When will Reaktor7 come?

dreason85
dreason85 Member Posts: 49 Member

Time flies quickly, but I can't help but ask, when will Reaktor7 come?

«13456712

Comments

  • Studiowaves
    Studiowaves Member Posts: 634 Advisor

    Reaktor is no longer in the spotlight. Other than bug fixes what could they possibly add. Great just as it is…

  • dreason85
    dreason85 Member Posts: 49 Member
  • Simon A. Billington
    Simon A. Billington Member Posts: 114 Helper

    When a dev releases a new version with new features tells people that they are still invested in their software. When a dev just says the software will only be receiving maintenance fixes for the foreseeable it doesn't actually inspire confidence that it has future.

    That's the sign that it will eventually be dropped and wont be able to run on future OS/DAW versions. That kind of talk makes people nervous and want to start jumping ship.

    I, myself, have stopped using it until I hear more affirmative news. I could be painting myself into a corner otherwise.

  • Paul B
    Paul B Member Posts: 163 Advisor
    edited August 8

    There's a lot of software that hasn't received any feature updates in years, only updates to run on new Macs and occasional bug fixes, yet I don't see people speaking of how that means the developers are no longer invested and it will eventually stop working.

    Reaktor was updated for new Macs. This is not the action of a company planning to drop a product. Absynth is an example of what you see in the latter case.

    But new features for Reaktor are not going to happen in the near future, this is true.

    I find the mindset of "it works well now, but one day it may not so I won't use it until I am certain" difficult to understand. There can be no certainty that any software (or hardware) will function until the day you die (or otherwise stop making music). Use what you have and enjoy it and if it stops being supported you still have the music you made. You can render instrument tracks to audio then if you must have them separate from the mix, and preserve it as much as anything can ever be preserved.

  • krabbencutter
    krabbencutter Member Posts: 7 Member

    Even though I'm still using Reaktor for DSP prototyping the UI & workflow are becoming more and more a pain in the rear end on laptops with high resolution screens.

  • Studiowaves
    Studiowaves Member Posts: 634 Advisor

    I wish operating systems would let us adjust the size of the window and shrink or expand the contents of the window by scaling the visuals. At least the magnifier in windows does that and that works for me.

  • Vocalpoint
    Vocalpoint Member Posts: 2,310 Expert

    Reaktor is already tagged as in "maintenance" mode.

    Barring some unforeseen miracle - there will never be a v7.

    VP

  • Studiowaves
    Studiowaves Member Posts: 634 Advisor

    Maybe use separate processor cores for each instance of a reaktor plugin. But since computer speeds have picked up that's not even necessary. Even though daw's can use all cores, that didn't work in the past. Nowadays it's no problem, so that problem is solved. Some people want Reaktor to report it's latency to the daw. That could be done but it's not exactly a new feature. Why do you need iteration inside a core cell?

  • Studiowaves
    Studiowaves Member Posts: 634 Advisor

    I wouldn't exactly consider half of the upgrades I read about in daw software upgrades at all. In fact as trivial as they are it becomes obvious it's a marketing strategy that's simple make believe. I got a good laugh when an up upgrade day said their new version includes a vocal strip. That's preying on people with very limited knowledge of how things work. Any decent daw track can be configured with a chain of vocal processing. They fact that they organized it for you doesn't exactly justify an upgrade.

  • ViGiT
    ViGiT Member Posts: 7 Member

    It's always been like this with the Reaktor, I've been using it since the early 2000s. New versions haven't been released for a long time, and every time there was a feeling that this project would be closed. But it always unexpectedly returned like a phoenix. This time, I think it will be the same. Moreover, the era of AI has arrived. And it needs to be urgently integrated into the Reaktor! Just like the new tractor integrated the function of dividing the track into stems, which implies the use of AI. So they can attach an AI assistant to the reactor. Isn't it a new version?

  • Vocalpoint
    Vocalpoint Member Posts: 2,310 Expert

    All I can postulate is that there were a number of mentions in a few threads in the last year that Reaktor is now in permanent maintenance mode.

    Meaning NI will break out the code if needed for a new MacOS compatibility update or other minor reason.

    But many of the old school developers who really made Reaktor what is was - are gone and their knowledge went with them.

    I think of Reaktor in the same space as Battery, FM8 and several other NI classics of the early 2000's - they are "there", still part of Komplete (for now at least) and they work when you need them to.

    But the user base that NI is chasing now - is not those who want to build synths - it's those who seek ready made sounds from ready to go instruments with little care about how they were built.

    VP

  • Vocalpoint
    Vocalpoint Member Posts: 2,310 Expert
    edited August 8

    Well - you can start here:

    March 2024 – a community update from our Chief Product Officer — Community (native-instruments.com)

    Not a single mention of it. Direct from the Chief Product Officer.

    And then go here:

    June 2024 – a community update from our Chief Product Officer — Community (native-instruments.com)

    Again - Not a single mention of it. Direct from the Chief Product Officer.

    I do remember reading somewhere in these forums (from an NI rep) that v6.50 (March 2023) was the last kick at the R6 can. Very much like Battery v4.3.0 - one final update to bring together Apple silicon, VST3 , some key bug fixes and a few quality of life and polish items and that was it.

    And considering a year and a half has now passed since 6.50 and complete radio silence - I think we can do the math on this - Reaktor is not quite "dead" yet - but officially on life support for the foreseeable future.

    VP

  • Simon A. Billington
    Simon A. Billington Member Posts: 114 Helper

    Absynth is a classic example. It was only receiving maintenance updates for years. So it came as no surprise they dropped it all together. Trash had a similar thing going on, but it was reborn after enough public pressure.

    If Apple stoped making new phones and only made maintenance upgrades, many of us may be richer for it, but people would lose confidence in them. As the competitors gain their upper advantage people will stop buying Apple and their stocks would plummet. Apple would become extinct.

    In my mind maintenance is almost always more important than new features. Here's the thing though, the act of investing in the future by adding new features, tells people that the product still has a future. It positively reinforces people's confidence as opposed to losing it to fear and doubt.

    If a product didn't adapt to the changing of the times it risks becoming stale and non-relevant. That eventually leads it becoming extinct. It's happened many times. People are no different, adapt or risk becoming extinct. Though in modern-day terms that really means jobless and redundant.

    It's just a simple fundamental of life and technology is no exception.

  • Simon A. Billington
    Simon A. Billington Member Posts: 114 Helper

    And as a result people's confidence is affected. There are fears and doubts circulating. This forum is full of many of these posts. If a product is not evolving it is on its way to becoming redundant. It could be 5, it could be 10 years, but it will die off eventually.

    Most of us want to be able to open projects well into the future on new DAWs and new systems, so we don't want to corner ourselves by continuing to use a product that has no future plans.

Back To Top