Most binary file types just give you white noise if you try the old “open them in an audio editor” trick to make samples for Ryoji Ikeda or Alva Noto type tracks. However I’ve discovered that Reaktor ensembles lend themselves particulary well to this misuse and often sound extremely varied and unpredictable. Probably has something to do with the variety of embedded information – primary level structures, core level structures, samples, bitmaps and who knows what else.

UPDATE: some more details on opening binaries in Audacity – FIRST, TURN DOWN THE VOLUME. Raw binary files like this can be as grating and ear damaging as anything Merzbow ever came up with. Careful with your ears and equipment.

in the main Audacity menu, go to file -> import -> raw data, browse to your file, and open it. You will get a dialog asking for the bit depth, “endianness”, and number of channels. Experiment with different options but 16 bit stereo is a good start.