Reaktor Player

Abandonware. No UI scaling for higher resolution monitors. In normal vsts interface is just becoming small but this is not the case with NI plugins, their UI is being stretched out of frame edges while frame's size is unchanged and 70% of interface is becoming unreachable. No updates for 2 years, 5 months passed since Massive got scalable UI. Paid ensembles themselves by NI are quality, other than ensembles this there is nothing else that this piece of software can do.

Edit: now I think that this piece of software might have been fine before M1 compability update too. I found that "demo" (they are just standalone installers) installers for Supercharger GT and Driver, which also have broken UIs, are 1 version older and these are working absolutely fine. I heard that plugins in OS X cant do scalings asynced from DPI things or something like that. And still, no opportunities to be able to use my ensembles.

As this synth is cancelled, the chance is good to get some reduced offers. but even for the original price i definite recommend this synth(s) to everyone! Some ensembles of the included libary are worth the price alone f.e. vierring or greenmatrix. Yes, the libary is very good equipped: it has subtractive, wavetable, additive, physical modelling, granular, more or less fm, sample player and so on...!

GUI: i like it lot. I think this is how a "COMPUTER"-GUI should look like: not that mega 3d-orgy, great mouse-support with f.e. the often used xypads, a nice "scientific" look, drawable sequences, lots of windows where the audio-output is graphical displayed and a good overall layout for the workflow.

Sound: The reaktor-sound is to my ear very balanced and "neutral". The quality is really top notch! What astonishes me mostly are the built in choruses: i would say these are the best i´ve heard so far.

Features: too many to mention. it goes from great midi-implementation to synth-specific peculiarities like attack modulation, different lfo-speed on each voice, lots of tracking options, resonance behaviour and a lot more!

Documention: i think it´s a little bit short. All emsembles are introduced superficial, but there´s no in depth explanation.

Presets: A lot and most of them are good.

Customer Support: For Reaktor Session there´s no official support any longer. But there is a large community on the web, so you have a support from the user´s side.

VFM: 10 points!

Stability: Beside loading audiofiles with the sampleplayer, i haven´t found huge bugs so far.

Summary: If you have a little place left in your sound-arsenal, go for it. It´s one of the best synth around!
Actually i have to say synthS!, because RS has many different synthesis in one programm.
One last point: NI says, that you can´t build new instruments with RS. but that´s only the half of the truth, cause what you can do in the terms of ni is building "ensembles". That means that you can create ensembles f.e. with more than one synth, free configured effects-chains and eqs/ mixers if needed. So it´s "half modular" i would say, as you can´t build instruments from scratch.

This is one app any music nerd should have just because of it's sheer funkiness.
Really you could doing "everything" with this package (once you pick up a sequencing module from the user forum) but it has it's strong points:
1) Granulators: simply amazing if you're a soundscape person. Probably worth the price alone.
2) Beat Creators: so many ways to funk up sounds into the new mad rhythms of the future.
3) FX: an incredible selection.

The weakest point of Reaktor is, and I know there will be some gasps, it's synths. Unfortunetly they all have a certain tone to them which is just, well, not so pretty. And some of the more interesting ones like Carbon/Kaleidon are so huge to look at onscreen that it's hard to tweak them.

You can find some goodies at the user forum. As in the SynthEdit crowd there are about 15-20 really active contributors. The forum lists 1500 instruments for download but many of those 4-5 upgraded versions of the same instrument, (some won't even work with the latest RS4). Realistically there are about 300 usable instruments in there but that's still pretty amazing. There is also the Amphitryon & Studio from lost-online.com which take Reaktor into a full workstation & sequencer environment for a very nominal cost... making this perhaps the only application you'll ever need. James Walker-Hall built those 2 environments and has contributed several instruments you will find in the RS boxed package as well.

For RS + the 2xtra apps I mention you'll be looking at approx $250+- for the most powerful music making environment currently known. With the ability to combine instruments, effects and live performance tools it is the first stop in your computer music dreams.

beside kontakt and dfx buffer override reaktor session is the only vsti(win xp)/audiounit(osx) that is used in nearly all of my tracks.
i can't complain about many crashs, although i had some, but mostly i can avoid the situations that lead to the crash(e.g. cpu overload).
the included library is very good, but the main reason i bought reaktor session was the user library that can be found on the website of native instruments. i know no other collection of plugins(or something like that) beside pluggo that offers such great tools for sound manipulation(fx). but also the ("virtual analogue") synths sound very good(of course i tested not every single reaktor ensemble). the gui depends on the used ensemble(there are some that are very hard to use), but in generally the main features(and most of the ensembles) are very easy to use. the support at native instruments is good i think(i only mailed them once, but there's also the forum on ther website).
with only a sequencer and reaktor session you are very well equipped for every kind of (electronic) music.

Reaktor is one of those products that just keeps getting better and better. When it first came out, it was ground breaking. Certainly there are other modular synths that have outdone Reaktor in one regard or another (SynC Modular and SynthEdit come to mind), but none encapsulate so much in one place.

I bought Reaktor Session instead of the full Reaktor simply because the full Reaktor is hideously overpriced. I love to program modular synths (I'm a Sync Modular fanatic), but I couldn't justify almost five bills for a piece of music software. At $150-$200, Reaktor Session is a much more reasonably priced alternative.

Although I can't create new instruments, the good news is that there are enough publicly available instruments that I may never need to! Further, while new instruments are not possible, combining existing instruments in new ways most certainly is. So a limited form of ensemble authoring is possible.

All that said, the UI is not particularly appealing, and is quite unintuitive in several areas.

What makes Reaktor Session a must-have is the user library. It is mind-boggling. There are so many ensembles, with so much innovation, that it's really hard to even put it into words. If you are an electronic musician of any stripe - be it ambient, prog elec, symphonic elec, techno, club, etc. - Reaktor is a must-have, for the simple reason that the library is so massive and powerful.

For what it's worth, I found the copy protection to be well implemented and not particularly intrusive. It did prompt me to re-insert my CD once, which was annoying, but overall I pretty much forget that it is copy protected. NI even allows for a duplicate license so I can take Reaktor with me on my laptop for business trips - perfect!

I *would* however like to make a backup copy of my CD, in case one of the kids decides to use it as a frisbee. Unfortunately, I can't. I wonder how much NI would charge if I needed a replacement?

In any event, Reaktor sounds *good*. Reaktor's not the fattest or the most authentic sounding soft synth, but it is still very good sounding. Combined with the massive user library, this is the synth to beat.