I will have a light talk about Reaktor in workshops about synthesis and I would like to focus on more esoteric ensembles so I could show people that synthesis does not end on subtractive synthesis and sequencers do not have to be 16 step linear X0X sequencers.
I will definitely want to show:
Vectory (to tech people about slicing and morphing effects settings)
Spiral (as a alternative to X0X step sequencer)
Steam Pipe 2 (as a example of physical modeling)
Grain Perception (as granular effect example)
Newscool (cellular automata)
Does anybody have some favourite Reaktor ensembles that might be interesting even to people that are not using Reaktor?
Weedwacker is technically subtractive, but itâs such a unique ensemble that I would still consider it essential for your list. Itâs pulse waves where the output is fed through a bandpass filter and back to PWM. Itâs possible to get extremely interesting harmonically tuned chaotic feedback, thereâs just nothing else like it, Iâve been toying with the idea of making a hardware version, but I donât know, it sounds so good in software, really upsetting the idea that only analogue can be âorganicâ that it might be disrespectful to do so!
You should also check Adlais by David Elson. I think itâs original inspiration was the Scott Stites Klee shift register sequencer, but itâs something different. Really interesting semi generative evolving patterns.
Thanks for your recommendations, I will check both of them. I probably wonât have time to show a lot of ensembles but I want to give people tools for further exploration (for example I only started to appreciate how creative slicing can be after learning how Vectory works and I started to use techniques that I learned using them even on other synths/daws etc.)
Thanks, I know about their lists but I also would love to hear community opinions about their favourite weird ensemble. Reaktor user library is vast and there is a lot of underappreciated gems that implement some esoteric synthesis methods/effects and I would like to show them to people. For example by chance I found this granular effect https://www.native-instruments.com/en/reaktor-community/reaktor-user-library/entry/show/5063/ and now I use it a lot.
One of my âsecret weaponsâ is Processed, an âaudio beautifierâ that is a slew of things, but essentially meant to process and loop live incoming audio. Itâs granular, glitchy, pitch-shifting, and capable of creating huge, lush, swelling walls of sound very easily. The author made an album with Processed and harp thatâs quite gorgeous and worth checking out. I also look to Processed as an example that Reaktor ensembles can be colorful, and visually and aesthetically appealing, and have interfaces that are well-thought and are pleasing and easy to use.
I think that I might include Skrewell as an example of synth that is not played traditional way (using keyboard or sequencing it). And about Boscomac - I recommend floodverb to anyone looking for ambient wall of sound reverb @naxuu this Processed ensemble looks great, thanks.
Iâm pretty new to the whole reaktor thing having bought 6 a couple of months ago. One thing that kinda stinks is that people constantly recommend blocks/ensembles that are tested for reaktor 5 and lower. Does anyone have a trick for getting these to run in 6 or are most people just still running 5 waiting for the updates?
To the OP: sorry if this thread has digressed into âawesome Reaktor thingsâ.
The world of Reaktor really is so huge, though, that you can go very deep in terms of finding âgoodâ ensembles.
Perhaps that is exactly what is so fun to teach about Reaktor in a workshop: the amount of things on tap actually encourages people to start blurring the lines between east/west coast, subtractive/additive(/granular/phase/vector/etcâŚ), and the rest of the false dichotomies that structure the world of synth categorization. What youâre left with are a bunch of cool ideas that are better sorted in terms of the creators themselves than by preexisting synthesis categories.
I got a copy of Reaktor 6 a while ago and havenât really played around with it much as I want to concentrate on Pd. I was curious about Vectory from this post, but canât seem to find it anywhere, nor any information on the web about what it is or where to find it. What is this mysterious thing?!
Vectory is a Reaktor Groovebox based on slicing. It can be found in factory library under grooveboxes category.
Thanks all for your suggestions I have more than I need to to show to people, but we might transform this thread into general Reaktor recommendation thread
There is so much good stuff in Reaktor library that I will probably have more than enough to make good music for my whole life.
When I will have my final list I will share it here (presentation unfortunately will be in polish but if it will turn out well I will also try to translate it). My main goal is to give people some pointers and show how different things sound (and why they sound such way) so they will be able search for their own sound in other spaces than subtractive synthesis which is the most popular right now.
Iâd love to continue a general chat on Reaktor (and the gems hidden in the library).
I find it really fun to use. My ensembles are here if of interest (one of them, âTape Mateâ seems pretty popular).
Iâm working on a sequencer at the moment, as I couldnât find anything simple âin the boxâ that did what I am after (a main melody sequencer transposed by another for chord progressions etc.).
This melody sequencer that you want to do sounds very interesting, it would be great tool to creating backbone of composition by creating chord progressions.
I also would like to port some sequencers that I did in processing.org to Reaktor, especially my genetic algorithm sequencer. There is contest right now at NI https://blog.native-instruments.com/build-with-reaktor-and-win/ so maybe that should be my motivation to finally create some ensembles
