Absynth 6

[JasonSpatola]

Wild speculative guess - Reaktor 7 will debut with Komplete 16 in September 2025.

And it will include time travel!

I may not speak for everyone, but I would find some uses for that feature, if it indeed will be included.

Yeah, that'd be an insta-buy from me.

[Echoes in the Attic]

If Reaktor 6 is resurrected then ...

Reaktor never died. It's still part of the NI product line, still supported, though feature development ceased years ago. There was an announcement a few months ago that some of the legacy Reaktor things will be updated soon...ish? I'm not sure about the timeframe there, but yes, I'm hoping that this is signaling some movement on the Reaktor front.

Though people complain about NI just updating the UI and not implementing new features, I would actually be SO friggin' happy with a UI update for Reaktor. I'm 100% serious. I honestly don't need any new features in Reaktor, so a simple UI update would actually be DEEPLY appreciated.

Yes Reaktor already does just about anything. If there was a way they could allow resizing of the UI components used somehow -maybe replace the stock components like sliders and knobs to be scalable (andI'm sure the builders would like resizable graphics for the connections and all the build stuff under the hood). Not sure if possible.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Though people complain about NI just updating the UI and not implementing new features, I would actually be SO friggin' happy with a UI update for Reaktor. I'm 100% serious. I honestly don't need any new features in Reaktor, so a simple UI update would actually be DEEPLY appreciated.

Absolutely!

NI had said almost 3 years ago that it was the end of feature development for Reaktor. It's actually intriguing to-reread their comment on this, you can feel the sadness in the typed words by Georg and the Reaktor team:

Sorry, but besides the addition of native Apple Silicon support and the new VST3 plugin there will be no new features implemented.

At this point, perhaps it is time to comment on the situation. For a variety of reasons, NI is not in a position to invest major resources in this product, which has not been news for some time. I'm not going to comment on the details, nor on whether or not I personally think all of these reasons are indisputable. What I will get into is the value of the upcoming release and why we are asking the Reaktor community to support it to get the best result:

• The 6.5.0 release will ensure that Reaktor and with it all existing content such as Reaktor Player products, Factory Library, Reaktor User Library content and personal user files are usable in existing and new DAW projects and standalone use cases. Including situations like
  where there is no OSX Rosetta support, e.g. when a DAW is running in native Apple Silicon mode. In this case, if the DAW is supporting the VST2 --> VST3 migration feature, you will be able to load project files which were created using the VST2 version of Reaktor.
  
  when using a DAW that no longer has VST2 support. Again, if the DAW supports the VST2 --> VST3 migration feature, you will be able to load project files which were created using the VST2 version of Reaktor.
  
  when the user wants to upgrade to the currently latest Windows or Apple OS versions, but is currently unable to do so due to existing deficiencies.
  We also open a path for a possible use of Reaktor for a future where e.g. Apple abolishes Rosetta with an OSX update or some DAWs decide to stop VST2 support.

To make this happen, our very small team has put some effort into writing new code or reworking existing code. I'm actually quite proud of what we've accomplished so far under the circumstances, how thoroughly and prudently we've invested our resources to move forward, taking great care to avoid bugs like incorrectly loading old content. While this may sound like fishing for compliments, I'm writing this to share a bit of our motivations and why we need the Reaktor community's support, because the rebuild effort has been extensive and despite our diligence, internal testing has already revealed some unexpected bugs. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Apple Silicon port implied that we had to replace an important internal code object, and this replacement needed to be done with extreme care to not introduce serious errors. A prominent area is persistence where external file references were stored in content files, e.g. for non-embedded Sample files, references to ensembles in preset files or in host projects, references to Blocks in Rack files and so on. We tested this area a lot, also using cross platform testing which e.g. includes saving a file on Windows, then loading-testing and re-saving on Mac, and again loading-testing on Windows. Still: to make this a quality release we think that having a good test coverage in day by day user situations is absolutely essential.

Our team is aware that the lack of more features will lead to frustration. But at this stage, we as a team will not be able to change this situation. What we are trying to achieve is to deliver this version with high quality and a good base for the future. Therefore, we would like to motivate you to participate in the testing as well, so that together we can make this version a success and a valuable asset for you and all other users.

https://community.native-instruments.co ... ment_48110

But... that was then.

Absynth has changed the game. While the above comment on Reaktor was a forum post, Absynth got the formal goodbye treatment and was officially deprecated, dropped in Komplete 15 whereas Reaktor 6 was still there. IIRC it was a little over a year ago that management changes made NI reverse that seemingly-final decision completely.

With Reaktor such a core platform for NI, at this point I'd be surprised if it WASN'T updated to Reaktor 7. Like Absynth, it desperately needs a UI overhaul but in a different way - it has been nuts that it has never had a proper tag browser, you need the KK wrapper to do that and even then there's no way to search for all Reaktor synths at once.

Wild speculative guess - Reaktor 7 will debut with Komplete 16 in September 2026.

It's sad that a company the size of NI has only a "small team" on Reaktor.

[Kalamata Kid]

I would much appreciate it if R7 was multi-touch capable.

[faxinadu]

Jeez why do these threads devolve by default. What if I told you..... you can enjoy both Absynth and Zebra... wait for it... at once! ..... plot twist: you can even enjoy additional synths.

Mentioned it before but pretty much any song I made in the 2010's had both Zebra and Absynth on them, it's great combo, there's not that much overlap really, strange to me people compare them? but it is KVR and people will argue about anything here.

yeeep

[ThomasHelzle]

Great to see Absynth being kept alive!
Although I'd have preferred if it had gone back to Brian somehow.
I'm not sure I'll buy anything from NI ever again. I'm fading all of it out since Komplete 12.

At least this gives some hope that even the most retarded shareholder value hunters may realise at one point that you maybe shouldn't gut your company completely from all that made it worthwhile in the past.

Carpe Diem.

Tom

[faxinadu]

Those that don't get it, well... I just don't get it how you don't get it Yes, its is royally "flawed", who cares?

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/yaron-es ... da4cws3fRM

[gaf_thit]

Those that don't get it, well... I just don't get it how you don't get it Yes, its is royally "flawed", who cares?

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/yaron-es ... da4cws3fRM

I get it and I want to get it, but not sure when I'll get it yet, because I have to get my salary before I get it.

[Kalamata Kid]

Well, I finally decided to get it.
Got it!
Paid $74 with the voucher.
My deal is that I will no longer update my Komplete 15.
Unless, maybe if Reaktor 7 is part of the update.

[machinesworking]

Well, I finally decided to get it.
Got it!
Paid $74 with the voucher.
My deal is that I will no longer update my Komplete 15.
Unless, maybe if Reaktor 7 is part of the update.

Yep same, but a Battery update where it could facilitate the creation of drum sounds as well as just be a host would also do it. I love the Flatten Pad function on the MPC, but it's been over a year since MPC3 came out and still no VSTi3 version.

Reaktor 7 is the real line in the sand though. Make an effort towards those of us who like making our own patches or instruments etc.

[faxinadu]

My two cents are that hype aside, Reaktor would be a horrible and totally misguided investment for about a million reasons, but whatever...

[Kalamata Kid]

Give just your three best reasons.

[JasonSpatola]

My two cents are that hype aside, Reaktor would be a horrible and totally misguided investment for about a million reasons, but whatever...

I hope you fall into a sinkhole.

Okay not really.

But you deserve to.

Okay okay I'm kidding.

Kind of.

[Agg]

Give just your three best reasons.

As someone who owns Reaktor 6, but never used it (because I still haven't stopped learning Melda's synths, or Vital), I'd be interested too. Is there something fundamental it can do that modern synths can't?

[faxinadu]

My one best reason is I worked at NI for 5 years and I know that this is pure madness to go that route at this point, let's leave it at that.

I can just see some rotating VP scrolling this thread and seeing the Reaktor love and having "an idea" and then insanity ensues, and not in the awesome way that you would love to see, but carry on