many in the user library. I use some of the sound generators like Metaphysical Funktion frequently. Sometimes recording the output and then mangling it with some granular thing.

As for effects, there are some good reverbs and delays in the factory library and many, many more in the User Library.

The sequencers are interesting and I need to explore them more, but I can't say I have used them much. Although, Grainstates is essentially a tool that sequences several grains from a sample. You can select the length and position, and several other variables for each grain, and also the number of grains and duration and pitch of each grain in the sequence.

Have fun!!

[windspace]

Anyone else notice they lowered the price? It's now $200 new vs what, wasn't it $400 outside of Komplete? I got 5 when NI was offering it for $99 one Black Friday myself and seem to remember it being an insane deal.

I did the same thing, and was really happy to have gotten that deal on something I wanted badly. I kinda felt the same way about the upgrade...not having noticed the price reduction for the full version...
It's OK though, I really love Reaktor and find I'm using it more as I become more familiar with it.

[S1gnsOfL1fe]

Anyone else notice they lowered the price? It's now $200 new vs what, wasn't it $400 outside of Komplete? I got 5 when NI was offering it for $99 one Black Friday myself and seem to remember it being an insane deal.

Wow, you're right. It's only $99 for me to update it.

Stop...this thread is giving me GAS! :

[KrisM]

Anyone else notice they lowered the price? It's now $200 new vs what, wasn't it $400 outside of Komplete? I got 5 when NI was offering it for $99 one Black Friday myself and seem to remember it being an insane deal.

[noise_construct]

Thanks for the replies and insights, I think its the right one for me.

[seismic1]

aoVI and seismic1, what do you think it is about Reaktor that doesn't invite you to use it?

Lack of time, mainly. My day-job is quite time-consuming, and other commitments don't leave a great deal of time for making music. When I'm putting a track together, I usually have a fairly good idea of the sounds (or type of sounds) I want to use. I can achieve those sounds with the tools I'm more familiar with. Reaktor is something I occasionally play with for its own sake. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I can get results quicker elsewhere.

[interface_type_seven]

And those who use Reaktor, how much does it integrate to your setup- do you use it's sequencers, do you build your own things that combine both sequencing and sound sources, do you also use it for effects?

I sometimes use the sequencers and noise generators. I regularly build my own things--usually simple synthesizers-- just for fun, and occasionally use them in tracks. Getting into building is very rewarding, but also a bit of a learning curve, as even very simple instruments can get complicated quickly. ADSR Sounds has a bunch of great free (and paid) video courses in their Reaktor Tutorials series. Check out YouTube or reaktortutorials.com for some great starting points.

Effects are probably the aspect I use the most in Reaktor. There are some decent effects included in the core, but the user library (http://www.native-instruments.com/en...-user-library/) provides a bunch of great free stuff created by the community. Some of my favorite effects used during composition, mixing, and mastering come straight out of the user library.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I think that the Reaktor 6 update was really worth the upgrade price...the blocks framework is fun and simple to build with, and the UI and workflow changes make creating instruments from scratch much more intuitive. For those new to Reaktor/holding out to upgrade, go grab the free Reaktor 6 player (separate install/run from the 5 player) and download the free Blocks Wired update that came out a few weeks ago to get at some pretty cool hardwired blocks West Coast modular goodness.

[S1gnsOfL1fe]

Anyway: I use REAKTOR for several years (I like RAZOR very much), and I think, that I will use my own REAKTOR 6 ensembles in the near future for some new works. Their FM sounds are somehow unpredictable and noisy - I find them great!

Fantastic analysis Betadecay. :tu: As a K9U user, I've been very anxious to try it out. A Reaktor update was very long overdue. I'm going to wait until they include it in the Komplete series to upgrade, hopefully this year with the inevitable K11.

Cheers,
-S1gns

[betadecay]

(We all know about the pros and cons of soft- and hardware. Hardware occupies space on the table, software not. Broken hardware can be fixed even if it is 30 years old, sofware support may be discontinued. Etc. etc. Don't want to discuss this here.)

A longer time ago, I watched some YouTube videos about REAKTOR 5 an then tried to build a synth in REAKTOR 5 - even a simple thing with 2 oscillators and a filter and one ADSR is a little pain there. So I stopped that. Everything in the factory library, not to mention RAZOR, is 1000 times better, as what I could do.

But recently I watched these REAKTOR 6 videos here:

And I must confess: It was never so easy to build ones own synth. In a one hour or so I had a modular synth with two oscillators FM-modulating each other and with sync and each oscillator had its own LFO and ADSR. Finally a filter and a delay and some reverb. After watching the videos, this a a task for a lazy afternoon, not for some busy weeks. And once you know, how it works, it becomes easier. So then I build a synth with 4 oscillators in a chain, each one FM modulation the next one in the chain. Yes, FM8 should be capable to do the same, but I do not want to learn FM8 and I also enjoyed building my own machine. The only disadvantage: my monitor is way to small, a 48'' monitor would be much better... But REAKTOR 6 blocks are really fun!

I did not explore the step sequencers so far (but according to the videos, this is also quite simple). I don't know, what I'll try next with it, this is also a question of time (even if it is basically easy, very much easier than REAKTOR 5, building a more sophisticated machine will of course require some time). So far, I used only a hand full of the blocks that come with REAKTOR 6, and there are so many blocks in the NI user library too... However, I find it really impressive, how quick I came to a good result even with only these few blocks (OSC, ASDR, LFO, AMP, mixer / cross fader, delay, reverb).

What could be interesting for us: did anyone create a drone machine with it? There is one in the user library, but I did not try it yet.

Anyway: I use REAKTOR for several years (I like RAZOR very much), and I think, that I will use my own REAKTOR 6 ensembles in the near future for some new works. Their FM sounds are somehow unpredictable and noisy - I find them great!

[noise_construct]

aoVI and seismic1, what do you think it is about Reaktor that doesn't invite you to use it?

And those who use Reaktor, how much does it integrate to your setup- do you use it's sequencers, do you build your own things that combine both sequencing and sound sources, do you also use it for effects?

Reaktor will most likely be the only softsynth I'll ever buy, I've demoed it and read reviews, but would be interested in your experiences. After returning to music I've realised that software is a pretty bad thing to invest in, but Reaktor seems like an exception.

[seismic1]

I have Reaktor5, but have never got around to using it in a serious song/track. I should spend more time with it.

[Ahornberg]

"I prefer to have all elements of my musical constructions available for perfect recall, transferable by Internet (preset/patch files) and literally weightless.

Each time you sit at the hardware modular it is a different experience. It is the lack of sameness that makes the hardware special. It is a modern folk instrument. Just like a guitar, saxophone, violin, human voice ... on and on.

When someone sits at a piano and plays a piece, there is no perfect recall. It is the experience of creating a unique artistic experience for both the artist and the listener. I would never want to go to a concert where the artist demonstrates "perfect recall".

Uniqueness can also be achieved with Reaktor (I do own it), but only when it stops trying to achieve an existing sound.

Just the opinion of someone who fights against sameness and "analogueness".

We can have different goals without pretending to be something else.

the more modular soft synths I run on my system, the more I want to dive into the analouge counterpart ... didn't I got some money left? :daydream:

[Ahornberg]

It's a wonder we can even move a soft-synth patch without using a traktor!

FTFY

:thumbsup:

or even a Maschine :cool:

[windspace]

It's a wonder we can even move a soft-synth patch without using a traktor!

FTFY

:thumbsup: