Let's talk reaktor 6.4

Modular Synth design and releases (Reaktor, SynthEdit, Tassman, etc.)
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Quick demo of the Piano Roll and the FM Synth from the new Synth Bundle -->

https://youtu.be/_Ck-YeZqPk8

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thelizard wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:58 pm Yeah, I totally recommend Toybox's blocks. I spent an hour yesterday playing with the Granular Sampler. There's an effect mode that acts like my Morphagene, and a live resampling mode that acts like my Octatrack. Putting together Racks with this Block alone is going to be a lot of fun.
Can someone elaborate on this?

Regards,
tl.

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David@TOYBOX wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 10:26 am
I need to check out the ToyBox V1.1 update but I’ve been busy learning a bit about Reaktor Core and editing a few of my favourite blocks to create my own custom versions, great fun!
Yes it's pretty easy to create your own blocks and core is a fun environment to play with DSP ideas.

Check out LiveCore, which is a live coding environment built in Reaktor Core that I put together with Jack Armitage:

https://cdm.link/2019/09/livecore-free- ... g-reaktor/

Also I'm trying to see if there is some interest in creating a free 'Community Pack' of Reaktor 'patch & play' blocks from the user library etc, check out this thread:

https://www.native-instruments.com/foru ... ty.364769/
Nice one Livecore looks great, I’ll try and have a look at it when I get some time.

I haven’t got much to contribute to the patch and play community pack at the moment as I’m only editing other creations to add stuff that I feel is missing. Sounds like a great idea and I could definitely recommend some from the user library.

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tl wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 9:36 pm
thelizard wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:58 pm Yeah, I totally recommend Toybox's blocks. I spent an hour yesterday playing with the Granular Sampler. There's an effect mode that acts like my Morphagene, and a live resampling mode that acts like my Octatrack. Putting together Racks with this Block alone is going to be a lot of fun.
Can someone elaborate on this?

Regards,
tl.
+1 a video example of this would be great to see (I have a morphagene but still interested)!

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I need to do a video about the granaular sampler, there's a lot of ways to use that one..

Here's a quick video showing a couple of blocks from the new Synth Bundle:

https://youtu.be/_Ck-YeZqPk8

In the video, the oscillator block is modulating the Piano Roll's PITCH and TIME knobs in realtime, moving the notes around, the resulting note locations are quantized by the QUANTIZE setting and snapped to a major scale by the SCALE control (selects between 41 different scales) so everything is kept in time and in key as the playhead plays through the modulating sequence.

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Wow, that moving piano roll is really impressive :tu:

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Wow, that moving piano roll is really impressive :tu:
:)

Here is a walkthrough, by sound designer CinningBao, of some of the features of the Synth Pack's synth blocks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcyqxTgrQ9w

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I don't know if this is the right thread, or if I should create a new one...

I'm relatively unfamiliar with the newer version of Reaktor Blocks (I've spent more time w/ hardware and occasionally have played with Reaktor over the years). Anyway, I like the new Racks functionality, but I want to re-save some of the old Blocks Ensembles as Racks (e.g. Blip.ens). Is that possible? I think I understand that it's not possible with unsupported User Library Blocks, but if a pre-existing Ensemble is built only out of Blocks Base/Primes is there a way to convert it from an Ensemble to a Rack?

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No , that's the reason why there was such a shitstorm over at the reaktor forum when 6.3 dropped
The only things that are rack compatible are the built in stuff ( block base /primes ) , toybox (free +pay) and eureakt (free+pay) .
If you want to use your own modules in racks you'll need to pay around 1000 euro to N.I. , they do the encoding etc ( the blocks are not actually saved but are referenced ) ...
Racks is nice because of it's small filesize and host recall , but it's a bitch because you'll have an additional authorization stage and it's steering away from the original concept of the User library , they just monetize the shit out of it .

You can also use the new cable stuff in normal ensemble/block mode , without the benefit of smaller save files and host recall ( you'll need to save your ensemble manually )
Pro's of rack : smaller save files , host recall
Cons of rack : limited modules , additional cost for your own modules ,

That being said , the blocks already included in racks + free toybox and free euroreakt are amazing

Pros of ensemble blocks :
- still true the open nature of reaktor ( you can use any block )
Cons :
- you'll need to prepare your own block for fpp ( enable show in , output for cabling ) and adjust width of gui in external image editor ( if you want it to look good )
-File size is still big ( all the images are actually saved ...been asking for vector graphics for over 10 years :pray: )
-No automatic host recall
Eyeball exchanging
Soul calibrating ..frequencies

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Thanks gentleclockdivider for the informative response!

So... if it's not possible...

I'm imagining I could still rebuild an Ensemble in Racks manually as long as it only utilizes Blocks Base & Primes. Or am I still not understanding the full picture?

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Yeah I got my a** handed to me in the NI forum for a reasonably gentle criticism of the Racks concept, but the fact that interest in Block development has dropped considerably on the user forums, along with the fact that there are only 2 (AFAIK) commercial Rack developers (both excellent; NI should have paid THEM), doesn't bode well for defense of the concept.

I wasn't alone - some of the most active developers in the user library seemed to have moved on, and the layoffs at NI (although seemingly not affecting the Reaktor team as much) probably had an impact on where they put their time.

The rise of both VCV and Cherry Modular (both also excellent) probably contributes. Still, Reaktor has a lot going for it. The DSP is top notch, everything sounds awesome, and looks quite good (lack of vector graphics aside).

And I understand some of the technical reasons for Racks to be designed the way they are, what with references making sense but bringing a challenge to the Blocks model.

However, it's the inability to treat a cabled set of modules as a "patch" in Blocks (i.e. ensemble save), along with the inability to have user racks that really hurts Reaktor. If there were some way to allow paid licensing for commercial racks but free for user racks, I think the problem is somewhat solved.

I suggested using a system similar to what Microsoft uses (GUID) to generate unique COM id's for distributed computing - it's a 128-bit value (almost) guaranteed to be unique. Even if not globally, any installed blocks could be assigned their own local ids, which one could still move from PC to PC if necessary. There are ways to make it work.

I can't imagine NI did this only for the $, because they have certainly not made much from commercial Rack development. In any case, regardless of the arguments made, it seems to be turning into a lost opportunity. :(

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David@TOYBOX wrote: Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:11 pm
Wow, that moving piano roll is really impressive :tu:
:)

Here is a walkthrough, by sound designer CinningBao, of some of the features of the Synth Pack's synth blocks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcyqxTgrQ9w
If I may be so bold, there is so much visual uniformity in your blocks that they all look the same to me. From what I’ve seen of Eurorack modules, a big part of their appeal is the uniqueness of each module, in design as well as function. Even modules from the same developer will often have a visual style of their own, or at least some sense of distinctiveness so that it doesn’t take reading every label everywhere to figure out which module you’re looking at or where in your rack you are (especially important in software because module locations are simple to change at a whim, and spatial cues are far less consistent and reliable).
- dysamoria.com
my music @ SoundCloud

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msmith wrote: Fri Dec 20, 2019 2:55 am Thanks gentleclockdivider for the informative response!

So... if it's not possible...

I'm imagining I could still rebuild an Ensemble in Racks manually as long as it only utilizes Blocks Base & Primes. Or am I still not understanding the full picture?
Correct

What you can also do , is copy/paste the included blocks to your own directory (preferably on a separate partition )and then use these with your user blocks .
That's what I do , It gives you the advantage of fpp of the core library + user blocks ...but now we're working on ensemble level ( because the referenced blocks have been moved ) ..so no racks anymore and no automatic host recall .
It all depends on the situation , most of the time I just use the standard blocks in racks mode , because they are great enough and total host recall is a breeze
Eyeball exchanging
Soul calibrating ..frequencies

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If I may be so bold, there is so much visual uniformity in your blocks that they all look the same to me. From what I’ve seen of Eurorack modules, a big part of their appeal is the uniqueness of each module, in design as well as function.
Yes there is a deliberate visual uniformity with the initial toybox blocks, the blocks are designed to be mixed and matched with blocks from other families, for example the Bento blocks and Blocks primes, you can see these here https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... ks-primes/

Upcoming packs will have different styling to differentiate them from the existing toybox packs.

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Here's a cheat-sheet for the various functions of the Piano Roll block, videos to come..

https://i.ibb.co/6PrCk5r/piano-roll-functions-4.png

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