This site is back – and back to stay. We have a new server, and some new tools we’ll be able to share soon to help the CDM community share tools and techniques more easily.

And sometimes, wonderful things just happen when the time is right. Case in point: a whole new set of beginning Reaktor tutorials, covering all the basic tasks you might like to accomplish. For newcomers to Reaktor, these will be ideal, as they get you rolling on a specific tasks — like, build me a sampler or do something cool and granular and delicious — without assuming a lot of prior knowledge. But if you do have prior knowledge, these will fill in some gaps even for intermediate users.

Reaktor Tutorial

Topics so far:

• Programming and patching: intro and a simple synth
• Effects: envelope generator, ring mod, tape decay
• Grain Delay
• Sampler
• Granulation modules (similar to our own series on the topic)

Creator Mats Claesson of Norway is interesting himself, with a background in classical guitar, a resume that includes work with John Cage and Iannis Xenakis, and ballet composition. If you can read Norwegian, there’s a lot more.

I have some additional Reaktor tutorials that, at long last, I’ll be publishing within the next two weeks – in a new format that will allow others to build upon the same work.

We won’t be disappearing for two months again, but with these tutorials and Reaktor in hand, you may.

John Fisher (ricemutt) from bagger288 is the latest to be infected – erm, inspired – by Peter Dines’ sequencer parts for Reaktor. His hybrid ensemble is full of all sorts of different bits put together, some borrowed, some concocted from scratch. And, of course, that was the idea with the sequencers – to encourage people to steal stuff and make something new that we hadn’t thought of. What’s especially great about this to me is that the results can sound entirely different.

John wrote me:

I love your tutorials for reaktor, and the example ensembles.  great stuff!

I stole your sequencer and put it into a hybrid FM/additive/subtractive type synth I built in reaktor:

in addition to the synth, there’s also a distortion effect, rev6, and a custom granular effect I built, so it’s kind of an all-in-one drone synth…

please mention that the synth is much lower on CPU if you simply remove the reverb/fx modules.

I guess other info is easily seen from all the comments in there, I used a few other people’s modules.  The "FX" instrument has an A and a B panel, where you can edit the granular effects.  I made that instrument as well and am proud of how it turned out (did you check out the "rissets" preset in the fx?)

thanks for the sequencers to steal

you probably noticed that I modded the sequencer in the sequencer page to also have "gate" sequencers where there is only on/off instead of minimum to maximum fader

It’s really good stuff, and inspires me to combine some macros in new ways.

Have at it and see what you think:

ricemuttHybrid-sep08 [zipped Reaktor ensemble]

(I expect when it’s ready, it can migrate over to the NI User Library)

Wait – want more? John talks more about how he uses unique approaches to tuning (see our previous round-up) to get these distinctive sounds:

my "god chord" blogs where I explain how to use just intonation or equal temperament.

http://craprex.com/RexBlog/author/baggervance/

you probably noticed how I use ratios to define the pitches of the oscillators in my synth.  In fact, I do this with all of my synths and use just intonation a lot in my music.  This would help people understand the "wtf" about using ratios in music.

Via a story summing up what we’ve been doing with Reaktor over on CDMusic:

Joys of Reaktor: How to Build Sequenced Instruments, Free Goodies, and a New Lazyfish Creation Teaser

Ladies, Gentlemen and Felines, I have created what is arguably the world’s first lolcat-powered Reaktor effect. I beg your forgiveness.

I’ve been using the Winamp-VST Bridge plug-in on PC to browse and preview large collections of sample source material. (Ed.: Winamp is the fantastic music player software for Windows, predating — and arguably, better than — iTunes. -PK) It’s great for testing out how things will sound when run through an effect without having to laboriously convert, slice and import files into a sample map.

Here it is running some audio, which I recorded on a Zoom H4 handheld recorder, into the granular delay we’ve been constructing here at Noisepages. If you’re like me and you have folder after folder of field recordings and vinyl samples, this is a super fast way to sift through them to find those golden moments where a combination of a sample and an effect become something new and exciting. Throw things against the wall and see what sticks, quickly and easily – primarily because of things like right clicking on a folder and choosing “enqueue/play in Winamp”, being able to skip around in a file quickly, navigate a playlist, save a playlist of favorites – all without having to worry about file formats. A “real” host is for later, once you have a goal or direction in mind. You can even browse shoutcast mp3 radio streams through your VST effects.

Last time around, we had a look at creating a basic grain delay from scratch. It’s usable, but why stop there? Here are some improvements.

I’ve really been enjoying playing with patches based on Peter Dines’ Grain Delay tutorial. If you haven’t yet checked out that tutorial, it’s a terrific way to get started with a built-in Reaktor module that’s essential to all kinds of effects. The ensemble itself doesn’t get too fancy, meaning it’s friendlier to beginners than some of the polished-but-complex ensembles you find in the Reaktor examples and User Library. And that’s part of the point — the way most people are likely to use Reaktor in their own ensembles is to start small and basic, not necessarily with elaborate custom skins and complex features.

Peter’s example works really nicely for navigating an ambient sound. But I started thinking about using this for rhythmic ideas, so I could build a custom grain delay effect set up for easy live performance in Kore. To get beat-synced, sequenced effects, you need to work with clock information. The clock will act as a kind of metronome for your beat-based effects. That means turning to a previous Peter Dines tutorial:

Revving up Reaktor: A Refresher on Clocks and Events

We had a refreshingly frank comment from reader armachian:

“after reading I now realise that Reaktor is not for me!! Compared to something like the Clavia G2 this seems like a lot of steps (and hidden tricks) for a simple sequencer/clock demo. Life is too short!”

Actually, that’s right – life is too short! But I think armachian misunderstood. The whole point of having a modular system is you don’t have to repeat the same steps over and over again. You can simply re-use basic macros, like the SeqDriver macro Peter created, shown top right. You don’t have to even know how it works (though it couldn’t hurt); you can instead focus on what you want to do. In fact, even if you’re using macros you’ve created yourself, this can keep you focused on your musical aims rather than getting hung up on the mechanics underneath.

Kontakt 3 has fantastic MIDI transform scripting abilities, and they’re not limited to triggering internal samples. If you take a look at the MIDI dropdown menu on the engine tab of Kontakt 3′s main options, you’ll see settings for what MIDI events will be sent out when triggered or generated.

Reaktor and Kore 2 complement each other nicely, and one of the ways that is most apparent when using Reaktor effects in Kore. The high resolution control knobs and buttons are a snap to map to Reaktor’s faders, knobs and switches. Creating Kore sounds out of your Reaktor patches is also a good way to keep track of your creations and search for sounds by keywords.

Building and Using a Reaktor Grain Delay in Kore 2 from Create Digital Media on Vimeo.

In this video tutorial I’ll walk you through building a granular delay effect – in essence, it’s more like a granular live-sampler, which you can use with canned loops or audio from live musicians. I’ll also show you how to map its controls to the Kore 2 controller. This is just the beginning! In upcoming tutorials we’ll look at adding modulation, automation and other refinements.

The following download contains a Kore performance and the Reaktor ensembles you’ll need to follow along with the tutorial. Have fun!

Grain Delay in Kore

Note: Because Kore uses absolute paths for presets, you’ll need to manually point it at the included preset using whatever directory you’ve chosen for installation.

Big things are in the works Reaktor-wise here at Noisepages, and here’s something to whet your appetite:

This is a tutorial I posted on my Reaktor blog last year… it’s an effects unit that gates incoming audio semi-randomly and resynchronizes itself every few steps. That’s right, unlike the simple clock tutorial, this one is a noisemaker. It’s a good demonstration of how you’d use clock macros in something other than a sequencer. Noisepages readers who take the time to dig into this one will have a headstart on what’s coming up next.

Download the LFO Gator

To make this something of a grab bag of previous tutorials, here’s a basic granular synth and the first installment of a tutorial series I might continue here, depending on demand (feedback please! Let us know what you want!).

Very Simple Grainer

Of course, don’t miss the tutorial on clocks and events previously posted here on noisepages.

The the two soundpacks I’ve been most excited about became available today. FM8 Transient Attacks is a new set of 200 synth sounds for FM8 and Kore’s morphing powers, and Deep Transformations is a multi-effects sound shaper. I’ve been looking forward to Deep Transformations in particular, as it takes the soundpack series in a new direction – not only to instrument presets, but with an eye toward making Kore an effects workstation.