switching from reason to reaktor

[Chizmata]

has anyone made the switch here? i have some questions:

is reaktor actually a complete daw?
does CV routing as in reason become obsolete due to free synth creation?
how is the sequencing, can you create complex emulated sequencers or cv generators?
is there a demo? i cant find one.
how is the performance?
does it work well with nektar impact?
can you use it completely offline?
how happy are you?

been on reason since 2.5 and im really neither happy with the direction its taking nor with the features of the old reasons, might be the time to switch, ive always thought reaktor might be the one thing that suits me better

[Gorgon]

Reaktor is first and foremost a synth. Not a DAW, nor a sequencer.

[Ahornberg]

I can only answer a few of your questions:

Reaktor is not a DAW but you can create complex step sequencers.
When diving deeper into Reaktor you will have a lot more and different type of cables to deal with.
Take a look at some tutorial videos on youtube to get yourself a picture.
The only thing I ever created in Reaktor (except playing with ReaktorBlocks) was a grain delay effect.
Beside that I only use the ready built synths that come with it and there are a whole lot of unusual sounds you can get out of them.
I don't use Reaktor that often but it's a solid working VST. CPU load depends on what you are using it for.

[kungubu]

Reaktor isn't a Daw. It's a powerful modular synth that you can run stand alone or as a VST. You can build your own synths, effects, sequences with Reaktors building blocks and record, but it's not a DAW. Though it works pretty good with Reason, you can even get CV from Reaktor into Reason.
Reaktor uses CV (in 6 there is no difference between CV and audio). It works the same way as in Reason, but the Reason-devices are more like a studio environment that you can interconnect, while Reaktor consists of more basic building blocks, like in a modular synth.
The sequencing in Reaktor is great, a lot of sequencers to choose from and possibilities to create your own sequencers. It's also great for sequencing external hardware, like a eurorack.
There should be possible to download it as a demo on NIs page.
The performance is good if you mean sound wise, and cpu wise it can become quite heavy if you run really big ensembles, or a couple of ensembles at the same time.
I don't know how it works with Nektar.
You can use it offline.
I'm happy, wouldn't manage without Reaktor, and I use it together with Reason.

[Chizmata]

thanks for the input folks that really helped a lot

[jlgrimes]

has anyone made the switch here? i have some questions:

is reaktor actually a complete daw?
does CV routing as in reason become obsolete due to free synth creation?
how is the sequencing, can you create complex emulated sequencers or cv generators?
is there a demo? i cant find one.
how is the performance?
does it work well with nektar impact?
can you use it completely offline?
how happy are you?

been on reason since 2.5 and im really neither happy with the direction its taking nor with the features of the old reasons, might be the time to switch, ive always thought reaktor might be the one thing that suits me better

Reaktor is a more programming environment for Audio Devices.

I would not consider Reaktor a DAW. It might be possible to make something DAW like in Reaktor but it would probably take a lot of hours/days/months/years to make, use a ton of CPU and probably have a bad GUI.

Most of Reaktor is very self contained so you can modules together inside Reaktor all day but it probably becomes convoluted to get CV out of Reaktor. I would say the Routing in Reason is probably more simpler/streamlined where Reaktor is more convoluted but flexible.

I just about hated any sequencer in Reaktor. That said I'm not a fan of most step sequencers in general.

Reaktor's performance depends on the ensembles. Most old ensembles from like Reaktor 4 are very efficient. But most newer stuff can tax your CPU hard. It depends a lot on the ensemble itself. Most older stuff went more for CPU efficiency where most new stuff go for ultimate sound quality high CPU cost.



I doubt Reaktor being a good substitute for Reason. They are very different from each other. I would consider a different DAW if you don't like Reason. Reaktor is not a DAW. It is more of a instrument building environment. While Reaktor has some amazing instruments, Reaktor itself isn't really known for its workflow. It tends to go off in the deep and very technical end to get the most out of it. I imagine most Reaktor owners just play/program the builtin devices or the ones in the user library or commericial available ones. That said if you are interested in actually making synths/effects/sequencers, that is Reaktor's main goal and it tends to actually be one of the easier to learn programs in that area, but it is still pretty deep as synthmaking is pretty hard.

[theshoemaker]

I did some patches with reaktor and wanted to have it to build more. But the moment I bought it I almost lost interest, as I figured out ... actually for my needs I'm faster with Reason and have more fun. Signal routing in Reason is not optimal ... but from my opinion even worse in Reaktor. If hardware programming with logic gates is your thing, you can build every synth you want. But for it wasn't worth the effort in the end, as I wanted to enjoy creating music more, not programming something again.

[dpcoffin]

Long-time Reaktor user (basically like it best of all audio apps ever) and new-ish Reason user. Never would have thought to replace one with the other since they are so different, but they certainly can work great together. Here's some links about that, both pre vst-in-Reason:

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... e-reaktion
https://esotericsounddesign.wordpress.c ... th-reason/

I'm not at all a deep-diving device-creating sort of Reaktor user. I've just learned how to hook existing devices together and make minor GUI and modulation changes that easily make things easier and better adapted to my personal uses; it's very powerful even at this level. Mainly I love the endlessly astounding creativity of those that DO build new things and give them away for free in the User Library. I like to explore new things, and this aspect has been like Xmas every day, for the last 17 years or so, unbelievable amazingness, and better now than ever.

[dpcoffin]

…
how is the sequencing, can you create complex emulated sequencers or cv generators?
…
can you use it completely offline?

Offline? Sure; Reason's the only audio app I've ever seen that makes that difficult!

I'm not sure if non-users can browse the User Library, but it's worth a try; the search function works well, if you can:
https://www.native-instruments.com/es/r ... r-library/

As for sequencing and creating new stuff, there's already virtually endless sorts of sequencers available in the User Library, for both MIDI and CV/CC. A screen shot in case you can't get in; note the 944 results when searching "sequencer"…

Capto 2017-11-03_10-35-38_AM.jpg (301.92 KiB) Viewed 1629 times

Here's a video I made recently demoing one particularly amazing one, unlike most anything I've ever seen before; it's long but it also should make clear how relatively easy it is to alter existing creations without having to dip at all deeply into Reaktor's unique programming environment.

Of course it's easy to patch in any other Reaktor synth or sampler in place of Steampipe used in the video, and as easy to send the MIDI out of Reaktor into any DAW for driving VSTs and recording, how exactly depending on your DAWs and OS… I'm on a Mac, and it's very easy to send MIDI from Reaktor running stand-alone into Reason, and vice versa, getting around Reason's inability to use MIDI generated by VSTs running inside it.

[dpcoffin]

…and here's a screen shot of the most recent entry to the User Library, yesterday:

Capto 2017-11-03_12-23-08_PM.jpg (273.4 KiB) Viewed 1612 times

[dustiraw]

I am a user of both and as dpcofin said you shouldn't really swap one out for another but instead use them together. Reason is a full-fledged DAW with a ton of great stuff in the box and works like a modular/hardware style setup. In short, Reaktor is a synth/effect builder without the coding. It has modular options (like "Blocks" and its amazing by the way) but also has "ensembles" and these are like strictly the instruments within reason. The amazing part about Reaktor is you can not only build all your synths and effects from the ground up but can also edit and change the existing "ensembles" as well as route any of them any way similar to the rack in reason but on a much more complex level. Reaktor really only has a very basic record function that's not multi-track and is really more for sound designers than producers. In order to make actual songs/productions with reaktors instruments your really going to need a real DAW, like reason. If i was you and were interested in both try using Reaktor in conjunction with Reason....You cant loose! I build in Reaktor so if you have any questions, im always here to help.

[Chizmata]

thanks for all the input again folks. my sequencer needs are umm quite unique i guess but i think reaktor might be suited for the job. not making the jump right now though, still need to find time to mess with the demo.