Reaktor 6 is an amazing synthesis engine. I ended up buying the full version just for Blocks. It's like having a fully capable modular analog synth for a fraction of the cost of a hardware setup.
A little tip for Reaktor Player and 3rd party ensembles in REAPER: Create a custom action called "Reset" with: Track: Set all FX offline for selected tracks. Action: Wait 1 second before next action. (this is not really neccessary) Track Set all FX online for selected tracks. And set it as a button on top left, or assign a key to it. It will remember all the settings (which is waht makes it great) and just reset the 30 minute timer. This way you can basically play without the time limit.
Another great video. Thanks Woody. Wish I hadn't heard it, though . . . I'm chest-deep in my hardware addiction and learning/appreciating the older synths. I'll have to resist this siren call to soft synths for now!
I admit to owning so much stuff at the moment, I couldn't even tell you what some of it does... darn shame I missed so much of this stuff LOL. What little I messed with the full Reaktor sounded great, just not in my current songwriting mode. I feel a instrumental mode needs to come about at some time, then I can get into these more. Thanks as always Woody.
Hi Woody. Nowhere in the video do I see an explanation of how space drone and those other self generating modules get their input from. Am I playing keys on the keyboard, because within things like micro prism I understand how to generate chords melodies face lines etc., but nothing I do on the keyboard seems to affect things like space drone or nuskool.
got distracted half way through this to go and play with some of these synths. I've had Komplete for years and Reaktor for a while before that - it's kind of crazy how much you get - so much you never look at some of it. I definitely need a phase of spending time with the things I already have making the most of them
that's so true, wouldn't know where to start with full version komplete, guess you just learn one synth a week and you might be done after a year .... :)
Hey Woody, thanks for this video. I think I'll give this version a chance and try it out! By the way: your "$1500 monitor stand-Level 42-Intro" was absolutely fantastic! And whooops: the sound at at 18:05 here in this video ("Polar Wind") reminds me of Level 42 again: the intro-sound of "Lessons In Love" ;-)
yes it does indeed sound like lessons, what a coincidence, even weirder because for that space drone synth, you don't actually play any notes, the synth generates sounds automatically
Since kontakt player does not give me a 30 minute demo since the Player version is Free. Why does the Player edition of Reaktor have a 30 minute demo since I currently have Reaktor Player? I am confused.
I've made a resolution to not add anymore music software to my collection. Between VSTs, AUs, iOS and reaktor synths I have at least 200 good quality synths... New synths are always fun, but playing with them can get in the way of actually making music. 😁
That's a good approach. It occurs to me that one can or should limit oneself to a few synths. I've been using Dexed since I saw it in your DX7 comparison video, it takes me back to when I had my DX7. Heck I've had Absynth since back when it first came out and I've still barely scratched the surface on it!
Thanks for motivating me to go back and dig into Reaktor a bit more. I bought Komplete almost a year ago, but only installed a fraction of the Reaktor skins/modules - mostly wanted to use Kontakt for MIDI covers. * Saw videos this weekend for the new Korg Prologue, which looks SOOOO nice (and expensive), but this makes me realize just how much analog modeling I already have on my laptop. * Did I spell these things right? N/I's product name spelling drives me bonkers :-)
I have a problem and cannot find a solution! New to Kontakt/Native Instruments: Using Reaktor 6 Player as a plugin in Waveform 11, I can choose different presets for each synth, and tweak settings. Upon playback, or when a new MIDI clip starts, the synth resets to the default preset settings. HELP
Yeah Reaktor 6 completely blew me away when I downloaded the free NI bundle. It kinda made my speakers sound better lol like everything had more clarity and was louder. Does anybody know if the free ensembles work with the Free Reaktor 6 yet or not?
I tried these VST with Reason 10, for example. I also tried without. They work intermittently, it's boring. In other words, we can not count on them, so what are they for? They are very pretty, but we can not really use it! I have seen several videos where they apparently work. I do not understand why they are so capricious with me !?
I'd love to hear some music people haveade with those synths. True they have awesome timbres. I personally owned konplete 8 and then upgraded, I dunno why to konplete 11, of course just before the amazing konplete 12 came out. To be honest I'd have to say that I fart around with sounds and trying to work out the GUIs and browsers for hours and rarely if ever make music except with kontakt and some other sampled I struments like the vintage organs. Is there something wrong with me or does having an enormous pallet make painting less likely and does have weird sounds make you less able to use them. Just a personal story. I still do more woth actual pianos, guitars and banjos. Could you sir, post some awesome music you've made with these products?
how long do you have to use these because my friend downloaded a couple with the komplete n reaktor 6 and after like a curtain amount of time it just became unavailable
wow, is reaktor that old? ni were certainly pioneers of soft synths, i remember playing around with B4 and Pro52 and yeah, that feels about 20 years ago.
I have no earthly idea how you managed to use Newscool- I can't seem to get anything to play to save my life. How did you get it to play?! I can select the different presets and change the cells but can't play anything!! Please help!! Thanks
Yikes Woody... I know nothing (and I really mean nothing) about using soft synths...all mine are rather hard (ooo errr, Mrs!) but this has got me thinking...what do I need to run them? I have a basic version of Cubase (Elements 8) which I use simply to record mixed stereo audio. Can I run these things in Cubase (the version that I have)? Do I need anything else? How do I control them? Will my MIDI master keyboard do it? Can I sequence/record them in or with Cubase or do I need something else? I just don't know! They sound great, all of them and I want them. Please help (if you can!). As ever a really great and informative video (even I do still have a lot of questions!).
they will run just fine in cubase, you can have one or several softsynths on every track, arm the track you want to record and play with your midi-controller. there are also stand-alone versions that you can play outside of cubase. just give it a shot, try a simple softsynth like synth1 first perhaps, just to get up and running really quickly and test out the setup.
OOohhh Woody you are such a Dood! Thanks for the quick reply. I used to be a real "Tech-head" but got out of the loop and have to learn all this new stuff (all I could "plug in" to my old Atari was a MIDI cable!). I must give this a try and consider it part of the "learning curve". Thanks loads for the guidance. Maybe if I can get this to work I might even invest in more...who knows?
hiy! nice vid :D just a quick question though...? After installing should the synths be in the list? because they aren't in my player and also after downloading mikro prism and blocks wired the other three synths are just nowhere to be found :(
IGNORE: => BTW, NI must have been listening to you, Woody. I downloaded the player and now they're only offering Blocks, Microprism and Guitar Rig. :( I was very anxious to give Carbon 2 and Chaos Pad a try. Dang it! EDITED: Special thanks to cyanit for helping me get this all working! Please disregard my comments about the players not being in the download. They're there!!
this is all so bizarre, i don't get it, must have been a glitch in the system when I downloaded. what a bummer. you did download the reaktor players factory library, that was an additional download i believe?
check this page: www.native-instruments.com/en/specials/free-vst-plugins/ "REAKTOR 6 PLAYER gives you access to the sound of REAKTOR via a free, easy-to-use interface. It also powers the free BLOCKS WIRED - the perfect introduction to the world of modular synthesis. You also get the free REAKTOR FACTORY SELECTION, which features more than 400 presets for four powerful VST instruments: Lazerbass, Space Drone, Carbon 2, and Newscool. "
Woody, unfortunately that description is no longer valid. When you click on the "Download" button in that section, it brings you to the "REAKTOR 6 PLAYER" details page (www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/reaktor-6-player/), which specifically states you only get: "MODULAR DSP LAB Powerful player for all ‘Made for REAKTOR PLAYER’ instruments Free BLOCKS WIRED and MIKRO PRISM Demo the full REAKTOR feature set for 30 minutes" At the bottom of that page it lists the free instruments for REAKTOR 6 PLAYER; Blocks Wired and Mikro Prism". This leads me to believe one of two things: 1. You lucked out with your timing and they since have reduced the free instruments, or 2. it could be a regional thing (I'm in the US). I've tried re-requesting a download from the page you suggest and the reinstall gives me the same results. Only Blocks Wired and Mikro Prism are available to me. I even went on to their Products page to see if I can find the missing instruments (www.native-instruments.com/en/products/?q=poweredbyreaktor), and they are not listed there for download or purchase. Makes me wonder if they have retired those? Totally bummed because your review has me really interested. As always, I appreciate your time and effort to assist. Much respect!
Correct. I did a thorough scouring of the site too (I'm a web developer by trade) and came up with goose eggs. :( Super happy for you that you were able to get those though! :D
dammit, that really sucks. i already made a wrap-up video about how generous NI are to bundle all those free synths. mikroprism is really nice too, however you don't get the variety of course.
Woody Piano Shack i have reaktor and kontakt player. Blocks shows up in there. I noticed that none of those since were mentioned on the website maybe they don't offer them any more
Thanks this is really helpful I'm looking for good free synth programs I can use to create my music. I use garageband 3 at the moment which is not the best!:)
I'm not to sure I have a really old Mac which won't download anything but I'm hoping to upgrade my computer so I can download good software like reaktor
Garageband - at least the version(s) on my 2012 MacBook - will load up VST / AU plugins, but you have to dig through weird menus that have apparently changed between versions. I gave up on it after a while and just got Reaper, though, which is cheap and good enough for what toying around I do.
These synths sound amazing! I'm actually downloading them while typing right now :). Can't wait to use them!
Reaktor 6 is an amazing synthesis engine. I ended up buying the full version just for Blocks. It's like having a fully capable modular analog synth for a fraction of the cost of a hardware setup.
Reaktor: the most powerful sound factory I ever heard. Espetacular sounds!
A little tip for Reaktor Player and 3rd party ensembles in REAPER:
Create a custom action called "Reset" with:
Track: Set all FX offline for selected tracks.
Action: Wait 1 second before next action. (this is not really neccessary)
Track Set all FX online for selected tracks.
And set it as a button on top left, or assign a key to it.
It will remember all the settings (which is waht makes it great) and just reset the 30 minute timer.
This way you can basically play without the time limit.
Of course you can just CTRL+SHIFT+LMB on the VSTi, but the action is faster if you have multiple instances of R6 over multiple tracks.
I have the full Reaktor and don't really mess much with it but carbon is one of my goto synths. Amazing sound.
Another great video. Thanks Woody. Wish I hadn't heard it, though . . . I'm chest-deep in my hardware addiction and learning/appreciating the older synths. I'll have to resist this siren call to soft synths for now!
17:18 freaking UN. REAL. Just wow. Gots to get me some of this, stat.
very interesting... but the melody in the beginning is golden!!
Cool Sound!
Very Cool
I admit to owning so much stuff at the moment, I couldn't even tell you what some of it does... darn shame I missed so much of this stuff LOL. What little I messed with the full Reaktor sounded great, just not in my current songwriting mode. I feel a instrumental mode needs to come about at some time, then I can get into these more. Thanks as always Woody.
Hi Woody. Nowhere in the video do I see an explanation of how space drone and those other self generating modules get their input from. Am I playing keys on the keyboard, because within things like micro prism I understand how to generate chords melodies face lines etc., but nothing I do on the keyboard seems to affect things like space drone or nuskool.
got distracted half way through this to go and play with some of these synths. I've had Komplete for years and Reaktor for a while before that - it's kind of crazy how much you get - so much you never look at some of it. I definitely need a phase of spending time with the things I already have making the most of them
that's so true, wouldn't know where to start with full version komplete, guess you just learn one synth a week and you might be done after a year .... :)
Mark williamson
I think that is true of a lot of us, too many goodies, not enough time to learn.
Hey Woody, thanks for this video. I think I'll give this version a chance and try it out! By the way: your "$1500 monitor stand-Level 42-Intro" was absolutely fantastic! And whooops: the sound at at 18:05 here in this video ("Polar Wind") reminds me of Level 42 again: the intro-sound of "Lessons In Love" ;-)
yes it does indeed sound like lessons, what a coincidence, even weirder because for that space drone synth, you don't actually play any notes, the synth generates sounds automatically
Since kontakt player does not give me a 30 minute demo since the Player version is Free. Why does the Player edition of Reaktor have a 30 minute demo since I currently have Reaktor Player? I am confused.
Lafe game as a sequencer! Cool!
Fantastic
That chaos pad!
That took my breath away
I've made a resolution to not add anymore music software to my collection.
Between VSTs, AUs, iOS and reaktor synths I have at least 200 good quality synths...
New synths are always fun, but playing with them can get in the way of actually making music. 😁
so true boba. i try and stick to tal-uno-lx and pianoteq for most of my music.
That's a good approach.
It occurs to me that one can or should limit oneself to a few synths. I've been using Dexed since I saw it in your DX7 comparison video, it takes me back to when I had my DX7.
Heck I've had Absynth since back when it first came out and I've still barely scratched the surface on it!
Thanks for motivating me to go back and dig into Reaktor a bit more. I bought Komplete almost a year ago, but only installed a fraction of the Reaktor skins/modules - mostly wanted to use Kontakt for MIDI covers. *
Saw videos this weekend for the new Korg Prologue, which looks SOOOO nice (and expensive), but this makes me realize just how much analog modeling I already have on my laptop.
* Did I spell these things right? N/I's product name spelling drives me bonkers :-)
just substitute a K for a C and you're good! Prologue sounds very nice, haven't seen the price, I don't need one anyway...
how do you record it if you use slave computer ? (VEP7)
11:02 holy - !!
how do you access the "included" instruments? My Reaktor 6 player seems to be empty of instruments
Install the Reactor Factory Selection and you will then see them in the list.
I have a problem and cannot find a solution! New to Kontakt/Native Instruments: Using Reaktor 6 Player as a plugin in Waveform 11, I can choose different presets for each synth, and tweak settings. Upon playback, or when a new MIDI clip starts, the synth resets to the default preset settings. HELP
I do not believe the free versions of Native Instruments allow you to save presets. I’ve had the same issue
Yeah Reaktor 6 completely blew me away when I downloaded the free NI bundle. It kinda made my speakers sound better lol like everything had more clarity and was louder. Does anybody know if the free ensembles work with the Free Reaktor 6 yet or not?
The lazerbass sounds very FM-like.
I tried these VST with Reason 10, for example. I also tried without. They work intermittently, it's boring. In other words, we can not count on them, so what are they for? They are very pretty, but we can not really use it!
I have seen several videos where they apparently work. I do not understand why they are so capricious with me !?
I'd love to hear some music people haveade with those synths. True they have awesome timbres. I personally owned konplete 8 and then upgraded, I dunno why to konplete 11, of course just before the amazing konplete 12 came out. To be honest I'd have to say that I fart around with sounds and trying to work out the GUIs and browsers for hours and rarely if ever make music except with kontakt and some other sampled I struments like the vintage organs. Is there something wrong with me or does having an enormous pallet make painting less likely and does have weird sounds make you less able to use them. Just a personal story. I still do more woth actual pianos, guitars and banjos. Could you sir, post some awesome music you've made with these products?
how long do you have to use these because my friend downloaded a couple with the komplete n reaktor 6 and after like a curtain amount of time it just became unavailable
Amazing that this been around for 20 years. I wish they hadn’t ditched the Kore system:/
wow, is reaktor that old? ni were certainly pioneers of soft synths, i remember playing around with B4 and Pro52 and yeah, that feels about 20 years ago.
Can you save your own presets in the free versoin?
i dunno, it's free so try yourself!
I have no earthly idea how you managed to use Newscool- I can't seem to get anything to play to save my life. How did you get it to play?! I can select the different presets and change the cells but can't play anything!! Please help!! Thanks
press play on your host sequencer :) had me for a while too....
Got it!! Great video, Thanks for putting it together!
Yikes Woody... I know nothing (and I really mean nothing) about using soft synths...all mine are rather hard (ooo errr, Mrs!) but this has got me thinking...what do I need to run them? I have a basic version of Cubase (Elements 8) which I use simply to record mixed stereo audio. Can I run these things in Cubase (the version that I have)? Do I need anything else? How do I control them? Will my MIDI master keyboard do it? Can I sequence/record them in or with Cubase or do I need something else? I just don't know! They sound great, all of them and I want them. Please help (if you can!). As ever a really great and informative video (even I do still have a lot of questions!).
they will run just fine in cubase, you can have one or several softsynths on every track, arm the track you want to record and play with your midi-controller. there are also stand-alone versions that you can play outside of cubase. just give it a shot, try a simple softsynth like synth1 first perhaps, just to get up and running really quickly and test out the setup.
OOohhh Woody you are such a Dood! Thanks for the quick reply. I used to be a real "Tech-head" but got out of the loop and have to learn all this new stuff (all I could "plug in" to my old Atari was a MIDI cable!). I must give this a try and consider it part of the "learning curve". Thanks loads for the guidance. Maybe if I can get this to work I might even invest in more...who knows?
hiy! nice vid :D just a quick question though...? After installing should the synths be in the list? because they aren't in my player and also after downloading mikro prism and blocks wired the other three synths are just nowhere to be found :(
maybe NI have changed their policy, but there was a difference in the bundle between installing komplete players, or just reaktor players.
aaaahhh ok
IGNORE: => BTW, NI must have been listening to you, Woody. I downloaded the player and now they're only offering Blocks, Microprism and Guitar Rig. :( I was very anxious to give Carbon 2 and Chaos Pad a try. Dang it!
EDITED: Special thanks to cyanit for helping me get this all working! Please disregard my comments about the players not being in the download. They're there!!
this is all so bizarre, i don't get it, must have been a glitch in the system when I downloaded. what a bummer. you did download the reaktor players factory library, that was an additional download i believe?
check this page:
www.native-instruments.com/en/specials/free-vst-plugins/
"REAKTOR 6 PLAYER gives you access to the sound of REAKTOR via a free, easy-to-use interface. It also powers the free BLOCKS WIRED - the perfect introduction to the world of modular synthesis.
You also get the free REAKTOR FACTORY SELECTION, which features more than 400 presets for four powerful VST instruments: Lazerbass, Space Drone, Carbon 2, and Newscool. "
Woody, unfortunately that description is no longer valid. When you click on the "Download" button in that section, it brings you to the "REAKTOR 6 PLAYER" details page (www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/reaktor-6-player/), which specifically states you only get:
"MODULAR DSP LAB
Powerful player for all ‘Made for REAKTOR PLAYER’ instruments
Free BLOCKS WIRED and MIKRO PRISM
Demo the full REAKTOR feature set for 30 minutes"
At the bottom of that page it lists the free instruments for REAKTOR 6 PLAYER; Blocks Wired and Mikro Prism".
This leads me to believe one of two things: 1. You lucked out with your timing and they since have reduced the free instruments, or 2. it could be a regional thing (I'm in the US).
I've tried re-requesting a download from the page you suggest and the reinstall gives me the same results. Only Blocks Wired and Mikro Prism are available to me.
I even went on to their Products page to see if I can find the missing instruments (www.native-instruments.com/en/products/?q=poweredbyreaktor), and they are not listed there for download or purchase. Makes me wonder if they have retired those?
Totally bummed because your review has me really interested. As always, I appreciate your time and effort to assist. Much respect!
Correct. I did a thorough scouring of the site too (I'm a web developer by trade) and came up with goose eggs. :( Super happy for you that you were able to get those though! :D
dammit, that really sucks. i already made a wrap-up video about how generous NI are to bundle all those free synths. mikroprism is really nice too, however you don't get the variety of course.
None of these are showing up in mine
yeah, it's a bit confusing. did you download komplete players or reaktor players? i suspect that could be it.
Woody Piano Shack i have reaktor and kontakt player. Blocks shows up in there. I noticed that none of those since were mentioned on the website maybe they don't offer them any more
Thanks this is really helpful I'm looking for good free synth programs I can use to create my music. I use garageband 3 at the moment which is not the best!:)
can garageband run vst softsynth plugins?
I'm not to sure I have a really old Mac which won't download anything but I'm hoping to upgrade my computer so I can download good software like reaktor
Garageband - at least the version(s) on my 2012 MacBook - will load up VST / AU plugins, but you have to dig through weird menus that have apparently changed between versions.
I gave up on it after a while and just got Reaper, though, which is cheap and good enough for what toying around I do.
Roboprogs ok thank for the advice!:)
You could hook up a toaster to a keyboard and make is sound fantastic.
ahh, shucks, thanks!
13:49 really interesting
you're enjoying the demo I see, :)
The Book Tower
NIce
Why the entire video is just playing the sounds of these synthesizers? Nothing to learn here. 👎🏼
i can't win, people say i talk too much, then i do an all-playing, and people complain about that... :D