The Reaktor Thread

[impaler42]

I thought I would make a thread for anyone new to Reaktor, myself included, to ask a wide range of questions about Reaktor as they come up to more experienced users. I was wondering if it was possible to output two or more instruments through the audio outputs 1 and 2. Is there some kind of mixer, or multiple input Adder that you can use on instruments? The reason I ask is because Im using a synth and a drum machine, and I want to be able to play them at the same time. Any help would be much appreciated.

[downgrade]

Correct me if I'm wrong. All you're wanting to do is insert a mixer into an ensemble along with a drum machine and synth. Both of which Reaktor instruments, correct?

If so...

Open a new ensemble

Right click<Insert Instrument<Mixer<4ch Mixer




Right click<insert instrument< drum machine< your choosing.....drop into into ensemble etc

+

Right click<insert instrument<synthesizer< your choosing....drop into enseble etc

Patch your cables etc

(you're doing all of this in the ensemble structure, mind you)




And end result looks like this:






I believe you can also add multiple outs to the mixer by opening it up and adding ins and outs. Don't quote me on this but, I think it may be possible.


If I was totally off on answering your questions I do apologize as I'm midway through a twelver of Yuengling Black and Tan and 2 Xanax bars.

[Big Gnome]

Yeah, of course. Just make a new instrument and add a stereo mixer or 2 adders (one for each output) and wire everything up accordingly.

[impaler42]

Thank you both very much. I got it working now. I knew it was something simple, but for some reason I was having a lot of trouble with it.

[greggybud]

I'm just curious, have you tried the NI Reaktor forum? Or perhaps you feel a bit intimidated due to the depth of issues like myself?

I have used Reaktor since 1998 and I could keep up with basic stuff up to Reaktor 3, but after that mostly started using snapshots and let the experts create the ensembles. At some point you have to decide if you will be a musician or sound designer/synth builder.

The feeling I get at the moment is users are frustrated by NI not releasing a new version.

[downgrade]

The feeling I get at the moment is users are frustrated by NI not releasing a new version.

I've often wondered myself when they would drop Ver. 6 but, in all honesty I'm still very content with 5. It's so deep and there really isn't all that much that can't be done.

Sound quality is a bit s**t IMO. That could definitely be improved.

[impaler42]

I think Reaktor can be used by people who are both interested in sound design and music. Granted, it does take a lot of time and skill to learn how to build more complex instruments. I am very excited for NI to drop version 6. I think sound quality would be something to improve, although it isn't that bad right now. They might want to consider making some changes to make the program more intuitive so more people can tap into the power of this great program.

I decided to start a thread here on VSE as opposed to the reaktor forums because I feel more at home here and, also, a lot of the questions I have are very beginner in nature. Im having some trouble working with the sequencers. Its easy to sequence drums, but Im having trouble with sequencing with pitch. Does anyone have any recommendations for a more intuitive sequencer for reaktor? Or any tips on sequencing in reaktor in general?

[impaler42]

Actually, I finally figured out the SQP sequencer. It took me a while to realize how the sequencer was layed out, and that the white and grey lines represented the lines of a keyboard. Next step is to figure out how to input notes with a keyboard.

[Big Gnome]

Im having some trouble working with the sequencers. Its easy to sequence drums, but Im having trouble with sequencing with pitch. Does anyone have any recommendations for a more intuitive sequencer for reaktor? Or any tips on sequencing in reaktor in general?

By and large the sequencers that ship with Reaktor are overly specialized and a bit of a pain in the a*s. Do yourself a favor and downoad Dur Sequencer, MS16, and/or Plasma from the user library.

They might want to consider making some changes to make the program more intuitive so more people can tap into the power of this great program.

I hear that complaint a lot; just out of curiosity, what do you find difficult? How would you expect it to be made less so without a trade off in power?

[impaler42]

Big Gnome, thats a good question. It just seems to me that certain programs like Ableton are especially easy to pick up as a beginner. I understand that Reaktor has a lot of power, and I am one of those people who is willing to work hard to learn how to use it to the best of my potential. I really do love Reaktor. However, I feel like there is a big, untapped market of people that would buy Reaktor if it were a little bit more intuitive and had less of a learning curve.

What changes could they make in future versions? Ive heard a lot of people complain about the manual. Maybe they could redo the manual. I guess its hard to make any changes to a program of this caliber without taking away some of its power. I would need some time to think about what specific changes they could make.

The sequencer, for one, is one of the harder things to figure out. I will check out those ones you recommended. The problem I had initially was how to sequence notes. Now Im starting to figure it out, but it just seems like its kinda hard to set different note lengths and other midi nuances. I am gonna keep on noodling around with them and see where it takes me.

[Big Gnome]

What changes could they make in future versions? Ive heard a lot of people complain about the manual. Maybe they could redo the manual.

Agreed, the documentation is really terse across the board.
But I think that the nature of the program kind of engenders a steepish learning curve. In my judgement the best way to learn is just to jump in and start building your own stuff and dissect as many other people's work as you can (if something is confusing, trace the wires).
And, you know, ask me anything...

[impaler42]

ok, can you step input notes into a sequencer using a midi controller? if so, how and with what sequencer??

[Big Gnome]

I don't think any of the included ones do. You could certainly make your own, but it would involve some fairly advanced event processing. You'd probably want the operative element to be an event table which you'd set to record a note value when a gate signal is received, then move to the next column. A ramp oscillator can be used to read through the table's stored values to play the sequence. The specifics of getting everything to work properly and smoothly is the difficult part, but that's how I'd approach it.

[greggybud]

However, I feel like there is a big, untapped market of people that would buy Reaktor if it were a little bit more intuitive and had less of a learning curve.

What changes could they make in future versions? Ive heard a lot of people complain about the manual. Maybe they could redo the manual. I guess its hard to make any changes to a program of this caliber without taking away some of its power. I would need some time to think about what specific changes they could make.

As a user of Reaktor since 1999 and a user of most other NI products the above are exactly my sentiment.

Impaler42...you are not alone.

You should have seen the Reaktor "manual" in 1999. Trust me it has improved 100% but it still lacks. I soon realized that I would have to re-focus on music writing by using the snaps and let the genius create the wonderful ensembles. Reaktor is incredibly powerful, deep and therefore flexible.

It's hard to understand NI marketing. After Reaktor got a solid start NI released Dynamo which was great for those who didn't want to build ensembles. Then they killed Dynamo but released Reaktor Session which was similar to Dynamo. And then of course...dropped Reaktor Session.

Talk about untapped potential, look at KORE2. It's a fantastic tool for sound creation, VSTI Library, and VSTI controller but...the KORE2 manual is absolutely horrible about explaining HOW TO DO STUFF. The manual rambles on about what it can do but you are left alone as there are no examples, guides, etc. Casual users will walk away not understanding what is under the hood.

[impaler42]

well lets just hope they make some changes for reaktor 6. i hope they will take it to the next level, although im pretty sure they will like usual.