Does anyone here use Reaktor 5?

[Future Proof]

Originally Posted by Professor

gotcha. my philosophy on this program is only for sound design. It's forcing me to concentrate on one sound at a time--a good thing for me...but not necessarily what everyone would want. Using live gives me alot of freedom, because i just record whatever I'm working on at a tempo and key....i sequence it all later. so far. i've only had the program for a couple of weeks. there is a record function in the standalone mode. i haven't figured it out yet, but there is a "player" and a "recorder"....

and i really don't use it's sequencers...i do all that in live.

good luck. i hope you can find use for it. i love it.

Yeah, I think part of my problem is that I've been spoiled by the whole Reason set-up. I knew from the demo that this wasn't going to have many similarities but you'd figure that they'd at least take some sort of nod from their competition concerning stremlining things and making stuff intuitive. I'm quite certain though that as I continue to dig through this beast that I'll get to where I am with Reason...

Since you've only had your copy for a couple of weeks let's make it a point to bounce stuff off of each other, if that's cool.

Also, am I really missing out with not having Ableton? That's all I hear people talk about; I know that Cubase is friendly with midi and the sound engine is about as good as it gets but would I be better off trying out Ableton before I really commit to it?

[Professor]

well, one thing to consider is that I actually record and mix into protools. i don't use Live for my end result...I use it for sketching and for live performance. But, everything you can do with a sampler, you can do with live--maybe in a different or nonconventional way, but Live will do it. if you intend to have a "be-all" recording platform, I can't honestly say that I use Live for that purpose.

[adam]

I haven't used Protools in a long time, and I miss it quite a bit. There is a reason why it is (was?) the professional platform of choice.

I never cared for Cubase, myself, but I haven't looked at it in several generations, either. Live offers some neat possibilities, but doesn't offer the depth of MIDI editing that Cubase does...not even close. Download the demo, and give it a try. You may find you like it, you may not; it really depends on the way you work.

(I swear by Live, myself, but I'm not doing complex MIDI work, either.)

[Future Proof]

Well talking to other techeads out there, their feeling on recording software is that Protools rules largely off of the fact that it was the first, best and only digital recording workhorse for a long time. Protools still has the best plugins available but its midi support is only marginal. I did a lot of qualification before investing my money into Cubase and the concensus seemed to be that although Protools does still have that incredible 3rd party support that I wouldn't really be taking a step backwards with sound quality if I went with Cubase. So far I agree, the rudimentary stuff I've done in it has all come out leaps and bounds better than my days tinkering with Acid 4.0...

My only reason for wanting stellar MIDI support is because when you couple Reason and Cubase and Reason is ran like a plugin that the sound quality is much better than if you were just exporting your mix out of the stand-alone program. That's been somewhat negated with R3.0's M-Class modules, but not completely. And I do a lot of live recording work too so, perfect fit.

Speaking of plugins, it seems like I've nailed a good bet with Reaktor 5's VST software but, does anyone else have any rec's for VST software? How are those Virus modules?

[adam]

Well, I haven't used their software at all, but both Prof and I own Virus hardware synths, so I'd say it's worth looking into.

If you're looking for effects, I'd recommend anything and everything by PSP. Processor inefficient on my mac, but I think people were getting better performance out of them on PC. They have trial demos, so you can't lose.

For soft synths, my next acquisition will be Absynth. You can hear samples of that on Native Instruments' site.

[frail]

Hey guys,

I'm a "drooling gear head" too - I think professor's processor issues will be mostly to do with using a G4 - an old processor now, unfortunately. Future, your mileage will be a lot better with that beast PC you've got - if you're interested in a very nice, resource friendly sequencer / host (works a lot like reason does, with multiple inputs/outputs on modules, envelopes, piano roll etc..) have a look at energyXT - truly one of the most progressive hosts around, and under a meg total size. Burning fast! It comes in three versions too, standalone host, vst instrument and vst effect, so you can load it inside itself, if you see what I mean, and other hosts. Its dirt cheap too!

www.xt-hq.com

Regarding learning the basics of synth design in reaktor, you could do worse than have a look for an old copy of NI's first app (I think?), generator. It was like a prototype for reaktor, and came with a really nice tutorial for building a synth from scratch. Pretty old now tho.. still possible to get good solid sounds from it though.

Got any mp3 online? Or ogg, if you're up to speed with that.

What's the big thing with Reaktor 5? I'm still using version 3.

[Professor]

the "big" thing with Reaktor 5 is apparantly, the ability to work on the sounds at the core level. you can start from absolute scratch. so far, i haven't gone to "absolute scratch" just yet. the ensembles they provide have some powerful sounds....and easily tweeked for personalization. i like it because the thing sounds really good. the juno emulator is just stunning.

[joethelion]

yea - I love the way the Juno sounds... EXACTLY like the actual synth in itself. When I took my course on electronic & computer music, we basically spent the first 2/3 months just working with the Juno and a CS15

and about crashing - yea it's a total bitch, I definitely will need to get a G5 for the program... but one thing that does seem to help is to get one ensemble, go through some of the given patches, tweek from there (which can take hours... not that it's hard - but time just seems to fly) and once you've got everything set up; play what you want, then commit that to audio -> so you wouldn't need that patch anymore (but of course, save the patch if you want to back to it again) & make sure whatever new ensemble you use, don't have it commited to the same location (for playback) as that first ensemble

if that doesn't make any sense... well... I mean I'm not saying I necessarily know exactly what I'm talking about

Originally Posted by Professor

the "big" thing with Reaktor 5 is apparantly, the ability to work on the sounds at the core level. you can start from absolute scratch. so far, i haven't gone to "absolute scratch" just yet. the ensembles they provide have some powerful sounds....and easily tweeked for personalization. i like it because the thing sounds really good. the juno emulator is just stunning.

[Professor]

yeah, i know what you mean. that's exactly what I do, actually....i get a patch...record a midi track of me noodling with it....play with the midi track, and then when i'm happy with it, bounce it to an audio track in live....keep the midi file...save the patch...go on to next patch with same midi file....or not...

you can't run it like a multitimbral synth. well, I can't. not on my machine. but i stress again...damn. IT SOUNDS SO GOOD! and it forces one to concentrate on one sound at a time.

[Renze]

Originally Posted by adam

My local retailer usually has some bix Boxing Day sales on software...I'm thinking I'll pick up Absynth 3 if it's a decent discount.

I thought I had broken this habit, and then I got my new synth, and now I'm a drooling gear head again.

Hehe, I know what you mean. A couple of months ago I bought an E-MU 1616 soundcard, and ever since then I've been drooling over new gear as well. I have a wishlist which includes an upgrade to Live 5, a Yamaha DX200 and some decent monitors. Sometimes a hobby like this just needs an impulse by buying new gear.

I hate not being able to save projects in Live lite