REAKTOR AS AN EFFECTS PROCESSOR

a Tutorial by
David Coffin

This tutorial is for beginners to Reaktor (R) and anyone else who wants to explore getting the
most out of the vast number of existing R effects and routing components, without the need
to build new effects processors. I’ll be treating R as big box of stomp-box or rack-mounted
processors, modulators and routing tools and describing how to patch, configure and control
them in ways inspired by the best hardware effects. As you’ll see, doing so in R is very often
more flexible and more powerful than anything you could do with hardware. We’ll be using R
in standalone mode, but of course, any R effects can also be opened in VST and other plug-in
hosts.

BASICS

The difference between effects and sound sources

Effects have audio inputs and outputs. Sound sources (synths, samplers, loopers, drum
machines, etc.) only have audio outs. Effects are usually labeled as such in R library folders,
the user library, and other online sources.

Reaktor Effect Reaktor Sound Source

I’ve created an FX Favorites folder and made that a favorite in the Browser, so whenever I
open a new effect and like it, I’ve got a place to save a copy of it, including any new snaps I’ve
created for it, and any other changes I’ve made to the file. I usually use its original name, so I
can track that down if necessary, perhaps with some additional info to distinguish it from the
unchanged version.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 1
 Processing Options

To process live input, set your audio system (System→Audio + MIDI Settings) so you’re
getting meter movement on the Toolbar’s Audio Input meters when you play, sing, or
otherwise run audio into your computer’s audio interface, then load an effect by opening
an effect ensemble.

Audio meters on the Toolbar

The System Menu

To process audio files, open Reaktor’s Playerbox (Mac: Command F2—hold “f” key on
Powerbooks/PC: Ctrl F2) and click the folder icon on it, which will open any .wav or .aif file,
and give you transport and looping controls for playing the file thru any loaded effects
ensemble; no additional wire connecting is required. You can access any other audio
file in the same folder with the drop-down menu on the Playerbox, and the Playerbox
stays loaded when you change to any other effect ensemble, even if it isn’t visible (hit
command/ctrl F2 again to see it).

Click here to
open audio
files.

The Playerbox

To process other Reaktor ensembles/instruments, open the ensemble structure view (hit
the toolbar Structure button, or use the contextual menu for the ensembleCtrl-click[Mac],
right-click[PC]) of a source ensemble and select, then delete, the wires from the source
to the Audio Out module. Next, insert an effect instrument into the ensemble structure
(using the contextual menu or by dragging it from the Browser), wire (or “patch”) the out-
puts of the source instrument into the inputs of the effect instrument by dragging from
the instrument’s Out ports to the effect’s In ports, then connect the effect Outs to the
Audio Out module.

Disconnect the source instrument… …select an effect instrument us-

ing the context menu…

…then patch it after your source.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 2
 Reaktor Objects: Ensembles, Instruments, Macros, Modules

ENSEMBLES

Ensembles (R documents with suffix .ens) are at the top level of R and have the Reaktor
icon in the Browser. Only one can be open at a time; you can’t link them together. When
you open an Ensemble, you’ll see that it contains one or more instruments, plus the Audio
In and Audio Out modules, which are only visible in the Ensemble - Structure view…and
any ensemble that’s currently open will close.

Ensembles can ONLY contain Instruments!

All other objects must be inside instruments. To insert other object types into an ensemble,
first open the structure of one of the instruments within it, then insert.

Press F5 to open the Browser or bring it to the front.

Ensemble icons in
the Browser; dou-
ble-click to open a
new ensemble.
Instrument icons
in the Browser and
Structure; double-
click or drag from
Browser to insert.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 3
INSTRUMENTS

Instruments (R documents with suffix .ism) are the next level below ensembles, and have
a keyboard Icon, both in the structure window and in the Browser. Multiple instruments
can be open and linked together within an single ensemble. Instruments can be dragged
from the Browser or opened from menus to insert them into the open structure window
of any type of object that has a window, which includes Ensembles, other Instruments,
and Macros.

Only Instruments and ensembles have snapshots, or presets, and every instrument
within an ensemble has its own snapshot selector in the Panel view.

Lock/Unlock controls Snapshot selectors View selectors

No matter where they are inserted, instruments always have their own panel in the
panel view. The two instruments above are collapsed, and will expand to reveal their
panel controls when either the View A or B button is selected. Once opened, you can
unlock each panel to rearrange its controls as you prefer, and each view can hold a
different arrangement of, and different selection of, all available controls. You can also
open each instrument panel in its own window, in addition to the ensemble window.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 4
MACROS

Macros (documents with suffix .mdl) have an icon with three modules linked together,
and are self-contained structures that hold other patched-together objects (including
instruments, other macros, and modules), just like instruments.

The macro icon

The difference is that macros don’t have their own snapshots or panels. They’re designed
to organize various parts of a complex instrument or ensemble into sub-devices, all of
which will be controlled by a single snapshot taken by the containing instrument.
An outline around a portion of the controls on a R panel tells you you’re looking at a
macro that’s inside the structure of that instrument, if the panel designer chose to make
the macro outline visible, using the Properties window described later in this tutorial.

Macro outline
This device contains 4 of these identical macros

REAKTOR EFFECTS 5
MODULES

Modules are R documents at the lowest level. They’re the basic building blocks of all the
other objects. Each module has its own unique icon, if there’s room for an icon on it.
Modules can’t be opened and they don’t have structure windows; they are configured
using the properties window (Mac/PC: F4), as you’ll see in the Properties portion of this
tutorial. Reconfigured modules can only be saved by saving an object that contains them,
not on their own, but once reconfigured, they can be copied and pasted.

All other R components can be opened and altered in a new structure window by double-
clicking on them.

This delay instrument is built entirely from modules.

The green boxes are

panel controls, which show
up on its instrument panel,
shown above. ALL panel
elements have correspond-
ing modules somewhere in
the instrument’s structure.
The grey boxes
in the structure
are signal proces-
sors.

The blue boxes

are input and output
terminals.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 6
 Working with Reaktor objects

Extracting instruments from ensembles

Most library effects are available as both ensembles and instruments in the library,
which makes it easy to assemble your own choice of effects instruments into new multi-
effect ensembles. But occassionally you’ll come across an ensemble, perhaps in the
User Library, that includes one or more new effects instruments that you’d like to bor-
row. Any instrument within any ensemble can be saved as a standalone instrument
by opening its contextual menu, choosing “Save Instrument As…”, giving it a new name
and storing it in a new location, from which you can insert it into any open ensemble,
using the browser or the ensemble’s contextual menu.

To save this Grain Delay

as a separate instru-
ment…

…open the Ensemble

Structure and select the
instrument icon with the
same name.

Open its context

menu…

…then use the Save

Dialog to store it
where you want.

I always add the .ism suffix when I save an instrument this way, and keep .ism’s in their own
folder within my FX-favorites folder. This isn’t strictly necessary; only instruments will show up
when you scan a folder of ensembles and instruments in order to insert an instrument into an
ensemble structure window. But the Browser is easier to use when huge folders are organized
into subfolders.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 7
Turning Macros to instruments
You can save a macro as an instrument by pasting it or its contents into an empty
instrument, as shown below. It will then have its own snapshots and its own panel in
panel view.

Ste p 1

Open an instrument
1 structure containing
FX macros…

2 …open the macro

you want…

…and copy the con-

3 tents, including the
input and output
terminals…

REAKTOR EFFECTS 8
 Step 2

Create an empty
1 instrument in the
ensemble’s structure…

2 …open the new instru-

ment and paste…

…then open the Prop-

3 erties panel, select the
new instrument, and
change its label.

Your new instrument will appear in a new panel within the ensemble panel window, as
shown above. Looks like the panel layout needs some work…
Unlock the panel, fix it, lock it again, then save the instrument to a new location. You can
repeat the process for any other macros in the same ensemble, or just close it without
saving to leave the original unchanged.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 9
You can also convert instruments to macros, by copying and pasting the contents of
an instrument into an empty macro, which can be inserted into any instrument. The
converted instrument’s controls will then show up on any instrument panel that contains
that macro, within an outline if desired, as in R4’s Banaan Electrique, shown in the
previous example, or in GeekFX from the R3 Premium Library, shown here. The converted
instrument won’t have its own snapshots or snapshot window, but its settings will be
stored and recalled by the snapshots of the instrument that contains it.

Multiple effects assembled as macros,

within a single instrument.
Each one could be stored as a separate
instrument if desired, giving it its own snap-
shots and panel.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 10
I almost always prefer to build multi-effect structures from combined instruments
instead of assembled macros, as shown below, so that each device in the structure has
its own snapshots, controllable with ensemble-level “master” snapshots, and can open a
saved snapshot bank from the same device used and tweeked in some other ensemble.
This also allows me to take maximum advantage of snapshot morphing and linking, all of
which I’ll describe in the Snapshot-panel portion of this tutorial. If necessary, I deal with
the screen sizes of large, multiple panels by collapsing the instruments as soon as I have a
set of snaps I like for each one.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 11
 Hightlights of the Properties window

Every Reaktor object has numerous properties, allowing you many different ways to
configure the behaviour and appearance of everything you build or use. The following
overview and few examples show several interesting properties from an effects-
processing and parameter-control perspective.

As you read further on in the other parts of this tutorial, you’ll see how I’ve used all of
these examples myself when creating the ensemble examples described and included.
You may find it most useful to come back to this section for close reading after
exploring them.

Hit F4 (Mac/PC) to open the Properties window.

When open, the Properties window is always on top, and its focus and contents change
depending on what object is hi-lited in any panel or structure window (instrument,
module, macro, panel control, table, etc.)
It has 4 pages:
Function page Info page

Add or change
comments, make
Use this panel- notes for any ele-
unlock button ment.
when you can’t These will
see the one on show on mouse-
the panel itself. over when Show
Hints toolbar Connection page
Appearance page
button is On.
Change an
object’s name or
label. (Works on
all pages.)

Edit or copy a Configure MIDI

panel view. response.

Show or hide a
panel element. Set or view the
assigned
controller.
Scale or change a
panel control.
Link multiple
controls.
(See next
page.)

REAKTOR EFFECTS 12
 Properties examples

To set the maximum delay time for

1 a delay-based effect, open its structure,
locate each Single Delay module within it,
and focus the Properties window on each
in turn by clicking on its title.

Hi-lite the “ms” amount and change it to

whatever you want…
(each mono minute—60000ms—requires
5megs of RAM at 44k).

Change the panel control to reflect the

new maximum by selecting the knob con-
nected to the “Dly” inport for that delay
module…
(this will refocus the properties)
…then select the Max value and change it
to match the ms amount…
…and reconfigure the step size and num-
ber as you wish.

Choose a preferred Default value for this

parameter, recalled when hitting the De-
fault button in the Snapshot window.

To link two or more controls so that

2 they all move together when the “master”
control is moved, go to the Connections
page, focus the page on the master control
by selecting it…

…click on the Link-from button.

Then select the linked controller…

…and click on the Link-to button.

To disconnect, hi-lite the link in the Con-

nections list and click on the trash icon.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 13
 Properties examples

To locate an unlabeled control in

3 its structure, click on the control with
the structure open…

…to hi-lite its module in the structure…

…and focus the Properties window on it.

Use the Properties pages to relabel, resize,

hide, comment on or link the control.
You can also simply delete, mute, or disconnect
the module from the structure, if you don’t
want it in the device you’re making.

To create a MIDI link between in-

4 struments in the same ensemble,
click on the target instrument’s panel…

…to focus the Properties connection win-

dow on it.

Use the Source “select” drop-down menu

to choose the Source instrument,
in this case a modulation instrument with
MIDI outs.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 14
 C O M B I N I NG AND USING EFFECTS

Signal Routing: Mono to stereo/stereo to mono

Any audio output can be directly cabled to multiple inputs in any R structure, so it’s not
necessary to use a mixer or other device to split a mono audio signal to send it to both
inputs of a stereo processor, or to send stereo or mono signals to multiple inputs. But
when you want to combine stereo or multiple outs into a mono input, or multiple signals
into a single stereo input pair, you need a mixer or a signal adder.

Mixers are available as instruments, complete with snapshots, found in various config-
urations the Instrument library, and in souped-up versions in the User Library. You need a
mixer only if you want level and other controls along with the mixing function.
Remember that you can delete or disconnect any unwanted panel controls in the structure;
disable, hide, or show different sets on the A and B views using the Properties window; or
simply collapse the panel when you don’t need to see or set the controls.

Adders (which are simply mixers with no controls and all channels set to 0dB when
connected to audio signals) are modules; choose “Add” from the Math collection in
the Module library. Unlike Mixer instruments, which can be inserted into ensemble
structures, “Add” modules can only be inserted inside instrument and macro structures.
Once inserted, you define the number of inputs your adder module has by opening the
Properties window (F4-Mac/PC), clicking on the adder’s label to focus the Properties
window on it, selecting the Function page (click on the “gears” icon), then scrolling to or
typing in the number you want in the “Min Num Port Groups” field.

The Add module;

use two to mix down
to a stereo pair.

Add module inputs here.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 15
 Signal Routing: Parallel and Serial

A simple cabled patch between the ins and outs of any effects instruments puts them in
a serial routing, like a daisy chain. Each effect is processed by the effects that come after
it in the series chain.
If you split-cable your audio outs to each of the inputs of several unconnected effects
instruments, then mix the outputs of each of these with an adder or mixer, you’re putting
them in a parallel routing, so each effect sounds by itself, unprocessed by the other
effects, just mixed together. The sound will always be different than that of the same
effects in series. Of course, you can combine these routing schemes within the same
ensemble, as shown here.

Split cabling Parallel connections Serial connections

REAKTOR EFFECTS 16
 Signal Routing Devices

Of course, there are devices you can use to create more flexible routings in Reaktor
than the simple cabling schemes just described, so let’s look at few. You’ll find example
ensembles using these devices in the downloads that accompany this tutorial.

Matrices

Suppose you wanted to link several instruments together in every possible combination
of serial and parallel routing, so you could quickly discover all the best combinations.
This is easy to do with a mixing matrix, available in various sizes in the R4 Macro library.
But hooking these up to get the results just described will take a little tweeking.

The most basic way to use a matrix is to send a different source into each input and
hook a different destination to each output, so that any source can feed any destination.
This is how most modulation matrices work in R4 ensembles.

Output columns

Input rows

Turning up any knob sends

the input on its row to the
output on its column.

For example, this knob

sends source 6 to output 4.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 17
Matrices, cont.
To make a matrix that sends a single input to all destinations in any order, you need to
loop the output columns back into the input rows, taking care that you don’t create feed-
back loops, unless that’s what you want.

Here’s a stereo, 3x3 mixing matrix made from the same 8x8 mixing matrix shown in the
previous example that will give you all possible combinations of three different effects.
Notice that a diagonal set of knobs has been muted and hidden to avoid feedback, and
that alternate knobs have been muted and hidden within each junction of rows and col-
umns that’s needed to create a stereo path, so that each side of the stereo signal is sent to
only one side of the output pair, and not equally to both sides.

Output

Input

Stereo knob-pairs can be

linked in Properties, then one
deleted, to simplify the panel.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 18
Matrices, cont.
Here’s the finished matrix, with linked and hidden knobs, and a snap set that covers all
of the most obvious routings, plus a few less obvious ones that include the output of a
single processor, or the dry signal, along with a routed signal. Many more are possible.

An effects ensemble built around such a matrix can be easily played with all panels col-
lapsed and only the matrix snap window visible.

8x8 is the largest prefab mixing matrix in the R4 library, perfect for a 7x7 mono ma-
trix. But it would be easy to create a 7x7 stereo matrix by duplicating the mono version
within the same instrument and sending one side of each stereo effect’s inputs and
outputs to each matrix. Corresponding knobs on each matrix panel could be linked for
control by a single knob, and then the linked panel could be hidden. 5x5, 6x6 and even
9x9 matrices would simply require the deletion or addition of one or more of the mac-
ros that create the rows and columns within the original 8x8 macro.

The challenge, of course, is to come up with sets of effects that combine well when routed
in all possible ways, or even in most of them. I start by looking for effects with very differ-
ent, obvious, but somewhat transparent textural qualities, such as a filter, a delay, and a
gate...or maybe a distortion, flanger, and comb-filter. Dense or subtle effects like reverbs,
tremolos, bit crushers, panners and pitch shifters tend not to work so well, but try ‘em all,
and don’t forget that you can also patch global effects, like reverbs or compressors, after
the output of the matrix; powerful (and potentially CPU-intensive!) stuff…

REAKTOR EFFECTS 19
 Scanners and Distributors

Two other related modules also offer powerful and uncommon routing options: The
Selector/Scanner and the Distributor/Panner. The Distributor allows you to sweep a send
position along the inputs of a stack of parallel routings, so that at any given position you
are selecting either a single input, or a crossfade between two adjacent inputs. It’s as if you
were walking down a corridor at night, pointing a flashlight at one wall which had equally
spaced windows on it; your signal would be like the light coming from the windows. The
Scanner does the same thing with a monitor position along a stacked set of outputs. You
can choose either or both, depending on the sound you’re after; distributing your inputs
into a bank of delays, for instance, would let the feedback ring out after the input has
moved on, while a scanner after the same delays would cut off the feedback tails when it
moved.

Here’s a simple example, using only delays, each with a distinctive texture.

A 4-way stereo distributor instru-

ment built from two Distributor
modules…
(I call it an InScanner, since I can
never keep the Scanner/Distributor
difference straight!)

…feeds the bank of delays…

…followed by a mixer to monitor

them.

The Position slider on the InScanner panel is

linked to both Distributors in the macro for
stereo operation, and has been assigned to a
MIDI foot controller. Its range is set from 0
to 3; integers are centered on an input, and
numerals after the decimal indicate crossfade
positions.

It’s the only panel that I’d leave un-collapsed

after setting all the delay and mixer
parameters as needed.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 20
Here’s a slightly more complex version of the same basic idea. It adds several series
routings to a basic stack of “in-scanned” effects, and several of the effects have envelop-
follower inputs, so there’s an envelop-follower instrument included, too (these were
swiped from a powerful User-library effect: 4fx 004, by Self Oscillate—check it out…and
thanks!).

The first effect chain is a filter feeding a 10-sec. stereo looping delay with MIDI foot-con-
trolled feedback. With the scanner position at 0, and the feedback all the way up, you can
record a loop, then play over it ad nauseum without adding to it, just by scanning to a
higher position. Three very different effects (a ring-modded distortion plus a delay, a soft
stereo echo, and Martin Brinkman’s great Multiband Delay, a distinctive filtered multi-
tap) provide a range of tones to crossfade between when soloing over the loop, which
can be faded out with the feedback control. The whole thing’s very seductive…and it’s
in the tutorial downloads.

MIDI-modulated
panel controls

REAKTOR EFFECTS 21
 P a r ameter modulation

Reaktor’s modulation options are frankly mindblowing. There are virtually endless ways
to make any knob or parameter automatically wiggle, sweep, jump, skitter and snap be-
tween any points in its range. And any modulator can itself be modulated, with exquisite
visual feedback to help you fine-tune the results. The following examples are the “so-far-
so-amazing!” results of my efforts to mimic modulation options I’ve enjoyed on sophist-
cated hardware processors…and Reaktor puts them all to shame. We’ll look first at a few
Reaktor modulators at work, then explore how to hook them—or any other modulation
source—up for the most flexible, precise and easiest results.

LFOs—Use waveforms to move parameters

A Low Frequency Oscillator is simply a wave-form generator whose waves are moving so
slowly that they can be used as a modulation source, instead of so fast that they make a
sound (and would be more useful as a sound source for a synth).

You can connect the output of any LFO available in Reaktor, either from the Macro or
Module Libraries, or swiped from other instruments and ensembles, via MIDI, to any
knob, slider, or other panel control and watch the control move, following the LFO’s
wave form, which can be one of several common types, including sine, triangle, pulse,
random, and others.

The trick is to focus the movement exactly where you want it using the LFO’s control
settings, its properties and other modules which can change the values and shapes of
the waves. Most LFOs are “bi-polar;” that is, their wave-forms travel equally far both
above and below zero, creating both positive and negative values. Many knobs, etc., on
the other hand, only go from zero to maximum. So, the first thing I set out to build was
a Positive-only LFO.

Of course, I didn’t have to built this from scratch; I just asked about it in the Reaktor fo-
rums, and many ideas and suggestions appeared over night (special thanks to Chris List
and John Nowak). And, I later discovered that several LFOs with positive-only settings
already exist for the taking…there’s one in the Green Matrix synth, for example, which
I’ve used here and included in the downloads; it’s hooked up to the Position Slider in the
InScanner instrument just described. Let’s take a closer look.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 22
 A tempo-sync’ed, multi-
wave-form LFO macro,
inside the InScan instru-
ment…
The Panel
…combined with a
Positive-only conver-
…sweeps the scan position of the
sion and visualizing
input to a stack of tempo-sync’ed
macro…
delays.

Select your
wave (includ- Shift the
ing positive- starting
only Pulse)… point of
the LFO’s
range.

…adjust the …set and invert Watch the output and

…reshape the the wave’s range, crossfading of each
rate in units and
wave form and re- value, and watch it scanned effect.
multiples of the
position it within move.
master tempo…
the beat…

The Structure
…goes into a pair of These are the Left
The multi-wave- Adder modules, where level meters visible
form LFO, plus it combines with the in the panel…
the Positive-only Pos slider.
macro…
…and these are
the Left outports.

These are the

audio inports…
…and these are
the Distributor
modules.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 23
 Scanned Tables—Draw Your Own Waves

Our next modulation tool expands the scope of the Positive-only LFO by allowing it to
scan multiple wave-forms that you can draw yourself. You can also scan these wave-forms
using a MIDI controller, such as a foot-pedal, or with an envelop follower, for totally sound-
driven, customized modulations (many thanks to John Nowak, who built the tables!).

The Panel
Fader moves scan lines;
Switches select modula- can be mouse controlled
Scan lines
tion source for scanning or assigned to MIDI con-
read table
position. troller.
position
and output
modulation
values.

Envelop follower with At- Our tempo-sync’ed, Storable, snap-recalled

tack and Release controls
to shape its response,
and Offset and Amp con-
trols to set its range.
Spectrum sets sensitivity.
multi-wave-form, posi-
tive-only LFO macro,
inside the Scanned-table
instrument…
tables you can draw, copy,
paste, and flip…
Tables wrap so modula-
tors can be positioned
anywhere within or
beyond them.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 24
The Structure

The scanning devices: The tables…

follower, LFO, pedal, the
LFO range shifter and
…and the table outputs:
Adder, and the switch.
MIDI controllers, set to
controller #’s 1 thru 4,
linked to the target
instruments on the Prop-
erties Connection page.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 25
An a d d e n d u m o n t a b l e s

Here are a few table-related tips, plus a description of a new table-drawing instrument
I’ve added to the pedal-driven tables ensemble; it allows you to create table curves
using math modules, and it’s sized to simplify copying and pasting from it into the
pedal-driven tables.

The tips:
A table has three modes: D (draw), S (select), and C (control). Change modes by click-
ing in the mode indicator box in the upper left hand of the table window, or by hitting
the TAB key when the table is selected. D lets you draw in the table, S lets you select
all or part by dragging in the table, and C locks the table so it can’t be altered. To copy
or paste from one table to another, or from one part of a table to another, both the
source and the destination table or part must be selected. You can shift a selection
vertically (scale it) by clicking and dragging up and down with the mouse when press-
ing Command (Mac) or Ctrl (PC), and shift horizontally (rotate it) by clicking and drag-
ging right or left when pressing the Shift key.

Shift vertically Shift horizontally

Once selected, table drawings can be flipped left to right

with the Mirror X command

REAKTOR EFFECTS 26
The Paste-from-Me instrument

Thanks to some great suggestions from Herwig Krass in the Reaktor Creator’s forum, I
patched together a serviceable device for drawing mathematically derived shapes in
a table—here it is:

Draw either sine or

cosine curves, and
rectify and/or add
them together

Scale the X (hor.) and

Value (vert.) parameters,
and the mix of the two
curves

Trigger the drawing, and

convert from a scaled
drawing to vertical bars

The same draw set-

tings...
You can copy and
paste individual
barred... drawings from
the Paste-from-
Me table into
the modulation
tables, or collect
and save a set of
P-f-M drawings as
scaled...
table data, then
load the data
into each modu-
lation table.
Scroll thru the
Select Table
recti- values with the
fied... mouse or up-
and-down arrow
keys; invert tables
with the Inv
button.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 27
 Making connections and matching values

The modulators I’ve just demonstrated are already connected to their targets, either with
a direct cable connection, or via MIDI using a Properties connection between instruments.
Here are a few things to think about when you to connect them to other targets.

A cable can be a direct replacement for a panel control module (knob, slider, whatever),
eliminating it, or it can be connected to a switch along with the panel control module,
becoming a switchable alternative to it, so the control will not work when the modulator
is switched on. A modulator can also be added to a panel control (as the Position slider
is in the InScanner example), which can be a interesting variation in cases where the
incoming values wrap around to the beginning of the range when they exceed the
target’s maximum. Both the InScanner position and the tables just demonstrated are set
up this way in their respective Properties.

With a direct, cabled connection, you have to match the values coming out of your
modulator to the value-range of the mod target, using the Range-value boxes on the
Function page of the Properties window.

Check out the mods and targets in each of included examples via their Properties
window’s Function page. You’ll see, for example, that since the InScan’s Position range is
0 to 3, that’s what the connected LFO is configured to send.

Since the LFO is bi-polar, its range was set from -3 to 3, which only becomes 0 to 3 when
its Positive-only switch is activated. When Positive-only is off, the position slider stops
responding whenever the LFO is putting out negative values. This can be a useful effect,
creating alternating periods of movement and no movement, but it’s nice to be able to
switch it off.

Notice that the Pos knob that sets the amplitude range for the LFO also had to be set to
max at 3.

Matching values within the InScanner instrument

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Notice also that the same LFO driving the scan-position slider in the Table modulator
instrument needed to be set from -127 to 127, since 0 to 127 is the range of its target…and
its corresponding Range knob was set from 0 to 127.

On the other hand, when connecting a modulator via MIDI, the mod source acts just
like a hardware controller that you’d connect using the MIDI-Learn function in the
control’s contextual menu or by setting a controller # on the Connections page of its
Properties window.

As a result, the panel control will move in response to the modulator, which can be
a helpful aid when adjusting the modulator. Another advantage of a wireless MIDI
connection is that you don’t have to build a path for a virtual cable; no extra in or out
ports are needed, and you don’t have to dig deep into a possibly complex structure
to figure out where the cable should go.

Yet another advantage to a MIDI connection is that you don’t have to match values
between the MIDI controller and its target, which is ideal for multiple targets that
have different ranges. But you do have to match the range of the MIDI controller to
the modulator that’s driving it, as I did with the controllers connected to the tables
in that example. Once properly configured, these controllers will modulate the
complete range of any target, regardless of its range settings, just like a hardware
MIDI controller.

Matching values within the table instrument

REAKTOR EFFECTS 29
 Finally, open the Envelop Follower in
the table mod instrument and no-
tice that to configure it to correctly
drive the full range of the tables in
that instrument, I had to change the
constant within the follower’s Order
macro from 1, as shown here, to 127,
along with the + and - maximums for
its positive and negative meters.

Scratching your head over all this value matching? Well, the examples are all pre-
configured, but perhaps you’ll prefer the elegant, number-free and extremely powerful
modulation options offered by R4’s magnificent Snap-Morphing feature, which I’ll
describe next. But before you abandon modulators altogether, by all means check out
one more modulator that I’ve included in the tutorial downloads, courtesy of its creator,
Len Sasso, author of many Reaktor magazine articles, and the excellent Wizoo Guide
to Reaktor 3 (here’s hoping Len will update this useful book soon!). It’s a fantastic mod
matrix of the first type I described under Matrices.
Summed output columns drive MIDI controllers
5 different mod
sources, each of
which can modulate
the others:

LFO

Table-driven LFO

Randomizer

ADSR envelop

Table-driven
envelop
Set each mod source’s amplitude
for any column in these value-box
This sequencer pro- rows.
vides tempo-synced
gates for the last
three mod sources.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 30
 S n a p M a nagement and Controls

The Snapshot window is definitely my favorite new feature in Reaktor 4. In addition

to its welcome snap-organizing and -display features, it’s also extremely powerful and
flexible as a parameter modulator, via its Morphing and Randomizing features. Let’s
start with a few basics.

When the Snapshot window is open (hit F6, or click on the camera icon in any panel
header: ), you can change its focus to any existing instrument within the current
ensemble by simply clicking anywhere on the desired instrument panel, or by using the
drop-down menu in the window’s upper-left corner to select the instrument you want.
If you don’t want the window’s focus to change whenever you click outside it, click on the
Link icon to un-hi-lite it when the focus is as you want it, and it will stay put.

Drop-down menu Link icon

Instrument hierarchy

To save the settings of multiple instruments with a single snap, you need to create a
snapshot master. This can be either an instrument that contains the instruments you
want it to be the master for, or it can be the ensemble itself…or both.

In the ensemble shown below, neither instrument can be the master for the ensemble,
because they’re both at the same level; one is not contained within the other, they’re
both simply contained within the ensemble. The ensemble can be the master, but not as
it’s configured here, simply because there is currently no ensemble header to provide a
snapshot selector.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 31
To create an ensemble header, simply open Properties (F4), go to the Appearance page,
and focus it on the ensemble by clicking on the ensemble panel background. Hi-lite the
“Visible in Main Panel” button, and the header will pop into view.

To make the ensemble the snapshot master for the instruments in the ensemble, focus the
Properties on the header by selecting it, then switch to the Functions page, and hi-lite
the “Snapshot Master for Plugin” button. Next, focus the same page on each instrument
whose snaps you want to control with the Master, and turn on the “Store by Parent” and
“Recall by Parent” buttons for each one.

Setup for ensemble Setup for each instrument

Now you can see ensemble-level snapshots for our example ensemble, and that they are
master snaps, both saving a new snap to each instrument snapshot bank when created,
and recalling all those snaps when selected.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 32
Interestingly, you can create nested instrument heirarchies with multiple snapshot
masters within a single ensemble, as shown below. Each instrument at the ensemble
level here is simply a container, holding two processing instruments within it. Only
the Ensemble in this case has been designated as “Snapshot Master for Plugin” in its
Properties. All the instruments are simply set up to store and recall “by Parent,” as just
described, but selecting a snap in either “sub-master” container instrument will recall
the same snap in each “child” instrument inside it. This demo ensemble is included in the
tutorial downloads, so you can experiment with this snap-storing process.

“Sub-master” container instruments

Note that master snaps are inserted in “child” instrument banks in the same numbered
slot as they have in the parent bank, bumping all existing snaps up a slot each time a
new master snap is created.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 33
 Precision Snap Morphing and Randomizing

You’ve no doubt already played with the cool snap-morphing feature in R4; you simply
load a different snap from the same instrument into the Snap A and Snap B slots, and
then move the slider and watch and listen as the panel controls (except the buttons and
switches) move from their settings in one snap to their settings in the other. The rate of
change can be timed, from 0.01 seconds to 10 seconds, using the Morph Time parameter,
or it can be equal to the rate of the slider movement, if the Morph Time is set to 0. When
set above 0, the rate applies to any movement of the slider, so that no matter how far you
move the slider, it will still take the designated time for the affected parameters to morph
from the starting position to the ending one.
Morph Time

Hi-lite to set all switches and

Hi-lite to set all switches and
buttons to their state in Snap B.
buttons to their state in Snap A.

Morph Slider

The key point is that only those parameters that have different settings in Snap A and Snap
B will change during a morph. Those that are the same, of course, won’t change.

It follows, then, that to target any number of specific parameters for modulation (except
buttons and switches), you simply store the snap you want to modulate into two snapshot
slots, change to new values only those parameters you want to morph in one of the snaps
and overwrite that snap, then assign these two snaps to the A and B slots. Morphing
between them will affect only those parameters you changed. You can set the target
parameters to their minimum values in either Snap and their maximum values in the
other to morph across their full range, or confine their settings to whatever range(s) and
directions you want.

If you morph a master snap when the snap window is focused on a Master instrument or
ensemble, it will modulate the panel controls of all child instruments, so long as there is
a different snap in the A and B slots of all their Snapshot windows. In fact, you can set up
any pair of A and B snaps in each subordinate instrument; they don’t have to be the same
snaps chosen in the master instrument. (If you like your new settings, just store them as
a new master snap.) When the Link icon is hi-lited, you can quickly switch the Snapshot
window’s focus by clicking on the target instruments, and thereby refocus the morphing
function as well.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 34
 Randomizing just the parameters that are different in an A-B pair of snaps is the
function of the RND Merge button on the Snapshot window, which makes it a very quick
way to target specific parameters for randomization, compared to selecting all those
parameters you don’t want to randomize and random-isolating them in their Properties
windows.

Randomize range
Click to randomize only those
parameters that are different
Click to randomize all parame- between Snaps A and B.
ters that aren’t Random-Isolated.

Any panel control can be Snap- or

Random-Isolated in its Properties.

You can focus either randomizing function at both master instruments and child
instruments, as just described for snap-morph focusing.

It’s also easy to assign an external MIDI controller to the morphing slider, but not in the
usual way, using a contextual menu and “MIDI Learn.” Instead, you have to open the
Properties window for the ensemble, go to the Connections page and assign a “Morph
Controller” number that matches the MIDI controller you want to use, using the value
window, then turn the function on by hi-liting its button.
Assign a MIDI controller for snap morphing

Of course, “MIDI In” must be activated, the desired device selected, and all channels
set correctly, as usual…and you’ll get the best results when the Morph Time is set to
0.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 35
Naturally, it’s also possible to assign an internal modulator, such as an LFO or envelop
follower, to the morphing slider. I haven’t been able to do this using the ensemble’s
Morph Controller number and an internal MIDI connection, as just described, but it’s
easy to do once you insert a snapshot module into your target instrument. There’s a
macro version of this module in the tutorial downloads, and here it is in action:

(Almost all the same functions on the Snapshot window are also
available as panel controls on the snapshot macro panel, but since
they’re just as easily accessed on the window itself, I’ve made only the
slider visible in this example. )

Insert a MIDI-Out modulator …then insert the Snap-

instrument at the ensemble shot macro in the target
level… instrument, and set its
(make sure you link this to the Morph slider’s MIDI
target instrument to on its controller #
connections page) to match the output of
the MIDI modulator.

It’s hard to imagine an easier way to quickly target a variety of parameters, set their
mod ranges and modulate them, than by automating a morphing slider like this. You
can put a snap macro in at the master level (make it an instrument to put it in at the
ensemble level) and then focus it where you want by setting A-B snaps for only those
instruments you want to modulate.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 36
 Tips: Adding level controls

To make an effects routing more useable when processing external audio, you can add
an audio-in level control. With a MIDI controller assigned to the panel control, you’ll be
able to externally adjust the send-level of your signal to the R effects chain. The controller
becomes the virtual equivalent of a stereo or mono volume pedal patched in front of
your effects hardware. One easy way to do this is to insert the 2x2 stereo mixer from the
R4 instrument library into your ensemble, right after the Audio In module or anywhere
else you want it, then either delete all unwanted mixer panel-control modules in the
Mixer structure, or use the Properties window to disable and make invisible everything in
the panel except two input channels and the master level control. You’ll find an already
trimmed-down copy in the downloads that accompany this tutorial.

To keep the effects output level from distorting the Audio Out module or the inputs of
the next processor in the chain, you can add a limiter. A simple, CPU-efficient, stereo peak
limiter is available as an instrument in the R4 library, and it can be inserted anywhere
within or after a chain of other instruments, as often as needed.

REAKTOR EFFECTS 37
 Recommended hardware

An ideal live or studio setup for using R effects is to use a mixer to monitor and process
your audio, treating R and your computer as a hardware effects unit patched into the
mixer’s effects sends. Using a mixer allows you to hear the R effects either by themselves
or mixed with the external audio sources they’re processing, so you can keep your effect
ensembles as full-wet processors. I always bring the R/computer outs into their own pair(s)
of mixer channels, rather than the mixer’s effects returns, so the processed signal (and any
R sound sources) can be further processed by hardware effects using the mixer’s additional
effect sends.

A tabletop or footpedal MIDI controller is a great addition to any R studio. As a guitar

player, I prefer footpedals, and I want lots of continuous-controller pedals as well as
switches, or inputs for hooking up additional pedals. I use a Roland FC-200, and it’s ideal,
offering six pedal inputs in addition to the included switches and pedal. Once your MIDI
system is configured properly, it’s wonderful to simply control/?-click on any R panel
control, choose MIDI Learn from the contextual menu, wiggle the controller you want to
use, and see the control move in response.

Where to find Reaktor effects

Almost every R ensemble includes effects, either as part of the processing for a sound-
making source, or by themselves. Besides the R3 and R4 libraries and the incredible
User’s library, there are several websites, either from individuals or groups, that offer free
or inexpensive downloadable effects ensembles and instruments.

http://joeorgren.com/tech.htm
http://www.lost-online.com/
http://www.mindspring.com/~clist/reaktor/
http://www2.charlielamm.com/reaktor/download/index.php3
http://www.midiworld.org/AuReality/products/reaktor/reaktor.html
http://www.swiftkick.com/
http://www.martin-brinkmann.de/ens.html
http://www.kvr-vst.com/bank.php?getbank=54
http://www.creativesynth.com/subgroups/NIZone.html

These should keep you occupied for a while…

REAKTOR EFFECTS 38
 Download menu

3x3 Stereo MatrixAB ensemble

Synced Scanned Delays ensemble

InScannedLooper ensemble

Pedal-Envelop-LFO-driven Tables ensemble

Nested Snap Masters ensemble

FX Tutorial Odds&Ends ensemble:

Self Oscillate’s Envelop Follower macro
The Sasso/Durrand Modulated Modulator instrument
Eric Wistrand’s Snapshot Toys macro
DC’s Positive-Only LFO Plugin macro
3x3 mono matrix instrument
Stereo to mono input level instrument

A c k n o w l e dgements...and a reminder

Many thanks, once again, to all those generous and creative souls who contributed
to this tutorial effort, and to the many I haven’t named who continue to help me see
Reaktor’s power and possibilities via the several Reaktor on-line forums (there are some
good ones at Yahoo and K-V-R, as well as the ones at the NI site). Reaktor users have
created an amazing community, and I urge all readers to join in.

Finally, please remember that because Reaktor is such a flexible, open-ended

environment, there are certainly many alternative ways to do anything described in this
tutorial, and many additional options I haven’t even dreamed of. I’ve simply included
here what I thought were the easiest ideas to implement, based on what I could
imagine.

So, go boldly forth and invent new stuff…and I hope you’ll share your discoveries with the
rest of us!

REAKTOR EFFECTS 39