Usefulness of Reaktor 5

[ghettosynth]

"How long is a piece of string?"

Reminds me of that silly old grade school riddle.

Q: If it takes 4 hours to dig a hole, how long does it take to dig half a hole?

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A: There's no such thing as a half a hole.

[BERFAB]

Though I know the basics of how Reaktor works, I've never built or tweaked anything in it other than presets.

As several have said, the included instruments and effects are well worth the price of admission here. Add to that the several thousand user contributions in the user library, and you've got enough to keep you busy for years. The user library in particular is a searchable database and you can really zero in on specialty stuff, or perhaps, maybe just the most popular top 50.

I've had Reaktor for many years now, and it's interesting to note that NI made the decision with the latest version to include instruments and effects that were formerly PAID extras (Electronic Instruments I and II). Despite their age, they all sound fresh (even the old user contributions). And because Reaktor is x64, all of its compatible instruments and effects are as well.

And for those of you looking to just find innovative and inspiring new beats (either without having to shell out for Maschine, or maybe as a complement to it) you've got a trove of different beat machines to sort through.

Certainly something here for everyone. (Note: awhile ago I asked for suggestions for Reaktor reverb and chorus effects. Many KVR'ers responded that they either didn't know, or had forgotten, that Reaktor could be used as an effect. A quick search through the user's library reveals some VERY innovative effects. All free.)

Great stuff. If you don't have it, I would suggest that $99 bucks is an insanely low price for all this, and more.

Cheers
-B

[tibah]

Alright. I jumped on the deal. Just like the OP, I'm using DCAM and Alchemy (Player + some expansions) mostly. Reaktor seemed a perfect addition. After 5 hours of noodling, I'm very impressed about some of the factory content, like some of the delays or sample mash-up stuff. I had the Reaktor Player that came with my Komplete Elements, so I know some ensembles already, like Metaphysical Function, Aerobic and Photone.

http://boscomac.free.fr/ - I just have to mention these. This guy deserves a donation. Lovely stuff. I don't know when and where I will ever dive into the user library, but boscomac + factory content seems like endless possibilities already.

[BDeep]

Man, I'm so in doubt about jumping on this deal. My main doubt is the obvious overlap with M4L which I also have. Although with the macros and such, I think Reaktor is slightly easier to get into.

Btw, does anybody know of a pitch shifted delay (with cross feedback and such) in the vein of Discord for either of these two?

[Numanoid]

Man, I'm so in doubt about jumping on this deal.

Well, the deal ends June 20th.

My gut feeling is that, if in two minds, go for it.

After June 20th Reaktor will again cost €399

Anybody buying the license, can for that matter just sit on it, and can probably sell it second hand for €150 in a month or so

Well, that was how I convinced myself to buy it

[ghettosynth]

Man, I'm so in doubt about jumping on this deal. My main doubt is the obvious overlap with M4L which I also have. Although with the macros and such, I think Reaktor is slightly easier to get into.

I use M4L as well. In general, I think that it's easier to get Reaktor to sound good and there are several reasons for this, but, read through past threads. It's also a bit more intuitive and easier to build useful devices at the intermediate level. For example, you can just use the modular macros that come with Reaktor, or, the awesome Ampere modules and start building custom synths quickly. The value here isn't that it isn't something that you couldn't do with any other modular, but that you can easily customize it to the one function that you're interested in. Building this way is pretty much just like following any kind of simple signal flow and patch diagram. You can glue the modules together without knowing much at all about their internals. You simply use the obviously labeled ports.

Max(including MFL and Pd) really require you to embrace more of the underlying philosophy to get things done.

The one downside to owing both is that, if you want to build your own tools, they both have a learning curve.

[xx JPRacer xx]

About CPU usage: Just loading the plugin (32-bit) alone, my CPU usage goes to 2%. Loading Razor with no sound playing it goes to ~5%. After that, playing with the heaviest instruments, it's rare the CPU go above 20%. The biggest hit I've seen on my CPU is with Prism, about ~30%.

The test was done in Renoise 2.8 32-bit, Win 7 64-bit with 8 GB RAM and an i5-3450 @ 3.1 GHz.

[SODDI]

The best way I found to to get into Reaktor ensemble building was to reverse engineer one of the stock ensembles and build a synth to my own specifications. That way you learn the routings and the basics but also where the stock ensembles fall short of your needs and force you to build into Reaktor, learning at the same time.

I reverse engineered the Sound School Analog ensemble last year to build it into a more "older school" 3-osc modular synth with increased (and deeper) modulation, a couple more sound sources, better filters and clock sync. I made every damn mistake I could make (most of them very dumb). I also learned a whole bunch.

For instance, the pitch-to-frequency controls on the filters. My old school analog mindset never really liked that. But I learned that down at the core cell level you can remove that function - it's a quick, logical fix. But before that I was intimidated by getting down into the core cells.

So now with my version 11, I have a usable synth - and I use it all the time. I'm going to add a 3rd filter because I think I need one to sculpt sound better.

[PatchAdamz]

You can download the free Reaktor Player, which comes with a few instruments (and will load almost any Reaktor instrument or effect, albiet in a time-limited demo mode) to try it out and see if it grabs you...

Good advice..
Personally I find Reaktor very useful both sonically and experimentally.

A very well conceived tool.

[BDeep]

Thanks for the useful advice! Yes, I already smelled that M4L is a bit harder to get into. Tried to open an effect but couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on.
Seems like I still have to jump on this deal. And indeed, in the case it doesn't click with me, I can still sell it off with no loss.
Thanks again.

[olikana]

Man, I'm so in doubt about jumping on this deal.

Well, the deal ends June 20th.

My gut feeling is that, if in two minds, go for it.

After June 20th Reaktor will again cost €399

Anybody buying the license, can for that matter just sit on it, and can probably sell it second hand for €150 in a month or so

Well, that was how I convinced myself to buy it

i'm tempted to jump on it too. but what if reaktor 6 is just around the corner? (i can only explain this offer in that light) will there be a cheap upgrade to 6 for reaktopr5.8 users ? i doubt it.
reaktor 6 is really what i'm looking forward to which will probably feature a bunch of 0ZDF filters as stock, multicore support, and probably a couple of juicy instrument examples for the new features.
i don't want to buy reaktor 5.8 for 99£ and then find myself having to buy reaktor6 for 399£ in just a few months time.

[musikmachine]

Surely there'll be an upgrade path to 6?

[Numanoid]

Time is running out to get REAKTOR 5 for an unbeatable $99 / 99 €. Create any sound you can think of, build the synth of your dreams, or get inspired by over 70 included synths and sound machines. Plus get 50% off RAZOR, SKANNER XT, SPARK, PRISM, THE FINGER, and THE MOUTH. Take total control of your sound, but do it soon - this chance will be gone in two days.

They REALLY want to sell it to y'all

[bftucker]

i'm tempted to jump on it too. but what if reaktor 6 is just around the corner? (i can only explain this offer in that light) will there be a cheap upgrade to 6 for reaktopr5.8 users ? i doubt it.
reaktor 6 is really what i'm looking forward too which will probably feature a bunch of 0ZDF filters as stock, multicore support, and probably a couple of juicy instrument examples for the new features.
i don't want to buy reaktor 5.8 for 99£ and then find myself having to buy reaktor6 for 399£ in just a few months time.

I have upgraded Reaktor from the days of generator. I have had reaktor 5 for some time and don't remember what I paid for the upgrade. On the other hand, I also don't remember "hurting" when I upgraded either.

[olikana]

Surely there'll be an upgrade path to 6?

well would be nice to know now what the upgrade price will be. for some reason i hate surprises when it comes to upgrade prices.
how much was the upgrade from 4 to 5?
something tells me the upgrade will be much steeper from 5 to 6.