Softube Modular

[zerocrossing]

I believe you. hence the facepalm.

Hey you know what? Some people love a synth and some people don't. That doesn't make them an idiot.

No, there are many reasons.

So we're going to turn this into a typical KVR insult fest?

If only you could read your own posts like we do. All of the sudden you're all excited about a plug in that we really haven't heard and you can't be bothered to dig a little and see the cool things that are being done with R6 blocks. You wouldn't spend $99 on the ability to pull Monark apart and mix and match it with other equally good sounding elements in a modular environment? Hell, the ability to easily create a Monark with an extra few envelopes and easy to assign aftertouch and velocity to anything is well worth the price.

I'm not saying that Softube Modular won't sound great. I personally didn't think Heartbeat was all that. I'm excited that more products are being released but $99 for that paltry amount of modules and another $50 per extra? I say no to that. I think they would have been better off waiting until they had a decent amount of different filters and oscillator types and some really interesting modulation modules I'd easily spend $199 or $249 for it, but it seems like it could easily become a $300 plug in for far less than the Blocks that R6 ships with and that doesn't include some of the amazing user Blocks that have shown up in the user library.

Anyway, I couldn't care less what you buy or don't buy, but when you start spouting your POV as someone who's got lots of experience with synths (that I don't deny) but who's clearly not done their homework on this topic, well be prepared for some action. To put it more bluntly, you're wrong about Reaktor 6. My punishment to you is I'm going to let you be yourself.

[contrast]

If you program your own patches, I really recommend trying the Lumikko ensemble from the R6 Blocks stuff that NI gave away over christmas. I really think it sounds great and is a solid kind of minimal Blocks setup. Maybe set the reverb 100% dry and put a real one on there (though bear in mind it's patched up to the ADSR and LFO crossfader so maybe you can do some funny modulation stuff with it).

[kmonkey]

Well, I know I'm going to take some heat for this, but going on the suggestion that I download the Reaktor 6 player, I did. Unfortunately, the player only comes with a few ensembles like Spark, Monark, etc. So I had to go to the user database and download others to get an idea of what Reaktor 6 was capable of doing.

Now maybe I just downloaded bad ensembles. I don't know. It's possible. But I just didn't hear anything that made me want to go pay the $99 upgrade price to go from 5 to 6. The core sound engine sounds the same. It's fine for certain things and I use Reaktor 5 for certain things, but for what I'm looking for, sound wise, out of a modular, Reaktor 6 falls short. It just doesn't do it for me.

So I'll be patiently waiting for Softube and hope it has more of the sound that I'm looking for.

Well i had same experience. And asked here what am i missing.

For all what i downloaded from R6 (i have it) Reaktor block library is full of synth farts drones and noises which are totally uninspiring to me and not really that different then what we already had in R library for years.

It looks to me like kids are connecting blocks, producing bad noise while other kids are going "wwwwwaaaaaavvvvvvvv"...

Asked about this here and as you may expect i got flamed and directed to find my "supersaw" synth somewhere else (mind you i never asked for supersaw synth)

It wouldn't be fair to say that all R6 blocks where unusable for me but out of 50 i tried maybe 5 where inspiring and good sounding. Everything other was some kind of synth farts and long drones. And really not that different then Reaktor 5. Even few days ago i downloaded few best rated blocks from library but when i play them these are again some kind of randomized sequences of farts and squeeky noises. Weird.

When i again politely explained my perception of this the best explanation i got from synth fart sound developers was that Reaktor 6 can destroy and modulate sounds without sounding bad (hence i see paradox here but that is just me)

From this i have next observation:

I don't understand today sound design
I suck at Reaktor block programming
I think R6 is nice improvement but so far there is only glitch nonsense and synth farts in library
I think some of the filters sound amazing in R6 and really there is potential in R6
I suck and i am too old to understand today sound design (did i say that already?)

Also i think Softube have big balls to release something like this knowing that Reaktor 6 is out there. Of course i really wish them success. Great company.

I would like to point you to U-he Bazille. Guess what? It's a modular synth and for what is worth even the shittiest patch there does have some sort of quality in it and to me it is sounding way way better then everything other "i am modular" out there. Yes even Bazille most weirdest noises have something to it which is usable.

Keep in mind this is just my opinion and take it with grain of salt. I am internet nobody.

[hivkorn]

what i miss from reaktor is the fact you can't work correctly during a session , i mean sometime I know what i want but i can't do it in the same time , i 'm forced to close my session and create a new instrument / FX and after go back to my session , i don't know if it can be call modular.....From what i've seen on the softube video , you can work easily with their environement...I 'd really love that arturia rebuild their Modular V this way...I think softube made something great , i don't know about you but it will change my way to compose.

[kmonkey]

what i miss from reaktor is the fact you can't work correctly during a session , i mean sometime I know what i want but i can't do it in the same time , i 'm forced to close my session and create a new instrument / FX and after go back to my session , i don't know if it can be call modular.....From what i've seen on the softube video , you can work easily with their environement...I 'd really love that arturia rebuild their Modular V this way...I think softube made something great , i don't know about you but it will change my way to compose.

Umm what...? You can drag and drop blocks/modules in a SESSION like for decade! You can do it on the fly. Without closing or opening. Did you watched any video on Reaktor 5 or 6?

Unless i am not understanding you correctly.


edit: i apologize to other readers - we are going offtopic. Please PM me if i got it wrong.

[hivkorn]

I own Reaktor 6 , I make my own synth / fx ..maybe i don't explain what i mean correctly , it is surely a language barrier...no problem

[kmonkey]

I own Reaktor 6 , I make my own synth / fx ..maybe i don't explain what i mean correctly , it is surely a language barrier...no problem

No problem matte. But even if you are creating your own synths or FX you can drag and drop modules and macros without closing session. Assuming you placed them in the right folder in your library.

Cheers

[elxsound]

After reading all this I realize what I want most... For U-he to make a modular beast of their own, simulating their hardware counterpart with swappable modules. My gripes with Bazille are that there are fixed modules and all modules remain on screen even if you don't use them.

I really like where Softube is headed, but I honestly don't care what hardware manufacturers sign on, because I just want to make good quality noise (including the glitch nonsense and farty synths ).

I use and love Reaktor 5 and I do want to upgrade to Reaktor 6, but for as much as the user library is great, it can also be a pain to sift through to get past the slightly changed and re-uploaded ensembles just to find them. This is less of a complaint and more of an observation (as I rather see an active community than an inactive one).

If u-he came out with something similar, even if it came out with pay-for modules to add on later, I would be all over it.

Well, I know I'm going to take some heat for this, but going on the suggestion that I download the Reaktor 6 player, I did. Unfortunately, the player only comes with a few ensembles like Spark, Monark, etc. So I had to go to the user database and download others to get an idea of what Reaktor 6 was capable of doing.

Now maybe I just downloaded bad ensembles. I don't know. It's possible. But I just didn't hear anything that made me want to go pay the $99 upgrade price to go from 5 to 6. The core sound engine sounds the same. It's fine for certain things and I use Reaktor 5 for certain things, but for what I'm looking for, sound wise, out of a modular, Reaktor 6 falls short. It just doesn't do it for me.

So I'll be patiently waiting for Softube and hope it has more of the sound that I'm looking for.

Well i had same experience. And asked here what am i missing.

For all what i downloaded from R6 (i have it) Reaktor block library is full of synth farts drones and noises which are totally uninspiring to me and not really that different then what we already had in R library for years.

It looks to me like kids are connecting blocks, producing bad noise while other kids are going "wwwwwaaaaaavvvvvvvv"...

Asked about this here and as you may expect i got flamed and directed to find my "supersaw" synth somewhere else (mind you i never asked for supersaw synth)

It wouldn't be fair to say that all R6 blocks where unusable for me but out of 50 i tried maybe 5 where inspiring and good sounding. Everything other was some kind of synth farts and long drones. And really not that different then Reaktor 5. Even few days ago i downloaded few best rated blocks from library but when i play them these are again some kind of randomized sequences of farts and squeeky noises. Weird.

When i again politely explained my perception of this the best explanation i got from synth fart sound developers was that Reaktor 6 can destroy and modulate sounds without sounding bad (hence i see paradox here but that is just me)

From this i have next observation:

I don't understand today sound design
I suck at Reaktor block programming
I think R6 is nice improvement but so far there is only glitch nonsense and synth farts in library
I think some of the filters sound amazing in R6 and really there is potential in R6
I suck and i am too old to understand today sound design (did i say that already?)

Also i think Softube have big balls to release something like this knowing that Reaktor 6 is out there. Of course i really wish them success. Great company.

I would like to point you to U-he Bazille. Guess what? It's a modular synth and for what is worth even the shittiest patch there does have some sort of quality in it and to me it is sounding way way better then everything other "i am modular" out there. Yes even Bazille most weirdest noises have something to it which is usable.

Keep in mind this is just my opinion and take it with grain of salt. I am internet nobody.

[zerocrossing]

Well, I know I'm going to take some heat for this, but going on the suggestion that I download the Reaktor 6 player, I did. Unfortunately, the player only comes with a few ensembles like Spark, Monark, etc. So I had to go to the user database and download others to get an idea of what Reaktor 6 was capable of doing.

Now maybe I just downloaded bad ensembles. I don't know. It's possible. But I just didn't hear anything that made me want to go pay the $99 upgrade price to go from 5 to 6. The core sound engine sounds the same. It's fine for certain things and I use Reaktor 5 for certain things, but for what I'm looking for, sound wise, out of a modular, Reaktor 6 falls short. It just doesn't do it for me.

So I'll be patiently waiting for Softube and hope it has more of the sound that I'm looking for.

Well i had same experience. And asked here what am i missing.

For all what i downloaded from R6 (i have it) Reaktor block library is full of synth farts drones and noises which are totally uninspiring to me and not really that different then what we already had in R library for years.

It looks to me like kids are connecting blocks, producing bad noise while other kids are going "wwwwwaaaaaavvvvvvvv"...

Asked about this here and as you may expect i got flamed and directed to find my "supersaw" synth somewhere else (mind you i never asked for supersaw synth)

It wouldn't be fair to say that all R6 blocks where unusable for me but out of 50 i tried maybe 5 where inspiring and good sounding. Everything other was some kind of synth farts and long drones. And really not that different then Reaktor 5. Even few days ago i downloaded few best rated blocks from library but when i play them these are again some kind of randomized sequences of farts and squeeky noises. Weird.

When i again politely explained my perception of this the best explanation i got from synth fart sound developers was that Reaktor 6 can destroy and modulate sounds without sounding bad (hence i see paradox here but that is just me)

From this i have next observation:

I don't understand today sound design
I suck at Reaktor block programming
I think R6 is nice improvement but so far there is only glitch nonsense and synth farts in library
I think some of the filters sound amazing in R6 and really there is potential in R6
I suck and i am too old to understand today sound design (did i say that already?)

Also i think Softube have big balls to release something like this knowing that Reaktor 6 is out there. Of course i really wish them success. Great company.

I would like to point you to U-he Bazille. Guess what? It's a modular synth and for what is worth even the shittiest patch there does have some sort of quality in it and to me it is sounding way way better then everything other "i am modular" out there. Yes even Bazille most weirdest noises have something to it which is usable.

Keep in mind this is just my opinion and take it with grain of salt. I am internet nobody.

This post does make it seem like you have no idea what you're doing.

[n9]

Re: Reaktor's sound: There are a lot of thin sounding Reaktor ensembles, but Rounds and Monark and Prism and Kontour and the factory blocks stuff all sounds pretty special to my ears.

Re: Blocks: Blocks is pretty great for a lot of reasons, especially if you've been using Reaktor for a long time and want to get some sweet Eurorack workflow. You cannot argue with how much fun it is to patch things more easily and to have a bunch of pieces you can just patch and go with... I think that it is why modulars are so much fun.

But... when you try to use a modular for the first time if you don't really get it? It is frustrating and (well, for me anyway) it sounds bad. Thin, even.

Modulars get fun when you get good at them... like Reaktor did for me when I figured it out well enough fifteen years ago. AND they get fun when you get your setup working the way that you like.

I like the Softube idea for a few reasons: One, Softube sounds wow, two you get to patch everything to whatever you would like, which is better than Block's A/B mod bus model (in my view) and works well for Reason stuff and three, I want the module makers to be able to sell virtual modules in a secure market... that's where things are going to get real. We need 20, 30 or 100 companies making Softube modules and lots of unexpected beauty will emerge when people spend their money on the modules they want and then spend their time getting good at them.

[Ronny Pries]

I'm looking forward to this one. What's kinda funny is that they even converted the module buying frenzy to the digital realm Which imho is kinda reasonable IF the licensors get enough share - that's perfectly fine with me.

What i wonder is how well it'll respond to complex modulations, audio rate stuff vs cpu usage. And how much of noise they've taken into credit to stay as faithful as possible.

And yes, modulars grow with experience. Finding sweet spots, exploring the non-linearities and taming the complexity. Especially the non-linear stuff never occurred to me as someone who was used pretty straight forward pre-routed synths. There's much more to that than noise. Unfortunately YouTube does a great job at make-believe that's not the case.

[V0RT3X]

The factory R6 Blocks stuff sounds amazing and offers more modern sounding VA algorithms versus what you got with the existing R5 Factory VA macro blocks. I suspect many of these newer blocks are based on the same programming techniques as Monark (e.g: ZDF, etc), and they sound really nice. However it does come at a price, and you have to pay with CPU power as blocks can be very CPU hungry.

If they released this type of stuff back when the released R5 it would have block computers up

This doesn't mean that Reaktor 5 sounded thinner across the board. It just means they had not started to implement this programming until Monark happened. I suppose Monark was proof that you could pull of circuit modelling inside Reaktors Core and now it's being utilized with blocks.

I can't even begin to tell you the possibilities of Reaktor 6 for synthesis, its a massive massive update. It makes it so people with even a rudimentary knowledge of synthesizers can get in and start making their own modular synthesizers. You basically drag and drop modules into the window, start patching wires up and start making sounds. Yes it's that easy!

Before blocks, everything was quite a bit more complicated when you wanted to build your own synthesizer from scratch using their macros. Remember that Reaktor 5 was released back in 2005 and they were just beginning to experiment with the possibilities of Core.

Anyhow, now Reaktor 6 is a massive leap in the right direction and honestly makes it easy for people who don't want to program their own modules to just start building right away.

One of the main things that makes Reaktor stand out is that if you want, you can tinker with the modules at the core level and effectively do stuff like circuit bending, or add new features that you cannot do with something like this Softube modular.

If i had to get rid of all my synthesizers and keep just one on my computer, It would be without a doubt Reaktor 6.

[gentleclockdivider]

It took me 4 years before I was confident enough to upload something to the user library , good enough for other people to use .
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/re ... l/1781422/
The reason why a lot of older ensembles sound the same is because lot's of people use the stock primary filters(osc's) , without any re-routing and or feedback loops etc... to give it a signature caracter sound .
Those are the same people that say ' wow reaktor 6.0 sounds so much better then 5.0 ., little do they know that everything in 6.0 can be done is 5.0 ( except for sine .modal bank primary modules ) , even monark can be made in 5.0..as soon as core was introduced which was in 5.0

Now with blocks it's even worse , lots of kids are attracted to the whole modular idea but don't have the patience /guts/etc..to delve into core ...and just upload their shitty connecctions .quantity over quality
Anyway reaktor is amazing

[gentleclockdivider]

The factory R6 Blocks stuff sounds amazing and offers more modern sounding VA algorithms versus what you got with the existing R5 Factory VA macro blocks. I suspect many of these newer blocks are based on the same programming techniques as Monark (e.g: ZDF, etc), and they sound really nice. However it does come at a price, and you have to pay with CPU power as blocks can be very CPU hungry.

If they released this type of stuff back when the released R5 it would have block computers up

This doesn't mean that Reaktor 5 sounded thinner across the board. It just means they had not started to implement this programming until Monark happened. I suppose Monark was proof that you could pull of circuit modelling inside Reaktors Core and now it's being utilized with blocks.

.

Partially true , but vadim zavalishin ( core's main developer ) all ready uploaded ZDF filters back in 2008

[DJMaytag]

Somebody just posted this in another thread.

http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/mus ... gin-636757

This brings up an interesting issue. It appears that when you get this, you get a stock collection of modules for $99. Then, if you want additional modules, you have to pay extra for each one. This could add up to quite an investment over time.

Welcome to the world of Eurorack aka Eurocrack. I'm like $1000 in over the past 6 months, and all I have is a cheap IKEA case, a beefy power supply, a couple Doepfer processing modules, a few Expert Sleeper modules, a few PCB/panel combos (a basic LFO, a nice VCA, & a Serge VCFQ), and a bunch of DIY gear for soldering up my own modules. It adds up quick...