Native Instruments Reaktor 4 VST 2 PC

first things first: this is Reaktor 5.1
I use it as a stand-alone & as a plug inside Digital Performer
I'm using a 1.8 G5, 2 gigs of ram, Mac OS X 10.3.9
I play primarily guitar & drums, but also write for keys. I've been making music for 25 years or so (i remember my first 4 track!)
i use m audio bx5 monitors and a motu 828 interface

intuitive interface? that all depends which ensemble/instrument/effect/groove box that you open. some are extremely complex, others just..... complex

it installed easy as could be- DP saw it w/ no problems

it's a gorgeous piece of software, very well designed, for the most part.

automation? sure.... i've yet to try it, but i'm assuming anything this deep can be automated.

the sounds are deep, rich, harmonic, complex, otherworldly, bizarre .... it's simply an amazing *instrument*

the manual(s), which cover all sorts of topics, could be a little clearer in terms of: THIS particular instrument/ensemble/etc does THIS. lots of info, but not really in laymen's terms.


it's got a BIG learning curve (if you want to construct your own instruments), and only slightly frustrating at first glance. naturally, one would assume that you'd demo it from the NI site before buying, so in the 30 days of demo, you can wrap your head around plenty of stuff and get comfortable with it.

it sounds amazing, from lush pads to screaching noise, most of the presets will make you say "whoa!" the ability to take two presets and morph them is brilliant- it makes for unexpected treasures (or god awful noise).

expressive? well, it's not a guitar, ok? nonetheless, if there's a sound you can imagine, you just may be able to find it, or build it. it has really jumpstarted my brainpan- it really is inspirational.

worth it? oh, my- it was a steal. there is enough here to keep you busy for a long, long time. in addition, there is also the HUGE user library available at the NI website. the review in Macaddict summed it up best: the only con is that you will forget to eat, sleep & bathe once you begin toying with it. it really is that engrossing.

i demoed plenty of other very, very good soft synths: Tassman, Arturia CS80V, Camel Audio, etc. i'd like to own all of them, but one step at a time, right? i'm not sure that anything out there compares.

i'm in the honeymoon stage so far- i just love it to bits. it DOES sound pretty *modern* (as opposed to, say, a minimoog) and is perhaps not as warm as an analog synth. that however, can/could be changed, since it seems possible to create a synth based on an old classic.

it has run like a top- no crashing problems, tho it IS a CPU hog, depending on the ensemble that one chooses. still for a 2 year old Mac G5, it runs pretty damn well- i can't load more than 2 into DP w/out a meltdown, but i prefer working one plug at a time anyhow (not to mention that the new MacIntel boxes will likely handle this with ease)


a feature i wish it had? yeah- i'd like a pop up to alert me every four hours or so to TAKE A BREAK! it really is that addictive.

I am using a Pc, P4,2gig, 1Gig Ram, with Yamaha DSP Factory as a soundcard. Running on Windows XP Pro.
Using still Cubase 5.(havent had time to get into the SX yet)

Using Yamaha NS10's for monitoring and mixing.

Been a electronic musician and programmer since early 90's.
Been working/producing/releasing music seriously since 1997.
I am involved with bands like, Icon Of Coil, Moonitor, Monofader and Zombie Girl.

I use Reaktor as Stand Alone and as a VST.

I find the interface REALLY enjoyable and straight forward.
I like interfaces where one loose the abillitiy to be creativ, instead looking for how to find the filter or some other thing in a menu. Reakotr is very much like an analog synth regarding interface.

And even if one dont have much experience with twiddling synthesizers, Reaktor is a good place to start for sure, is evne though being very complicated in structre, it is easy to figure out with a little bit of patience and understanding for how a synth his set up.
Even better, one can totally modify the panels in a way that you personally would like them to be, so I mean how much better can it be?

As I am a hardware freak it took me a while to actually sit down and "have a talk" with Reaktor. But the time for me to get into came, as I realized one can do some pretty wicked stuff with Reaktor, which was more or less impossible somewhere else, unless one had a nice load of $$ available.

Basically, it sounds AMAZING!!!! Some of the ensembles are just blowing me away. It has sonic posibillities I never thought was possible!
I personally prefer to make my own sounds, which is a walk in the park with Reaktor 4.
I recently got into making my own instruments which is almost becoming an obsession. Building your own cool things that does wierd shit is worth the time and efford for sure.

Of course, I still go to hardware for a lot of things, I know sounds better than Reaktor, but for wicked fx, or some percussion things Reaktor is the thing, not to mention it's fx.

I dont think talking about the price should even be a matter.
Anyone complaing about the price for the possibillities within Reaktor should really go out and try and purchase hardware stuff that even comes close to what Reaktor can offer..Seriously, it is a BARGAIN!

And the deeper one digs the more secrets it reveals, it is just an neverending sonic world.

Yeah it crashes, but then again, so does pretty much any software.(the thing I dislike about software).

Sure some ensembles make my pc wanna blow up(and my head), but I am a patient man so it is all worth it, sort of.

Bottom line isL If you need some spice in your music, and something different(or common) Reaktor is delivering with a blast and keeps delivering.......

It is top of the line, Class A in software as far as I know!!

Let me tell you this: Reaktor 4 is the big daddy to beat all big daddy software instruments. I have been tweaking synths for a few years, and playing guitars for yet a few years tacked onto that. And for me Reaktor was a truly paradigm shifting experience. Sure, people have used other tools ranging from Max/MSP to Kyma to the Nord Mod to achieve similar extremities of sound synthesis. Far be it for me to say what's the best- after all each is very much unique and different; each has its own niche. But if you have a blazing fast PC or MAC you can probably at the least afford Reaktor Sessions, and let me tell you even sessions has mind numbing powerful capabilities; you just can't build your own with Sessions, is all(a drag for some, no loss for others). The full featured version of Reaktor which lets you build away, imo, is worth every penny if you're like me and are a tweaking madman. Because this software will open up a world of tweaking outside of the box, between the lines, beyond the xox.
You will be able to use all the prominent synthesis methods including wavetable, additive, FM, Granular. But what's more you'll be up in no time with its huge(1,500+) user library and let me just say that the real highlights here, imo, come when you get into using Reaktor as a drum machine and loop mangler. As well, using Reaktor as an audio effect is a huge highlight.
Now, my music is rather off the beaten path so this wouldn't be ideal for everyone, but I can easily make an entire track with just Reaktor; I use it for synths and effects.
However, it also makes a great companion to my other tools like the Oasys PCI, Waldorf Micro Q, Roland MKS 80 Super Jupiter, Doepfer MS 404, Tracktion, Reason etc.

This thing is as vast as the ocean. You can drown in its depth if you aren't cautious. You can waste away otherwise productive music making time testing out the sound patches(snapshots) from other peoples ready-made creations(ensembles). My folder of Reaktor ensembles is a vast and chaotic place easily dwarfing my VSTi collection.
On the level of programming patches it's fairly easy to use provided you are experienced as a synth programmer. If not be very afraid! Each ensemble will have its own interface so it's not like learning one instrument.
As far as building ensembles, well that's a different matter. Even if you are very experienced as a patch maker you should still be very afraid! With other modulars you just patch things together, but with this you must connect lower level modules that form the macro modules i.e. it's a lot deeper than most programs.
Now, some ensembles are rather lego like and can easily be split up and combined with other things. That's the easy way around this. But others are rather ingenious and are not lego like-- but hey without Reaktor's depth you wouldn't have those to begin with.
And a finished Reaktor ensemble operates like a fixed architecture synth. You can go crazy with modulation routings using a modulation matrix if you wish. But really Reaktor is a different class of instrument than the Nord Modular and VAZ Modular.
As far as sounds, don't expect the typical. Expect far more! For example, if you like that sort of stuttering gated sample effect why not build that into the sample oscillators on your drum machines? If you like chopping loops why not build an ensemble where loops get chopped up and modulated around and stretched at random as the stop/start points merily skip from to to fro. Heck, why not have a few loops doing this together to form a stack? Now, lets say you add a sequenced FM based drum synth. What better to top that off than a vector synth which uses the waves from a prophet VS and an additive organ with a cool delay effect.
There ya go, you just wrote an insane IDM sounding song. If you have "track freeze" might as well use Reaktor to add effects to those parts. Better have "track freeze to do this, though, because your CPU will pay dearly for each instance of this program I assure you.
And when you're done with that, hey, why not load a loop from that song into a granular ensemble and generate sound sounds which after recording them you load into a softsampler...hey..
Basically, this is vast and endless. I'm sure nobody will reach whatever shores lay across its vastness.

This thing makes a description of chameleonic seem an understatement. You can do so much with clever programming within the structure of an ensemble, or by defining your own ensemble structures and rolling your own synths and effects. At the same time Reaktor uses the algorithms it uses and therefore it all has a subtle or not so subtle Reaktor sound character; depending on the ensemble you use or your skills that's good or it's bad.
I find the presets adequate in the sense it gives you over one thousand synths. But a lot of those synth ensembles have poorly conceived presets so if you're a hardcore preset user this program will scare the living bejebus out of you.It doesn't always give you the desired results right away so tweaking is required. Certainly it doesn't have that radio ready coat of glossy sheen that a Triton does. That doesn't mean you can't get that from Reaktor, but it's just far more suited to a lot of esoteric processing and out there synthesis applications. It sounds great, imo. Doesn't nail the sound of the analogs you have in your closet. So don't sell your Blacet or your CS-80 to fund the purchase of this. But Reaktor sounds great for something that does a bit of everything, when all's considered, and it does so much so well that I can't complain except to say it could always sound a tad more analog.There's sample mangling capabilities here you won't find with any hardware, that's for sure. And as an effect it's a great compliment to everything I use. And as a synth I use it all the time, too. I could easily use nothing but if I had to. Thankfully I don't, because this does have a sound which isn't a bad sound just, you know, a sound. But I do love Reaktor!

If this isn't worth the price then nothing is worth its price because as long as I have an audio/midi host which can do "track freeze"(and with FX Max's FXFreeze it needn't be built in)I can use Reaktor for practically everything. Not quite ideal, I know, because Reaktor is indeed the greatest CPU hog this side of Tassman, and it's far too tweak inducing to be used as a collection of sounds for really quick song sketch composing the way one might do with, say, a VST sampler or with Reason. But I can do it all with Reaktor as long as I have track freeze, god as my witness. As far as cool synthesis Reaktor has it all. For all the unglamorous and uncool sample playback stuff this is a bit overkill and doesn't come with a sample library the way Reason and Kontakt do. Personally, I think reaktor and Reason are a fine match, though.
It's a fantastic fantasic values. Yes I said fantastic twice. I'll say it again: fantastic value.

I'll keep it simply.If you want to edit this then make sure you have a clear head.If you want to use the AMAZINg user library them make sure your ready for the most forward think sounds you will hear.

Programming reaktor i dont do.The user ensembles simply cover just about everything creatable with a modular synth enviroment.

Easy to use , hard to program but who needs to? 1500 ensembles , each a unique instrument ? people are way to parnoid about using reaktor as they say i cant understand it . . . .

Amazing esotronic stuff .

Go box alone is worth it if you do mad mad electronica beat music or trance.

Checkout these guys for waveforms , load into gobox and be prepared to break into a sweat . . .ive used drum machines and samplers for 10 years , and also all modualr synths and nothing comes close.

checkout here

http://uk.geocities.com/studioosound/index2.htm

amazing reaktor soundsets and go box wave maps.

11 out of 10