Good Bye Reaktor, good bye NI synths

[GaryG]

The fact is: Reaktor was built to give the opportunity to other developers to create 3rd party instruments.
Not for an ordinary user to build a synth.

That's not true at all, it was marketed as a playground for users to create their own instruments and processors. At the higher level, it's no more complicated than VCV etc and you get the advantage of a custom gui. Sure, I'm guessing a large percentage never designed anything, an even small percentage delved deeper into Core but it certainly wasn't intended only for 3rd party devs.

[teilo]

It’s 2025. I kept up with Komplete through version 14, Collectors Edition. I loved Reaktor. Even started learning Core, mostly to get some DSP under my belt. But I don’t have time for that anymore.

When 15 came out, I purchased the upgrade to Kontakt 8, and nothing else, and that’s all I intend to do from now on.

Last month I migrated to a new Macbook M4 Max, doing a clean reinstall of everything. I did not install anything from NI except Komplete Kontrol and Kontakt 8, and so far haven’t missed a thing. Didn’t even bother with the factory library, since I only need Kontakt for 3rd party libraries.

[dune_rave]

The fact is: Reaktor was built to give the opportunity to other developers to create 3rd party instruments.
Not for an ordinary user to build a synth.

That's not true at all, it was marketed as a playground for users to create their own instruments and processors. At the higher level, it's no more complicated than VCV etc and you get the advantage of a custom gui. Sure, I'm guessing a large percentage never designed anything, an even small percentage delved deeper into Core but it certainly wasn't intended only for 3rd party devs.

Yeah, it was "marketed" that way, but still i doubt that it performs that way so good.

[Rastkovic]

It depends on what level you build patches. Before the Core level was introduced with Reaktor 5, there was only the Primary level and this one is very user friendly in my opinion. The Reaktor documentation is also excellent, the first PDF in particular, was a great help to me back then.

https://www.native-instruments.com/file ... nglish.pdf
https://www.native-instruments.com/file ... ish_01.pdf
https://www.native-instruments.com/file ... nglish.pdf
https://www.native-instruments.com/file ... nglish.pdf
https://www.native-instruments.com/file ... nglish.pdf

This is what a patch looks like at the Primary level....

Karplus-Strong Synthesis in Reaktor Primary (Reaktor Full Tutorial) | Simon Hutchinson

[morphex]

@Rastkovic that's actually a great example, and it shows how much work someone should expect to do when creating something new from scratch. With NI releasing so many preset packs and sample content, it makes me wonder if they're looking at the trends with people's attention spans. Because it takes time and a lot of patience to learn how to deign things in Reaktor, let alone being able to do it really well. I still think Reaktor is totally relevant and I hope that they continue to develop it further, or release a completely updated version.

[mothra]

Yeah, it was "marketed" that way, but still i doubt that it performs that way so good.

How long have you been aware of Reaktor's existance?

The pre-built synths did not start until YEARS after Reaktor was already an established instrument and NI simply ran out of ideas for new things. Even to this day I don't consider that Reaktor's function.

Reaktor is and always will be a continuation of Generator, that was basically your own playground to build whatever the hell you wanted to. Its not Reaktor's fault most folks that used it decided to just go with the presets.

[dune_rave]

Yeah, it was "marketed" that way, but still i doubt that it performs that way so good.

How long have you been aware of Reaktor's existance?

The pre-built synths did not start until YEARS after Reaktor was already an established instrument and NI simply ran out of ideas for new things. Even to this day I don't consider that Reaktor's function.

Reaktor is and always will be a continuation of Generator, that was basically your own playground to build whatever the hell you wanted to. Its not Reaktor's fault most folks that used it decided to just go with the presets.

"How long have you been aware of Reaktor's existance?"
---> since komplete 10. But don't try to convince me that now in 2025 its a good choice. Even if the engine is worth to try, the gui is horrible.

[digitalboytn]

Even if the engine is worth to try, the gui is horrible.

They're going for that retro look

[dune_rave]

Even if the engine is worth to try, the gui is horrible.

They're going for that retro look

Then they dont know what retro is.
THIS IS RETRO:

[Iores Pyadzee]

Reaktor is the reason why I will buy Komplete.

[whyterabbyt]

"How long have you been aware of Reaktor's existance?"
---> since komplete 10.

So you opined on the original purpose, and user base, of Reaktor despite not even being aware of it for the first 15 years of its existence?

Yeah, it was "marketed" that way, but still i doubt that it performs that way so good.

And you 'doubt' something you have no experience of? Hmmm.

[Rastkovic]

What I still really like about Reaktor, is doing CV/Gate sequencing, or creating "good sounding" filter modulations (as shown in one of my patches below). You can do similar things with VCV Rack, but for me, Reaktor is so much more direct and faster in terms of results. Hard to explain.

Softube Modular - Using Audio Inputs for CV/Gate Signals

[CrystalWizard]

"How long have you been aware of Reaktor's existance?"
---> since komplete 10. But don't try to convince me that now in 2025 its a good choice. Even if the engine is worth to try, the gui is horrible.

Hello Reaktor!, so good that i have dedicated machines just for using it. Reaktor was built as a playground of amazing tools to make and manipulate sound. Built for users not developer (obviously not for everyone). Anyone who was using it way back when knows that. A valid choice in 2025 for anyone with the intelligence to use it (and knowing it's development is stagnant, but, other than keeping up with OS updates, it doesn't really need anything). It could do with a facelift, i'll use it as is and i will never run out of new ideas and discoveries. I could have stopped buying anything after Reaktor (uh, besides Tassman) and i'd be happily making noise still. Hopefully some team will develop something extremely similar someday.

[TS-12]

NI Pro-53 was my favorite synth

[nanostream]

Just found out that Vadim Zavalishin, one of the brains behind Reaktor Core, has left the company and is working for u-he now. I don’t know what that means and will mean exactly, but it’s certainly a milestone.