Guys, check the NI site...

[shambler]

Many thanks for the heads up!

 

I've been interested in Reaktor for a while but the price tag was a real no go.

[Wa2C]

Couldn't resist Reaktor...ho lee {censored}e. This may be the end of me.

[evildragon]

I'm so sad I don't have Paypal account Otherwise I'd snatch that R5!

 

[Mediterranean]

I'm so sad I don't have Paypal account Otherwise I'd snatch that R5!

 

Is it a downloadable purchase? I can snatch it for you.

[evildragon]

Well, yeah, it's a DL purchase only, but really man, wouldn't want to get it again od your back. I'll rather wait to see what they'll do with Reaktor 6

 

(even though this is a REALLY GREAT deal)

[evildragon]

On the other hand, you're in US... I could save 32 euros if you order it, since you pay in dollars. Damn NI and their $=

[ElectricPuppy]

Sooooo I took a better look at Reaktor, listened to the demos, read the blurbs on how configurable and tweakable it is, how there's a gajillion ensembles, etc, etc...

 

It sounds so fascinating that I'm convinced I'm not going to buy it.

 

 

(lol wut?)

 

Because the last thing I need is more ways to get lost and fritter time away just flipping through presets and messing around. What I really need is something that will help me compose and record easier, not make yet even more noises.

[Tony Scharf]

Because the last thing I need is more ways to get lost and fritter time away just flipping through presets and messing around. What I really need is something that will help me compose and record easier, not make yet even more noises.

 

So you dont need gear...you need discipline.

 

[ElectricPuppy]

Well... yeah.

[Mediterranean]

 

Mediterranean, what's your PC configuration that it can't handle softsynths? O.o')

 

 

Everything:(

 

-1GHz CPU

-512MB RAM [upgraded from 256. 512 is the max the motherboard can swallow. Same for the CPU]

-1 IDE hard disk

 

It's a Dell Dimension 4100 that came out at the start of this century:facepalm:. In comparison to today's machines dedicated specifically for audio recording, it's almost as good as the rib of a T-Rex at the Museum of Natural History in New York City, lol. But it served me well.

 

The other thing that kinda pains me is that I never learned about virtual instruments [because I never got a newer machine]. So I feel so far behind now..

[Tony Scharf]

 

-1 IDE hard disk

 

 

wow...these days, thats hardly a computer....its a calculator!

 

Tony

[Mediterranean]

wow...these days, thats hardly a computer....its a calculator! Tony

 

pretty much..

__________________

 

My dream DAW system:

 

Rok Box Elite, from PCAudioLabs

 

 

[Citizen Klaus]

pretty much.. __________________ My dream DAW system: Rok Box Elite , from PCAudioLabs

 

Unless they're including >$800 worth of audio software with that PC, they are taking you to town.

 

This past April, I built a rig with specs almost identical to that Rok Box, and I paid about half what they're charging. (Technically, it was a little more than half, but I had two graphics cards and some other gaming bits in there.)

[depulse]

You don't need a box like that to play softsynths. Any entry level PC will run circles around your current PC.

[Mediterranean]

I know:)

 

That machine is just an example. Such thing being my dream system doesn't mean I would buy it. I'd put it together myself. If that specs table was more informative [especially the hard disks, RAM, graphics card specs, makes and models], I'd research the price of each component just for the heck of it, and see what it approximately [and actually] cost them to gather the parts alone of that specific system [minus the price of the case]. And yes, it will certainly be lower than what they charge [that's how people make a living, after all].

 

My current situation doesn't allow me to buy something half that price [that's where the expression "my dream this", "my dream that" stems from]. So I'm left with one option for now: hunt down a used system, somewhere, in a galaxy near or far away. And if I'm lucky, I could get one for dirt cheap. We've all read crazy stories here about synths & other things that cost heaps but were had for practically nothing:thu:

 

Botton line: the problem is always money. And it's always good to have dreams:)

[mildbill]

If Reaktor 5 normally sells for 379 Euros, how much do you think Reaktor 6 will sell for when it comes out? .....

 

 

Usually with NI, if you buy stuff towards the end of its run (like Reaktor 5 now), you'll get a better upgrade price than buying the new version straight out.

In other words, R5 + upgrade price to R6, will almost certainly be less than waiting and buying R6.

[erok123]

I just pulled the trigger on FM8. It's no DX7 but it is awesome. My first softsynth. Need to stay away from KSS to avoid gas.

[midi]

I love FM8...

[Wa2C]

Sooooo I took a better look at Reaktor, listened to the demos, read the blurbs on how configurable and tweakable it is, how there's a gajillion ensembles, etc, etc... It sounds so fascinating that I'm convinced I'm not going to buy it. (lol wut?) Because the last thing I need is more ways to get lost and fritter time away just flipping through presets and messing around. What I really need is something that will help me compose and record easier, not make yet even more noises.

 

I completely understand you and always thought of Reaktor as an overwhelming mountain of synth gloop. I'm a simple guy (ie I have {censored} gear compared to other posters but I like it that way ) and always get overwhelmed with new kit. In fact, when I get something new, it usually takes months before I know how to integrate it in my setup. Maybe it's a control thing or maybe I'm a slow learner, but it takes me a long time fooling around with an instrument/effect until using it becomes instinct.

 

I bought Reaktor knowing full well I wouldn't make my own synths. After perusing the User Library, I found a couple of very unique synths and one RAD effect that I dig. I'm now trying to learn them inside out. An ensemble can be deep as hell! Maybe one of the instruments will inspire you to write something new? I've done a complete 180 on Reaktor. It's all about the way you want to approach it.

[soundwave106]

 

This past April, I built a rig with specs almost identical to that Rok Box, and I paid about half what they're charging. (Technically, it was a little more than half, but I had two graphics cards and some other gaming bits in there.)

 

 

Yeah, PCs are pretty simple to assemble these days (you don't have to worry as much about reversed cables etc. like you used to). Really, just browsing around Newegg should get you something much more powerful for that $2500. (The two powerhouse PCs in my house, including my DAW PC, are all Newegg custom jobs, in essence.)

[Tony Scharf]

Personally, I dont believe in building PC's myself anymore. I have done that in the past, and its always a pain in the ass in the end. The main reason is a simple one: service guarantee.

 

If I build my own machine, and something goes buggy, I have the Mother board MFR to deal with, who is going to tell me its the NIC card after the NIC card MFR told me it was the Motherboard. I have to collect all the drivers myself from a million different locations. I have to deal with troubleshooting *everything* myself.

 

Now, on a hobby computer (which I have) this is fine. I dont need it to be running 24/7 and I can deal with it being out for a few days while I hack away at it trying to figure out what device doesnt like which other device(s).

 

But on a production machine..a machine which I *depend* on to get my work done, I want *one* point of contact and *one* support number to call. I dont want to have to waste time playing phone tag with a dozen call centers in Taipei, or Singapore...or where ever they offshore to these days. I want one company who is responsible for every component, who provide a website where I can get all the drivers for my machine.

 

Since I bought my last two machines this way (wont endorse any certain MFR) I have had one issue that required support, and they sent me a replacement part (bad card reader) next day air. With my last home brew machine, it seemed like I was always having an issue with *something*.

 

Something else to think about: Systems integrators at Dell, HP, Acer, Apple - whatever you choose have spent *far more time* than I ever could testing and checking compatibility of different combinations of components. They *know* what does and doesnt together and they have lots of data that helps them design machines. I dont have have that, and even if I had access to it I wouldnt have the time to assimilate it all and make purchasing decisions based on it.

 

A fully built system with a full garantee is often a slight bit cheaper than building your own anyway. Why fart around?

[ElectricPuppy]

I, too, used to build my own PCs. After a particularly nasty series of problems with the last one, I've only bought prefab PC's since, for exactly the reaons Tony lists above. It comes down to time vs. money: Would I rather spend the time and save money, or vice versa? What is your time worth to you?

[Citizen Klaus]

 

Yeah, PCs are pretty simple to assemble these days (you don't have to worry as much about reversed cables etc. like you used to). Really, just browsing around Newegg should get you something much more powerful for that $2500. (The two powerhouse PCs in my house, including my DAW PC, are all Newegg custom jobs, in essence.)

 

 

Aye. For $2500, I could build a rig with identical specs to that Rok Box, plus Ableton Suite and Akai's APC40 controller. Might even have enough left over for a soft synth or two.

 

I realize that there's value of a sort to be found in going the prefab route, but PC Audio Labs' markup is just absurd.

[P321]

 

A fully built system with a full garantee is often a slight bit cheaper than building your own anyway. Why fart around?

Because you can pick your own hardware. As long as you know roughly what you're doing you're going to come out with something better than what most commercial operations will give you. Example? Say you want to use a Firewire audio card.. Even though I always tell people stay away from Firewire unless you have a laptop (although now it looks like Intel Light Peak, and not USB 3, will be the standard which finally kills it) ..your best bet is a Texas Instrument chipset. You'll be lucky if a company even mentions the Firewire chip they use, much less give you the ability to select it.

 

Say you want an X58 chipset but more than 1 PCI slot on your board - good luck finding a current pre-built system which has that. Or say you just care about raw quality - how many layers the motherboard has, how many power-phases it has, what power supply it comes with - Very few vendors are going to give you the best power supply even on their highest end machines, because most customers don't care about that spec or understand anything other than "bigger numbers = better".

 

 

If I build my own machine, and something goes buggy, I have the Mother board MFR to deal with, who is going to tell me its the NIC card after the NIC card MFR told me it was the Motherboard. I have to collect all the drivers myself from a million different locations. I have to deal with troubleshooting *everything* myself.

Check how many devices are built in to the motherboard next time.. The NIC is on the motherboard. Just about the ONLY thing your motherboard won't do is graphics (where there are 2 realistic choices - ATi/Nvidia, and it comes down to choosing a supplier that won't cheap out on components used for their reference design) and the hard drive. In the case of audio users you can also add a sound card.. something you'd add on a pre-built system anyway, if you're using it for audio.

 

Yes, there's some extra annoyance, but that self-selected Power Supply might come with a 5 year warranty, unlike the 1 year warranty (and pay us extra after that) which most companies offer for a full system.

 

 

Something else to think about: Systems integrators at Dell, HP, Acer, Apple - whatever you choose have spent *far more time* than I ever could testing and checking compatibility of different combinations of components. They *know* what does and doesnt together

That'd be true in an ideal world, but we don't live in that world. Their REAL attitudes are so shoddy that it might shock you. All they care about is creating a machine where MOST customers don't notice an issue. As soon as you step outside doing anything an "average customer" would do (which basically means web browsing, playing Mp3's and IM'ing) you're on your own.

 

I'll even give some examples - Dell are currently shipping their laptops with Windows 7. D'you think they check little details like how stable the included Intel driver they supplied is when you actually switch it from the default 20 to 20/40 so you can get the best 802.11N speeds? Feel free to go to their site and get the officially sanctioned driver which is months out of date, or go to Intel directly and get their latest driver which fixes the problem.

 

D'you think they bothered to test how well their HDMI port does handling audio switching when you put the lid up or down on their laptop? Of course, you could go to ATI and get a more recent driver which helps the issue, except Dell actually block installing those unless you modify the driver.

 

It's not just drivers. D'you think they'll think to disable CPU speed-stepping so audio users can get decent low latency glitch free performance? They even ship many laptop machines without checking the voltages on their LCD screens are properly adjusted which means they'll flicker on certain colour values. A problem? Of course not, because most customers are half-arsed enough that they won't notice, which in Dell/Apple/Choose major machine maker here/ language means that problem doesn't exist. The only time you'll find out about it is if you look on their forum.

 

I can understand why people don't want to deal with crap themselves, and would rather have someone else do it. However, if you have the ability and the time, there's many reasons why you're far better off creating your own system, not least the fact that it'll help you troubleshoot things better when you do have problems..

[Meatball Fulton]

 

You don't need a box like that to play softsynths. Any entry level PC will run circles around your current PC.

 

 

I use a four year old $399 Celeron based laptop and I can run Absynth, Live, Massive, Albino, Reason...anything you buy today with a Core Duo will be plenty powerful.