Newbie Homework request :)

So, I have been using Reaktor for about 4 yrs. now, but I had never tried to build anything, but for the last two weeks, every SECOND that I have had free has been dedicated to building. I feel like I'm picking it up pretty good, I just do better when examples are explained to me! I have been reading the manual, following tutorials (Peter Dines has been a great help!) But there are things that I want to make, but I want to understand the steps that I'm taking, not just copying an ensemble. I can read the manual all day, but alot of the terminology just makes my eyes glaze over... Yesterday, I was doing my normal hunting for tutorials, and I stumbled across a link that took me to a thread here in the forums, and there was a user that had made a couple of assignments for beginners to solve. Unfortunately, the thread had long been closed... It would be great if I could find some of you folks who wouldn't mind doing that sort of thing again, it was VERY helpful for me, I was able to figure out the "why" and "why not" of modules, which made the manual definition more clear Thank you in advance to any help I can get!

 

http://www.nireaktor.com/ is a good resource, and salamanderanagram's articles in particular are superb (although generally geared towards more advanced builders).

And just speaking for myself, I'm happy to field any specific questions. Bon chance.

 

Wow, thanks for the quick reply Big Gnome, I was a bit intimidated to confront this forum with a thread of my own, I'm glad to see that users are polite here!

Yes, I have been frequenting the site you requested here and there, and as you mentioned, most of it is still out of reach for me.

But, it's good to hear that you don't mind answering some of my questions!
I am really concerning myself with figuring out how to automate controls within my structure, and also I want to be able to make a sequencer, and know how to make it work on any of my other .ens, whether it is controlling a sampler or synth.... any help would be GREATLY appreciated, you have no idea heh heh...

Also, as I said before it would be great if you or any of the other members could set up assignments of some sort... But of course I understand this isn't a school... Just throwing it out there! Thank you very much for your help so far!

 

Oh, I guess I just missed the sticky? Man, I'm on a roll. Thanks anyways everybody

 

Actually, now that I'm looking, it goes- 1st Homework, kind of easy, 2nd homework, pretty challenging to understand, to, 3rd homework CORE! 4th homework Oscilliscope and other strange things I didnt' understand... I'm kind of starting to wonder about myself, and why this is so hard for me to pick up. Frustrating! Anyone wants to throw me a different set of homework, I'm so so down. Thanks guys.

 

Not related to homework assigning; but having some general pragmatic DSP knowledge under your belt will most likely make the whole learning process smoother and much more fun, especially once you get to core.

This book has been a holy grail of DSP knowledge in the last few months I've been learning plugin coding, and I usually prototype in Reaktor, steal ideas from Reaktor, and grasp the functions of modules/macros much faster than I did before.

Super chill guy who wrote it, too: http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Audio-Effect-Plug-Ins-Processing/dp/0240825152

It's $50, but they're many DSP articles and what not out there for free. The great thing about this book is its incredibly intuitive and written in a pragmatic style.

 

Well thank you very much, muirscape, I just started reading up on C++ today, I'm desperate to find anything I can do to better understand all aspects. I really appreciate this link, thank you

 

there are some really beginner tutorials at reaktortutorials.com - i think you may have to sign up for the mailing list to get them, but they are written for absolute beginners.

if those are too easy for you feel free to recommend any subjects you like - for me the hardest part is coming up with material that i think will be useful to others.

 

One project I started but gave up on is this:
A MIDI channel shuffler.
The idea goes like this.

I have a quartet of 4 instruments in an ensemble, each is a sampler or synth.
Instrument 1 on Midi channel 1, Instrument 2 is on channel 2, etc.

In a DAW I have a 4 part MIDI file with material on each channel.

What I want to do is shuffle the midi channels in real time.

So for example, at the end of each bar I might rotate the channels, or just swap 2, or just swap one each bar, etc.

Imagine that this is a string quartet, but occasionally the players swap their music sheets.

 

Cool idea.

It would be nice to have some sort of graphical interface, so you could visualize and control the swapping of channels...

 

Hi Salamanderanagram, I am familiar with that site, although I was unable to sign up for some reason until today, I even had the facebook link that said to "keep an eye on your inbox", I was so bummed

Anyways, thanks very much, I'm a fan of your work
After I look through the rest of the tutorials and make sure I'm not missing something, I'll bug everybody again. I understand most modules that I'm working with, I just don't understand why values are what they are. Some of the math is confusing, the add module makes sense, but it seems like the multiply modules only handle the top value/signal/event, (unless a tutorial calls for it!) so obviously I'm not understanding signal flow, or if it's something like I'm using it in the wrong way..... I'm not terrible at math either. There is much much more along these lines that I'm not able to figure out, even if I read the manual over and over. I just have to see everything in action! I can copy instructions, but I'm never going to be more creative if I don't figure out how to manipulate these things on my own. Thus the homework, being given all the components but not the answer helps me to figure out why they go where they do.

 

The best thing to do is post an specific example with a screen shot and zip file of the module. Then explain clearly which value doesn't make sense to you. That way it's easy for us to work out what the confusion is and help you understand.

 

Actually, looking back at some of my practice ensembles (I have been saving every tiny thing), I guess I'm just frustrated with how slow the process is. But honestly I'm learning quite a bit quite fast.

By the value thing, I meant more along the line of, how was the particular value that works for that particular module derived? I can meddle with a setting for awhile and figure a value out, but is there a pattern to this? For amplitude you only need a value of 1 to achieve a suitable volume, for frequency modulation you can easily be working with a much higher value, something like 5,000 at times. So, am I not understanding how the value works? Is this a stupid question? I apologize for my ignorance

 

Depends what the value in question is modifying. In the examples you gave, amplitude is just being multiplied--i.e., multiplying by one results in no change to the original signal, 0.5 makes the signal half as loud, and so on. In the case of FM, you're addressing frequency in Hz.; modulating an oscillator +/- 1Hz will probably be negligible--you'll need the frequency to swing back and forth by a few hundred Hz at least before things get interesting.

 

I understand. For each module, it has a range of values, depending on the function of that module. So the values are not set in stone, it just depends on the tool you are using. Ok, I get that. I have other questions too!

So, does it matter which input you run an audio signal to on a multiply module? Or any simple math module such as "-", "*", "/", or "+"? It seems it has to be in a certain order? Is there any really good math module tutorials to look up that you think I might have not seen yet? Is there a way to explain this in layman's terms?

Is what I'm asking clear?

 

That is not Reaktor rules, that is basic rules of arithmetic!
Addition and multiplication are commutative, division and subtraction are not.
(subtraction can be represented as addition of a negated value, then it works)
look here for a more detailed explanation

As far as your earlier questions, I'll say it again: if you are stuck, or don't understand something in a Reaktor structure, then post an example that Reaktor structure!
To explain your problem clearly using just words, you need to understand the problem really well. If you understand the problem that clearly, you don't need us to help you.

 

Okay. Thanks for the help.