Should I buy Reaktor 6 or stay with Pure Data?

jamcultur

I've been using Pure Data for about a year and a half and I like it, but it is so low-level that I often feel like I'm reinventing the wheel. My impression is that Reaktor 6 has more functionality built into it and that it might be faster to develop synths in Reaktor 6 than Pure Data, and that the synths will look better in Reaktor 6. What do you think? Is there anything that Pure Data can do that Reaktor 6 can't do? Is anyone using Reaktor 6 with Pure Data?

PoorFellow

What Sunborn says above !

To understand Reaktor better then try watching these videos (including partner videos at page bottom)(and check other content by page tabs) , and consult the manuals (some Reaktor 6 documentation is only in some of the version 5 manuals)

Otherwise then I personally find the Voltage Modular quite a lot more easy to understand and approachable and it doesn't require you to "reinvent the wheel" (unless that you want to). But even if what I understand of Reaktor myself is rather limited yet then I can still tell you that while Reaktor is a lot harder to approach than e.g. V.M. then the reward is also equally great so one should maybe just try another approach to Reaktor with a less steep leaning curve. There are so many Reaktor tutorials that can learn you a lot and it will be a lot easier for you if you try to follow other peoples examples to learn rather than expect that you can do it all yourself right away. Also read this handout from Sunborn to me here and the handout from colB to me here (colB is one of the persons in the forum with most Reaktor knowledge)(don't know if there are others attending anymore)

Important ! When following older tutorials then they may use Tutorial Ensembles that you then can not find. To be able to find/use those then go to the Reaktor Factory Library disk directory and unzip the content of the "Legacy Library.zip"

REAKTORPART 1 - Garnish Music Production School

REAKTORPART 2 - Garnish Music Production School

REAKTORPART 3 - Garnish Music Production School

ReaktorPrimary – 1. Building a Synth: Absolute Basics

ReaktorPrimary – 2. Building a Synth: Adding More Elements

Reaktor101: Getting Started

Reaktor102: Developing Our Synth

AGuide To Building Synths in Native Instruments Reaktor: Part 1

AGuide To Building Synths in Native Instruments Reaktor: Part 2

AGuide To Building Synths in Native Instruments Reaktor: Part 3

AGuide To Building Synths in Native Instruments Reaktor: Part 4

AGuide To Building Synths in Native Instruments Reaktor: Part 5

Reaktor Tutorials, ADSR Music Production Tutorials

You can also get more existing blocks like from ToyBox Audio and Unfiltered Audio

Sunborn

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/39033/should-i-buy-reaktor-6-or-stay-with-pure-data

To say it simple:

Comparing Reaktor 6 with Pure Data is like comparing Lord of the Rings Trilogy with a 70's Disney cartoon, where Reaktor is the L.O.T.R. of course… 😊

Jean louis P

i would say :

Reaktor :

more premade tools

better graphic interface, more practical

you have an oscilloscope and a spectrum analyzer that you can have on the same interface than the synth

more flexibility on the data routing

Some things easy with Reaktor are hard to make with pure data. There is a function for reproduction of something made on Reaktor, i am still searching ….

you don't have a ton of libraries that you can't access directly, even if some of them are cool, interesting.

Pure Data :

it looks that for some specific works works it is better, but not for a classic synth with a cool and practical graphic interface under windows, i would say.

PoorFellow

What Sunborn says above !

To understand Reaktor better then try watching these videos (including partner videos at page bottom)(and check other content by page tabs) , and consult the manuals (some Reaktor 6 documentation is only in some of the version 5 manuals)

Otherwise then I personally find the Voltage Modular quite a lot more easy to understand and approachable and it doesn't require you to "reinvent the wheel" (unless that you want to). But even if what I understand of Reaktor myself is rather limited yet then I can still tell you that while Reaktor is a lot harder to approach than e.g. V.M. then the reward is also equally great so one should maybe just try another approach to Reaktor with a less steep leaning curve. There are so many Reaktor tutorials that can learn you a lot and it will be a lot easier for you if you try to follow other peoples examples to learn rather than expect that you can do it all yourself right away. Also read this handout from Sunborn to me here and the handout from colB to me here (colB is one of the persons in the forum with most Reaktor knowledge)(don't know if there are others attending anymore)

Important ! When following older tutorials then they may use Tutorial Ensembles that you then can not find. To be able to find/use those then go to the Reaktor Factory Library disk directory and unzip the content of the "Legacy Library.zip"

REAKTORPART 1 - Garnish Music Production School

REAKTORPART 2 - Garnish Music Production School

REAKTORPART 3 - Garnish Music Production School

ReaktorPrimary – 1. Building a Synth: Absolute Basics

ReaktorPrimary – 2. Building a Synth: Adding More Elements

Reaktor101: Getting Started

Reaktor102: Developing Our Synth

AGuide To Building Synths in Native Instruments Reaktor: Part 1

AGuide To Building Synths in Native Instruments Reaktor: Part 2

AGuide To Building Synths in Native Instruments Reaktor: Part 3

AGuide To Building Synths in Native Instruments Reaktor: Part 4

AGuide To Building Synths in Native Instruments Reaktor: Part 5

Reaktor Tutorials, ADSR Music Production Tutorials

You can also get more existing blocks like from ToyBox Audio and Unfiltered Audio