Yearly Archives: 2013

Christmas Two-fer from Boscomac: Two Free Reaktor Ensembles

The Christmas elves at Boscomac have been busy wiring together modules and macros, wrapping up everything in nice skins, and we have two nice new instruments just in time for stocking stuffing.

First up, an update to Tranzistorg, the transistor organ emulator. Boscomac says:

TRANZISTORG MKII is a transistor-based combo organ typical of the 60s. It delivers a clear and thin sound that quickly becomes warm and round as soon as it passes through the distortion of an amp!

Here you have 4 drawbars to generate the sound, distortion with two modes to bring energy, 5 cabinet models and 1 direct output with Leslie option to all floors, a slap or spring reverb used in mono or stereo , vibrato and a volume for key click. And I think we are full!

Next up, from the Folklore category, a brand new instrument: Barrousel.

BARROUSEL is based on a barrel organ and a Carrousel. You can adjust the color Tone of the instrument, change the wind noise in the pipes, choose the instrument condition and act on its accuracy and its responsiveness. And finally, you can place the instrument in a kind of magical reverb…

Remember to thank Santa with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk – or more realistically, click on Boscomac’s paypal link to show some appreciation for his consistently fabulous Reaktor creations.

Lemur iOS Touch Control App 50% Off Right Now!

Right now you can get Lemur on the app store for 50% off.

What can you do with Lemur? Just about anything – it’s an iOS control surface that sends bot MIDI and OSC, and includes an embedded scripting language for those of you who have serious itches to scratch. I designed a Lemur template for my Chroma sequencer and synth, which features bi-directional control (changes on the computer are reflected on the iPad and vice versa) – makes it a lot of fun to play:

Get Lemur here.

More info on Chroma here.

The Roux Sequencer Macro

Back in the day when I was blogging at the now-defunct kore.noisepages.com, I did a series on the inner structure of a basic sequencer macro, one that could be easily adapted for many uses. Those posts have vanished into the bit-ether, so I’m rebooting the topic with a revised macro and an ensemble that shows how to use it. And here it is! download link

All controls are tool tipped – there’s sequence length and clock speed controls, an IC send menu and value range controls – see below for details.

Last time around, I posted the macro and dived right into the inner structure, explaining it bit by bit from the inside out. I think this was useful but lacked a degree of… instant gratification. So this time around I’m going to start with a simple demo ensemble that shows how you can use it right off the bat.

This demo instrument is a rhythmic FM noisemaker that has three sequencer macros mapped to the volume, carrier pitch and modulation amount. The modulation oscillator pitch isn’t sequenced – it’s fun to map it to a MIDI or OSC controller and manipulate in real-time. You can get some fine Clicks and Cuts style sounds and sequences out of it. I’ve run it through the standard factory library Dual Sync Delay to wet the sound a bit. Here it is with a little ParamDrum beat behind it:

The Roux macro can be slapped into any Reaktor instrument, and doesn’t even require wiring stuff together. Using the IC send module, the signal can be routed to any target in an ensemble – such as knobs and faders in an existing instrument. It’s designed, therefore, for quick and dirty hot-wiring. Plop one into Carbon 2, for example, and add some sequencing to oscillator pitches and cutoff values.

One nice thing about the IC send module is that it displays a menu right on the front panel of the instrument that lets you direct the signal without mucking around in module properties. Another great thing is that it adapts the signal range to the target you’re aiming at – doesn’t matter whether the target has values from -12 to +12 or 0 to 127. As an added tweak, I’ve included min and max controls that will restrict the range, in case you want a target control’s travel limited to, say, the middle range – just set min to 0.4 and max to 0.6.

Now, why is this macro called the Roux? A roux is the basis for sauces in french cooking – it’s little more than flour fried in fat, and you can make gravies, cheese sauces, any kind of sauce where you want a little body and thickness. And just like the sauce base, this sequencer macro can be used in a lot of different ways, as the basis for different instrument designs.

In upcoming posts I’ll talk about other ways to use the macro, like triggering envelopes, build some new instruments with it, and we’ll take a peek under the hood at what makes it tick. Bon appetit!

I was raised to be a saucier. A great saucier.

Aiyn Zahev releases free presets for Monark

Super sound designer Aiyn Zahev – you may have heard or bought his presets for Synth Squad, Massive, Synthmaster and a number of other instruments – has released a collection of 100 free presets for Monark.


Get the presets here. It’s pretty amazing, actually – Monark and Aiyn Zahev’s sound design both have a very strong and distinct character, and both characters are coming across here at the same time. It’s like… hot sauce with garlic. You can tell that both elements are there, but they still work great together.

If you want more of his sounds for Reaktor, check out this bank made for Razor.

The Daybreak Guide to REAKTOR’s Lurker

Brent Kallmer is back with one of his great explorations of an under-appreciated Reaktor factory library classic. I was pondering recently how Reaktor 5 was so far ahead of its time that people are only catching up to it now. This is nuts since Reaktor 5 was released in 2005! Brent is doing a fantastic job documenting and exposing wonderful factory ensembles that were, truth be told, sort of unceremoniously dumped on the world with little fanfare or explanation.


Says Brent:

Lurker is one of REAKTOR’s most beguiling effects—and also one of its most inscrutable. It uses a complex and powerful modulation sequencing system to control various parameters on two independent delay units. The versatility of these two delays allows you to transform audio (from either Lurker’s sampler or from an external source) into everything from rhythmically precise textures to trippy comb-filtered psychedelia.

Enjoy the video, and when you want to try Lurker yourself, it’s right there in the Factory tab of your Reaktor browser sidebar.