> Step by step

1. Your first Reaktor synth

Fire up Reaktor in standalone mode, create a new Ensemble, and adjust the split-screen layout to taste. We don’t need the Ensemble’s default In Port modules, so delete these. Undocking the Properties Manager can be useful whilst building in Reaktor, allowing you to keep the parameters you’re working on close to hand – you can do this from the program’s View menu.

Our Macro needs to receive the pitch and gate events from the Ensemble, so it needs In Port modules. Right-click and select Built-In Modules > Terminal > In Port, then name the new port as “P” (ie pitch). Repeat this process in order to create an In Port module labelled “A” (ie amplitude), and a main Out Port for the oscillator’s audio.

Reopen SimpleMultiOsc, create a Pulse and Sawtooth osc, and wire the Macro’s In Ports to them. Create a Switch module, name it Waveform, and set its Min Num of Ports to 3. Double-click terminals to rename them Tri, Pulse and Saw. Connect the Osc Outputs to corresponding Switch Inputs. Connect the Switch’s Output to the Macro’s Out Port.

Click an empty area of the editor and hit [Enter] or [Return] to open the Searchbox. Type “MIDI” then in the results list locate and click on Note Pitch MIDI In. Repeat to add a Gate MIDI In. Take a moment to hold the mouse pointer over the new ports and their terminals to read the popup hint text.

Add a Triangle Oscillator to the structure. Connect your In and Out ports to the matching terminals on the oscillator module. Double-click an empty area of the editor to back-out of the Macro and return to the Ensemble, then connect the Note Pitch and Gate ports to SimpleMultiOsc’s “P” and “A” ports (respectively), and its outputs to the Ensemble’s Out Ports.

Hold your mouse over the Pulse oscillator’s W terminal and read the popup hint text, noting the value range it suggests. Create a Knob module, name it “Width” and enter the suggested values as the Knob’s Max and Min values. Set the Knob’s Default to 0 and Step Size to 0.01, then connect it to the Pulse oscillator’s W terminal.

Let’s create a multi-mode oscillator for our synth. It makes sense to pack this into a Macro so that it’s self-contained. Right-click in the editor and select New Macro from the popup menu. Double click the new Macro’s name field and change it to “impleMultiOsc. Double-click the SimpleMultiOsc Macro to view its internal structure, which is empty.

Play your oscillator, noticing that it’s monophonic. Click an empty area so that the Ensemble’s properties are shown in the Property Manager, and increase the Voices value to 8. The oscillator is now polyphonic, but the Ensemble’s main Out Ports are always monophonic. Fix this by inserting a pair of Audio Voice Combiners prior to the Out Ports (see Top Tip).

Hold your mouse over the Pulse oscillator’s W terminal and read the popup hint text, noting the value range it suggests. Create a Knob module, name it “Width” and enter the suggested values as the Knob’s Max and Min values. Set the Knob’s Default to 0 and Step Size to 0.01, then connect it to the Pulse oscillator’s W terminal.