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Fresh graphics and usability improvements are just a couple of great new features.

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Reaktor is Native Instruments' metaphorical Lucy, the genetic ancestor of their products. It debuted in 1996 as the pioneering software synthesizer Generator. Nine years of improvements (and name changes) later it became Reaktor 5.

Then progress stopped. Anxiety seeped in to the user community: five years is a long time between substantive updates, so when NI announced Reaktor 5.5, it fostered both excitement and trepidation: something new, but why just a 'dot' update?

However, Reaktor 5.5 is much more than a maintenance release. It combines usability improvements, fresh graphics, new synthesis options, and valuable additional content.

In the flow

"The fact NI chose to infuse a free update with so much shows excellent commitment to its users."

If the Reaktor 5.5 update has a theme its 'workflow improvements'. These grab you the first time you launch the Reaktor application after a painless installation. Gone is multiple window clutter, replaced by a sleek, attractive single window user interface (UI).

Plug-ins users are in for a treat: its UI is finally consistent with the standalone version. Multiple panes are revealed or hidden as needed. Focused on tweaking or performance? Show only the ensemble panel. Need to find something? Unhide the left-side tabbed panel that contains the Browser, Snapshot Management, Panelsets and Inspector.

Time to do some rewiring under the bonnet? Switch to Structure View, or as needed, display both the panel and a structure in a split view. Special structure 'bookmarks' make it dead easy to jet around within a complex multilevel patch.

The refreshed UI imparts Reaktor with a more modern, up-to-date feel. A single window approach is a boon to laptop and single display users. Users with multiple displays may be less enthused: you cannot separate panes into separate windows.

Some serious workflow improvements accrue from reworked instrument and ensemble file loading functions. Prior to Reaktor 5.5 this was an impediment to causal use. Reaktor 5.5 now helpfully creates a full ensemble when you 'import' an instrument, and finally offers an easy way to incorporate an existing ensemble within another.

Off to the library

For many users, Reaktor's biggest selling point is its bundled and community libraries. So what is new on the shelves? In a word: Lazerbass. Load Lazerbass and you are first struck by its ultramodern, 'I demand to be run on a touchscreen' UI.

Select a few snapshots, press some keys, and it's readily apparent that Lazerbass is not just an old-school modelling bass synth. Lazerbass is a showcase for Sine Module, Reaktor's new additive synthesis subsystem.

All sound generation and processing, even filtering and effects, are accomplished through this one module. It is an additive tour de force! If Reaktor 5.5 was a West End show Lazerbass would appear prominently on the marquee.

Also included are two previous 'for purchase' libraries, Electronic Instruments 1 and 2. This treasure trove offers synthesizers, effects, grooveboxes, sequencers, and, a couple 'hard to categorise' items. Previous users will be very familiar with what it has to offer.