Reaktor Blocks vs. Softube Modular

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egbert101 wrote: People get carried away with the term 'modular' but forget about the sound and authenticity. From what I've heard of the Pulsar 900, it sounds very authentically Moogish. That's all I'm interested in.
It's indeed an impressive soft synth emulation of Moog's instruments.
Seriously love it!
egbert101 wrote: I know Reactor now has a few minimoog (Monark) blocks, and that's wonderful, but it's not what I want. There was supposed to be a massive set of authentically produced blocks called System 63 by Mike Romans for Reaktor, which seems to be eternally (years) in Beta and has never been publically released. Such a shame, because I may have dropped the cash if it were.
System 63 seemed really promising but looks like the Facebook page is closed, it shows "Closed Now".
Didn't find anything else atm concerning development going on about it.

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Cinebient wrote:I read somewhere that blocks are mono but there are ways to make them polyphonic?!?
Can it be used for MPE too?
I mean simple, like turning 1-2 buttons :D
No. It's not simple at all. There are polyphonic macro versions of the instrument modules but you lose the nice layout properties. You can use the modules in the same way that you use real modulars polyphonically. You can also use them polyphonically with tools like MUX.

There are a couple of MPE related tools, but that's not really trivial either.

If you want to use Blocks then it's best to use them monophonically if you aren't interested in digging into Reaktor.

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Well, I just upgraded from Reaktor 5 to 6. The whole process took minutes. Native Access is really cool.

As far as blocks go, they're off the charts amazing. Just the first two ensembles in the blocks menu are worth the $99. I need a manual just to figure out how to use some of these. I mean THIS is modular.

I wish I didn't have so much work to do because I could get lost in this for hours a day between watching tutorials and just messing around.

Definitely a great investment.

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wagtunes wrote:... I could get lost in this for hours a day ...
have you seen how much is available in the Reaktor User Library?

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... est/1/all/

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jbuonacc wrote:
wagtunes wrote:... I could get lost in this for hours a day ...
have you seen how much is available in the Reaktor User Library?

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... est/1/all/
Well I went to the library when I just had 5, but haven't really checked out blocks there, so I can imagine.

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wagtunes wrote:
jbuonacc wrote:
wagtunes wrote:... I could get lost in this for hours a day ...
have you seen how much is available in the Reaktor User Library?

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... est/1/all/
Well I went to the library when I just had 5, but haven't really checked out blocks there, so I can imagine.
I just upgraded too (yesterday via purchase from Sell/Buy thread)...

All I can say is wow. The user library is amazing especially with the Euro_Reakt collection (that seems to be still growing?).

I had been thinking I would also purchase Modular after upgrading since I already own Heartbeat, but I don't plan on doing that anymore. Its not about one being better than the other, but there's just so much content here that I don't need more. Seriously... wow. :o

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I watched this earlier, before downloading today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL4TNaJm-3M


I will be sending a donation once I get a bit more familiar, but there's just so much content. Very nice.

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jbuonacc wrote: have you seen how much is available in the Reaktor User Library?

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... est/1/all/
This. Was just about to post about the same thing. :) I don't think most/many people understand how amazing the user library is. Literally thousands of free instruments and effects, waiting to be downloaded and used. Plus, there's a lot of great free/donationware not in the user library (like Boscomac's ensembles). Of course the user library alone is so large that finding the good stuff takes a little effort (and there's a lot of crap too), but the rating system helps with that.

Another thing that still blows me away is the fact that _everything_ (including commercial instruments/ensembles) can be torn into pieces, and freely re-combined into whatever you wish (OK, some low-level components are sometimes protected, but often you can still get pretty deep). I understand this is not for everyone, but just having the possibility is pretty cool.

I have owned Reaktor for... about 10 years now, I think? ... and still feel I have only scratched the surface of what is possible with this thing. I almost feel guilty for not exploring it more. I just wish there was also a way to write traditional code, which would sometimes work better for me than connecting virtual cables.

Having said all that, I love Softube's stuff (I have some gtr FX + Heartbeat), and will certainly check out Modular at some point!

EDIT: If we compare Reaktor blocks with ST Modular, the area where Modular wins IMHO is the ability to patch the modules right in the "front" interface. In Reaktor, you still have to go to the edit mode, which makes everything look totally different. This could be a good thing in some situations, but if you are looking for simplicity (if modular systems can ever be simple...), I think it's better to have everytying in a single interface.

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Just going through the documentation included with Euro_Reakt (posted above and video too). I didn't realize that he (Michael Hetrick) is also (1 of 2 or 3) behind the lovely tools of Unfiltered Audio. I don't know who does what for Unfiltered Audio, but just great to this project available freely through the reaktor community.

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Oh yeah. Michael Hetrick work is top notch. I can imagine whole ensembles done with just his modules.
Fernando (FMR)

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If you have mastery of reaktor, you can make a modular synth like softube one.

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wagtunes wrote:Well, I just upgraded from Reaktor 5 to 6...
Those were compatible with Reaktor 5, so may be you already knew about it, but just in case... <http://boscomac.free.fr>
Reaktor master!
Donationware.

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nordickvr wrote:
wagtunes wrote:Well, I just upgraded from Reaktor 5 to 6...
Those were compatible with Reaktor 5, so may be you already knew about it, but just in case... <http://boscomac.free.fr>
Reaktor master!
Donationware.
Was not aware of these. Anyway, going through the user library and my eyes are spinning around in my head. Unreal.

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Okay, here's what I'm looking for because I have a little bit of time to kill.

I'm looking for a good basic tutorial on putting blocks together to make a simple ensemble.

2 VCOs
2 Filters
3 ADSRs
2 VCAs
2 LFOs
1 Delay
1 Reverb

That's it. Nothing complicated. I figure once I understand the basics, I can expand from there. I can do this easily in Softube Modular because i understand the patching system. In Reaktor, I don't. It has always puzzled me and it still puzzles me.

So a good tutorial (Preferably video but I'll read if I have to) will help a lot.

Thanks.

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