Super 8 vs Super 8 R2?

shenrei
shenrei Member Posts: 6 Member
in Komplete General

Noticed I have both Super 8 R2 installed and Super 8 available for installation. Anyone know the difference? I thought Super 8 came with Komplete 13 back then but I can't really remember.

Best Answers

  • Paule
    Paule Member Posts: 1,314 Expert
    Answer ✓

    The newer one is an Reaktor instrument. The same as in the beginning of Super 8. The other was an extract as vsti.

  • Monochrome
    Monochrome Member Posts: 1,306 Expert
    edited May 2023 Answer ✓

    I've once posted it, but to reiterate:

    Super 8 was originally a Reaktor-only synth. In 2019, NI eventually decided to create a dedicated VST plug-in for it: Super 8 R2. However, sales of the plug-in version weren't that great and so the decision was made to cease development on it (source). The focus is now back on the Reaktor version.

    You can still use Super 8 R2, but it won't get any new updates. Both are virtually the same, although some Presets seem different.

Answers

  • Paule
    Paule Member Posts: 1,314 Expert
    Answer ✓

    The newer one is an Reaktor instrument. The same as in the beginning of Super 8. The other was an extract as vsti.

  • Monochrome
    Monochrome Member Posts: 1,306 Expert
    edited May 2023 Answer ✓

    I've once posted it, but to reiterate:

    Super 8 was originally a Reaktor-only synth. In 2019, NI eventually decided to create a dedicated VST plug-in for it: Super 8 R2. However, sales of the plug-in version weren't that great and so the decision was made to cease development on it (source). The focus is now back on the Reaktor version.

    You can still use Super 8 R2, but it won't get any new updates. Both are virtually the same, although some Presets seem different.

  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 4,374 Expert
    edited May 2023

    Ooooops…once refreshed the page I see that Monochrome already answered 👍🏼

  • LostInFoundation
    LostInFoundation Member Posts: 4,374 Expert

    And now after another refresh I see that also Paule did answer…is the forum having some kind of hiccups? Those answers weren’t there before…

  • diamondgeeza
    diamondgeeza Member Posts: 1 Newcomer

    Is there anyway to load the old super 8 standalone presets into the reaktor ensemble? they seem to have a different file extension?

  • noumansaeed
    noumansaeed Member Posts: 11 Member
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/106929#Comment_106929

    Do mention me plz if you get the answer

  • iNate
    iNate Member Posts: 212 Advisor
    edited November 2023
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/73072#Comment_73072

    The newer one is the VST3. The REAKTOR-based Super 8 is actually the old one. It is missing a ton of presets that are in the R2 release (the VST3 version). And honestly - for me - the presets are probably the only reason to care about it, since most DAWs have perfectly usable VA Synths bundled.

    Super 8 (REAKTOR Ensemble): 350+ Presets

    Super 8 R2 (VST3 Plug-in): 550+ Presets

    It's also less "convenient" to use as a REAKTOR Ensemble, since you have to host it within REAKTOR 6 or Komplete Kontrol (which hosts REAKTOR 6 to host the Ensemble...). This also means it can be "indirectly broken" where the instrument is broken by virtue of the host platform being broken - after OS or DAW updates, etc.

    If on Windows, I would bias heavily toward the Super 8 R2 release (VST3).

    On macOS, the REAKTOR Ensemble is pretty standard since the VST3 is not M1-Native and will force you to run a lot of DAWs under Rosetta 2 to access it.

    If you're still on an Intel Mac, though, you can ignore the Ensemble version and use the VST3 Release.

    I think Apple Silicon probably played a big role in them deciding not to maintain the VST3 version. They didn't want to invest in updating it for Apple Silicon, so they simply rolled it back to Super 8 R1.

    Unless you're on macOS, I can't see any benefits to using the old (REAKTOR-based) version of Super 8 - or reason to do so.

    This is one of those weird cases where a company actually rolled a product back to the "worse iteration" simply because it's "cheaper than updating the better iteration."

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