What does the future hold for Reaktor?

Will there be development?

Will the features that have been requested for so long be implemented?

Maybe Reaktor's days are numbered?

Or will they keep the Reaktor as a milk cow, but not develop it, and only borrow ideas from user projects posted in the public domain for their commercial products?

What are your predictions? Let's talk about it!

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colB

"and only borrow ideas from user projects posted in the public domain for their commercial products?"

ooh, did they do that? which product was it?

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/31719/what-does-the-future-hold-for-reaktor

My predictions: Read this to see where Reaktor now fits into NIs longer term plans.

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/27875/march-2024-a-community-update-from-our-chief-product-officer

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

And I could have swore that I read somewhere that v6.50 (March 2023) was the last kick at the 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.

So not "dead" yet - but officially on life support for the foreseeable future.

Z Gabr

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/157930#Comment_157930

This is just a hypothesis, but with open access to so many realized unique ideas placed in a user's library, the temptation is great.....
Also, no one has reverse-engineered their commercial products to verify this.
However, I have come across information about NI's ability to compile Reaktor ensembles into full VSTs....... After all, such an ancient SynthEdit has always had that capability. And I'd like to see such a feature appear for Reaktor users as well.

Z Gabr

My predictions: Read this to see where Reaktor now fits into NIs longer term plans.

I read it.
And it turns out it didn't fit into their plans.

It's very sad.

Z Gabr

Well, I'll be looking to move to other platforms then.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/157966#Comment_157966

No need to run for the exits if the software works just fine.

I say get out there and use it - or is it so bad that simply does not work for you?

Z Gabr

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/157992#Comment_157992

I'm missing a few features I've been requesting for many years.

And so of course everything works well...But, if this will not develop, there is no point in spurring a "dead horse"…

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/157993#Comment_157993

Fair enough.

Continued success.

colB

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/157961#Comment_157961

"This is just a hypothesis, but with open access to so many realized unique ideas placed in a user's library, the temptation is great...."

Not really, there are very few truly original ideas in the user library, mostly just quirky unusual takes on existing concepts with odd GUIs that are inspiring, but could never be a successful product - which is why the UL is so great. its full of weird stuff that doesn't need to 'sell'.

98% of the work is in interface design, polishing up the details, and promotion. I would guess that between them the devs at NI have orders of magnitude more original ideas than we'll ever see. The idea that they would spend hours trawling through the dross and bad clones in the UL as part of product development is absurd!

The small part of the work that is actually DSP is something they are even further ahead with compared with the vast majority of UL entries!

"However, I have come across information about NI's ability to compile Reaktor ensembles into full VSTs......."

Interesting, where did you come accross that 'information'? was it a plausible trustworthy source within NI, or was it 'some dude on the internet'?

"After all, such an ancient SynthEdit has always had that capability. And I'd like to see such a feature appear for Reaktor users as well."

Just use SynthEdit - seems like it has what you crave!

The reality is that there are various different visual DSP environments, each has strengths and weaknesses, and often there are compromises - some features are weaker or missing in order to allow other features to exist. Personally, I like the balance Reaktor has, but it also makes sense that some other folk would prefer SynthEdit or Pure Data, or MAX Msp… It's good to have choices.

colB

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/157993#Comment_157993

If you can't make original novel and powerful devices using Reaktors existing feature set, or make original compelling music with the thousands of tools available in the factory library, and from third parties, then maybe it's you who is a dead horse? ;)

Seriously though, Reaktor is extremely powerful, generally stable, and very flexible. It does have some weak areas, and it would be nice to see various updates, but overall, its a pretty complete audio development environment.

Why does a 25 year old application need to have regular updates to make it usable? it's already usable. Look at all the amazing ****** folk have built with it…. look at Razor, Monark, Blocks, Super8… Reaktor is incredibly powerful, you could use it as is for decades to come and never run out of new things to do!

Paul B

I think it's misguided to abandon something because development has stalled, as long as that thing is in a good useable state. Reaktor fits this description.

My prediction: Reaktor will receive no updates for a while (we know this for certain) but it has not been abandoned. The Apple Silicon update confirms that at worst NI plan to keep it around along with the synths they have built for it. This means even if there is never significant development, it will remain as usable as it currently is for many years to come.

Leaving it for something else means leaving behind Reaktor Blocks (replaceable by Voltage Modular, I suppose) and the various synths I own built for Reaktor (replaceable by???).

I'm skeptical there is anything out there that is a complete replacement for Reaktor as it is now, that will also receive the updated features Reaktor lacks.

But if you've found something, go for it. Whatever keeps you making music.

colB

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/157966#Comment_157966

That's a shame, I hope you find what you are looking for elsewhere.

Please resist the urge to take a dump on the livingroom carpet before you leave ;)

colB

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/158021#Comment_158021

Fully agree!

"Leaving it for something else means leaving behind Reaktor Blocks (replaceable by Voltage Modular, I suppose)"

It's not really replacable by voltage modular, Blocks in Reaktor always has that killer feature that you can modify or build your own… Even if you're not ready to build complete blocks, you can use blocks in ensemble mode, and hack together any extra functionality you need using vanilla Primary level Reaktor.

When you are creating a Blocks patch and you just need one extra thing that isn't there, you can often just cobble the basic functionality together in 20 minutes…!

The downside of this is you get sucked into a void of perfecting that 20 minute sketch into months of work and lose track of the original project… but that's creative work for you :-D

Z Gabr

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/158022#Comment_158022

I love Reaktor and have been using it for so many years, and you are a witness to that, but I don't like the lack of official feedback on its future development, and I don't like the complete ignoring of requested features many years...

But there's a law in this universe that what doesn't grow degrades. There's no stable state in this universe.....

colB

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/158033#Comment_158033

It would be unwise for NI to comment on future development when they don't know the future ;)

My understanding is that requested features are not ignored, but it is a shame that the policy for decades has been not to engage with the user base in that respect.

If a requested feature is sensible and useful, then there is probably a good reason why it hasn't been implemented, most likely relating to technical or resource related restrictions.

=====================

I'm not sure that entropy really applies at such a small time time scale as the lifespan of an audio application :). To the extent that it does, Reaktor has reakted! The recent huge ARM update, being the most obvious example.

Currently the thing that looks most likely to kill off Reaktor will have the same existential impact on most 'traditional' music software tools, and that is AI. If AI does get to the point where 'propmters' can generate music without actually doing the kind of work that requires tools like Reaktor, then all the virtual instruments and DAWs will be dead in the water. There will be a cultural reaction away from over processed digital blandness, and an even stronger move towards traditional musical performance, the 'traditional' music software industry suffer as it gets washed away in the cleansing process. The next 'punk' reset is a live one with no AI and no autotune. Folk playing guitars and singing out of tune, and folk rocking techno on hardware setups - like this:

https://youtu.be/BOvFCfdoVPI?t=839

Autotune is terrible, but AI will be worse and will be the tipping point… at least I hope so :)

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