NI Reaktor, I forgot how awesome it is

[EvilDragon]

Reaktor, Kontakt, some U-He synths, and what do you really need?

Maybe some Valhalla...

[glokraw]

I can't really think of a single person I've met or helped troubleshoot their setup that works in the industry who doesn't wait 6 months to a year to upgrade a critical plug in like Kontakt? Pretty much for all the reason you listed, they would rather underground artists and hobbyists iron out the bugs before they jump in.

Reaktor is amazing though, sometimes I wonder why people bother collecting plug ins? Reaktor, Kontakt, some U-He synths, and what do you really need?

The price of used tech-shop computers with fresh windows OS installs is so cheap here, I find it odd
that pros don't typically have testing-only setups at home, or at the lake-house etc to verify
advertised new capabilities with a range of important projects. Even older Macs are affordable if you know which law, architect, and advertising firms have closets full of them.

Even the free versions of the companies you mention make for a useful collection. I would always
want a few instruments with midi-out from their arp/sequence setup, as the KV331 SynthMaster's have, hopefully U-he will add that in future upgrades. Hive midi-out into Diva?

[machinesworking]

The price of used tech-shop computers with fresh windows OS installs is so cheap here, I find it odd
that pros don't typically have testing-only setups at home, or at the lake-house etc to verify
advertised new capabilities with a range of important projects. Even older Macs are affordable if you know which law, architect, and advertising firms have closets full of them.

I haven't bought a new mac in well over 15 years. I just wait for some graphics firm or startup locally to put a few less than a year old machines on craigslist at 1/3 - 1/2 off.

Almost every pro I've ever met is about a year behind software wise, they just generally wait until bugs are ironed out before jumping in, some wait years. Restraint is easy if it costs you serious loss of revenue when bugs kill your machine.

[EvilDragon]

A lot of composers definitely also do try new stuff out specifically because NI makes it a side by side install for every major version. We do have the data.

[HOTF]

Reaktor is amazing though, sometimes I wonder why people bother collecting plug ins? Reaktor, Kontakt, some U-He synths, and what do you really need?

Aren't we all asking ourselves this question ? I have way more VST than i could ever need and im sure im going to rationalize myself into buy some more in the future

[bharris22]

Reaktor 5 runs fine with many ensembles (especially the older synths and midi sequencers) on a 10 year old Windows 32 bit tablet I have with 1 GB RAM. I am sure that if I was starting all over again, that would be fine for anything I would like to do - could have saved myself thousands of dollars and countless hours searching for the next best thing.

Live and learn!

[bmanic]

My main issue with Reaktor was that previously you had to save the ensembles with every project but for some reason all of that has been fixed now. Reaper is capable of remembering every setting of an ensemble it seems. I don't have to save anything else than the Reaper project itself and it all "just works". This makes working with Reaktor no more difficult than any other basic synth. This didn't use to be the case and made Reaktor a bit cumbersome to work with.

[machinesworking]

A lot of composers definitely also do try new stuff out specifically because NI makes it a side by side install for every major version. We do have the data.

Sure, but it doesn't make it right. I'm friends with some industry folk and they roped me into support calls for these amazing composers who work in film and TV, hardly a one of them is tech savvy at all. I've been asked plenty of times why Kontakt 5 is not opening up in an old song of theirs with Kontakt 4 instances, among other weird problems.

So personally I'm glad it's looking like NI is thinking about a solution to this.

[machinesworking]

My main issue with Reaktor was that previously you had to save the ensembles with every project but for some reason all of that has been fixed now. Reaper is capable of remembering every setting of an ensemble it seems. I don't have to save anything else than the Reaper project itself and it all "just works". This makes working with Reaktor no more difficult than any other basic synth. This didn't use to be the case and made Reaktor a bit cumbersome to work with.

What I'm gabbing with ED about relates to this though, when you're completely done with a project saving Reaktor patches in the song is a must. Every new version of Reaktor will generally not recognize the old versions saved states, so real copies are important. Especially since the combination of NI's and Apples slash and burn policies can mean that Reaktor 6 will not run on Mac OS Stockton or whatever they call it.

[ghettosynth]

Mac OS Stockton or whatever they call it.

LOL! Stockton, it's a lovely place to visit, but, you wouldn't want to...wait...scratch that...no it's not.

[machinesworking]

Mac OS Stockton or whatever they call it.

LOL! Stockton, it's a lovely place to visit, but, you wouldn't want to...wait...scratch that...no it's not.

Hey I would have said Bakersfield!

[Shabdahbriah]

Mac OS Stockton or whatever they call it.

LOL! Stockton, it's a lovely place to visit, but, you wouldn't want to...wait...scratch that...no it's not.

Hey I would have said Bakersfield!

If you squint just a little as you pass through quickly, there's not much difference.

[EvilDragon]

So personally I'm glad it's looking like NI is thinking about a solution to this.

It's more like "VST3 allows us to finally do this properly so we'll be implementing that, but all DAW vendors still need to support that VST3 feature to make it all happen".

[machinesworking]

So personally I'm glad it's looking like NI is thinking about a solution to this.

It's more like "VST3 allows us to finally do this properly so we'll be implementing that, but all DAW vendors still need to support that VST3 feature to make it all happen".

Therein lies the problem, this isn't directed at NI, just this whole process in general. It's always on some other player in the game to step up, so the process remains partially broken. I'm sure it's more complex to code than what I'll break down here, but the ideal would be that in instance of say Kontakt 4 replaced by 5, you get a situation where simply not having 4 installed prompts the DAW to use 5, but, if you have 4 and 5 installed projects with 4 open Kontakt 4. Sounds like VST3 might actually do that if the host implements it, and I now have one actual reason to use it and KK. Do you know if Clap offering this feature?

[nanostream]

Who cares about Kontakt, we’re here for ensembles!

This one‘s really useful, it makes it easy to sequence and dynamically route audio to different channels in Ableton Live (or Maschine or whatever, I guess). Midi Mute & Route v8: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... how/14799/

I also like this delay, it’s gritty and dirty and fun! Quake Pong: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... how/14861/

More space weirdness. Spacetrix: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/r ... how/14249/