Hey, I just been wiring various instruments together in Reaktor Sessions....great fun

I now have an ensemble that is:


Junatik ---> Analogic Filter ----> Delay ----> Double Fuzz (from SH-2K)

----> Reverb (from Kaleidon) ----> EQ (from Kaleidon)


Its a well cool ensemble


Well....that was a synth through some effects (in series) which seemed quite easy to do.

I am having trouble though wiring two synths together to create a layer though. Has anyone worked this out yet?

Lets say two Junatiks instruments. Both have two ins (L and R) and two outs (L and R). You can only use one wire per in or out which means the only way I get get both synths to play at the same time is one synth to audio output 1 and the other to audio output 2 (this means one comes out of the left speaker and one comes out of the right speaker.....damn annoying!). Anyone know how to do this?

I assume need some kind of instrument file (.ins, coz RS only loads these or ensembles) that has 4 inputs and 2 outputs. Can we get these from somewhere? In Tassman I would use a couple of 'mix2' modules to do this I think...

....not too sure if I am explaining myself well here

Use a mixer, and assign them to the same midi channel.

The inputs to the Juno's are for inputing audio I believe

I think that's what you do

Where can I get a mixer from?

Don't forget Reaktor Sessions only supports down to the instrument level. I need one that is an .ism file.

This sounds like what I need, but there isn't one in the R4 library.

Just right click on each instruments panel and make sure they are both set to the same midi channel.


Revolver1010.

hmm... I think you are right... Mixers are macros, not instruments... I think someone may be able to hook you up a mixer instrument and post to the user's library... I could, but I'm at work right now.

If you find one, post here, otherwise I'll try to make one and post it (or send me your email and I'll send it to you). Email me your address to bryce@berzerker-soft.com

I'll be home about 8pm GMT - 5 (aka EST, US)

Revolver wrote:

Just right click on each instruments panel and make sure they are both set to the same midi channel. Revolver1010.

No. That don't work. I think you are right. A mixer is the way to go.

I just found a stereo mixer in the specials area of the user library. I've wired it up and it works a treat. Thanks for the advice

Mind you. It works but still not quite right.

The mixer I found is a Stereo Aux mixer. It has two Aux. I can wire each synths L and R to an Aux L and R. This works fine. Should I be using the Aux though?

There are 4 channels on the mixer itself (A,B,C and D) but each of those only has 1 input so I have to use all 4 channels to play the L and R channels of both synths.

I assume I should use the Aux??

Sorry if I am talking crap but find this very hard to explain.

vbfischer wrote:

hmm... I think you are right... Mixers are macros, not instruments... I think someone may be able to hook you up a mixer instrument and post to the user's library... I could, but I'm at work right now. If you find one, post here, otherwise I'll try to make one and post it (or send me your email and I'll send it to you). Email me your address to bryce@berzerker-soft.com I'll be home about 8pm GMT - 5 (aka EST, US)

ah hi, sorry....didn't see your post at first

What I would like is a simple 4 channel mixer which will let me layer four stereo instruments....that would be nice

Each instrument in the library has 2 outs, so it will need two ins per channel (so a total of 8 ins) and then maybe all of these could go to a master channel that has 2 audio outs. Would that be possible? I would be very grateful

Oh, and Reaktor 4 instruments don't seem to work in Reaktor Sessions at the moment so could you build it in Reaktor 3? That is more likely to work.

I'll send you that email.

Doesn't the Reaktor Session manual tell you how to hook up these multiple instruments to outputs? I purchased Session and hate it after only one day of playing with the synths and presets so I never bothered to read my manual as I'm going to be selling it to a friend here at work. I believe the manual should explain how to do this though.


Revolver.

Revolver wrote:

Doesn't the Reaktor Session manual tell you how to hook up these multiple instruments to outputs? I purchased Session and hate it after only one day of playing with the synths and presets so I never bothered to read my manual as I'm going to be selling it to a friend here at work. I believe the manual should explain how to do this though. Revolver.

No...it doesn't go into any detail really. Just says that you can achieve it but doesn't give you a walk through or anything.

Alex - there is a mixer (as well as a step sequencer and various other goodies) availble as part of the rather good Caterpillar Stdio ensemble which is free - you may be able to use that.

http://www.trash80.net/caterpillar/

don't know if it will help but it might.

aMUSEd wrote:

Alex - there is a mixer (as well as a step sequencer and various other goodies) availble as part of the rather good Caterpillar Stdio ensemble which is free - you may be able to use that. http://www.trash80.net/caterpillar/ don't know if it will help but it might.

Hi...great link. Thanks

I can't try this until tonight. The mixer is mono. Wouldn't I need a stereo mixer as instruments tend to have a both a L and R output?

vbfischer: How did you get on last night?

thanks for the Caterpiller link, aMUSEd, I remember a thead about it awhile back and didn't grab it at the time. This is an interesting (open) concept.

ahh.. catapillar. One of my favs.

Sorry I didn't get to your mixer last night. Got bogged down with some other stuff... I'll try again tonight.

Somebody posted an 8x2 mixer with EQ and aux sends in the user library.It's a macro,so PM me if you'd like an .ism of it.It's for 4,so I don't know the compatability issues(you Sessions users seem to have a bunch of them )
ew

vbfischer: no probs


ew: Are you Erik Weigand?

As in Analogic, or BlueMatrix, Echo-mania, Fusion Reflection and Two Knees??

If you are then nice work - your ensembles are very cool indeed especially the filter box although I still haven't worked out how to roue a filter cutoff to an LFO

If you are not he then please ignore me

The mixer in the library doesn't work with Reaktor Sessions at the moment as it is R4 which seems to crash it at present

Maybe someone could make a simple "Layer me" instrument with 4 pairs of stereo inputs and one stereo (L and R) output. Each pair of inputs could have a volume and a pan, with a volume on the master. I suppose I have just described a mixer ...expect that I don't need each channel to go to different midi channels, only one for layering purposes

Any Reaktor dudes fancy building one? First one to post it here gets to revel in their own glory

If you do then probably best to build it in R3 and then convert to R4. This way you can post both R3 and R4 files. R3 files seem to work in Reaktor Sessions fine at the moment. We can use this until the R4 ensemble bug is fixed.

Hi Revolver, sorry you don't like sessions. Haven't tried it myself but I have R3 so I thought id' put in my 2 cents. I think you should really give it a try. I suppose it's possible that you just don't like the sound of Reaktor but Reaktor is so far past anything else available I can't imagine not finding and amazing amount of use out of it since Sessions will use all the available ensembles correct. Dash makes some crazy ensembles, there are amazing fx to use. I'd hate to see you get rid of it and regret it later. I was reading your review, and noticed a few things. I hear 4 and sessions aren't as stable, which is why I haven't upgraded yet, but R3 was rock solid and in an update or two R4 and Sessions will be too. If you add in all the user ensemble available on NI's site, many of which are incredible and the Dash stuff available you have hundreds of unique and hi quality synths, fx, beatboxes etc. with literally thousands of presets. Granted, I like the presets I've heard in R4 but that's just me so maybe you wouldn't like any of them but R3 was definitely the best money I spent in my studio. I could literally do anything with just that program, any type of sound or fx. Anyways, sorry it's not your thing, but just give it a chance before you get rid of it. If I had to pick only on piece of software for music it would be Reaktor by miles.

Alex,

Please help me with something. How do you add the effects to the instrument? I don't seem to be able to do this.

I picked up Reaktor Session today at Guitar Center for US$109 due to GC clerk fuck up. I have to say I've been enjoying it. I've been playing with it for a few hours and there a few bugs but nothing major. When they update it to be able to play Reaktor 4 ensembles it will be cool.

Also, I tried importing midi files and it doesnt seem to work. Any hints on this?

Thanks!

I have the same problem with R4 no midi playback (same files for the same instruments that work in R3). When I try to use an ensamble that I have downloaded from the library R4 really does not like it Asio freezes and I ahve to do a hard reboot then reconfigure all the audio and midi settings as well as restart my midi controller!!

But aside from this when they get this sorted R4 will be easier to use and is laid out a lot better.

I have found some synths I have converted sound better but others have lost the cousreness that I enjoyed eg the SH synth in R3

Paull

Cheeso wrote:

Alex, Please help me with something. How do you add the effects to the instrument? I don't seem to be able to do this. I picked up Reaktor Session today at Guitar Center for US$109 due to GC clerk fuck up. I have to say I've been enjoying it. I've been playing with it for a few hours and there a few bugs but nothing major. When they update it to be able to play Reaktor 4 ensembles it will be cool. Also, I tried importing midi files and it doesnt seem to work. Any hints on this? Thanks!

Yeah...I saw your post on the NI forum

I will talk you through it as there have been several people ask me how to do this.

OK....let do an easy one at first. Lets say you want to wire Junatik and Analogic Filter together.

A few things to know before we get started:

An ensemble can be made of many instruments. So for instance the Junatik ensemble is made up of two instruments....the junatik synth and a delay unit.

Wiring is done on the instrument level. Ensembles in the library are basically a collection of instruments (synths, delays, reverbs etc.) that have been pre-wired into ensembles.

Before you do anything you need to set your instrument path in system/properties/directories. When you save instruments they will go to this location and be shown in the browser by selecting the "instr." button.

You need to obtain the instrument files (.ins) that you want to wire together. To do this you need to open the ensemble and save the instrument file.

Like this,

1 - Open Junatik ensemble.

2 - Right click on the top left of the Junatik GUI where it displays its name.

3 - Choose "save instrument as" from the drop-down menu. Browse the your instrument folder (if its not already open).

4 - Give it a name (e.g. Junatik) and save.

5 - Open the Analogic Filter. Repeat the process to save the instrument file.


Now, heres how you do your wiring:

6 - OK, now you have the instrument files you want you need to close Reaktor Session and re-open it to clear the ensemble window. If on re-open the last ensemble re-appears you need to go to system/properties/options and unselect "reload last ensemble on startup", then restart Reaktor Session. This will make sure you get a blank ensemble window.

NOTE: There does not seem to be any "new ensembles" option in Reaktor Session for some reason....maybe an oversight by NI??

7 - From the browser you should now see the instrument files that you saved. Drag both the Junatik and Analogic Filter into the ensemble window. They should both now be in view.

8 - You can drag each instruments GUI around this screen to reposition them how you would like them to be arranged in your ensemble. Drag the filter underneath Junatik. It should sit underneath quite nicely.

9 - You will notice now that you will not hear anything when you play a note. This is because nothing is wired to the audio outs of your soundcard. If you are working with instruments (rather than ensembles) you need to wire them up before you can hear the ensemble. If you want to hear an instrument at this point you need to hit the "solo" button at the top of that instruments GUI. This will route the instruments audio outs to your audio card. If you do this for Junatik you should now hear sound when you play a note. Untick the solo button when you are finished.

10 - In the browser click the 'wiring' button.

11 - You will now see both Juntik and Analogic Filter in the upper pane of the browser.

12 - In the top half of the browser you can see all of the audio ins and outs for each instrument by double clicking on an instruments name.

13 - Audio ins have an arrow leading into the icon, and audio outs have arrows leading out of the icon.

14 - If you highlight the Junatiks Left (L) audio out you will see in the lower pane of the browser that all of the available audio in ports are shown.

15 - We want to wire the Junatik 'Left out' to the Analogic Filters 'Left in'. So...while you have the Junatik 'L out' highlighted scroll down the list of available audio ins to find the Analogic Filters 'L in'. Now put a X in the wire column.

16 - Do the same for the 'R out' of Junatik. Highlight it and find the 'R in' of the Filter in the lower pane. Stick an X in the wire column.

OK, now the Junatik is routed to the Filter.

18 - Now we need to route the Filters outs (L and R) to your audio card. Double click on the Analogic Filters name in the top pane. Highlight its 'L out' and then wire it to 'Audio out 1' in the lower pain. Now wire up the Filters 'R out' to the 'Audio out 2'.

Thats it. You should now hear the Junatik running through the Analogic Filter when you play a note.

Make sure you save your new ensemble now (hold control and hit the save button at top of Reaktor Session to 'save as')

You can wire as many instruments together as your CPU can handle. Just save the instruments from any ensemble and then use them as you please. I think NI were suppose to supply a library of these instruments on the CD Rom but they don't seem to be there so you have to get them yourself.

To layer two synths together is slightly more difficult as you'll need a stereo mixer and will have to route each synth to a stereo channel in the mixer. There's a mixer available right now in the user library (its a bit ugly though!!) but unfortunately it won't load because of the famous "R4 ensemble loading bug"

Hope this helps! (and that it makes sense!!)

Thank you Alex, you are da' man! I will try that when I get home. I wish the manual had that much useful detail. I appreciate the amount of work you put in that post!

Alex wrote:

ew: Are you Erik Weigand?

I wish...

Alex wrote:

If you are not he then please ignore me

OK...
,
ew

How about layering synths together? Couldn't that be done without the stereo mixer?

By the way, I can load R4 ensembles now, after the update, so will try the mixer anyway


prog

ew wrote:

Alex wrote: ew: Are you Erik Weigand? I wish... Alex wrote: If you are not he then please ignore me OK... , ew

progfusion74 wrote:

How about layering synths together? Couldn't that be done without the stereo mixer?

Depends how many audio outs you have on your card. I only have 2 on my SB Live! card. To wire 2 synths to the soundcards outs you I would need four audio outputs available, a pair for each synth (2 x Right and 2 x Left outputs). You can do it but you end up with one synth coming out of the left speaker and one out the right. I definately have to use a mixer.

progfusion74 wrote:

By the way, I can load R4 ensembles now, after the update, so will try the mixer anyway prog

Update? Damn, I knew I shouldn't have left my PC to eat

Whats new document wrote:

New in 1.0.1 Many minor fixes and enhancements Compatibility fix with M-Audio soundcards under Mac OS X

"Minor" fixes....haha....minor they call them!!!

Progfusion74: Did you see my reply to you in the NI forum about Dynamo ensembles/instruments?

Alex wrote:

Whats new document wrote: New in 1.0.1 Many minor fixes and enhancements Compatibility fix with M-Audio soundcards under Mac OS X "Minor" fixes....haha....minor they call them!!! Progfusion74: Did you see my reply to you in the NI forum about Dynamo ensembles/instruments?

Haven't been there in a while, but I will check


I am having fun with some user ensembles, and with steampipe not crashing on me ... yet!!!!!

I'm just d/loading the update now. I hope they have fixed the Kaleidon bug (osc octave won't retune to zero....damn annoying but I suppose it was minor in the bigger scheme of things!!)

Alex,

Thanks for the help, your wiring tuturial works like a charm. The only difference I noticed was the instruments were saved as an .ism file, not .ins...it worked anyway, despite the isms! NI should hire you.

With the update I am now able to play R4 ensembles too, so that is cool. I wish NI had fixed the Vocoder though. Next update I guess.

Thanks again man!

Yeah,it used to be that Reaktor saved its instruments as a .ins,but Cakewalk uses that for instrument definitions.Now all my Cakewalk .ins files have Sonar icons and not Reaktor ones anymore I guess they learned something on the Sonar/Reaktor demonstration tour last year
ew

Reaktor Session is great. I've been playing with for a few hours nonstop. I can't see how people were complaining that it sucked. Now a lot of the bugs are fixed it is even better. Go get it.

Vierring is killer.