Anyone have experience of saving Reaktor snapshots in a Sonar project?

I've searched the NI forums and haven't found a definite answer to this (and have followed the advice I found without success), so I thought I'd ask here. 

Basically all I want to do is tweak a Reaktor snapshot and then have it save with the Sonar project (just like any other VST). However, as we know, Reaktor doesn't work like that. If you tweak a snapshot or make your own from scratch, then save the Sonar project, it won't be there next time you open it. As a workaround, I've been saving the snapshot as a "preset," which means I have to load it manually each time I load the project. Ain't Reaktor a drag sometimes? Clearly it's not hard to get sick of doing this, especially if you have 5+ instances of Reaktor each with their own preset. 

So this is what I'm doing (as per the advice I've read elsewhere):

I'm saving a new copy of the Reaktor ensemble in question (I believe Reaktor makes you do this in order to protect its factory library). For convenience, I save it within my Sonar project folder. 

Next, I tweak the snapshot. I then create a new snapshot bank, and append the snapshot to it. Then I save the ensemble again.

After saving the project, closing Sonar, and opening it again, I see that my copy of the ensemble has loaded with the project. That's great. But the snapshot hasn't loaded. I have to click on it to load it. Gah!

So please someone, put me out of my misery. How do I get Reactor to behave like any other VSTi.....in other words, it automatically loads the snapshot that was loaded when you saved the Sonar project? 

perfectprint


sounds like you are loading instruments and effects from the 'instruments' folder, and not the 'ensembles' folder.

lol - no....I'm past all of that newbie instrument/ensemble confusion. The problem is that if you create a new snapshot or modify an existing one, it doesn't get saved with your project like with any other VST. Reaktor is weird (and user-unfriendly) in many respects.

mmorgan


Not 100% certain of the terminology here but if I save an ensemble (in my case Carbon, Spiral and Space Master) it sticks. Meaning if it is loaded in any project when I reopen that project Reaktor is mapped to the correct ensemble. If I want to load it in a new project, however, I have to select the 'USER' tab in the left hand navigator (browser?). HTH.

Regards,

Yeah I've gotten to the point where the saved ensemble loads with the project, it's just that the snapshot that I saved in that ensemble is not loaded when I open the project. I have to actually click on my snapshot within Reaktor. And even that in itself is a little weird because it won't load the snapshot the first time I click it - I have to click one of the preset snapshots first and then click my snapshot. It's just bizarre. I tell ya, no matter how many tutorials I watch on Reaktor, I've never felt even 75% confident about what's going on. 

mmorgan

It's just bizarre. I tell ya, no matter how many tutorials I watch on Reaktor, I've never felt even 75% confident about what's going on. 

sharke: IIRC on the Groove 3 tutorial the narrator is talking about saving snapshots and there are a couple of buttons that would appear to get the job done...not sure but I think one might be Save As and the other Replace. If it is any consolation even he says words to the effect: "I never use Replace as it seems to cause problems." That's from an expert.


I really am impressed with Reaktor's capacity for creativity but like you I'm still not 100% sure of what I'm doing. The instrument is extremely deep and there's been more than one occasion where I've really gone off the deep end...


Regards,

I've seen the video in question...I think what you're referring to is his explanation of the "Append," "Store" and "Insert" buttons. I'm actually fine with those, I can create a snapshot and store it in the bank, the problem is that when you reload your project, it's not there. You have to save the whole ensemble with it. As far as I know this is so that you don't end up altering the default Reaktor libraries. 


I can appreciate Reaktor's immense complexity, and I'm prepared for the level of brain taxing involved when I start to learn how to create my own synths, but why do they have to make the go-to basics so damn confusing? They could have designed that whole side of it a lot better IMO. Any truly competent design team would have sat down and said "right, people are going to want to store their snapshots with their DAW project, so let's set about making that as easy as possible."