Do you use Reaktor? If not why?

[emdot_ambient]

My answer is export as plugin.

Thousands of people would agree but NI has no interest in that AFAIK. It's part of their business model not to make that happen, even if that were something easy to do with Reaktor, which it may very well not be...this is an ancient program that started as a DSP hardware/software product.

They don't want people to be able to make and sell/distribute plug-ins based on their technology without them making some dough off it. I can't say I blame them, even though I'm 100% behind you.

Good luck there.

[Hlis93]

kuniklo is very nice.

[sloworm]

I had it for awhile, got into it. I took it for granted and sold it. Now I just recently found it used again after realizing how much i used it and missed it. What is weird is imo the synths are kinda garbage(cpu consumption to aural output), but the stuff like sine beats, skrewell, spacemaster and crazy effects are well worth it if you can tame the snapshots and take the time to learn the idiosyncricities(spelling) and stuff. I think it is a really good suite of synths/effects/sound manipulation modules, but would not buy it brand new.

[kuniklo]

kuniklo is very nice.

Thanks. There's a pretty nice workflow with Reaktor + Live 7. Just set up a short loop of a sound you like in Reaktor, either played via notes in a clip or just playing a loop from a sequenced Reaktor ensemble. Then just use Live's freeze & flatten feature to turn it into audio. You can generate a lot of interesting phrases this way.

I'm pretty much at the end of my rope with the overall buginess of NI software but I may hang on to my Reaktor license just to keep it around as a sort of virtual sound library.

[strav100]

Had Reaktor since version 4 - done some tutorials - they were all crap ones building a stupid little subtractive synth.

Fire it up now and again and mess with the presets.

Tried building - too hard - documentation is crap and I can't be bothered to reverse engineer

I just got Max 5 and it's great - f*****g good tutorials - Now! I can do stuff with this program - a lot of learning but it's worth it

Reaktor - you are screwed trying to learn it - anyway Max 5 is far more powerful

[Scot Solida]

Reaktor is a miracle. It could very well be the only plug-in anyone would ever need, even without learning to build things in it. It's certainly one of the best values around. My musical cohort Har certainly wrings a lot out of it simply by using stuff from the user library or created by the good folks around here.

I have it, think highly of it, and yet... I don't have it installed on my studio computer these days. For a couple of reasons. First, I loathe challenge/response copy protection schemes. I recently bought a new Mac for the studio and no challenge/response stuff has been installed on the thing, and is not likely to be (I still have, and will continue to have c/r stuff for work on my office Mac and PC, I just won't have it in my own personal studio). If I really felt inclined to bust out Reaktor in the studio, I might be likely to talk myself into it.

However, the main reason I don't bother with it is that my primary interest in would be for building my own devices and I prefer to dedicate that sort of time to my Kyma system when I am so inclined. It's not a matter of not wanting to use Reaktor... it's just a matter of maintaining my focus.

[tetraplan]

I used to be interested but couldn't afford it (still can't).
Ended up with AudioMulch which is fantastic and I'm now learning Pd.

Groet, Erik

[flex nes]

Hey Scott,

So you prefer Kyma over Reaktor?
Is granular synthesis as good on Kyma as Reaktor?

I think Reaktor is great, but I prefer MaxMsp.
I do not use prebuildt Reaktor instruments, I build synths and sequencers in Reaktor from scratch and use it as standalone.
I dont think you need to do very complex programming to make a nice song in Reaktor - my programming is extremely basic compared to lazyfish & rachmiel.
But I make simple tracks 5/6 channels in my mixer

cheers

[no_signal]

I had Reaktor in the past, and I actually made some really nasty synth setups with it. When they started to mess with the patch conversion from v 3-4 etc and my synths not load in new version + no vst export ... I sayed guck them! Then i never installed again.

[Scot Solida]

Hey Scott,

So you prefer Kyma over Reaktor?
Is granular synthesis as good on Kyma as Reaktor?


cheers

I prefer it, yeah, primarily for some of the things it does that Reaktor does not: real time resynthesis on input, the Timeline, the Tau stuff. It's different from Reaktor. The granular stuff is more to my taste, but maybe because I am simply used to using it. In some ways, it's harder than Reaktor, in some ways I find it a lot easier. It'll never be a easy on the eyes as Reaktor can be these days, but I've grown accustomed to it. I love the "hooks" it has into MotorMix and Wacom tablets. I love how easy it is for me to integrate into my system. I love the fact that every dang thing is a "Sound" and treated the same across the board. A reverb is a sound a sequence is a sound an oscillator is a sound and audio input is a sound and on and on. Every aspect of everything can be used as a control source or destination. Want the pitch of your voice to morph a reverb tail into singing voice? You can work it out. Want to resynthesize your guitar solo in realtime and use only the odd harmonics to modulate the speed of hard disc playback? You can work it out.

It's pretty damned neat. Where it pales to Reaktor is in the available resources. There are way more "complete" devices for Reaktor. Kyma tends to focus on devices that do one or two things very well. Not that it you can't build such devices (and I have), but that's simply not where the focus of the factory and user library lies. Having said that, there are some beautiful Sounds available from the SSC Wiki, but they number in the many dozens, not the thousands. I've found everything from a spot-on Roland JX-3P emu to vintage multiband compression to elaborate loop sequencers and a lot more, but the number of prefab goodies doesn't even come close to NI's user library.

[ew]

I've been a Reaktor user for seven years, and I can think of maybe four tracks I've done since then that didn't have Reaktor on them.

The export as VST argument- I doubt you'd ever see it happen.

As I've said on numerous occasions, 90% of Reaktor users don't build their own instruments; they rely on the UL and the factory library. An export as VST option would be a slap in the face to them, not to mention killing a lot of future Reaktor sales. And, with an export to VST option, you'd still have to be using a Reaktor shell of some form (such as the Carbon freebie or EIXT): hence, you've still got the same issues that you'd have otherwise. The shell's fairly efficient, though- less than 1% of one core on my machine.

ew

[The Chase]

because I only use it to make tools I don't have, or tools built for a specific job, which are ever-closing areas.

I used to use it as a creative outlet, indulging myself in the craziest contraptions I could think of (time to modulate the modulators' modulators' modulators' modulators' modulators' modulators,' et cetera). Vast webs of audio-rate modulations were my favorite in particular. But it was really just a stage.

I also got it partially for educational reasons (it's an exceptional way to learn technicalities of the tools you use).

[Sound Mechanics]

My first commercial vsti was Dynamo. I liked it very much but sold it.
I then bought Reaktor Session but transfered the licence.
I have tried the Reaktor demo but like the other synths I have mentioned it's an overload of software. I stopped writing and started tweaking, although it's very easy when using computers anyway!

Although they have a boat load of synths, effects and building capabilities all you really need is one good synth to create music.
I use FM7 and love it. After spending some time with it now, I find that it can create a wide range of sounds and I'm still creating new ones all the time.

I say get one or two vsti and become an absolute expert with them. That's how it use to work:

Eno - Dx7 and EMS
Rick Wakeman - Minimoog
Richard Barbieri - Prophet

I'm sure there are many more!

[fred-hal]

Some friends of mine and I recently had a "Reaktor Challenge" which was pretty entertaining though. We were each given an hour to produce a track from scratch, using only the sounds in Reaktor 5. They turned out surprisingly well. Here's mine:

http://www.burgerkone.com/music/rin60.mp3

That's lovely kuniklo! Anywhere other than www.reaktions.com where I can get more reaktor music?

I've had it since v2.3, and I love the v5 factory library. I've also made some small things myself, but don't really see the point when the factory and user libraries are so good.. Also, Reaktor works beautifully through Wine, both standalone and plugin.

[ughnonumus]

I've had it since v2.3, and I love the v5 factory library. I've also made some small things myself, but don't really see the point when the factory and user libraries are so good.

Eggs-actly! I also picked it up at this point. Initially, it was more of a "see how many we can get out of this thingie," but now it's way past the value mark. The new ensembles are terrific. Personally, I don't see how techno people can pass this up. Of course, electronic musicians might also pay attention to the library, as well. Personally, I'm going to start working some the the FX stuff in where I can.

The people who are making big drops in the Reaktor community are starting to out-do themselves- kudos!