The Reaktor Tube is an achive resource of personal
expressive reviews,
and videos highlighting a range
of ensembles (instruments, effects and
midi instrument control utilities)
developed by Native Instruments
and end users
using the Reaktor
development
software.
_________________________________________
Gleam
Subtractive Synthesizer
Gleam sounds like some kind of car
polish or washing liquid,
but really what it is, is a very
well designed and easy to use
synthesizer.
The only real quirk this synth
has by default is that it's
quite CPU heavy depending
on what settings
you have
enabled.
To cut a long story short, the sounds you
can get out of this synth are great.
I've had a lot of fun with this with
it's wealth of creative functions
and features which are
presented really well.
There is an additional 60 carefully created patches
which I've meticulously crafted also.
Simply download the ensemble Gleam,
create a folder and put the set of patches
I've created along side it.
You will find the patches on the side
menu of the Reaktor browser.
By default Gleam comes
with 20 presets/patches.
To save CPU load within the DAW you are using,
I have all the presets setto 22Khz
sample rate which reduces CPU load
to around 10% (Based upon a
Core I7 920 @3.56 Ghz].
Download Free.
JP-80
Gimmik
MonoVoks
Philthy
Stella
When it comes to instrument GUI's, they really don't
come much more eye popping than this ensemble...
looking like the mechanical alien from within the
spaceship from Flight Of The Navigator
which has landed on the film set of Tron
...we have the ensemble called Stella...
Very aptly named because as you'll see, it's like
being at the controls of a space ship.
Hell, you might be pleased to know...
that this is exactly what it sounds like...,
no it doesn't fire lazer cannons,
well not yet anyway and it
doesn't flip around like
a X Wing Tie Fighter out of
Starwars...but it does make greatdrone sounds
and musical one's in which you can play from your controller.
Just pretend that your
keyboard is some gigantic flight control system
that you can glow in the darkness of your studio at night
(probably the best environment to use this in anyway).
It's like playing a video game, because not only do you have various knobs,
you also have oscilloscope displays to depict the sound you are creating.
As the name suggests, the sounds it creates are very spacey,
alien and planetary. Modulation, phasers, reverb, pan,
random options are included to bring sounds alive.
What might come to be a surprise, is that this isn't your
typical drone ensemble, it's not even one of those,
because it is in fact a sampler in disguise.
There isn't an obvious way to load
your own samples from the GUI,
but that aspect can be found from
the built in sample management
options of Reaktor itself.
The control knobs, while some are named,
some are not and so turning on the
(i) to provide information
may be needed from
the main Reaktor
interface to know
what they do.
The GUI whilst beautifully created
is equally mysterious
as it's sounds but it is very
effective unlike most drone ensembles
that require the play button to be active or simply
keep droning on as soon as it's loaded.
But anyway...it's a very cool ensemble...well worth checking out... 
PL2 Remote
Here we have something completely
different from the usual
ensembles, it makes no sound, it doesn't capture
anything so it's not a sampler either...
So what is it you may ask...?
Well..it is in fact a midi controller device which will take
over the parameters of any external midi synthesizer
you have connected to your system be that patchselection, filters, lfo's...ect.
It took control over my Casio XW G1 synthesizer like it
was a possessed poltergeist, lights flashing everywhere
as I remotely scanned the performance parameters.
If you've got an external synth you should check this out..
Boland (Roland) JP8080
No video of this one I can find, but from my own play around of it,
it definitely sounds pretty stunning. Really nice GUI
and is loosely modeled on the original hardware device.
Nord Virtual Analogue Synthesizer
Fancy a bit of Nord action... ?
Well, from looks, it doesn't look that exciting, the sound of it,
it is excellent, whilst it includes built-in effects and a rear side
panel like what you would see on a Reason device, albeit without wires
attached and it's polyphonic with big pads.
Nord Rack
A second iteration of the Nord Rack synthesizer...which despite
it's size (and panel text size, has over 11K in D/L's).
Just like it's brother though, it's really nice sound wise..
RUHR / MS 20 - Hybrid Multi Patch Modular Synthesizer
RUHR.. - Advanced Multi Patch Modular Synthesizer
This track I recorded live is improvised, it's short but it's just really a demo to show you what it sounds like. Enjoy...
Skanner XT £44 / (£22 during sales)
This one isn't free although it was previously when it first came
out for a short period of time, it's often been given away for half the current price.
It might be quite a few years old now, but still a fantastic ensemble.
There are 9 parts of this video series however I've skipped to
the last part where loading in your own samples for
manipulation is shown to be possible.
NI Micro Prism (free)
NI Prism (Commercial - £59 (£30 - £35 during sales)
Radiansoundlab Synth Set - Spawn / Dusk / Bump / Saw
Few Reaktor ensembles really don't come any more beautiful looking
and lovingly crafted than those which you'll find in this list here...
and believe it or not, they won't cost you a dime either to get them.
Sonically, they have their own unique characteristics, there isn't a huge list of presets provided with them so you are left to explore the sonic potential they will provide you and for you to get the most out of each instrument.
Below is screencast of Spawn to give you an idea of how it sounds.
(Free but requires a like on fb or twitter to access them)
Titled..Sandstorm..
Vintage Synths
Jupiter-8 / Mini Moog / Prophet 5 / SH-101
A collection of some classic synths here, and they are pretty old ensembles,
and thus quite a bit smaller than how they appear here,
so these screenshots should help. Not tremendously exciting
sound wise either but should fulfill
some novelty / curiosity you might have.
Kontour -Commercial NI Product ( £89 & £45 during sales )
Tonight I did another screen cast but probably not of something
you were expecting, it's in fact one of Native Instruments latest ensembles.
It's my very first testing of it, and you'll see me playing with lots of things
and I left a little review in the description over on youtube.
ADSR - NI Kontour - First Look and Features Overview
(Viewable vie his youtube channel only... strangely)
It's 30 minutes long so grab a drink... >>>>
NI Rounds Commercial ( £89 - £45 during sales )
Silverbird
For more percussion kinda stuff Silverbird is one of the best on there,
it's kinda like the Matrix in Reason but a lot more advanced
and a pretty incredible set of preset rhythmic presets to explore
and edit (125 in total!!).
You can easily get lost making beats in this for hours.
WERKBANK
Here's something that is rather new and rather cool,
a Polyphonic Additive Morphing Synth
This ensemble this allows you to draw your own waveform shapes,
includes copy/paste editing and the ability to create vector points
over the envelopes whilst including some fx processing features too.
This ensemble is pretty unique in it's ability's, in a way that I've not seen before.
Rifflab Lite
This is a midi generator device, which is used to drive a synth
within an ensemble or a synth DAW device in which you use.
It requires the play button to be active within
Reaktor or the DAW you are using.
Great design, commercial grade product.
The_Arpeggio
Eminent-V 310 Strings Ensemble MkII
Emulation of the strings ensemble section of the
Eminent 310 Unique/Theater Organ
Ever wanted an authentic Jean Micheal Jarre sounding instrument ?
Well you don't really get much more awesome and authentic
than this, it came out 6 years ago so there is
probably many users unaware of it.
All the effects work also to bring it even more alive and
if you were lucky enough to have lived through the 80's and
seen the big stage spectacle of JMJ, you'll be transferring
yourself back in time using this.. I'd suggest closing
your eyes and playing to re-live that time and era.
Serenade
Gesture-controlled violin, viola, cello, and contrabass synthesizer
Don't have a violin handy ? Fancy some virtual reality ?
Well you kinda got that here, play a few keys.. wiggle that mod wheel
or assigned control knob and well you got
yourself a pretty authentic traditional violin.
There's no effects option with this one but that can be
added vie Space Master 2, or better still within your DAW.
Kryptanium V - Ginger Moon Edition
This one however does have an effects section,
but there is a lot more to it and you need to be very aware
volume wise before you use it as the initial plug is very
loud so reduce the volume first before use.
There are drop down options to choose how you would like
to control the bow and you can also set it to be played
vie the keys without solo knob or mouse
control using the re-trig option.
Interestingly it can also sound like a guitar
and even a distorted one at that.
Geetar
And if you want just that...here's a guitar ensemble which
is just that, and it sounds just as incredible as it looks..
ARP Quadra 2.3 + original GUI
It's Saturday afternoon, and everything is going to go boom,
ok well maybe in my next posting ; -), but any ways,
I've been digging in around in the library and
found these excellent synths, in fact one of them is
a replica of the something making it's resurgence
at Namm 2015..well as least in it's previous form.
As for authenticity to the real life hardware version of this,
I have no idea of knowing how well Reaktor is
able to replicate the functionality and
authenticity of real hardware here.
But it really gives you an insight into the basics of the real thing,
and it's GUI is the best re-visualisation of the original I've seen thus far.
DotCom
If you were ever content with just 2 oscillators, well how
about having 6 in this incredibly deep but logical polyphonic synth,
with the very un-synth like name DotCom. The synthesized brass sounds
it can produce are excellent and it's like having real hardware.
The effects are conveniently provided by the
SpaceMaster2 reverb unit by default.
Boland Synthi 700R
Another brilliant synth although the GUI may be a little hard on the eyes..
A demo I created with another VST instrument and the Boland Synthi 700R
Same setup as the last ..different tune...
Propellerheads Reason's Subtractor clone...(Included just for novelty)
Well, you might recognise this, however as the creator
mentions, it's pretty different sounding from Reason's Subtractor,
it is however quite a novel re-interpretation visually
of the device with sharing much
of it's functionality on the face of it.
Kauzigizer
Optimus Prime
Tryr 1.0 Ambient Synth
Well, if there is anything that Reaktor has,
it's some rather unique synths,
the first one being that provides some
rather nifty illuminated dials....
Sonically it's extremely versatile combining not three
below as shown here...but FOUR rotaries with
127 types of unique waveforms to choose from,
detuning, filter types, morphing faders...
and it's unique characteristics of reverberation.
MTX Synth 1 Matrix Synthesizer
With this synth, the Matrix as like the film, is the key
to this superbly designed polyphonic 3 oscillator
based ensemble with lots of effects to play with.
It sounds pretty amazing of course, but it does come
at a little bit of cost CPU wise and there
isn't many patches, but enough to get you started
...and lost in for hours as you play with this.
Digit 8
Now here's something truly unique
to the Reaktor library,
it's a computer,
which has a fully functional
keyboard and display.
Plenty of patches are supplied but what
you really want to know...
is what it does...
well it is in fact a glitch like
music machine that produces
sounds like you'd hear
on an old 8 bit computer.
It really brings back those old memories
of programming in BASIC
on my old Atari 800 XL...
back in the 80's....
baffled you may very well be lol....
Sirius-8
It's very clean, white and blue, like that of the stripy
shirt just out the washing machine..
so clean in fact..
it's free from any presets,
but don't let that put you off,
it's smells lovely with a
deceptive aroma of soundscaping
controls and effects that
add delay and chorus
to burst out the raw
sounding waveform
sounds.
One of the highlights is the different play modes,
such as chord, key, step,
and sequence to select from
just like Native
Instruments own
ensemble Rounds provides,
that can be found from the Assign panel.
A very clever subtractive poly synthesizer with a
lot of modulation controls and selectable parameters.
Space Echo
Here's something a bit different from the usual synths
which have been posted,
it's a replica of THE ECHO,
I mean the real one. I'll be quite excited
to test this one out tonight also.
Summary, well it's pretty great, does what it says
on the tin and then some, hard to fault it really,
other than not having many supplied patches.
Lars Hein 23 Feedback Synth / Fx
For anyone looking for an excellent mid sized,
clean easy to understand looking device
for ambient sound design...
this device is definitely
one you want to add to your collection, it's
polyphonicso it's very much an instrument as well.
Sonically it's very smooth sounding and takes
a whole new unique path in sound
exploration, great for sci-fi movies too...
and what's also great, is that there is
literally tons of great patches included.
I'd put it in my top 10 of discoveries
for atmospheric ambient ensembles.
MPT Deep House Chord Stab Synth
This ensemble has is quite a standard affair in
GUI terms but don't let that put you off..
It's really one of a kind in that if you want to be
transported back to the mid 1990's again,
then this synthesizer will do that
for you in spades with
lots of snapshots you
can choose from...
If you want to make classic house all
over again, then this is really
something for you...
it's chord-tastic.
Lazer Bass Plus V2.5
Lazerbass has long been provided with Reaktor
and even the Reaktor Player is able
to be used with it,
so why include
it here ?
Well other than that you've probably used it a few times
and then forgotten for long and wiry,
it may come to surprise you that it
has recently been given a bit of
an upgrade with step
sequencers
and effects.
The updates closely match the original GUI
rather than adding on something
very different...
which I guess some will appreciate but,
on the flip side, a complete new and modern
GUI would have appealed too if done right.
Perhaps in the future...someone out there
will take on that challenge...
maybe they already are....
who knows...
But anyway, perhaps it's time to
take that old synth out the
closet and give
it a spin again..
and by that, I mean
Lazerbass Plus 2.5.
BCR Synth 2000
If you're looking for a
straight forward little
synthesizer, and I mean in size...
well it's worth investigating this.
It goes much deeper than the screenshot
gives the impression of,
and there are 2 separate A & B sections
with more controls and functions
for deeper, complex synth control.
And another for selecting between two
different GUI types for the FX section.
75 patches clearly categorised are currently
included and many are excellently
crafted. In fact a few of them
sound like the classic indent
score sounds of production
companies that you hear
before a big movie.
If you make any sort of dance music
/ film music, then you will enjoy
exploring what this can provide you sound wise.
The GUI is pretty much a standard
but nice affair, it would be great
to see a more slick custom GUI
to match it's fantastic sound
capabilities though.
GRIP Grain Cloud Synth 1.9
Supports MPE, adapted for Komplete/Maschine
This is a track I created to demonstrate the
creative potential of Grip as a
performance device.
All the processing you hear is
entirely created by Grip itself.
Grain Modulator
Here's an ensemble which shares some similarities
with native instruments Skanner and GRIP...
with a nice big blue waveform display.
It has a diverse array of sounds supplied like
Gregorian voices going in reverse,
glitched out drum loops and
lots of controls to play with.
It's easy to use and is nicely laid out.,
with a highly flexible reverberation
unit bolted on for good
measure which goes on
to enhance the device greatly
so well worth your exploration.
Head Voices
If you are looking for an ensemble with lots of
creative potential without too much complexity,
then this could be right up your street.
It's a polyrhythmic fusion of grain delay
and granular pitch shifting type
of an ensemble providing evolving
mechanical sounds, demented voices,
90's tracker like Jungle music craziness,
that would really provide spice
and atmosphere to any music and
particularly industrial and planetary
soundscape type of stuff.
It provides both sample and audio input,
so one could use the ensemble as
an effects processor within
the DAW
you use which
could provide a
very creative tool.
Add your own samples and
mix them up...and see what
results you get..
With a nicely presented GUI, it's
one you could use might use often.
West 1.3 - FM Hybrid
Experimental Monophonic Synthesizer
This synth has coast in the title,
'West' of where...
who knows ? It is a mystery...
the world we all live on isn't a single piece of land...
maybe it's an island on another planet...
I don't know...however leaving the
naming conventions aside..
What we do know however, is that this is a very
interesting and unusual white synth
with many knobs and drop down menus....
These reveal some quite obscure
options to select from...
It's harmonic spectral synthesis combination
with VCA's (Voltage Controlled Amplifiers),
sub oscillators and LFO driven filters
with many sub options to select from,
provides a wealth of different ways
in which to craft unique sounds
you typically don't
hear very often.
Throw in ADSR's,
frequency shifters,
CV and audio mixing....
sequencing and you can probably
craft any particular sound synth
sound you could ever imagine,
quite possibly with only 2 notes
of polyphony allocated,
(it's kinda like a chemistry set
of sounds of an other world like nature).
It's both musical in a melodic way and
percussive, the latter of which is
what some of the patches provided
focus on (there are a few
just to get you started).
It's a bit like Rop Papens Punch but
a different kinda beast with a hidden
depth that might be scary.
It's one of the most unique synths you can
find that the pleasant looking white GUI belies.
Lets call it the Jekyll & Hyde of Reaktor synths.
DMO 1
Here's a selection of synths particularly suited
to those who are interested producing film
scores and effects.
The unusually named DMO 1,
is a synth which is a pretty much
a joy to use and play, although the
white buttons aren't very clear
with their activity status.
Just 13 patches are included, however with
it's very clean and nice pro looking
system panel layout and knobs,
you will over look this I think,
as it just begs to be played.
The patches provided really do give
a you an idea of what it's
capable of, and it sounds rather
excellent as well despite not
having any reverb unit included.
The chorus, delay, phase shifting / shaping /
filters / lfo's, and mixing options are
great to have and really brings
your creative sonic soundscape
to life with the added sound
generators.
And if you're using
it with your DAW and you just
happen to add some reverb....
it really comes alive and you're
going to be pretty spaced out...
in the most pleasing way.
Dark Matter
If you're looking for a highly creative
device with interchangeable
modulation panels, and straightforward
but diverse controlling options
to produce and play with...
well this great ensemble called
Dark Matter is the one for you.
It's provided with 27 snapshots which
really give you an insight to
the potential it brings,
one named Monument particularly
stands out and also on called
Chippy which resembles
one of the old 80's platform arcade games.
It's really good for spacey sci-fi type of film/games/
music which the additional effects help provide.
Hyridium
Sounding like that
of some mysterious gas or
planetary object in the night sky,
we have an ensemble which interestingly,
does sound rather unusual to go with the name.
This polyphonic synthesizer is abound with 32 notes
of polyphony allowing for smooth
and long evolving pure
tones and textures that
dissipate vie delays
and reverb into a
galaxy of your
making like
a solar
wind.
As you might guess,
this is really great for
your sci-fi type movie
and ambient type music.
With 4 part ADSR controls, room size controls,
frequency (Cutoff / Resonance) LFO
and sub mixing outputs,
it's perfectly suitable for quick musical
and melodic tunes.
Whats clear is the attention to
removing any aliasing in
frequencies at whatever
pitch you choose
to play at.
There isn't many patches but there
are some to proving a starting point.
The design of the GUI is both logical and clear
which is great although it would be nice
to see bigger fonts for the labeling
of the knobs, which is now
possible in Reaktor 6.
Cloud Atlas 1.0
If there was ever a unique and very nicely designed
polyphonic synth but rather comprehensibly
well featured one with lots of control
which goes beyond the conventional
sounds you normally hear,
well this would
be up there.
It's another one of those uniquelycatered
to those who are looking for sound
creation that would be suitable in films
/ games, particularly sci-fi electronics
/ background type of stuff
such as automated
machines or
generators.
There are plenty of these kinda
presets provided,
and lots of sounds range from bottle
blown type, to chimes with complex
evolving textures and even chords.
The provided effects add a lot to
bring life and movement to sounds
which would otherwise sound rather dry.
Musically it would work well in ambient
or perhaps even house type of music also,
whilst organ like sounds are in there too.
It's definitely one you should check
out if you're looking to explore
new sounds and creative
possibilities.
Skywarp
Lets take the skywarp again.....
sorry couldn't resist :- D,
but if you looking for a diversely colourful
and highly creativeensemble for sound
creation then this is one ensemble
worth exploring if you can get
use to the bold use of colours
of which there are many,
which form as an identity
to the functions
Skywarp
provides.
An X/Y display include
pixels which give a visual
over position and speed of up
to 4 points which are controlled
by the lfo parameters.
Free form drawable
sound sculpting gives users a lot
of control although no curve or line
tools are provided, nor vie shortcut keys,
the free form display also acts as a
graphic level band range indicator
which animates in the alternate FFT mode.
There's many snapshots to explore, 44 to be precise
currently so that helps give you a good
starting point and indication of what this ensemble provides.
For more information, check out the video provided by it's creator below.
Terminal Glitch
Something old,
something new, something green is what
we're up to...
and this is kinda immediate
thoughts that come from finding this,
which is a hidden gem in the Reaktor user library.
With a straightforward, fun, feature rich
glitched out sound generator device, it's one you
should definitely reach out for if you're
looking to add a creative rhythmic
percussive element
to your beats.
With the exception of delay
to add space, reverb
is absent on this...
however this isn't really much of
an issue in a practical sense,
a variety of 37 patches are provided
to glitch you off from off.
The B panel provides wave table
drawing in addition to the gates
/ sequence displays on the front besides
other modes, instructions are included
on the ensemble to help in operation.
Sokolov
In the past 10 years there has been
a series of highly mesmerising
and horror like PC FPS games
such as Stalker which was originally
based loosely upon the 1979 film
of the same name and took aspects
of the real life and tragic disaster
at the Chernobyl Power
Plant on the 26th April 1986.
Taking these historic events and game artwork
themes in mind, it's something this ensemble
really captures from the outset I think.
Artistically excellent with massive attention
to detail in the graphic design,
right down to the tiny rusty screws.
Clearly someone's come along and decided
to put on a new set of button's
and knobs to match
the colour scheme.
There's a few hundred patches grouped into
categories with variations provided,
and if that's not enough you also have
a reverse button to essentially
double that in an instant,
and pitch stop effects,
delays, lfo's, lfo wave types,
modulation, pan pots,
flexible mixing, time effects,
filters, parameters galore...
well it's pretty incredible
really and amazingly
free.
Hit the Run button and play away with
the knobs or map them to your
controller.It's like going into a
factory with a microphone and
sampling all the sounds you
can hear and then putting
them into an
amazing
machine.
You can't play this in the conventional
keyboard sense,
but it would be excellent for game
designers in particular and for
those that want to add a whole
new dimension to their rhythmic
sounds within their music
or soundscape based
music.
This thing kills, people would probably suffer
from radioactive poisoning should
they ever stand against it.
Apart from the impressive design,
the technical depth of this device
is comprehensive in delivering
some amazing authentic
sounds and ways
to control them.
Here's a list of the different types
which are included on on each unit.
And here we see what happens to our studio equipment
should the ever be a nuclear fall out any time in the next 50 years...
RUIDOZ v1.1
"Sample Based Audio Mangler For Beat Production & Sound Design"
Well this ensemble certainly is that...
from the creators words.
It's highly versatile and accessible with a
creative futuristic looking GUI
(small text labels and perhaps too much eye
candy to distract the eye may put some off).
However, large controller sections take over
comes much of that in the creative
control department, inspiration from
the Chaos Pad controller way of
working andwith a minimal amount of controls.
There's different
multi-filters you can process
your audio though and
with it having
a step sequencer,
it's very rhythmic
and organic nature will
transcend the normal,
typical and predictable scope that
will elevate your imagination and idea's
surrounding any dance music you may create.
The simplicity of design means that
it's also very
CPU friendly as well...
and as with a lot
of these ensembles I've listed, going beyond
1080P with them,
may be just a resolution
too far,
but this one is really
worth lowering for,
just to try out.
ProcessorZ
ProcessorZ is one of the more modern
and powerful ensembles consisting
of 25 effects which can be played
in real time as an instrument
via a midi keyboard as well
as from the mouse.
Based upon the blocks framework
(although one wouldn't think it from first glance),
it seamlessly integrates into the block
environment as is shown by
the additionally included
ensembles.
It's clearly been design with DAW usage in mind
as and effects device, and thus it's
like a fully creative box
of tricks one can use.
There's a ton of snapshots (patches) to explore
and so if your're looking to create the
next Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica movie
as that's what many of the sounds
it includes sounds like,
you simplymust check this ensemble out...
