A disappointing feature of many software samplers is that they don’t actually - sample! Can I have an amen? -Ed. They’re built and optimized for browsing sample libraries and reading data off the hard drive efficiently. This can be fantastic if it’s what you want to do - and I just used a bunch of Kontakt-based instruments in Kore in my hockey theme project - but sometimes you want to have fun recording and playing back live audio in the moment. If you have an audio itch, you can scratch it, or you can check the Reaktor user library and see if anyone else has had the same itch and has already scratched it for you.

New York musician Red Wierenga had an itch and a copy of Reaktor, and built a sophisticated and elegant solution for his needs.

Red’s live sampler has up to eight ten-second sample slots - you can increase the audio table size to make more room - and an array of playback and sound manipulation features. Since it’s constructed using audio tables rather than sampler modules or grain delays, the recordings can be directly saved with the instrument, unlike the grain delay based sampler we built earlier, where sample buffers have to be saved separately if you want to keep them. You can also load pre-existing samples into the Live Sampler’s audio tables by right clicking on the waveform display, so you’re not limited to line in and microphone audio sources.

Another instrument I’ve been playing with recently is the Traktor Scratcher. Built by Native Instruments, it’s the prototype for Traktor’s scratching algorithm. It was uploaded to the user library five years ago and I think it’s one of the forgotten jewels. It’s a bit rudimentary but makes a fantastic starting point for users with building skills - in the library, you’ll see several posts from users who’ve adapted it for use with their setups. I’ve tinkered it into an interesting live sample manipulation tool, which I’ll be covering in an upcoming article. However, now I’m thinking that it might be possible to adapt the scratching algorithm to work with Red’s sampler. Stay tuned - this could get a little crazy!

Ed. - naturally, Reaktor-based scratching and sampling will be must-haves for live Kore setups, too. Sounds like there’s an unber-rig of sampling / scratching / playing awesomeness that needs to happen, huh? -PK

Here’s a case study for you - the M1 modular synth, built in Reaktor which is arguably a modular synth in itself. So why build a modular synth in a modular synth? Patch cables!

Yes, using Reaktor’s Multi Display, along with a lot of frighteningly clever programming, Herwig Krass has built what looks like a rack of hardware synth modules that you program by clicking connection  points between the modules right on the front panel of the GUI. Granted, they’re not physically modeled cables that flex and sway in a lifelike manner, but they do give you an immediate visual indication of how a patch is structured.

So is this a gimmicky ensemble whose only strong point is the cabled GUI? Not at all. Listen to some of the snapshots, especially the random snaps in bank 3 and the pseudo random snaps in bank 4 (did I mention it comes with 6 banks of snaps?). These are sounds I usually associate with hardware modular systems (cue sound of purists clucking their tongues that nothing can ever replace a hardware modular).

This is not an ensemble for old or underpowered systems. It takes a few extra seconds to load and eats a fair bit of CPU. Two near-effortless things you can do to reduce CPU consumption are to reduce the voice count from the default of 8, and turn off the nice sounding but processor hungry internal reverb module. Reducing the voice count, incidentally, also increases the volume of each voice.

An instrument this complex needs documentation and Herwig has provided it, in English and German PDF flavors. It’s not only a guide to this particular instrument, but an introduction to modular synthesis itself. Additionally, the first bank of snaps is devoted to simpler tutorial snapshots designed to illustrate a particular feature or concept. In the epilogue to the manual, Herwig says:

Dear Modular-infected user, I know that reading the tutorial is one of the most annoying duties of a software user. Some of what I’ve explained in these basic tutorials, might also seem trivial to some hardware users. But my aim was to make modular synthesis accessible for “green” users as well. The modular has reached a high level of complexity through the last years and cannot be grasped by just a quick look at the surface.

There’s certainly a lot going on beneath the surface of this ensemble, and I’ll be digging into it for some time to come.

Reaktor user Joshua Kern has built and uploaded the first third-party instrument made with the Roux sequencer macro we’re discussing and dissecting here at Noisepages. It’s an ambitious drum machine project and eats a fair bit of CPU but he’s working on that. As with most programming, the thing to do is get something working, then worry about efficiency later - as the saying goes, premature optimization is the root of all evil.

As well as my Roux macro, Joshua has leveraged work by Rachmiel, Clist, and RC3, and had help from Sowari (Phil Durrant). As such, I think it’s an excellent example of the kind of code reuse and sense of community that makes the Reaktor user library great.

When I assigned “homework” for readers I don’t know someone would create something this elaborate! It makes me wonder what else is lurking out there. If you’ve cooked up something interesting, let us know here or leave a comment below.