Reaktor 6 - Moving saved presets - receiving error referencing path of ensemble in other PC

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zorkiii
zorkiii Member Posts: 5 Member
edited October 2024 in Reaktor

I created several presets for an ensemble in Reaktor 6 on a PC (we'll call it PC1) - the ensemble is inSIDious (https://impactsoundworks.com/product/insidious/)

I located the presets in my standard User folder on PC1 and copied them and moved them to PC2 in the same path, but for the new PC and different user on that PC. When I attempt to load the preset in Reaktor I receive:

'Error while reading file C:\Users\pc1user\Documents\Native Instruments\Reaktor 6\Ensembles\inSIDious.ens: Cannot open file C:\Users\pc1user\Documents\Native Instruments\Reaktor 6\Ensembles\inSIDious.ens for reading.'

It looks like Reaktor is embedding the path of the ensemble in the preset so when I load it on the PC2 it is looking for the path of the inSIDious.ens on PC1 which is a different user. Everything else in the path is the same, just the username is different.

Is there any way around this? I couldn't seem to find any supporting documentation on this scenario and appreciate any help.

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Best Answer

  • Sunborn
    Sunborn NKS User Library Mod Posts: 3,762 mod
    Answer ✓

    Using "C:\Users\User-name\Documents" (for almost ANY reason), is a bad practice! (even if most software trying to "lead" us there always)...

    You should use a D:\ drive (either internal or external), and inside create a folder named "Studio" (or whatever name you like), or just do not create any main folder, and put ALL your stuff there (on different folders of course)! Ableton Library, Machine Library, Reaktor Library, Cubase Projects, Audio samples, etc etc.

    In this way not only you will never loose anything, but you can take this drive and use it on any other computer you may buy later... You will have a "life time library", without the need to do any change at all! ...and on every new computer you will follow the same process while you installing your software. Also, in most cases, you will never have to install again any kind of multi-gigabyte Factory libraries etc. since the program finds them there already ;-)

    My library is as old as 2003 and i never lost anything! (just some extra installs from time to time)...

    In your case, if you use "D:\Native Instruments\Reaktor (DO NOT use numbers, such as 5, 6 etc!!!)\Ensembles\inSIDious.ens" will stay there for an eternity and the new Reaktor versions will continue to read it correctly, no matter what!

Answers

  • ozon
    ozon Member Posts: 2,077 Expert

    Unfortunately this is harder than it should be.

    The main problem is, that Reaktor (seemingly at random and more often than not!) writes NRKT files using absolute paths to reference the Ensemble. An NRKT preset with an absolute path is not portable and will only work on the system it’s created on, as you already found out.

    The problem is twofold:

    A bug in Reaktor (which I already reported around 2016, and again in 2020) prevents reliable creation of portable NRKT presets for factory Ensembles. Sometimes the preset is correctly written with a relative path using a special prefix for the factory content location (e.g. factoryContent:Monark.ens), but most of the time not.

    However, even if that would work reliably, the issue remains for User Ensembles, which are not installed in the factory content location and therefore have to be referenced with absolute paths in the NRKT file... which again, makes the NRKT not portable.

    Naturally you could save all the presets as snapshots in the user Ensemble, which works as well, but is a PITA since it means adding a new presets requires updating your Ensemble.


    A real solution requires two fixes for Reaktor:

    • proper generation of relative paths to Ensembles whenever possible
    • additional prefixes for relative paths, such as reaktorLibrary, reaktorEnsembles and userContent.

    This would allow the presets to contain relative paths such as reaktorEnsembles:inSIDious.ens which are portable across different platforms, even for the M+.

  • Paule
    Paule Member Posts: 1,314 Expert
    edited May 2022

    Please use snapshots if you own the full version of Reaktor.

    Snapshots are embedded in the instrument/ensemble. It's an easier handling.

    @zorkiii wrote

    just the username is different

    Yes, that's it

  • zorkiii
    zorkiii Member Posts: 5 Member
    edited May 2022

    Curious what happens when the ensemble is updated by the creator such as a new version of inSIDious? The .ens file gets overwritten if I am not mistaken. Wouldn't that also overwrite all the snapshots for that saved .ens?

  • Sunborn
    Sunborn NKS User Library Mod Posts: 3,762 mod
    Answer ✓

    Using "C:\Users\User-name\Documents" (for almost ANY reason), is a bad practice! (even if most software trying to "lead" us there always)...

    You should use a D:\ drive (either internal or external), and inside create a folder named "Studio" (or whatever name you like), or just do not create any main folder, and put ALL your stuff there (on different folders of course)! Ableton Library, Machine Library, Reaktor Library, Cubase Projects, Audio samples, etc etc.

    In this way not only you will never loose anything, but you can take this drive and use it on any other computer you may buy later... You will have a "life time library", without the need to do any change at all! ...and on every new computer you will follow the same process while you installing your software. Also, in most cases, you will never have to install again any kind of multi-gigabyte Factory libraries etc. since the program finds them there already ;-)

    My library is as old as 2003 and i never lost anything! (just some extra installs from time to time)...

    In your case, if you use "D:\Native Instruments\Reaktor (DO NOT use numbers, such as 5, 6 etc!!!)\Ensembles\inSIDious.ens" will stay there for an eternity and the new Reaktor versions will continue to read it correctly, no matter what!

  • zorkiii
    zorkiii Member Posts: 5 Member
    edited May 2022

    @Sunborn - I appreciate hearing your opinion about the path to the ensemble, however I don't believe it fully answers the question or addresses my issue.

    The issue is that the presets that were saved on PC1 in Reaktor reference the exact path to the .ens on PC1 when trying to open them on PC2, which cause the error mentioned in my first post.

    Additionally Reaktor 6 by default shows these directory paths configured after I've installed:

    reaktor_paths.PNG

    Yes if I had an exact path of D:\DirectoryName on PC1 for the ens file and the same on PC2 it would likely work, but that's not what Reaktor sets by default as is confirmed by the screenshot above. It's written to Documents under the username of the user who installed Reaktor.

    Also why is your answer showing marked as "Answer" with a check mark? I don't mean to be dismissive or combative in any way by asking, but I don't see how it answers this. Also how can someone other than me, the person that started this thread, mark your post as the answer? Is this something an admin decided to do?

  • zorkiii
    zorkiii Member Posts: 5 Member

    I understand that moving to a common path off another drive could help with it, however by default Reaktor configures all directories to C:\Users\Username - and this is referenced in the path of the NRKT of the preset that is saved, so when loading on another PC the error is encountered.

    I don't think that the answer marked resolves the issue completely since what is happening on my side is default behavior and the error encountered is a valid problem.

    The only other point to make is that if the only other method is to use snapshots and save the presets in the .ens file, then these would be overwritten when there's an update to the ensemble.

  • Paule
    Paule Member Posts: 1,314 Expert
    edited May 2022

    Wouldn't that also overwrite all the snapshots for that saved .ens?

    All my in-use ens are in a different path. There is no automatic overwriting.

    --

    Please don't work with presets if you own the full Reaktor version.

    The Reaktor Player needs presets because snapshots load/save is out of reach.

  • zorkiii
    zorkiii Member Posts: 5 Member

    @Paule when you mention your in-use ens are in a different path and there is no automatic overwriting, can you clarify some more what you mean?

    I thought that for snapshots to work, the ens needs to be saved with them embedded. I was referring to when an ens file is updated, say for instance when a developer makes a new version - so when you load it none of the snapshots would be there. Appreciate any clarification if I'm missing something here.

  • Sunborn
    Sunborn NKS User Library Mod Posts: 3,762 mod
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/17554#Comment_17554

    Just export and save your snapshots to a snapshot file and re-import them when needed... you can even create a new bank and load them there! Any time, on any version, old or new or updated... It is really easy... :-)

  • Paule
    Paule Member Posts: 1,314 Expert
    edited May 2022

    You can load also a snapbank saved with R6 in R5.

    But do it carefully: a snapshot bank from your instrument can be load in the ensemble area and do nothing. Vice versa also: save an ens bank and load in instrument can crash the ensemble.

    So give the ens an different name as the instrument. The file name of an ssf (snapshot file) is writting as instrument name + snapbank name.

    It's easier to create a folder for ens and ism

    /EDIT\ To change a snapbank name: mark by mouse arrow the bank and press return.

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