Native Instruments Reaktor 3.0

Mar 1, 2002 12:00 PM, By Len Sasso

With the release of version 3.0, Native Instruments' Reaktor has come of age. This update features a redesigned audio engine that offers greater CPU efficiency; new Modules, such as a granular sampler, analog-filter emulations, data tables, and an x-y controller; and a reworked user interface. Although Native Instruments hasn't magically turned the fine art of building Reaktor Ensembles into child's play, it has significantly expanded the large Ensemble library that comes with Reaktor (see the sidebar below, “A Trip to the Library” for a summary of some of the Ensembles). Whether you decide to dive in to the tangle of objects and wires that make up a Reaktor Ensemble or just take advantage of Reaktor's vast library of synthesizers, samplers, and effects processors, you'll find a variety of unique and challenging sound-design tools at your fingertips.

The Reaktor package includes a standalone version as well as VST 2.0 and DXi Instrument and effects plug-ins. (The plug-in versions now include the same editing features as the standalone version.) For audio I/O and streaming, there's support for DirectSound and ASIO on the PC, and ASIO, DirectConnect, and MAS on the Mac. Windows MME and Open Sound Control (OSC) handle MIDI on the PC, and Open Music System (OMS) and FreeMIDI perform that job on the Mac. The Mac and PC versions of Reaktor are now separate packages, and both employ a USB key (dongle) for copy protection (a parallel-port key is also available for the PC). Consequently, the huge Enigma file and frequent calls for the Reaktor CD-ROM, familiar from previous versions, are gone.

As with all software synthesizers, performance, sound quality, and latency depend on CPU speed, available RAM, audio drivers, and, when used as a plug-in, the host application. For this review, I used both a Mac G3/300 MHz with an Emagic Audiowerk8 PCI card running OS 8.6 and a Pentium III/700 MHz with an Emagic EMI 2/6 USB audio interface running Windows 98SE. For VST operation, I used Emagic Logic Audio 4.7.2 as host on each platform. The sound quality was excellent on both computers, but performance and stability were significantly better on the PC. You can download the latest update and a time-limited demo version of Reaktor 3.0 from the Native Instruments Web site.

WHO'S ON FIRST

The top level of organization in Reaktor is an Ensemble. Whenever Reaktor is running, an Ensemble is present. You interact with an Ensemble through its Control Panel and Structure windows. The Control Panel window is similar in function to the onscreen control panel of most software synthesizers and samplers. You need only be involved with the Structure window when you want to build or modify an Ensemble.

Loosely speaking, Ensembles are made up of Instruments. Usually, Instruments are self-contained components such as synthesizers, samplers, effects processors, and step sequencers. Instruments are wired together to form the completed Ensemble. The reward for dealing with that extra level of complexity is that Instruments can be saved for reuse in other Ensembles. Reaktor comes with a large library of Instruments, letting you create custom Ensembles without getting too far into the guts of Reaktor programming. Reaktor loads only one Ensemble at a time, but each Ensemble can contain Instruments that respond on their own MIDI channel. That is Reaktor's approach to multitimbral setups. For a detailed look at Reaktor programming, see “Building a Reaktor” in the September 2000 issue of EM.

Fig. 1 shows the Control Panel for Reaktor's Newscool Ensemble. Newscool is a drum synthesizer combined with a 4-track step sequencer, granular delay, and reverb. (Check out Example 1 at for an example of Newscool in action.) As you can see, the Control Panel is divided into subpanels, each with a bluish gray title bar indicating its name. (The selected panel, Ensemble, is in red.) The subpanels contain the controls for the individual Instruments that make up the Newscool Ensemble. Notice that one of the subpanels (at the bottom right) is labeled Ensemble. It contains global controls rather than controls belonging to a particular Instrument. In this example, they control the mix levels for the dry, delay, and reverb signals.

Each Reaktor Instrument also has a Control Panel window that you can open by double-clicking on the empty space in the Instrument's subpanel. At first glance, having separate Control Panel windows might seem redundant, but it is a great convenience. Although the controls' appearance is the same in both windows, their visibility and placement can be different. That means you can have a minimal set of controls for an Instrument visible in the Ensemble Control Panel window, with a more complete set of controls accessible in the Instrument Control Panel window. Newscool's Sequencer Settings subpanel is an example — its controls are infrequently used, and space is saved by having them visible only in the Instrument Control Panel window.

In Reaktor, presets of control settings (programs or patches) are called Snapshots. Snapshots can be stored and recalled from Reaktor's Toolbar, or they can be recalled with MIDI Program Change messages. The Ensemble and the Instruments all have their own Snapshots, which provides you with a lot of flexibility. You can automatically store and recall the Snapshots of any Instrument with those of the Ensemble, or you can choose to store the Instrument Snapshots separately — that is useful for Instruments such as sequencers and effects when you want to apply the same settings to different synthesizer Snapshots. Another convenience is that any individual control can be isolated so that Snapshots do not affect its setting. The management of Snapshot banks could be improved, however. For example, you can overwrite, insert, or append into an existing Snapshot bank, but there is no way to delete multiple Snapshots — you have to delete them one at a time.

For standalone operation, Reaktor comes equipped with a rudimentary Standard MIDI File (SMF) player as well as an audio-file player and a recorder. The audio-file player and recorder can stream files direct to and from disk or work with files in RAM. The SMF player is one of the few disappointments in Reaktor. You can start, stop, and return to the beginning of the file, but that's it. I found myself constantly wanting to know where I was in the MIDI file and to loop a few bars while testing various Ensemble features.

TAKING THE WHEEL

One of the big changes in Reaktor 3.0 is the variety of onscreen controls. The biggest advance is the addition of interactive graphic controls. The Sequencer section of the Newscool Ensemble uses two: the Event Table and the x-y control. The four rows of blue bars are four Event Tables, each of which displays a track of sequence data. You can enter data by drawing with the mouse, and there is a Context menu with a number of convenient operations such as rotating, mirroring, and scaling selected data.

The gray bars above and below the sequence displays that look like sliders are actually x-y controls. There are several modes of display for the x-y control, including the standard rectangle with a movable crosshair. The mode used here, called Shadowed Bar, provides independent control of the position of each end of the bar. The x-y control reports the mouse position, and Newscool's designer has used that feature to make clicking and dragging at the right end of either bar change the bar's length, whereas clicking and dragging in the middle of the bar changes its position. The top bar sets the sequence's loop (from the left end to the right end of the bar) relative to the sequence displays, and the bottom bar controls the zoom and position of the sequence displays. That added degree of graphic control takes Control Panel design to a new level in Reaktor 3.0.

Other graphic advances include three sizes of knobs instead of two, horizontal sliders and meters, slider and meter sizes definable in pixels, and independent settings for the visibility of a control's graphic, its label, and its numerical value. (You still can't enter values numerically by typing into a numerical field, however.) A new Bitmap object lets you include custom graphics in a Control Panel.

MIDI remote control

All Reaktor controls can be set up to send and receive MIDI Control Change (CC) messages. That allows you to use any hardware control surface to manipulate Reaktor controls. Setting up MIDI control is extremely easy using Reaktor's MIDI Learn function, which assigns the next incoming MIDI CC message to the selected control and automatically deletes any previous assignment for that MIDI message. You can also use MIDI CC messages to automate Reaktor controls from your MIDI sequencer.

In a nice twist, MIDI CC messages can be routed internally, letting one Reaktor process automate another. The Newscool Instrument makes use of that feature to randomize its knobs in real time, synchronized to the sequencer clock. You can also use internal MIDI routing to create random Snapshots or to slave one group of controls to another.

Common tasks and the Toolbar

Aside from Control Panel programming, most Reaktor tasks can be carried out from the Toolbar. The top section, called the Ensemble Toolbar, is for global functions, including loading and saving Ensembles, turning audio processing on and off, indicating CPU load and audio I/O levels, and setting the audio sampling rate (for internal processing only). It's also where you manage the built-in MIDI File player and switch between MIDI Learn, panel locking, and onscreen hints. Many Ensembles come from Reaktor users and are without documentation. Onscreen hints (if supplied by the designer) provide the only clue to how an Ensemble works. I'd like to see some of the hints provided with the factory Ensembles enhanced a bit, as they are the first exposure most users have to Reaktor.

The bottom section, called the Instrument Toolbar, is where you carry out tasks associated with the selected Instrument. When you select an Instrument, its Title Bar turns red, and its name is displayed in the menu at the left of the Instrument Toolbar. Instruments can be selected by clicking on their Control Panel or using that menu. Buttons here let you open the Instrument's Control Panel, Structure, and Properties windows; mute and solo the Instrument; save the Instrument to disk (for use in other Ensembles); manage Snapshots; and set the number of voices and MIDI channel of the Instrument. If you select the Ensemble rather than one of its Instruments, those settings apply to it.

Managing CPU load is always a challenge with software synthesizers. With one as open-ended as Reaktor, it becomes doubly difficult — Ensembles built on someone's G4/733 MHz or Pentium III/933 MHz may bring your system to a dead stop. Reaktor provides several means, accessible from the Toolbar, for mitigating CPU load. One is reducing the internal audio sampling rate. Rates from 22.05 kHz up to 132.3 kHz are supported. The common choice is 44.1 kHz, but many Ensembles produce good-sounding results at lower rates. (Example 2 at contains the same four-bar loop processed at 44.1, 33.075, and 22.050 kHz.) Another trick is to reduce the number of voices for one or more Instruments, and a third is to mute any unused Instruments. Muting an Instrument takes it out of the Reaktor signal path and completely reclaims its CPU drain. For example, muting Newscool's Grain Delay and Reverb Instruments cuts the CPU load by more than half.

What can you expect in terms of real-life performance? On my Pentium III/700 MHz, Newscool with its delay and reverb running at 44.1 kHz takes up 30 percent of the CPU load. That is much better than in previous versions and is in part because of the major speed optimization that Reaktor 3.0 provides.

UNDER THE HOOD

On the Structure level, Reaktor uses three kinds of objects: Modules, Macros, and Instruments. Modules are the basic building blocks. Macros and Instruments are organizational units whose main purpose is to combine logical groupings of other objects in a single package, making them easier to work with. An added benefit is that Macros and Instruments can be saved to disk for use in other Ensembles. Instruments also have their own Control Panel and provide for multitimbral operation by having their own MIDI channel assignment.

All Structural objects have inputs and outputs for control (red) and audio (black) signals. Control signals use a much lower sampling rate and, consequently, use much less CPU — examples include panel controls (as the name suggests) and LFOs. Ensembles are built from the ground up by drawing wires between the inputs and outputs or by wiring together prebuilt Instruments. (If hints are turned on, placing the cursor over a wire will show the sound or event data passing through it, an essential feature for debugging.)

In addition to the x-y and Event Table Modules mentioned previously, several powerful new audio-processing Modules have been added in Reaktor 3.0. The Audio Table works like the Event Table but can be run at audio sampling rates. That lets you draw and manipulate your own waveforms. The Scanner Module crossfades between eight audio inputs, and the scanning rate can be in the audio range. Audio-rate scanning goes way beyond standard crossfading, producing a unique kind of crossfade modulation useful for all kinds of unusual effects.

Grain Cloud is a granular resynthesizer that works with multisamples and offers independent control of pitch, pitch slide, grain size, time between grains, and grain envelope. (Although drag and drop has been added to Reaktor's multisample management, setting up keymaps is still rather rudimentary.) Multi-Tap is an eight-tap audio delay line. Finally, there are two new filters modeled on classic synthesizers: Pro-52 after the Sequential Prophet-5 and Ladder after the famously warm Moog filters.

DO IT YOURSELF?

Building a complex Ensemble from scratch is not for the faint of heart. On the other hand, it is not difficult to get sufficiently familiar with Reaktor's Structure to make useful modifications to the Ensembles that come from the factory or that are available online. You can easily swap one type of oscillator or filter for another, for example, to radically change an Instrument's sound. You can add an effect or a sequencer Instrument to a sound-generating Ensemble or replace one Instrument with another. You can quickly add a switch to the Control Panel to toggle an Instrument out of the signal path and retrieve its CPU load. In short, you can do a lot of customizing without becoming a Reaktor engineer.

The Reaktor 3.0 documentation is only a slight improvement on previous versions and is still cause for some serious head scratching. But, in conjunction with an active users group and the online library supported by Native Instruments, it is enough to get you over the hump. (You can join the users group and access the library at Native Instrument's Web site.)

POSITIVE REACTION

Reaktor is different things to different people. On the most basic level, you can simply use the factory Snapshots in Reaktor's vast collection of preset synthesizers, samplers, and effects processors. On the next level, you can create your own Snapshots for the included devices and for Ensembles that you download from other users. Beyond that, you can do some basic customizing without spending a great deal of time mired in the Structure. On the highest level, you can create almost any audio software device you can imagine, but you'll spend considerable time doing it.

At $499, Reaktor seems a bargain on any level. Considering that a top-of-the-line single-purpose software synthesizer, sampler, or effects processor can cost half that amount, the price seems well justified for a package of hundreds of Ensembles, with downloadable additions coming all the time.

---

Len Sasso can be contacted through his Web site at www.swiftkick.com.

Minimum System Requirements

Reaktor
MAC: G3/300; 128 MB RAM; OS 8.6; free USB port; Opcode OMS or MOTU
FreeMIDI

PC: Pentium II/500; 128 MB RAM; Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP

A TRIP TO THE LIBRARY

Reaktor 3.0 comes with more than 200 ready-to-go Ensembles, and you can download more from the well-maintained User Library on Native Instruments' Web site. The Ensembles fall into four broad categories: synthesis, sampling, sequencing, and effects processing. (For a detailed description of 25 of the best in the collection, see the Dynamo 1.0.1 review in the December 2000 issue of EM.)

The synthesis group contains a number of emulations of classic synths, such as the Oberheim Two Voice, the Minimoog, the Roland Juno series, and the Roland SH-101. Several variations on the FM theme offer virtually any combination of operator sources and routing complexity you could want. Among my favorite synths were Uranus, which features a four-delay chorus and produces luscious pads; Matrix Modular, which lets you cross-modulate a wide variety of sound sources; a physical-modeling emulation called WeedWacker; and a mixture of three variations on wavetable synthesis called Virtuator.

Reaktor has a broad range of sampler Modules for everything from granular synthesis to pitch and formant shifting to beat-loop munging. My favorite Ensemble in the granular department is GrainStates, which uses Reaktor's new Grain Cloud Module to manipulate every aspect of granulation — size and spacing of grains, pitch and pitch slide for individual grains, and the grain AD envelope. GrainStates combines that with a kind of metasequencer that steps through Grain Cloud setups. Another one not to miss is Kaleidophone4 (see Fig. A), which selects grains at random from a multisample and randomizes each grain parameter — an effect that reminded me of a video arcade run amok.

The sequencer offerings are incorporated in the various synthesis and sampling Ensembles. Newscool is one of the more interesting of the drum sequencers. For beat-loop manipulation, my favorite is 6-Pack, which offers four independent beat-loop players and a pair of drum step sequencers. For an audio example using several of Reaktor's multipad sequencers, download the MP3 file reaktorexample3.mp3 from www.emusician.com.

The selection of effects processors isn't large, but the main offering, GeekFX, gives a broad sampling of Reaktor's processing capabilities. You can also scavenge most of the usual effects from various other Ensembles. Because Reaktor can be used as a VST and DirectX effects plug-in, the effects category is begging for expansion.

PRODUCT SUMMARY

Native Instruments
Reaktor 3.0 (Mac/Win)
software synthesizer/sampler
$499
update from version 2.x
$135

FEATURES	5.0
EASE OF USE	3.5
QUALITY OF SOUNDS	4.5
VALUE	4.5

RATING PRODUCTS FROM 1 TO 5

PROS: Large collection of prebuilt Ensembles. Excellent sound. Greatly improved graphics and controls.

CONS: Difficult to master on the deepest levels. Requires a fast CPU. Multisample management is awkward.

Manufacturer

Native Instruments USA
tel. (866) 556-6487
e-mail info@native-instruments.com
Web www.native-instruments.com