About Monark - reviews & stuff

[Ingonator]

People (and me too) want to discuss about Monark so i moved my post from yesterday to a new one (deleted from the old place, there was also no direct reply so far):

Some thoughts and infos concerning Monark:

1.) Based on my own experience while creating the Monark patches and comparing them directly to audio files of the real Mini my own conclusion is that concerning both sound and parameter ranges Monark seems to be the closest emulation of a real Minimoog Model D so far. Based on what i remember from the time i used a real Mini it also "feels" like the real thing IMO (if that's a fact that matters to anyone...).

Besides that it adds some useful features like additional filter modes (which seem to be based on the Moog filter design), the filter overload, the feedback/drive feature (with 2 modes) and several adjustments concerning glide and other features (page B settings).


2.) Concerning use of multiple instances of Monark, using multiple instaces to create chords and also using external FXs i had posted this:

I just created an audio demo where i tried to do chords using 3 instances of the same sound (Viola) plus another instance with a Lead sound (Synth Horn). For detuning the 3 instances i used the Pitch MIDI effect from Ableton Live which could use detuning in semitones. Some FXs (Reverb, Chorus, Phaser) were added too.

Here is the demo (length 3:12):
Monark - Horny Viola Part I (+FXs)

Those are 4 instances of Monark, 3 are used for the chords.

Patches used: "Viola IW", "Horn IW"

Effects used:
Pitch MIDI effect from Ableton Live 9, ValhallaDSP ValhallaVintageVerb, Arts Acoustic Big Stone Phase shifter, ERS Dimension D Chorus.


CPU use: around 40% (display in Ableton Live) with Core 2 Quad Q6600 (4 x 2.4 GHz) CPU
4 instances of Monark and around 14 FXs were running at the same time. Without FXs the CPU use is around 33% (display in Live)

3.) For audio demos and free patches concerning Monark you could have a look here (also includes a link for patches from KVR member aMUSEd):
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 19&start=0


4.) Concerning my Moog Slim Phatty that one is no direct Minimoog clone and got several different features (e.g. Osc Sync) but it got the Moog filter and i could get very convincing results when trying to program identical sounds on that one and Monark.
It could very well be possible that NI will add additional features to Monark in the future. Until then people could addd some addition ones using currently available Reaktor modules.


5.) I was asked if Monark could be used as a filter bank. I tested this with the Reaktor FX plugin and was not successful so far but the current version of the Monark ensemble does not seem to include an audio input.
I started to check if i could create such kind of filter bank but i am no real expert with programming Reaktor so it could take some time.



Ingo

[keyman_sam]

Cant someone modify the ensemble to support polyphony?

Is that not allowed?

[EvilDragon]

Not that it's not allowed, but the whole Reaktor Core structure is extremely complex.

[ChiTown24]

Cant someone modify the ensemble to support polyphony?

Is that not allowed?

sure you can do it. but if it's a commercial ensemble, and not a part of Reaktor's factory content, how do you share it with the public without simultaneously giving them the commercial ensemble ?

that's why I created this thread to discuss the issue:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5302335

basically it would be great to see the User Library updated, so that it acknowledges the {NI} commercial ensembles you own and would subsequently allow users to download/share modifications to those ensembles. Basically if they were to improve the User Library and the way I'm suggesting you wouldn't be able to download or see any such modified commercial ensembles unless you already owned it.

[ChiTown24]

Not that it's not allowed, but the whole Reaktor Core structure is extremely complex.

and this

[sinject]

monark is nice if you don't already have an analog emu type VSTi and are getting Komplete already.

It's quality is typical of Native Instruments (though arguably worse as a product compared to Absynth or FM7/8). But here's the problem: the analog emulation market is already saturated with contending products so we have products like u-he's Diva, D16's LuSH-101, TAL's U-NO-LX, etc. that are extremely high-quality synths; this is the type market where just being good isnt going to cut it.

[EvilDragon]

The thing is, Monark is not "good". Monark is bloody fabulous!

[miedex]

Cant someone modify the ensemble to support polyphony?

Is that not allowed?

sure you can do it. but if it's a commercial ensemble, and not a part of Reaktor's factory content, how do you share it with the public without simultaneously giving them the commercial ensemble ?

that's why I created this thread to discuss the issue:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5302335

basically it would be great to see the User Library updated, so that it acknowledges the {NI} commercial ensembles you own and would subsequently allow users to download/share modifications to those ensembles. Basically if they were to improve the User Library and the way I'm suggesting you wouldn't be able to download or see any such modified commercial ensembles unless you already owned it.

Lets say that to Native Instruments Reaktor was like a diamond encrusted gold chalice sitting on a marble counter in a penthouse apartment in Manhattan city.

If that's the Reaktor program then the Reaktor User Library is like a wet sloppy turd buried under a pile of wet cardboard in the slums of rural China. NI don't give two farts about the User Library for some reason so dreaming of something so specific and special is wasted.

Every few years someone from NI comes down from the clouds and says they hear the userbases cries for an improved User Library experience and make empty promises of plans to work on it. The User Library is kind of the most depressing thing about Reaktor.

Its also so cluttered with "my first thingy" projects that it kind of resembles a dirty thrift shop. It would be kind of refreshing if all the upload submissions wen't up for review by NI staff before being added.

[kvaca]

The thing is, Monark is not "good". Monark is bloody fabulous!

true...if it only were solo VSTi
but as long as its only a part of some Reaktor crap I'll pass

[olikana]

I am also no "Spam Troll"

you are a spammer constantly self promoting "your "(copied) presets or pimp xilss.
your posts serve no other purpose . it is now obvious even to the blind.
any thread is an excuse to just post a link to "your" presets.
everywhere and anywhere in any theard (even in a reaktor thread or any unrelated thread) whatever the discussion you arrive to spam us with the presets.
you even had your own thread which you bump adlibitum.
give it a rest.
you gave your review as you say already on page 2 . let others post their review and have their say too.
or you wanna turn this thread all about you and your presets like you did with the main one that was closed?.
you already posted a link to the presets twice. is that not enough?
or every new page will be an excuse to post a link to them?
not a spam troll maybe but a preset spammer for damn sure.
and every new page a new kilometric post by you. enough

[olikana]

Cant someone modify the ensemble to support polyphony?

Is that not allowed?

sure you can do it.

damn i already regret buying just the instrument and not komplete 9
tbh they really should just add a poly option to the backpanel with a warning: "only for high end cpus" . simple

[EvilDragon]

It's not simple at all. The whole Core structure is made for monophonic operation, including trigger modes. I tried bypassing trigger modes and glide, but it didn't work. The whole main Monark macro only operates monophonically and I see no way to make it polyphonic... Even with polyphonic pitch/gate being fed to it, it still does only mono. Perhaps someone who mastered Core could do something, but I'm not optimistic about it.

[digitalboytn]

Lets say that to Native Instruments Reaktor was like a diamond encrusted gold chalice sitting on a marble counter in a penthouse apartment in Manhattan city.

If that's the Reaktor program then the Reaktor User Library is like a wet sloppy turd buried under a pile of wet cardboard in the slums of rural China.

[Ingonator]

you already posted a link to the presets twice. is that not enough?
or every new page will be an excuse to post a link to them?

There is only one post with a link to my thread in this whole thread. As mentioned at the beginning of my last post i deleted the content of that one from the original post and re-posted it (and nobody replied to the old post so far).
With your constant attacks concerning my patches and also concerning some of my comments you are not really helping to keep the thread on topic. Let the people decide if they are interested in my patches or not.
Did you even have a look at those patches yet to know what you're complaining about?
BTW i was not "bumping" my own thread, i was adding updates (4 posts in 4 days!!) and the last one was about optimization of the patches using the audio files of the Minimoog which i received with the printed patch book.

The last comment in my thread was that now that i am finished with that project i could start doing my own sounds for Monark while those other patches could be an inspiration for them. What's wrong about that?

Last but not least i had copied the link for the patches from aMUSEd to my thread (and i asked him for permission) which was almost "lost" during that other locked thread.


Ingo

[Ingonator]

It's not simple at all. The whole Core structure is made for monophonic operation, including trigger modes. I tried bypassing trigger modes and glide, but it didn't work. The whole main Monark macro only operates monophonically and I see no way to make it polyphonic... Even with polyphonic pitch/gate being fed to it, it still does only mono. Perhaps someone who mastered Core could do something, but I'm not optimistic about it.

I had tried too but was not successful so far. The easy solution of changing the polyphony did not work and the important modules like e.g. the filter seem to be locked. Like you mentioned the modules seem to be optimized or limited for monophonic use.

In one of my audio demos i used 3 instances for playing chords where i used the "Pitch" MIDI effect from Ableton Live to detune the instances in semitones.


Ingo