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Razor has an average user rating of 4.14 from 7 reviews

Rate & Review Razor

User Reviews by KVR Members for Razor

Razor

Reviewed By a_Scientist [all]
July 1st, 2015
Version reviewed: 7, 8 on Windows

Very interesting synth (as I love other Reaktor synths).

The sound is sharp; at least before you refine it as you want, (the name "Razor" fits).

You won't find common oscillator types here. Any oscillator here is special (what surprised me in the beginning). Like:

Formant.

Number Pitchbend.

Synced Noise.

Razor relies on heavy use of filtering. Putting a filter on (as other modules) is very easy, simply click and select image. By the way, it's graphically advanced. It even has 3D! (which you can turn off for 2D to save CPU time). Examples of filters:

Lowpass Phaser.

Vowel.

Formant.

Effects section is awesome too. Like special type of reverb.

Almost everything can be automated with 3 Envelopes and 2 LFO, for Filter parameter 1 - up to 3 modulators. There are two filters.

I like how everything is organized (as for other Reaktor synths).

This synth had positive impression on me, which increased as I used it more.

Sorry for my English good luck.

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Comments & Discussion for Native Instruments Razor

Discussion
Discussion: Active
SarahBellum
SarahBellum
23 March 2012 at 4:49pm

WARNING !!

what Native Instruments don't tell you anywhere is that while Razor will load and play in Reaktor Player you have to buy the full version of Reaktor to use Razor as intended. In Reaktor Player none of it's controls are assignablefull to MIDI (either in a DAW or to a control surface), so no real time 'wub-wub' or 'meow' bases.

If you only have Reaktor Player then don't waste your money on Razor

murnau
murnau
10 August 2013 at 5:07am

so you finally find out why it's named "player" do you? :D.

SarahBellum
SarahBellum
10 August 2013 at 9:46am

maybe you should re-read what I typed or get a grow up to explain it to you before you type anything as your comment makes no sense.
I knew the difference between 'Player' and 'Full', but my comment (posted a year and half ago) was about NI claiming Razor would work with 'Player' - It does not. That is all. - jus' sayin, think before you reply.

murnau
murnau
10 August 2013 at 10:21am

everybody know the restrictions of player (like no midi-assign) but you. so you blame a feature player never had on a specific release like razor. lol

THIS POST HAS BEEN REMOVED

SarahBellum
SarahBellum
10 August 2013 at 11:10am

not at all. Razor was sold as being fully compatible with 'player' so it's quite reasonable for anyone to expect it to be 'fully compatible', but it wasn't. You can make a pointless argument if you like, but N.I. agreed with me as they apologised and refunded me in full 18 months ago.

Also, it's naive and childish to assume that 'everybody knows' anything,.. where's your proof. There are soundbanks sold as 'fully compatible with Player' which are fully compatible,.. Razor is not one of them, that is all I was saying 18 months ago.

Also, at no point have I blamed 'player' for anything,.. as I said, re-reading my post may help you understand what I said, but as I posted this 18 months ago it seems a bit late and irrelevant to misunderstand it now.

Cytem01
Cytem01
25 January 2013 at 9:25pm

On the NI website, they have it listed for $99 now instead of $79. No announcement or anything, they just upped the price. Way to run an honest business Native Instruments.

murnau
murnau
10 August 2013 at 5:05am

"Reaktor only causes me frustration, causing projects in Cubase to crash and or become corrupted and not openable.".

LOL.

spirit
spirit
11 August 2013 at 11:06pm

+I.

I own Razor & Reaktor and fully sympathize about the presets. I've also been using Reaktor for years and still can't understand the preset management system - it's a woeful mess. Likewise I have trouble getting the right version of Razor to open - the player version always seems to want to be the one that loads and I always have to fiddle about trying to get the other version. That alone is a real disincentive to use this synth.

Johnny!
Johnny!
27 August 2013 at 10:11pm

KVR reports current version as 1.0, but the synth was updated 3 times now, with current version numer being 1.3.

Greg Houston
Greg Houston
27 September 2013 at 8:14am

I would pay $300 easy for a standalone Razor that uses a tenth as much CPU. That is my dream synth.

I absolutely love the sound of Razor. I love making presets with it. However Reaktor is a nightmare. Reaktor causes my DAW to crash for out of the blue, it's preset management is stupendously convoluted, and it will often corrupt my projects. It is really really really rare that a Reaktor based instrument will make it to the final mix on one of my projects. So that is a huge strike against Razor. The next one is the obscene amount of CPU it uses.

So my dream synth is a version of Razor that is stable like Massive and low CPU like Massive.

User3333
User3333
28 October 2013 at 4:51am

Hello, for a Windows 7 PC with a decent graphics card how good does your CPU need to be approximately - eg, Intel i5 is ok? In other words for those who have issues with running Razor what is your CPU and RAM specification? Thanks in advance.

Greg Houston
Greg Houston
28 October 2013 at 7:37am

I have an i7 with 16 GB or RAM. I don't think there is a really a set up right now that you will be able to use more than one or two instances of Razor.

User3333
User3333
28 October 2013 at 4:54am

Hello, I'd like to confirm if the free version of Reaktor (player) is sufficient to use most or all the options of Razor. Thanks.

User3333
User3333
28 October 2013 at 10:04am

I have an Intel i7 860 @ 2.80GHz and require one instrument/instance of Razor played at a time. They say that a dual core notebook may struggle so Quad core should be sufficient. Thanks. Btw, Image line Harmor looks inferior in appearance to Native Instruments.

Wildfunk
Wildfunk
28 October 2013 at 11:07am

"Harmor looks inferior" in comparison with Razor???

Razor...

  • can't import own waveforms.
  • can't import wav/mp3 samples.
  • can't edit timbres.
  • uses too much cpu.
  • only has 2 osc/14 waveforms.
jottinger
jottinger
28 October 2013 at 12:19pm

Yeah, Razor's kinda... expensive. That said, it sounds nice; I haven't really had that much of a problem with the settings management. Most of the criticisms of Razor seem aimed at Reaktor.

User3333
User3333
28 October 2013 at 11:25am

Hi I would like to use Razor via my Roland A-500 Pro MIDI keyboard and NI say in the comparison to Reaktor 5 that Reaktor Player allows: Total Recall and full automation in your DAW

..so that should mean in Reaktor Player I can assign the pitch bend and knobs (hardware) to Razor (software) - eg open or close filters via the Roland.

is this true or does Reaktor Player allow only the keys to operate on the screen? sounds strange that NI would disable the sliders, knobs, pitch bend in Reaktor Player but just allow the keys.

I'm interested in Razor and Prism for the moment and don't need a lot of the other items they bundle in Komplete 9 standard.

btw I reckon Harmor does not look as good as Razor in user interface appearance, im not comparing the audio quality or features. Thanks.

SarahBellum
SarahBellum
28 October 2013 at 11:59am

the answer is in the first post on this page - NO, IT DOES NOT.

User3333
User3333
28 October 2013 at 12:36pm

Sarah I read your comments today but maybe your setup is different or a few years ago. I've got a Quad Core i7 supporting Windows 7 Prof, Cubase Artist 7, Roland UA-55 Quad Capture, and the Roland A-500 Pro. That's a fairly good setup for my bedroom DJ'ng & producing and the quality or lack-of might be causing the bottleneck at your end. Could you enlighten me on the setup of your equivalent items or should I just accept that only the full version of Reaktor will enable all the controls. I am about to press the "Submit Payment" button and I don't yet have any NI products except from 1999 which are in the bin. Cheers.

jottinger
jottinger
28 October 2013 at 1:09pm

User3333, I don't know what setup Sarah has either, but I noticed on *my* quadcore i7 that razor had a distinct and measurable impact. I think the synth is worth the investment (I invested!) and GOLLY it's pretty, but it IS CPU-intensive in its normal configurations. (I say that because I can imagine you can turn off things and use less CPU - my PC is in the shop right now or I'd measure and test this.)

User3333
User3333
28 October 2013 at 12:58pm

in addition to post 28 October 2013 at 4:36am even though the keyboard and audio interface are midiable I am using USB v2 cables, not MIDI.

SarahBellum
SarahBellum
28 October 2013 at 1:17pm

the limitations of Reactor Player mean that you cannot assign controllers to Razor. I requested refund for Razor from N.I. on the grounds that they didn't make clear that due to the limitations of Reactor Player it meant that modules (inc Razor) could not be MIDI assigned - they refunded without any fuss :)

It maybe that this has been amended in more recent versions of player.
Instead I use Alchemy, Zeta2, and SynthmasterCM :)

User3333
User3333
28 October 2013 at 1:40pm

Great news. Appears that November 2013 versions and the controller links to desktop via USB v2 and audio interface the same enables the knobs & pitch bend (no midi). We could be in a place of quality-increasing VST synths where the traditionals are now questioning why pay top-dollar for an Access music Virus when instead buy Alchemy?

prupert
prupert
28 October 2013 at 6:07pm

Well, I have a quad core i7 3740 laptop with 16 GB RAM, running Razor in Ableton 9 Suite I can run four instances together, with each of the first four presets and I get CPU usage of around 45%. Just an FYI.

User3333
User3333
29 October 2013 at 5:18am

You'd estimate an i7 280 purchased in 2011 which is 60% the speed of i7 3740 should allow at least 2 instances at 50% CPU meter - my RAM is only 4gig but the experts say the processor is more important.

User3333
User3333
3 December 2013 at 2:34pm

Razor v1.5... Hi I have a suspicion the developers increase the CPU level not so much as it is physically demanding but more an illusion that wow something is going on that it must be good. Its a bit like when MS introduced Flight Simulator quite a while ago from 2013 and on the highest setting the environ got bogged. But when the hardware eventually caught up, running smoothly on ultra did not give you that much of a better flight. I must admit though I've listened to a lot of software and hardware synths lately and aside from the level it is magical.

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