Usefulness of Reaktor 5

[V0RT3X]

Not a sound, but a 'character'. It's the underlying thing that grabs a person and makes it hard to put it down. I don't hear that in Reaktor or many of the softsynths I hear or demo. Besides, Synthmaster was something that didn't impress me either until I heard the Nori Ubukata World samples in it. And with their 'coupons' floating around everywhere I was able to get it with that library for under $65. To get that from Reaktor I'm guessing you have to buy the SkannerXT too? So $123.50 with only a promise of those sounds? It does make SM a better deal considering that. Like I said, I might change my mind if I heard better examples of it. Still have an open mind and ears!

you have fun looking for that "sound"

I'll be tweaking it in reaktor

[~Pd~]

For me the main attraction of Reaktor is its ability to do granular and creative sampling. If and when you get it, and you'd be crazy not to at the current price, try my Frame sampler - free download and very useful -

http://www.reaktortips.com/2013/05/fram ... r-for.html

Reaktor is also great for building custom sequencers and generative noisemakers - one of the best generative ensembles for Reaktor, Metaphysical Function, is included in the factory library. Also check out the work of Rick Scott and Dieter Zobel in the user library.

[jancivil]

Reaktor has to be the most powerful thing all in one place ever created for synthesis.

the user libary is gigantic, a great lot of it is excellent. in terms of presets the included instruments provide an embarrassment of riches. there is no 'reaktor sound' or 'character', that's just some words. that's like 'the sound of digital' and all this. so don't buy it at 99 dollars. it will be missing a fantastic deal.

since you've convinced yourself something else is a better deal, there may be no help for you though.

[musikmachine]

Hi all,

As many of you know, Native Instruments is offering Reaktor 5 for $99 until the 20th. This seems like quite the good deal, but I'm wondering whether I'd be getting anything significant relative to what I have now.

Currently I use Alchemy and Synth Squad as my soft synths, and recently switched to Live from Cubase Essentials. Some of the discussion about sampling, FM and modular softsynths in Reaktor piqued my interest, but do you think it would be a worthwhile addition to what I already have?

Thanks!

Check out the Twistedtools stuff, loads of free reaktor ensembles and you can demo the paid ones. Lots of fsu, glitch and granular type stuff there.

[KevWestBeats]

Reaktor is the build a synth workshop. No joke you can build all kinds of synths with it. If you need that that is. It comes with a bunch of synths too. I don't use Reaktor as much as I should.

[ezelkow1]

Id also suggest looking at overkill FM, its the successor to Aries and just a completely ridiculous synth

http://www.nireaktor.com/reaktor-tutori ... el-ohagan/

though aries is still good as well:
http://salamanderanagram.wordpress.com/

Only thing is that its quite big, screen real estate wise, anyone remember how to resize the reaktor window to whatever you want instead of the predefined sizes?

[SODDI]

Reaktor is one of my "go-to" synths. I use it all the time.

I wouldn't do without it.

[revo11]

I'm thinking about it too. I do have a programmable modular routing shaped hole in my VST collection.

However, I'm always disappointed by the quality of NI sounds in general. These days there are ipad apps that are on par with the sound of NI synths. Their stuff isn't bad, I just don't think I've ever gotten a product from them that's inspiring.

I know Reaktor is a different beast and I'm not afraid of programming my own stuff. I've done sync modular, keykit, max, pd, etc. But I wonder if my money would be better spent on the comparabily priced zebra 2 or ACE instead.

[BBFG#]

[Integratron]

It seems that I've heard Reaktor/Razor on a few TV commercials and shows! Freakin' amazing!

[BBFG#]

[ghettosynth]

I've yet to hear anything that sets it apart from the rest.

This is really true for all but the most cutting edge synths. In fact, I would say exactly the same about almost all plugins. Reaktor can probably sound like anything out there with perhaps some polyphony limitations.

The question is really more about whether you have the ability to leverage the components in the right way. Here, by components, I mean everything from macros to full ensembles.

Although I build things from scratch in Reaktor, most of the time, that isn't how I use it. It's really powerful to be able to take a really great synth and just change that one thing that isn't quite right for you. Or, to be able to pair up synths with effects, or synths with sequencers in a particular way.

[kinkajou]

I also noticed it appears that NI is no longer offering Absynth, except in the Komplete bundles?

nope! it's still available...

Absynth 5

[gamecat666]

just as an alternate viewpoint:
i got R5 with komplete 8 and i use its library of presets in maschine. (its kind of 'invisible' in terms of integration)

however as a product, ive barely used it.
i rarely reach for it as a synth or fx, and dont build my own (yet)
also its preset management is a bit unconventional.

theres a ton of user stuff which is usually pretty extreme so if you do experimental stuff its great, but its a bit wacky for me.

so its a bit of a beast, and requires a lot of investment on your part to get your head around it.
One day i'll get round to working it out and for that reason im happy to have it as part of my arsenal, but at the moment its a bit OTT for my needs.
Perhaps because it was part of Komplete its been buried by easier to use and more instanly gratifying stuff...

just my 2p

[carrieres]

You can download the free Reaktor Player, which comes with a few instruments (and will load almost any Reaktor instrument or effect, albiet in a time-limited demo mode) to try it out and see if it grabs you...

Ahhh, thanks, I was under the impression that only the full version Of Reaktor would load instruments and FX. Many thanks!

no, you need the full version of reaktor to use the free instruments and FX