Reaktor 5 for $99

modey whats the exact name of that EMS synth emulation?

synth in a case?

  On 11/30/2009 at 6:28 PM, mrx said:

synth in a case?

that's the one!

fuck it im going to buy it. I own Reaktor 4 but hilariously the upgrade price to Reaktor 5 is $159! so makes no sense for me to go that route. here i go mother fuckers!

I bought it too. I never used Reaktor before but i used to have a nord modular so hopefully the learning curve wont be quite as steep. Anyone want to recommend more ensembles? There's so many that come with reaktor that I dont know when I'll need to build my own.

i can't vouch for new stuff on the user library because i havent been there in quite a while but here is what im loving at the moment

Aerobic - the closest software thing i've seen to the synthesis platform on the machinedrum. IT is one of the best software synthesizer drum machine grooveboxes in existence at the moment.

Limelite - kind of like a korg electribe but more tricked out , great for jamming

Grainstates - the classic 'instant ambient' patch that still stands out as being a very powerful sample manipulation tool

Echomania - my favorite classic dub echo effect

Springtank - great spring reverb emulation

Steampipe - an impressive first effort by NI to do a fully featured physical modeling instrument.

Metallo - a metal object percussion patch

Lifeforms - a biological activity synthesizer, made o sound like insects, birds, water, wind, etc

i bolded my favorite patch in here because i just remembered i came to a live show once with absolutely nothing prepared and last minute thought to fire up Aerobic and it was one of the most fun shows i've played.

edit: just checking out a Reaktor 5 patch that comes with it called 'sinebeats 2' under 'sequenced synths' (when you right click on the grey background) . i haven't actually tried any of the *.ENS files that come with it yet, i prefer working in Reaktor with *.ISM files so i have more freedom.

  On 12/1/2009 at 1:42 AM, Awepittance said:

 

edit: just checking out a Reaktor 5 patch that comes with it called 'sinebeats 2' under 'sequenced synths' (when you right click on the grey background) . i haven't actually tried any of the *.ENS files that come with it yet, i prefer working in Reaktor with *.ISM files so i have more freedom.

I am total noob so I dont know what ISM files are. thanks for the tips, will look into those!

I wonder why anyone buys other NI synths? Can't you duplicate them in reaktor?

steampipe is excellent. i'll have to check out aerobic too, i have a soft spot for groovebox type arrangements. i'm hoping to build one myself if i ever get good enough at making ensembles.

  On 12/1/2009 at 2:10 AM, Hanratty said:

I wonder why anyone buys other NI synths? Can't you duplicate them in reaktor?

yeah i was thinking this too. i was trying to decide between fm8 and reaktor, and eventually thought to myself, hang on a minute, i can pretty much do as much fm synthesis as i want in reaktor, and have it sound exactly as i want it!

man i really need to get started on the tutorials. it's been a while since i've ventured into the world of modular softsynths.

  On 12/1/2009 at 2:10 AM, Hanratty said:

  On 12/1/2009 at 1:42 AM, Awepittance said:

 

edit: just checking out a Reaktor 5 patch that comes with it called 'sinebeats 2' under 'sequenced synths' (when you right click on the grey background) . i haven't actually tried any of the *.ENS files that come with it yet, i prefer working in Reaktor with *.ISM files so i have more freedom.

 

 

I am total noob so I dont know what ISM files are. thanks for the tips, will look into those!

 

I wonder why anyone buys other NI synths? Can't you duplicate them in reaktor?

you can in theory duplicate them in Reaktor. I remember a long time ago someone made an Absynth and Spektral delay Reaktor patch. The absynth one was not super close but it was close enough back when Absynth was strictly synthesis with no sample libraries. I'd have to look to see if they are still there. It would take you a while to make a comparable synth to today's FM8 or Absynth , but it's worth a try. think big!

quick explanation of ISM vs ENS . If you want a quick and easy user friendly version of Reaktor, ENS files are for you. They require absolutely no patching, once you load them in most of them they are active right from the start. Unless they are a groovebox or sequencer, in that case all you have to do is hit the play button.

The reason i prefer ISM files when working in Reaktor is i can have Reaktor jam sessions with drums, synths and sequencers all within the standalone program.

When you load something as an ENS it takes over the entire session, an ISM just loads the instrument/effect/whatever into the session and lets you patch it up to other toys

edit: the above applies to both the VST /AU plugin Reaktor and the stand alone. One huge benefit to working with Ism files within a sequencer environment like Logic, Cubase or Live is that you can have Reaktor use 8 separate outputs per instance. This gives you 4 stereo channels, on each pair of outs you can load up a different ism format synth or sampler and assign a different midi channel to each one. IF you only loaded prefabricated ENS files you would have to load a new Reaktor plugin instance for each time you wanted to use Reaktor in a song. I find the more Reaktor plugin instances i load the more unstable my songs get, so i prefer to utilize as much out of one plugin instance as i possibly can

i am just in awe of all these ensembles! I think that I will not try to spend too much time figuring out how it all works and just try to use the ensembles. Each one seems like it would benefit from a lengthy exploration. best $99 i ever spent.

Bahaha, all this talk of "*.ISM" files and "*.ENS" files is wonderfully convoluted. I just tried to compose a more concise explanation, but it quickly spiraled out of control not unlike previous attempts. Long story short, RTFM.

It was a good deal indeed, so i had just decided to go for it, but it looks like it's over.. back to 379 E again

generator 1 for teh win

.ens is like walking into somebody's studio and playing with their toys.

.ism is like buying a few bits of gear but you have to wire them up yourself in your own studio (ie. hook them up to your speakers = wiring the .ism instrument to the audio output in reaktor).

but ya, definitely RTFM then check out http://www.reaktortips.com

can anyone think of artists who make obvious use of famous reaktor ensembles? I think I've heard Vectory in just about every idm track.

You could easily make an album of only vectory preset beats and spacedrone presets and it would sound better than a lot of stuff out there

tim exile basically wrote vectory (or at least the basic engine behind it.)

also, NI develops pretty much everything they make in REAKTOR initially. of course they then code it up proper in C, but it pretty much all starts as ensembles.

c

yeah i ended up buying this (mainly because I have wanted Reaktor forever) and it was probably the best purchase i have made for the purposes of creating music.However i haven't started using anything from the library, does anybody have any recommendation for effects that would be good for ambient sounds?

I rarely use Reaktor anymore... Defintely don't build stuff in it... It's just so unintuitive to me... Things that should be simple always end up taking way more effort than it should. Odd quirks and workflow just end up annoying me and I stop.

They do have fantastic premade ensembles though... But I don't really use then too much either... Feels kind of lame to have a super customizable platform, but just use other peoples stuff. I know that's kind of BS, but I really like using stuff I've made from scratch... Feels more personal.

So long story short ... It's awesome, but not my style.

100 bucks is a retardedly good deal though...

  On 12/5/2009 at 8:49 PM, Kcinsu said:

I rarely use Reaktor anymore... Defintely don't build stuff in it... It's just so unintuitive to me... Things that should be simple always end up taking way more effort than it should. Odd quirks and workflow just end up annoying me and I stop.

 

They do have fantastic premade ensembles though... But I don't really use then too much either... Feels kind of lame to have a super customizable platform, but just use other peoples stuff. I know that's kind of BS, but I really like using stuff I've made from scratch... Feels more personal.

 

So long story short ... It's awesome, but not my style.

 

100 bucks is a retardedly good deal though...

i just think of it as a great collection of plugins. I dont mind ripping off somebody's preset if i like it. not like i'm making a dime off this.

  On 12/5/2009 at 6:51 PM, Atari Tech said:

yeah i ended up buying this (mainly because I have wanted Reaktor forever) and it was probably the best purchase i have made for the purposes of creating music.However i haven't started using anything from the library, does anybody have any recommendation for effects that would be good for ambient sounds?

grainstates

yeah or whitegrains or orangegrains from the user library. Both really good at smearing things up(feed into favorite reverb with long ass tail).