So this just came in on Create Digital Music. link
Boners anyone? I haven't read the article yet, so I'm not sure what to think. The article should tell me that.
 , Pennsylvania, USA
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i make small loops
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Soft: Reaktor 5, Renoise, various VSTs
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Electronic Music discussion: Reaktor 5.5!!!!!!!
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Written July 15 2010 , Tags: half way there
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Apparently this is a major upgrade. 30% of the code is new, so I'm wondering why didn't they just release it as version 6? Unless this is a kind of teaser to get people interested again, trying the beta and hopefully inspiring new users.
because if it was ver 6 it would be a paid upgrade
looks good for being free + electronic instruments 2 is the tits (if its the bundle that has photone and fastfx)
I was hoping for a version 6... It is free though. I'll be downloading this shortly.
An hour and a half to go on this 500MB download. They've probably got a lot of traffic right now.
I've got the day off of work, I just woke up, it's quarter to four in the morning and I've got a pot of coffee for breakfast. I'll give it a lengthy test drive and let everyone know what's up. The release notes say there's no 64 bit compatibility (boo! - 5.1.5 doesn't either, though), so it'll run in 32 bit mode on my XP 64 bit install. I hope it runs... I guess that's what a public beta is for, though. infradead said: "because if it was ver 6 it would be a paid upgrade" Thats what I'm saying, if this is such a big upgrade why not just release it as a new version and get some cash for it? Regardless, i'm excited to check it out. hopefully eyesnine will post a thoughtful and thorough review. from the user forums:
Correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems to me that Reaktor 5.5 is basically a GUI revamp. The audio engine seems not to have changed much, if at all. There are a couple of new primary-level modules (additive, modal) and instruments (lazerbass). But the gist of the upgrade seems to be the revamped GUI and cosmetics (panel look, knobs, etc.). -------------- NI's response: That's a reasonably correct appraisal of 5.5. It IS primarily a GUI update. But: 1. The two new modules (additive, modal) are way beyond mere cosmetics. Their CPU optimization is far higher than what could be reached with Core or Primary, thus making complex (rather than just academic) additive and modal synthesis possible. 2. As for the 5.5 audio engine, there are more new features than one can easily see. A major part of the underlying 5.1.5 code has been changed/optimized: the low-level interface, the audio drivers, the sample-rate converters, the drawing functions of the GUI, and lots more. 3. Don't forget: Registered users get (for free!) the complete Electronic Instruments I and II packs, with several of the ensembles therein updated for 5.5. My review:
There are a few valuable new features for version 5.5. For example, support for 48 khz, 96 khz, etc. sample rates. This is appreciated. Things seem to run a little smoother, too. It is more efficient, at least on my system. The new default appearance of the knobs, faders, buttons, etc. is a bit cleaner and more usable, but the rendering for the non panel fonts is terrible. I wonder what the issue is with that? I would think the font rendering problem would have been solved sometime in the last 20 or 30 years. I'm not totally sold on the new navigation scheme. The capability to open more than 2 editing windows has been lost. It seems like the "new" functionality of the GUI was already present in 5.1.5. The only exception to this is bookmarks, which don't seem very useful. Am I supposed to bookmark every module in my instrument? I will definitely want to visit them all. Why not an overview tree that just shows the macros in the instrument? (edit: the bookmarks work fairly well... once you figure out how to use them *hint* ignore what's in the manual). The expanded library is nice, but I'm more of a developer, I don't use the premade instruments too much. The map editor has been updated, thankfully. It's much easier to work with now, though it will be even better if a bug fix I recommended is made (numbers cannot be selected by double clicking at this point). From my perspective Reaktor 5.5 is nearly identical to 5.1.5. The Reaktor developers have the challenge of trying to appeal to two entirely different user bases. Most people are interested in Reaktor as a do it all tool that can be used as an effects rack, synthesizer, sampler, sequencer, etc. Then there are people that are interested in building their own instruments. The first group of people are the ones this new release seems tailored to. I can see why, there are more people in the first group, and they pay a lot of money. But the second group are the ones that add content and ultimately attract new people to the first group. They're also the most loyal of the user base. The solution seems to be the layered approach to editing. The top ensemble level is a very simple router between instruments. The next level down (instrument editing) is more complex, and can be used for routing or programming. Finally, the Core level is targeted at programmers. From my perspective, the Core level is where Reaktor needs to grow. 5.5 hasn't made a single change to Core as far as I can tell. Maybe I just need to look a little closer, and maybe the new Reaktor will grow on me, but it's disappointing to wait so long for a cosmetic change. That said, I'm glad Native Instruments didn't attempt to package this as Reaktor 6. You can imagine my reaction to that potential fiasco. i'm pretty wary of the update.. i've got about 20 unfinished projects worth keeping with a few instances of reaktor in each.
wish this could install on its own, and not overwrite existing ver :/ Yeah, it's important to remember that this is a beta release. I've reported four bugs already, and that's not including the BSOD (I'm not sure exactly how it happened, so I don't know what to report).
This is more for a sneak preview, or for someone interested in helping identify bugs in the software. I did successfully install 5.1.5 and 5.5 on the same XP Pro x64 machine.
I installed Reaktor from the DVD to a different directory and applied the beta on the new installation. I used the beta quite a lot, and the old version still works fine, but can't be updated anymore. When 5.5 comes out officially through the service center I'll need to remove both installations and start fresh. It's a bit of an effort, but I can check out the beta and work on my projects in the meantime. One of the people from NI said it was a really bad idea, but whatever. I'm not going to use a buggy beta for the next few months, and I'm not going to uninstall, reinstall every time I want to run 5.5, then uninstall, reinstall when I want to work on my projects. IMO, the dev team should have made a removable patch to be considerate to the people that are essentially giving them free labor. I get paid $12/hr, so NI owes me about $60 for what I did today. More including the time it'll take to remove the beta and reinstall again. It is nice that NI included a much belated 'Application Manual' that actually covers some basics for implementing event and audio processing modules. I haven't spent too much time with the update, but it seems to be a little slower than Reaktor 5.1.5 using Mac OSX 10.6.3 (granted, I am using a Hackintosh system, but that being said all of my other audio applications run smoothly). Look forward to spending more time with it tonight, but I definitely take your words in to consideration eyesnine (aka the Reaktor guru).
if its running slower check that the latency for your soundcard hasn't been put to a different setting. this happens when reaktor first installs.
can anyone confirm that this comes with the ensembles photone and fastfx (along with the rest of electronic instruments 2)? i just sold those standalone as EI2XT and now feel guilty cuz the buyer just wanted those ensembles. he already had reaktor. hmmm.
It does indeed come with those ensembles. You should feel very guilty.
I've been using 5.5 some more and I really like it. 5.1.5 seems old and clunky now. The new interface is growing on me. I wish it was R6, but whatever, I'm over it now and the new version is good. Page 1 | 2
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