Reaktor 6

The Lounge Other Gear
#21

Yes. I’m very impressed after two days of use.
The workflow is surprisingly smooth for software that is this powerful.
NI did a wonderful job on the interface.

The wave shaping user blocks that have been uploaded to the library have put serious life into the ensembles I’ve been building and using.

Considering trading my Monomachine for an Octatrack now, and just loading it up with the various craziness I’ve been making with Blocks. It’s that good.
It works solid as Rytm food too, but the sound is so good I’d like to keep it in stereo too.[/quote]
When I need stereo samples into the Rytm I just upload the same sample twice (L then R channel). Then assign to two different voices, one pan 100% left and the other pan 100% to the right. Trigger both at the same time. Yes you end up using 2 voices on the Rytm but for a complex stereo sample like the ones generated by Reaktor I think that’s an acceptable solution. I debated as to whether I should get an OT too, but I think that by being inventive and optimise some voices (sample chains?), I think I’ll just settle fine with AR, A4 and Reaktor 6 with Overbridge/Ableton. Start workflow with AR/A4 only, then add stuff with Reaktor in Ableton, upload samples back into AR, then finish with just AR/A4 so that everything is self contained for live performance. That’s my plan anyway.

#22

This is my exact workflow lately, and it is working out well. The only hiccup in smoothness to this workflow is getting the Reaktor samples into AR with C6. However, once they are on the +Drive, organizing them with Overbridge makes up for it.

I think you are right about the advantages of stereo sample (pairs), even at the loss of an extra voice. Often enough I don’t use all the AR voices anyway, even for whole tracks.
I still use mono Reaktor samples mixed in with the stereo pairs, though, as a bit of parameter locked panning and FX sending helps, without filling the 64MB project ram too fast. Often I’ll only go with stereo pairs for shorter samples, 1 bar or less.

#23

Haha, yes you’d get slammed at Gearslutz! I use Reason 7.5 (8 is the latest, but not that different) and Cubase with Reaktor 5.
Although I love Reason, and it’s an all-in-one programme, the synths of Reaktor sound incredible, and there’s some really creative stuff. Plus, if you fancy going down the wormhole, you can get into making your own synths.
There are some decent ‘Rack Extensions’ for Reason (native plugins), and there are things you can do in it that you can’t in other programmes, but sound quality wise, IMHO Reaktor wins!
[/quote]
Cheers for the info. I’m on 7.1 at the moment - only have a few REs.

As deep as it is, so far my biggest issue with Reason is only being able to use patch points or modulation points where the developers have put them in. Or not being able to load individual modules for different stuff, for example - if I wanted 16 oscillators for some unknown reason I’d have to load 6 instances of Thor which starts getting messy after a while and wastes DSP. (EDIT: Just found an RE for that!)

Might do an in depth comparison in a month or two when I’ve got more time.

[/quote]
You can modulate any parameter with CV in Reason - The combinator is your friend for that :slight_smile:

#24

Ok so I gave in to GAS and just jumped on the R6 bandwagon. Always loved tassman and figured upgrading would be worth it. Here’s to mental modular FM doodlings!

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#25

Cheers for the tip. I’ve hardly used the combinator up until now - might be time to learn a bit more about it.

#26

Do you mind me asking which editor you’re using - Google wasn’t any help. Do you mean the Blowfield editor? Been using it myself for a while, happy enough but still on the lookout for a better option.

Have used pre-rolled Reaktor ensembles for years, but the introduction of Blocks has finally inspired me to get under the hood a little bit.

Was impressed enough with Owen Vallis’ Blocks videos that I signed up for his Kadenze Reaktor course - excellent material and assignments, well structured, clear delivery, combines a nice synthesis 101 with a gentle introduction to building ensembles. Was late to the party, so didn’t bother signing up to get coursework marked, etc., but fully intend to next time around. Highly recommended.

To be honest, I’m starting to realise that while I thought R6 and Bazille would sate my Eurorack cravings, in reality R6 is more of a gateway drug. Especially when I see the likes of:

#27

(the forum was freaking out when I tried putting a quote and video in one post, so I’ve used a second one)

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#28

[quote="“benway”"]

Do you mind me asking which editor you’re using - Google wasn’t any help. Do you mean the Blowfield editor? Been using it myself for a while, happy enough but still on the lookout for a better option.

Have used pre-rolled Reaktor ensembles for years, but the introduction of Blocks has finally inspired me to get under the hood a little bit.

Was impressed enough with Owen Vallis’ Blocks videos that I signed up for his Kadenze Reaktor course - excellent material and assignments, well structured, clear delivery, combines a nice synthesis 101 with a gentle introduction to building ensembles. Was late to the party, so didn’t bother signing up to get coursework marked, etc., but fully intend to next time around. Highly recommended.

To be honest, though I’m starting to realise that while I thought R6 and Bazille would sate my Eurorack cravings, in reality R6 is more of a gateway drug. Especially when I see the likes of:[/quote]
Sorry for the typo, yea, this one by my buddy Patrick DSP
http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device/2380/waldorf-blofeld-editor

#29

how easy is to use the blocks on reaktor?

#30

Very easy.

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#31

thanks Adam

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#32

I finally got a chance to play with the free Reaktor Blocks, and am loving it…finger is hovering over the buy button and I may throw a bunch of digital gear on eBay if it covers my needs like I think it will. How’re you finding the hit to your CPU with Reaktor 6? I’ve been trying to stress test my MBP (mid-2012, 2.9ghz dual-core i7), and seem to be choking at around seven+ Reaktor 6 tracks, with a couple of M4L bits. Hard to tell what that might translate to with some more intensive ensembles.

#33

R6 is definitely a CPU hog.
Fun though.

#34

Yeah, Blocks is CPU intensive as hell, but it’s mostly sound generating modules like oscillators and filters that max you out.
Their emulations are incredible, though.

Sold a few synths, built a 9U modular rig over Christmas, and got a Vermona qmi and Expert Sleepers ES-3 & ES-6 to communicate directly to and from Ableton, Reaktor, and Max.
There has honestly never been a better time to create ITB and OTB solutions for electronic music.

It saves you A LOT of money using Blocks or Max’s Beap modules to control your actual hardware units instead of buying tons of hardware to do some of that stuff.
I’ve currently been using my old Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 to run 8 ins and 8 outs to and from my rig with the Reaktor and Max doing most of the control and pairing it with different hardware oscillators, effects, and control modules from Mutable, Waldorf, and Intellijel, AMO, and I couldn’t be happier.
I can do more with two to four tracks and way less physical and mental effort than I used to with 16 tracks.
Plus with UAD plugins I can make it sound as round and “analog” as I need it to be.

Kept my A4, though.
One piece of hardware I’ll never throw out.

Good times!

1 Like
#35

Should anyone else have the same question-even with multiple instances of some complex ensembles I’m able to stay below about 50% CPU, but there are definitely some crazy patches in the user library that spike me from 2%-75+% instantly.

#36

I really don’t mind the R6/Blocks CPU hogging, as the majority of my processing is offloaded to Rytm and A4.
Add about 6% more CPU for 20 Waves API 550s and I still have loads of power for many R6 tracks

2008 8-Core Xeon 2.8gz Mac Pro, 6gbps PCIe/SSD, 16GB ram, Mavericks.

#37

AdamJay-it’s thanks to you that I’ve been looking at 12-core Mac Pros and contemplating a big gear sell off, so I know I’ll be going that way soonish, probably after I get back from NAMM. In the meantime, I’m sure I can keep busy just trying to learn my way around Reaktor.

#38

Word up! Good luck!
I think I’ll pour a little more into my 2008 8-core with a 1GB video card and another USB pcie bus to get me through the next couple years. That should give me time to allow the 2010 12-cores to come down in price more.

So far, my 8-core has been a trooper, but having Elektrons doing a majority of the processing, plus finding efficient but effective zero latency EQ plug-ins (Waves API550b) has given me plenty of headroom to work at the 128 sample buffer. I do go up to 256 sample when I have live Reaktor 6 ensembles running while tracking, though.

I was just looking at my old receipts and in 2010 I paid $1,000 for my 2006 2.66ghz Quad and sold it for just a few hundred 4 years later. Hopefully that rate of depreciation means in 2017 I can get a 12 core 2.93ghz for around $500-$600.
1TB SSDs ought to be real cheap by then too!

#39

Word up! Good luck!
I think I’ll pour a little more into my 2008 8-core with a 1GB video card and another USB pcie bus to get me through the next couple years. That should give me time to allow the 2010 12-cores to come down in price more.

So far, my 8-core has been a trooper, but having Elektrons doing a majority of the processing, plus finding efficient but effective zero latency EQ plug-ins (Waves API550b) has given me plenty of headroom to work at the 128 sample buffer. I do go up to 256 sample when I have live Reaktor 6 ensembles running while tracking, though.

I was just looking at my old receipts and in 2010 I paid $1,000 for my 2006 2.66ghz Quad and sold it for just a few hundred 4 years later. Hopefully that rate of depreciation means in 2017 I can get a 12 core 2.93ghz for around $500-$600.
1TB SSDs ought to be real cheap by then too![/quote]
To be honest, I’m wondering if it’s even worth getting a 12-core system at the moment, as from my research it doesn’t sound like most audio software can really utilize more than a few cores at once. The 8-core systems are certainly a lot more affordable, and I’ve got the same thought about how cheap a 12-core might get in a few years.

#40

I feel like Live and Logic do a good job with multi core support.
Live takes each stream of audio and puts it on a core, once your streams (tracks, routings) exceed the core count, they get stacked on to earlier cores.
For an 8 core that means the 9th track will go on the 1st core, 10th the 2nd, and so on.

If you plan to run multiple Reaktor ensembles, more cores is better. And just planning to run Reaktor alone means going for a higher clock speed whenever you can (2.93ghz+)

An 8 core 2010 now, with a 12 core CPU upgrade down the road may cost you less in the end, and is definitely worth researching. I’m not familiar enough with the depreciation rates of the 12 core upgrade services to have a sure idea how well that would pan out, however.