Tried the demo once, thought it was boring and bafflling in equal measures.

I guess you could say the same about Lego if you only spent half an hour with it.

No...I quite loved Legos. But ol Reaktor has always had me stumped. It is mighty powerful and mighty deep though. And I'm sure quite fun if you can grock it. But it's not for dimbulbs or the feint of heart.

yorolpal
No...I quite loved Legos. But ol Reaktor has always had me stumped. It is mighty powerful and mighty deep though. And I'm sure quite fun if you can grock it. But it's not for dimbulbs or the feint of heart.

The thing about Reaktor though, is that even if you have no intention of learning about wiring up oscillators and filters and modulators, it's still an exceptional piece of kit that can keep you going for years. Have you ever browsed through the online user library at length? All sorts of amazing synths, tools and toys in there. Thousands of them! I've had Reaktor for almost 2 years and I've never really managed to build anything, mainly because I've never had the time to sit down and learn it properly. I can just about hook up some oscillators to some filters and arrange the knobs on the screen and maybe wire up a couple of effects and configure the controls etc. But as for the included Reaktor library and the online user library, that's kept me amused every day since I've had it. I don't think I have one single project in which I don't have an instance of Reaktor - the project I'm working on now has six instances. It's such a versatile audio tool. I use it for effects, synths, drum machines, sequencers. It's amazing. 

Sharke,
 
Thanks for your inspiration and encouragement re Reactor.
 
Had it for several years. Opened it a couple times and was almost able to drool on myself sideways before shutting it down without success. Snagged what looked like an incredible ensemble of effects and couldn't even get them loaded.
 
Back to the drawing board, tutorials, etc.
 
John

Yes...I'll try and give it another look too when I have the time. Which will be, unfortunately, on the twelfth of never I suppose. The way my business works I have to be able to turn things around very quickly so no time for it there and I have to use whatever time I have left producing my, and other folks, music projects so I really don't have the time for tinkering. My loss, I'm sure. Sometimes I wish I didn't earn my living from what I love doing. Improbable as that may seem.

JohnKenn
Sharke,
 
Thanks for your inspiration and encouragement re Reactor.
 
Had it for several years. Opened it a couple times and was almost able to drool on myself sideways before shutting it down without success. Snagged what looked like an incredible ensemble of effects and couldn't even get them loaded.
 
Back to the drawing board, tutorials, etc.
 
John

Let me know what you're trying to do in terms of loading effects etc and I can give you some help. Remember there is both a VSTi version of Reaktor and a version you can insert on a track as an effect. When you insert it as an effect you can just double click on any effect in the browser to load it. Try something like Cyan, I think it's in one of the "New Additions" folders. 
 
Another way to use effects is to hook them up to a Reaktor synth. For that you have to open the structure view. It's really just a matter of dragging wires from the outputs of the synth to the inputs of the effect, then dragging the wires from the effect outputs to the audio outputs. Once you get the hang of opening the structure view and connecting things with wires, it's just like wiring up synths and FX chains in the real world. 

yorolpal
Yes...I'll try and give it another look too when I have the time. Which will be, unfortunately, on the twelfth of never I suppose. The way my business works I have to be able to turn things around very quickly so no time for it there and I have to use whatever time I have left producing my, and other folks, music projects so I really don't have the time for tinkering. My loss, I'm sure. Sometimes I wish I didn't earn my living from what I love doing. Improbable as that may seem.

 
I guess many of us are in the same boat, I have to juggle running a business which sometimes throws me odd hours, and of course personal & social relationships, then what's left over I use to tinker with music. The most important thing to me is that I do at least a little every day, even if I only have time for 10 minutes. That way, the only direction you can move is forwards. 

Yup, time the big factor. Make a good hourly wage in the healthcare ripoff industry as long as I can crawl in on all fours, hit the clock and leech economic advantage from human misery, but time away from music. The audio demos of Reactor are incredible, but it's going to require a lot of time that ain't there right now. Rock and a hard place...  Someday maybe if I look at it realistic.

Right Sharke,
 
Key is daily discipline if even for only a few minutes.