Sounds and Presets: 7 Best Free Native Instruments Reaktor Ensembles
Rediscover Reaktor with this greatest hits list of user-created effects and instruments.
4,0 / 5,0 | 
With Native Instruments Reaktor 6 possibly going the way of the dodo, we thought we’d highlight the best free ensembles from the Reaktor community.
Do Native Instruments Reaktor ensembles count as sounds and presets? Well, when the cat’s away the mice will play. After the drama of Native Instruments possibly quiet firing Reaktor 6 in Komplete 15, I thought this would be a good time to highlight some of the reasons that Reaktor is still an amazing piece of software: free user ensembles.
Note that some of these ensembles are on the old side and may not work in some operating systems/versions of Reaktor.
Table of Contents
John Squibb 4×4 Drone Thing V2
Reaktor was Native Instruments’ first product. Originally called Generator, it started the whole thing off in 1996 with a user-patchable modular environment for instruments and effects. Right from the start, it encouraged experimentation, with many of its most popular user-created ensembles – Reaktor-speak for an instrument of effect – being drone or generative synths.
One of the more popular, modern drone synthesizers is 4×4 Drone Thing V2 by John Squibb. It features four banks of waveforms – two sine and two sawtooth – each with its own multimode filter and LFO. A mixer with panning controls completes the design. Simple yet very effective – and always beautiful.
James Peck VHS Audio Degradation Suite
In 2024 there are plenty of analog-style ways to degrade your audio, from saturators to cassette tape effects. One of the earliest – and still arguably the best – is VHS Audio Degradation Suite from James Peck.
A free effect ensemble for Native Instruments Reaktor, VHS Audio Degradation Suite does pretty much what you expect it to: it makes your audio signal sound like it was recorded to an old VHS tape. No surprises there. But what is surprising is just how many controls you have access to here, from the expected like drive and flutter to the unexpected like chorus and microphone emulation. Incredible that this is free.
Cal Scott Alien Beatbox
Cal Scott likes working with Blocks, Reaktor’s Eurorack-like modular environment (as opposed to the under-the-hood modular environment for building new instruments and effects). His stuff tends towards the experimental and weird and Alien Beatbox is no exception.
A drum machine (actually a “Dual Vektor Drum Machine,” in Scott’s words), Alien Beatbox is full of randomness, generative alien properties and FM freakouts. This could make the start of a great IDM track or just let it run and enjoy the fun.
Doron Sadja FM Explorator
The general consensus seems to be that when it comes to FM, the more operators, the better. I tend to disagree. Some of my favorite FM synths have four operators but I also love a good 2-op synth, especially for making noise. Speaking of, meet FM Explorator by Doron Sadja.
A basic FM synth, FM Explorator achieves greatness with its combination of simplicity and weirdness thanks to the XY control, which sets the envelopes of the Carrior, Modulator, Filtor and Amplifior. “Each corner of the XY is assigned a certain ADSR value which you can set manually via the little numbers (top is A, next is D, next is S, bottom is R) – however, it’s much better to just click the button at each corner to generate a random ADSR value,” explains Sadja.
alt fidelity Inga Naïve Leveller
Based on our recommendations so far you would be forgiven for thinking that Reaktor user ensembles are all about the freaky deaky. While many are, it’s not exclusively weird. Some ensembles are the kind of instrument or effect you’d find in any run-of-the-mill DAW, like a compressor.
Inga Naïve Leveller by alt fidelity replicates the sound of old-school optical and Vari-Mu compressors, with a special emphasis on vocals and bass material. “If you set it up correctly it can sound anywhere from fast, aggressive and pumping to slow, smooth and leveling and everything in between,” says the developer.
Der Schimi Deep Channel One
Roland’s Space Echo RE-201 is one of the most famous delays ever made. You can never have too many tape delays, real or emulation, right?
Deep Channel One from Der Schimi uses the RE-201 as a starting point but takes things to, well, outer space with a number of useful additions, including two filter sections, three reverb algorithms, a noise section, wow and flutter and lots of modulation functionality.
Brett Lavallee Igraine’s Laboratory
Subtitled A Sci-Fi Adventure for Reaktor, Igraine’s Laboratory by Brett Lavallee is an ensemble of customized Blocks with one goal in mind: science-fiction soundscapes. “Simply press play and then listen to each of the snapshots in order to hear the sounds of this thrilling tale,” recommends Lavallee.
Listen to it as-is or input your own samples to generate your own sci-fi worlds.
Note that you’ll need a full version of Native Instruments Reaktor 6 to run these ensembles. For more great instruments and effects, check out the Reaktor User Community (link below).
More Information
- Native Instruments Reaktor Community page
- All about Native Instruments
- All about Reaktor
- All about synthesizers
This might also interest you
2 responses to “Sounds and Presets: 7 Best Free Native Instruments Reaktor Ensembles”
REAKTOR for ever!!!
If the shareholders of NI cannot be kept happy with a continuation of REAKTOR ir is another unfortunate example of the detrimental side effects of kapitalism and profitability as the main goal
I‘ve been using Reaktor since the days of Generator/Transformator and am now a big fan of the Blocks.
I‘ve also been teaching a course beginners here in NYC and online.