Reaktor 4 as a guitar processor

[dcoffin@taunton.com]

Here's the text of a review I just posted at Harmony Central; I'd mentioned
I was impressed and some folks wanted to hear more...so here it is:

Ease of use 5
I'm currently using Reaktor as real-time guitar processor, and it's totally
blowing my mind. So this is a head's-up to anyone else who might consider
using a computer as a guitar toy...
Reaktor is software for building your own soft-synthesizers, samplers, and
effects, and it's very deep...plus it's software, so there's all the
computer crap to deal with; Reaktor certainly isn't bug-free. There's a
brand-new version out and the forums are filled with screaming folks who
can't get it going...but it's working well for me.
The art of building from scratch with Reaktor is a vast topic, but there
are many levels, and the just-barely-snorkling level I'm at is still
extremely powerful. I'm just working with devices already available, either
within the package, or from the huge and very active user library, where
there are currently over a 1000 devices available to download, including
several hundred effects processors. Linking these together, adding simple
stuff like input-level controls, creating MIDI controller assignments, and
swiping the effects from synths that have cool things inside them is all
pretty elementary, but you'll need to read the manual and maybe do a few
simple tutorials. There's an excellent Wizoo Guide by Len Sasso, who's also
written several articles...as have the folks at creativesynth.com...so
there are quite a few resources. But compared to a stomp-box, this really
is rocket science...so I'm giving it a 5.

Sounds 10
I use Reaktor in stand-alone mode (not inside a separate sequencer) in my
home studio, on a dual 1gig G4 with an M-Audio Audiophile card with 2 i/o's
that are patched into a Mackie 1604 vzl Mixer, so i can easily send
anything into Reaktor, and process it when it comes out with hardware
effects; there's a bunch of reverbs and other basics in Reaktor, but seems
best to use hardware for that kind of thing. Once you get the levels set,
it sounds wonderful...altho lots of Reaktor toys are about degrading audio
and creating ugly noises. But you can do that at sampling rates well beyond
(or below) 44k.
The thing that's coolest about Reaktor isn't that it does any particular
thing very well, but that it gives you the tools to do stuff that's not
like anything you've ever seen before...along with all the ordinary stuff,
too. And while you're figuring out how to do that, you can explore the
hundreds of amazing things that other folks have built. I'm a bit of a gear
slut, and until I got the current version of Reaktor, I was a sucker for
all kinds of rack processors and was getting a pretty serious jones for fx
plugins. (Until ver. 4, I was never able to process live audio; it was
partly a Mac thing, partly my system, but I wasn't really aware of how cool
it would be so I didn't push getting that going...what a waste!) Well, now
I can't see the point in any new effects plugins, altho I read about
everything, and I've seen the light as far as hardware goes. Not that I'm
dumping the best of my excellent collection anytime soon....but the future
is here, and it's SOFT!

OK, what's so cool? I'm into delay effects, so most of these examples are
delay based:

A 12-band filter, with a 2-sec. delay on each band, each with dedicated
level, time and feedback controls...all of which can be randomized with a
single button press.  For my default setting, I created a 12-tap sound that
grabs sequential bands at 50ms intervals for an amazing
sweeping-up-the-frequency-spectrum effect, but the rhythmic possiblities
are astounding.

An audio chopper with a graphic grid-table sequencer on which you draw in
the timing with bars--the bar height determines how loud--expandable to 64
divisions and the speed is controllable as a factor of BPM. There's an ADSR
envelop for shaping how the the audio comes thru at each gate, plus the
sequencer can also drive a ring modulator and/or an FM effect. All this
goes into a filter, a delay, and an overdrive.

A rack of 7 effects that you access with a 16x8 grid of buttons; one row
for each effect plus the dry sound, and one column for each of 16 divisions
of the current tempo: a clicked button sends signal to one effect for
1/16th of the beat. Click a whole row and the sound of its effect is
continuous, otherwise, it's gated. The effects include a filter with about
8 different types, including a vowel filter and a complex LFO, a separate
autoWah, ring modulation, delay, several types of distortion and
bit-degrading, and the kicker: a grain-delay that includes excellent pitch
shifting, with a pitch sequencer, so you can create (and randomize) melodic
shifts as well as straight-ahead intervals. Each effect plus the grid has
its own bank of presets, plus you can store presets that recall the total
configuration...and each effect has a graphic panel of controls: level
meters, sliders, knobs, etc...not just a list of parameters.

A bank of 4 parallel 10-sec delays with cross-feedback, feeding a stereo
mod delay optomized for comb filtering and flanging, with various odd
filters and two waveshapers for which you can draw the waveform, feeding a
filtered reverb.

This last example comes from the CD with the Wizoo book, so you have to buy
it separately, but the others are from the user library. These are just the
ones I can easily describe; there are many others I've explored in the 2
weeks or so I've had ver. 4 that defy my powers. There's nothing I've seen
so far that will track your pitch so you could drive a synth with your
guitar (of course you could use a MIDI pickup...), but there are so many
ways to turn a guitar signal into detailed vibrating, choppy, shifting,
growling howls that it's nearly guitar synthesis.

You can see the screen shots of these and many of the other effects
possibilities at the Native Instruments sites, both within the feature
brochure for Reaktor 4 and inside the user library...and new stuff gets
posted every day. And that's the point: This isn't just a collection of
stompboxes or effects modules; it a true tool kit that smart and crazy DSP
geeks spend years with, cranking out and GIVING AWAY whacked and inspiring
complete instruments and virtual devices, all with unique and often amazing
interfaces, often every bit the equals of individual commercial plugins, or
better. If you've ever wanted to stand near the fountainhead of
signal-processing innovation, here's your chance.

Reliability 7
...well, it's software; read the NI forums to hear how many folks are
currently pissed off about it...but as I said, it's working for me. Best to
have a fairly new computer, and  to use it in a studio. But lap-top-driven
gigs are here; it's inevitable.
Customer service 7
Great, helpful forums...but NI is apparently slow to respond to tech
questions, esp. when new software has been recently released. Not the
worst, not the best...but it's worth it, imho.

Overall 10
I don't gig, so a computer-based processor is no problem for me. I'm a
guitar-player into free-improv with looping devices (Echoplex Digital pro),
and I'm totally into effects. Ever since the Roland VG-8 changed everything
for me, I've been buying, exploring, reviewing, and programming effects,
even occasionally doing patch sets for manufacturers, including the tc
G-Force, and the Yamaha DG- and UD-Stomps. My current collection of signal
processors includes an Eventide Eclipse and a Kurzweil KSP8, both of which
are great, and can do great things to reaktor sounds...but Reaktor is
making them look like doddering old-timers, in almost every way:
accessibility, innovation, configurability, and raw power. I've also
briefly owned what I thought would be the ultimate DSP play-ground: a Kyma
system from Symbolic Sound. It was great, too, very stable, cool sounds,
with unmatched tech support. But, given my totally non-technical
background, and Reaktor's exceptional user's community and state-of-the-art
GUI, it was no contest; I sold the Kyma and have found in R4 everything I'd
dreamed Kyma would do for me...at 1/10th the cost.