What is the Difference Between a REAKTOR 5 Instrument, Ensemble and a KOMPLETE Instrument?

REAKTOR 5 Instruments

In REAKTOR 5 terminology, an Instrument can be a traditional instrument like a Synth, Sequencer, Effect or Sampler. Instruments use the suffix ".ism" and can be selected via the FACTORY tab.

In order to hear a sound when you play an Instrument, it is necessary to connect the Instrument to the Audio Out Terminals in the Ensemble Structure.

Making the Connections

1. Click the Edit Mode button to switch to the Ensemble Structure View.
   
2. Click and hold on the L Output (or the small dot beside it) of the Instrument (in this example it is Green Matrix), and then drag your mouse towards Out 1. When you reach the Out 1 Input or the dot beside it, let go of your mouse button. Repeat this procedure for the R Output of Green Matrix and connect it to Out 2. After having done that, it should look like this:
   
3. Now when you press a a key on your MIDI keyboard, you will hear a sound.
   
   
4. To add more Instruments, drag an item from the Browser to the workspace and connect them as demonstrated above. In the example below we have inserted a Reaktor Factory Library Effect called Echomania between the Green Matrix Synthesizer and the Output.
   To save the Instrument chain as an Ensemble go to:
   
   
   • File > Save Ensemble As
   
   and choose a destination on your hard drive to store the file.

REAKTOR 5 Ensembles

An Ensemble can host more than one Instrument. This can be a single synthesizer or a full channel strip with various effects.

In the screenshot below, you can see an example of a custom Ensemble, "Spiral and Steampipe.ens", which has been loaded via the USER tab. This Ensemble consists of Spiral (a REAKTOR Sequencer) and Steampipe (a REAKTOR Synthesizer). Both Instruments are available for selection individually in the Reaktor Factory Library.

For more information on how to route a REAKTOR Sequencer to an internal REAKTOR Synthesizer refer to this Knowledge Base article.

KOMPLETE Instruments

A KOMPLETE Instrument (such as THE MOUTH, THE FINGER or MONARK) can only be used with its respective REAKTOR Player license. Technically close to an Ensemble (it connects to the inputs and outputs, for instance), it is called Instrument as it is a single unit from a musical point of view. KOMPLETE Instruments can ONLY be loaded via the PLAYER tab and use the suffixes ".ens" and ".rkplr" depending on the Instrument.