www.rawmaterialsoftware.com <--- for those on the NI site (tracktion)
www.nativeinstruments.com <--- for those on the KVR site (reaktor)
Basically, the automation system on Tracktion does NOT work properly with Reaktor. If you create an ensemble in Reaktor, with a few knobs and then automate these in Tracktion, everything seems to be okay. Create a copy of the edit (the tracktion edit, not the ensemble) and open it. The automation will not be kept intact.
This could either be down to Tracktion not following a standard, or the braindead way that Reaktor deals with VST instances (you cannot share a single ensemble file between instances, terrible things start to happen to it). I don't know, that's why I've posted in two places.
This makes Reaktor very, very difficult to use in Tracktion, because you essentially end up having to have one ensemble file per VST instance. Multiply these by the number of edits and you end up with a very nasty dependency issue that results in tedious duplication of files and rebuilding of edits.
Why can we not go back to the old method? You could open a Reaktor ensemble with 16 outputs regardless of your soundcard, and then all the instruments within that ensemble would be safe and could be automated (midi only, at that time). Now I'm almost scared to use Reaktor within Tracktion because I cannot say with 100% certainty that the edit I see when I save and close will be in the same state when I re-open it.
It's time that Jules (tracktion developer) and Native Instruments contacted each other to resolve these issues. I'm not aware if the problem exists with any other sequencers as I don't have the money to test them.
To end on a friendly note, kudos to both developers for making such fine products (at least they are as long as you don't get them too close to each other...)
mark
www.darklogik.org
