so has anyone tried spark yet?

just curious...

i was kind of underwhelmed by the demo sounds and the video... but i mean, it's by mr.reaktor himself... for his own personal use, no less! so it must be... cool... right?

g.

 

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=235152

Yes I have 2cents to share, being curious I purchased it, I liked it much more then I like Phtotone and Massive, I like it much more then I like Massive.

There are some snaps that really impressed me and with after some tweaking I placed in a separate bank for latter uses, this was 6min into it, so no sound bank dumping on this one. I wouldn’t say I was impressed by everything, in a certain sense as a builder I expect more…but sound wise with the kore player it wasn’t a waste of money for me and when I have wasted my money I know right away. Honestly I played it first trying out most of the snaps in Reaktor and in the Koreplayer before I peaked inside.

I’ll have to see how it fairs when I have some more time to play with it, see if my int impression varies at all.

 

There's a lot more to it than you'd think by watching the video or listening to the demos. In the time I've played with it, I've created a whole bunch of sounds ranging from in your face leads to rumbling basses to smooth, airy pads to almost Metaphysical Function-like ambient noises.

Read the manual; Thomas posted a link to it here:

http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75658

I think that gives you a better idea of what SPARK can do than either the video or the demo sounds.

I might have to put up a demo using it later on this weekend...

ew

 

I think some user demos would be a better demonstration. I might do one as well.

 

is it worth buying for someone that doesn't have kore, and never will?

 

You can also use the Kore presets in the Kore player; that's a free app.

As for the ensemble itself, I think it is, if for no other reason than a learning experience. It's got a couple Core cells that you aren't going to find anywhere else, for one thing...

ew

 

I was goofing around last night and chopped out a a few audio clips to post here. I was playing with the feedback to see what I could do with it. So here it is, don't expect anything I am just making noise.

I have to say this is the first Reaktor synth I can really **** with Feedback (and control it for the most part with some practice), it imay be the only Reaktor synth that successfully offers this level of feedback.

 

where is the instrument? is it available?

i know nothing.

 

It part of a Kore sound pack. See the home page they have a link to it.

 

http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=reaktorspark

ew

 

i agree, it is the first Reaktor ensemble ever that has explored feedback to this level. the individual parts of the synth are amazing, put together, they are awesome.

i was really dubious about this at first but after reading the manual and tweaking some of the knobs i began to realize that this is a truly innovative instrument this is ... and i was just using the Reaktor ensemble, i have yet to really explore in Kore2. so as yest i haven't explored the snaps, but i suspect they don't do it justice...but then i do need to explore them.

also i have to say the manual is very good. one of the best i have seen so far from NI.

sowari

 

> is it worth buying for someone that doesn't have kore, and never will?

Forgive me for asking something I think I've asked before, but I can't find the answer: If you can use Spark in Reaktor, why would it be worth more to someone who owns Kore? More fundamentally, what's the point of Kore? Is it just a collection of proprietary Reaktor synths, or does it offer functionality Reaktor doesn't?

> Spark Audio rec feedback.zip (1.27 MB, 37 views)

The last third of that file is awesome. The three bucks in my wallet are straining against the plastic.
---
Man, what I would give for a chance to hear Stephan explain why he chose the particular architecture he did. Why only feed back from the delay and the freq shift? Why mix the oscillators with feedback for the AM but not the RM? Why the order "AM RM Filter Shaper Delay"? Why the two particular oscillators, Sine and Pulse? Why why why?

Second question: What's the difference between RM and AM? Is RM an emulation of (imperfect at extreme frequencies) analog circuit methods of multiplying two signals, and AM the perfect, digital multiplication? (That's my only guess after reading Wikipedia on ring and amplitude modulation.)

 

Kore allows you to program eight different variations of a patch, and morph between them in realtime using the controller of your choice. All the factory .ksds for Spark have variations programmed, and some of the variations are quite interesting to say the least. Plus, they've been tagged for those who search for sounds by attributes.

Kore's a host/plugin that loads all of your plugins; not just NI's. It also has internal engines- various NI plugins (Absynth, FM8, GR 3, Kontakt 3, Massive and Reaktor) that are essentially players; they can use content specifically made for them, but you have limited editing and automation function; the controller pages included in the .ksd are what you get and that's it. If you have the full version of the internal engine's plugin(s), you can do the normal editing, etc. that you can with the normal plugin.

Kore also has built in MIDI plugins such as a step sequencer and arpeggiator, as well as built in effects. And, you can use any plugin you have that's not locked to a specific host in it. With them, you can assign controller pages and make variations, assign attributes, etc.

Kore's the first thing I load, whether I'm working in one of my main hosts or working on sound design. Try the demo-

ew

 

Thank Ew!

Add this to my list of architecture questions: AM takes two inputs from separate sources, as does RM, and that seems natural -- but the Filter section uses the *same* source for both its carrier and its modulator signal. Why do that?

 

Ah- no it doesn't. The FM for the filter (in fact, all FM in Spark) uses feedback for the modulator; either from the delay/frequency shifter, the effects or both, depending on where the int/ext knob's set in the special module. The AM also uses the feedback as the modulator

ew

 

Oops- I'm wrong here. The filter's FM modulator is the signal from the oscillators, but it's pre- AM and RM.

ew

 

Oops- wrong again (I should really read the manual). You're right, but the signal doing the FM of the cutoff's pre-filter.

ew

 

Pre-filter? As opposed to the main filter, the cutoff for which is not audio-modulable?

 

Yep, pre- static filter.

ew

 

with AM, if you multiply 2 frequencies (it is always best to try this with sine waves) you get the summation and difference tones (try 440 and 330) plus the original. so that means 770, 110 plus 440 and 330.

if you do this using RM you only get the summation and difference tones.

fwiw, there is quite a good Core Ring Mod macro (less convincing when switches to AM) anyway here it is in an Ensemble for Ringmodding an external signal:

sowari