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Reaktor is a massively powerful toolkit for building instruments and effects, but that power can easily be overwhelming at first. Peter Dines has completed a five-part introduction tackling sequencing events. It’s one of the trickier bits, but also the skill that will help you have the maximum amount of fun.
Here are the five parts for CDM’s Kore minisite:
Part 1 - introduction
Part 2 - the X+ module
Part 3 - the event table
Part 4 - the snap array
Part 5 - the mouse area
(See the clocks/events refresher to get going.)
See also: Reaktor forum discussion
As you’re learning, it can help to grab more ready-to-use instruments and effects. Here’s a sampling, though of course you’ll find many more in the NI User Library.
Don’t believe the tutorial can spawn new creations? Boombox is a drum machine built with the Roux sequencer macro Peter Dines uploaded for his tutorial series.
Boombox Drum Machine (Direct download link)
HaasCheezburger is a new LOLcat-powered stereo delay effect from Peter.
You can also download Peter D’s Grain Delay effect
This is an upcoming Reaktor 5 ensemble from one of the great virtuosos of instrument/effect patching (in any tool, not just Reaktor), Lazyfish. The creator of Gaugear and Newschool turns his attentions to a new, swirling, animated modulating synth. It demonstrates what’s possible when you take sequencing to the edge, and has the typically inspiring take on user interface Lazyfish is known for. I’ll be able to share more about this soon, but NI has already said on the forums that this ensemble will be free to existing Reaktor 5 users.
Our own Peter Dines notices the similarity to the Whitney Music Box. The possibilities for where instruments can go conceptually and in terms of interface just continue to unfold.
For more Reaktor getting started resources, see our story from last month:
Learning Reaktor: 10-Step Path to Building New Sequencers, Beatboxes, and Effects
We’re seeing all sorts of musical sequencer creations with grids, from software to hardware like the Monome and Yamaha Tenori-On. But, of course, the whole beauty of a grid is that you could map to it whatever you like. Maybe you want your sequencer to work differently than someone else’s sequencer.
CellDS, from the creator of the popular, glitchy sample-playing homebrew DS apps glitchDS and repeaterDS, is a new DS sequencer. Out of the box, it’s already very usable. Six sequence lines play back either one of the 175 included sounds or sounds you convert for use on the DS. You can customize the scale to whatever pitch and tuning you like. A 1.2 update announced yesterday added some bug fixes and volune sliders for each of the six “engines.” WiFi MIDI support isn’t available yet, but it’s coming.
If you’re willing to write a few lines of script, each one of those sequencers can be modified to your own purposes. If “scripting” sends you running for the hills, don’t fear. Lua is a dead-simple language, so writing a few lines of script can actually be far easier than deciphering a UI. (Hey, there’s a reason we all communicate using, you know, language.)
Here’s a really simple example from the developer documentation (for would-be Lua scripters):
Line #1: function stylus_newpress()
Line #2: set_pan(X)
Line #3: play_note(17-Y,16)
Line #4: end
In other words, if you press the stylus, you get a sound, setting pan with X on your stylus and pitch with Y. Pretty easy, right?
I’m quite eager to give this some quality time. If it could sync up via MIDI, of course, it’d become far more useful as part of a bigger setup. The Tenori-On is wonderful, but customization (as also found on Monome) is often better, especially as you can think of sequencers as a kind of score.
http://www.glitchds.com/about/cellsds/