After loading an Ensemble in Reaktor, you may no longer hear an output signal. This article lists the most common causes and offers solutions for the following issues:
- The Ensemble only reacts to a specific MIDI channel
- The Instrument is not connected to an output
- The Ensemble requires the clock to be running
- The Ensemble is an effect which requires an audio input
- The audio engine is disabled
The Ensemble Only Reacts to a Specific MIDI Channel
Note: this solution is only relevant for the full version of Reaktor.
While most Factory Library Ensembles are set to OMNI in order to receive MIDI from any input channel, some specific Ensembles are set to MIDI channel 1. Please follow the steps below to ensure that an Ensemble's MIDI input channel is set to OMNI.
Note: When you manually insert Instruments into an Ensemble, the default MIDI input channel is 1, which means that the inserted Instrument will not react to MIDI notes if your MIDI keyboard is set to a different channel, or if you send notes from a MIDI track within your sequencer which is set to a different channel. Follow the same steps as described below to change the Instrument's MIDI channel but select the Instrument in the Ensemble's Structure instead.
- Load an Ensemble to Reaktor. In our example, we load Monark from the Player section of the Browser by double-clicking the Monark.ens file.
- Enter Edit mode by pressing the EDIT button.
- Open the Ensemble's Properties by clicking on the checkbox symbol. If the left sidebar is not visible, press F5 on the computer keyboard to open it or choose Show Properties from Reaktor View menu.
- Go to the Connect tab.
- Make sure that the field labeled Channel within the MIDI IN section displays Omni. If it is set to a particular MIDI channel instead, left-click on it and drag it down while holding down the mouse button until the value Omni appears.
The Instrument is Not Connected to an Output
Note: this solution is only relevant for the full version of Reaktor.
If you build a Reaktor Ensemble by inserting one or multiple Instruments into the Structure, you need to connect the outputs of the Instruments to the Reaktor output yourself. To do this, proceed as follows:
- Enable the Edit mode by pressing the EDIT button:
- Select the name of the Ensemble in the Breadcrumb - in the example below it is a New Ensemble.
- Connect the outputs of the Instrument to the Ensemble's Out modules by dragging the cables from the out-ports of the Instrument to the in-ports of the output modules:
Note: If you load an Ensemble from the Reaktor Factory Library or a Komplete Instrument (such as Razor, Skanner XT, etc.) from the Player section of the Browser, the Out modules are already connected correctly. Please read this article to learn more about the differences between a Reaktor Instrument, a Reaktor Ensemble, and a Komplete Instrument.
The Ensemble Requires the Clock to be Running
Some REAKTOR Ensembles cannot be played via a MIDI keyboard (eg. the Factory Library's Ensembles Aerobic, Newschool, etc.). In order to generate an output you need to run the Master Clock in REAKTOR or start the playback of your host sequencer if you are running REAKTOR as plug-in. Please also note some Ensembles require both a clock signal and MIDI input simultaneously to generate sound. Press the Play button in the REAKTOR Header Bar to start the REAKTOR clock.
The Ensemble is an Effect Which Requires an Audio Input
Apart from the sound-generating Ensembles, there are also Ensembles which act as pure audio effects and thus require an audio input. Some of them even require both an audio and a MIDI input, as is the case for vocoder effects. In the example below, we can see the REAKTOR Ensemble Anima, which can be found in the Effects folder of the REAKTOR Factory Library section of the Browser. It processes an audio input signal coming from an audio interface but does not generate sound by itself. In general, the default audio input of an effect Ensemble corresponds to the Reaktor 1 / Reaktor 2 entries. If you are using REAKTOR in Standalone mode, these can be defined in the Input Routing section of the Audio and MIDI Settings (see screenshot below). When using REAKTOR as a plug-in, you will have to route audio from another track in your host sequencer to REAKTOR.
The Audio Engine is Disabled
In order to process any audio signal, the audio engine of REAKTOR must be enabled. You can see the current engine status in the upper right corner as part of the main Toolbar:
Audio engine is off
Audio engine is on
If you cannot activate the audio engine by clicking on the on / off switch, check the settings of your audio interface. You can access REAKTOR's audio setup under File > Audio and MIDI Settings. The audio engine can be switched on if the audio interface driver is correctly initialized in REAKTOR. If the same problem occurs when using REAKTOR as a plug-in, check the audio driver settings in your sequencer's audio setup.