Lenin

An even more flexible synth

(617 Votes)
5.1 (Updated 17 years ago)
2.3MB
March 24, 2004
Reaktor 5 or lower
Instrument Sequencer

DESCRIPTION

v5.0 includes a few waveset files in the ensemble, so even if you don't have wavesets files installed in your Reaktor version there are no files to link or nag screens on startup. Submixers are improved, with simpler UI. It also fixes a wide range of minor bugs throughour the ensemble and starts to fill in the snapshots. Note, you may need to click the on-screen keybaord twice to get it to play.

I was originally unable to add this synth as a new synth, so it was added as as an update to an old version of Leviathan--but this is an entirely new synth, employing Reaktor5 core cells and panel elements throughout. The comments down to (31) are for the old synth, Hobbes Lebviathan, which you can find elsewhere in the user lib.

The screenshot shows most of the main panels (they are all panels in the same synth, made with stacked macros). There's some online help that displays when you open the ensemble.

Enjoy :)
- Ernest

*******************
v5.1: snap level adjustments.

COMMENTS  (54)

David Coffin
6 years ago
Still knockin' em out of the park after all these years. wow. THANK YOU Ernest!
Christian Huygen
9 years ago
Love. Love, love, love it. Thank you Ernest!
Robert Valentine
10 years ago
Amazing! Thank you so much.
christophe ruhn
10 years ago
very exciting! need to spend time working it out! Thank you
CC lines of the acid
12 years ago
'V Svetlui Puti Tovarischi!'
michael wright
13 years ago
This is has such a beautiful "old" feel and sound. I have spent a whole day and night learning to control this. I am so happy I did. This is going to change the way I make music. Absolutely amazing! Thank you for all the work.
Adam Morrison
13 years ago
I can't put this into words other than you should demand a job at NI. Stunning.
Quake Googl
14 years ago
Thank You. Amazing work
Gogu Iulian
14 years ago
wonderful, thank
ernest meyer
14 years ago
I can't update this ensemble, since I purchased Komplete I can't access some older remaining contributions to the userlib. The newer ones are on my Website. For contact and updates, please visit http://heavensonearth.com
tony saunders
14 years ago
Really surprising this hasn't had more great comments recently. It's an excellent example of what Reaktor can do. Reminds me of Rainbow Serpent/David Vorhaus music, and that's just the presets! Got a 10 from me.
Michiel van Haarlem
14 years ago
Awesome - thanks. Will take some time to figure it all out.
Matthew Weiner
16 years ago
I really like this one very, very much. In sequence mode, it's like the ultimate Tangerine Dream machine. I do have a question, however -- when I upload the waveset and set the oscillator to "Wvset," I can't really hear the difference, even though I can scroll through the various wavesets. Am I doing something wrong?
arachnaut
16 years ago
This is incredible! Only uses about 10-15% CPU on my machine.
o hehn
17 years ago
The latest version is very, very nice. The initial sounds are a very good start to play around with it. CPU usage is also OK now :-) Love it and will use it soon!
Ray Savage
17 years ago
This is truly amazing, even in a Reaktor world of amazing synths. I came up on it via Leviathan (which certainly earns it name), but to me this is a good deal more user-friendly.
Paule
17 years ago
The beginning of a good friendship with lenin. Thanks for MIDI out implementation. For myself Reaktor 5.1.1.002 don't find Wood.wav/aif. Ernest, where may I find this files?
Ernest Meyer
17 years ago
Upload is fixed.
Ernest Meyer
17 years ago
Yes, if you have the waveset files that were supplied with Reaktor some time ago, it would map to those. I've learned recently these files are not avialable in new R5 installations. So I emailed a new version of this ensemble, containing even the small waveset files, to NI asking for it to be uploaded--currently there are problems with user uploads.
Serina Scott
17 years ago
OK, so when you try to open it and it says "D:\songs\wavesets:Wood.wav could not be found." that means I need to link to a file with a different name then?
Serina Scott
17 years ago
OK, so when you try to open it and it says "D:songswavesets:Wood.wav could not be found." that means I need to link to a file with a different name then?
Ernest Meyer
17 years ago
Yes, to enable waveset modulation, you can load WAVESET_ALL.WAV from Marx or Hegel. This time, to reduce file size but not get that nag window "waveset file missing", I just loaded a few single wavesets into each oscillator. That means also you can get startpoint modulation (via "contour" modulation) and no nag windows before loading the full waveset file.
Eric Wistrand
17 years ago
Here's one for Lenin, Ernest; This thing is crazy (in a good way) :) I presume the waveset oscillators wanted your waveset_all from Marx? That's what I loaded anyways, and it seems to work. I hate to think how many hours this must have taken... Thanks for another wonderful instrument.
Ernest Meyer
17 years ago
(( Just a note to say, I could not upload Lenin as a new ensemble for some reason, so I updated this version of Leviathan in the user lib. The comments before this one apply to Hobbes Leviathan which is also available elsewhere in the user lib ))
david brymer
19 years ago
I love this thing...run it through a very light setting in Spektral Delay and you have an entire composition....Raymond Scott is jealous
Duncan Mills
19 years ago
I've just read all the comments while I'm waiting for this to download.....the anticipation is killing me! Duncan Mills
Ernest Meyer
19 years ago
Since the rating reorganization, the manual is no longer in the top 20 ensembles. It is called "Leviathan User's Guide".
Ernest Meyer
19 years ago
You can search for Leviathan, or look in the "top 100 ensembles" list.
Sean Ross
19 years ago
yo where's the manual? All I got on download was a txt file with not a lot of info on how to run this thing... if anyone knows where to find the manual, email me the link (please!) at mixmasterdsr@earthlink.net, thank you
andraz bole
19 years ago
noble prize mate, noble prize !!!!!! I bow before ya
Yves Cooreman
19 years ago
I just started an ambient project.. I think I've got my main sound source :-) muchos cool indeed
Cliff Douse
20 years ago
Wow, it's BIG! Thanks for the extra snaps - they make it much easier to understand this complex beast!
David Linn
20 years ago
Steven Sequeira
20 years ago
This is perhaps one of the finest instruments I have ever owned, Ernest. I give this a 10+ rating! Cheers!
nick berry
20 years ago
i freakin' love this. thanks, man.
Karl White
20 years ago
Simply wonderful, thank you for sharing.
Yves De Mey
20 years ago
Absolutely beyond everything i can think of right now. Massive!!
Terry Engelbrecht
20 years ago
Ernest, this is an absolutely amazing ensemble, destined to replace Kant as my favourite arpeggiating/sequenced synth. The sound is wonderful, the CPU usage almost unbelievably low considering what's going on, and the potential for creativity vast. I'd also like to add that the manual you supplied adds a GREAT deal to the synth - I have bought (many) commercial products, both hardware & software, with documentation that pales next to your Leviathan manual. This is like getting a great new plug-in synth, complete with excellent docs, as a gift!! Many thanks for all the obvious hard work that went in to this & your other ensembles. ***Note to NI: PLEASE employ Ernest to write the Reaktor 5 manual, & let him include some in-depth tutorial ensembles with annotations.***
Clear Menser
20 years ago
OMFG WTF This machine ROCKS!!! I'm going to have to study it like a science, it's so complex.
Mike Woloszyn
20 years ago
wow!
Kimmo Kivelä
20 years ago
Im amazed. Its not just only complex - it also works! 10.
Phil Durrant
20 years ago
i also have a slow machine, i am having a great time just using the synth (i have a version with no sequencers) with 3 voices. the synth alone is fantastic, there are just so many possibilities for creation. this is just wonderful.btw, i reckon this would be great with just 1 voice.
Ernest Meyer
20 years ago
Thank you for all your nice comments--greatly appreciated, considering the many all-nighters that went into this one, I'm greatly relieved to hear it's aoppreciated! I spent alot of time not only on the design, but also on responding to Seneca comments: more instrumentation, flattened structure; also I spent quite alot of time making sure *all* the parameters work properly, providing control in useful ranges. **** CPU LOAD ISSUES **** Please bear in mind, this instrument provides a hundred scalable modulations for each voice! It does alot of very clever stuff to reduce CPU load, and the fact that it runs at all on slower machines is, in my opinion, quite an achievement, considering other ensembles which typicaly use four times as much CPU with a tenth as many modulations. If you do have a slower machine, some things that can help: (a)you can try reducing the power setting to "tiny". There will be some change in the sound, as described in the manual, but you'll find a noticeable drop in CPU usage. (b) Uou can change the "power" setting for each snapshot, in fact changing the power setting doesn't even interrupt the sound. (c) You can try turning off the sequencer and just using it as a synth. If you don't play alot of fast note runs, you'll find CPU usage drops quite a bit. (d) Reducing the clock rate and tempo also will reduce CPU usage. Note, (c) and (d) don't make much difference on the "tiny" power setting.
Robert Croft
20 years ago
The best ensemble of 2004 (unless Ernest isn't finished uploading stuff . . . ) is here - Leviathan 2 is the most stunning R4 ensemble I've ever encountered, bar none. Thank you for sharing it and thank you for providing us with an exellent manual to learn it too! There are too many things to mention that are absolutely amazing about this one - but for starters, it is remarkably light on my cpu, 22-25% in a mac 1.25 ghz G4 using the ensembles' low cpu setting. While it would be nice to see more snapshots for it, I must echo Thomas Weber's comment - it IS like getting a major Reaktor upgrade! Rating this one a 10 is an extreme understatement.
James Clark
20 years ago
Very nice. Very professional. Kills my machine, though!
Phil Durrant
20 years ago
the lion, is on the prowl.
Markus Brandt
20 years ago
wow - blown away!!
Al Watson
20 years ago
it left bill speachless!
Bill Wandel
20 years ago
raphael esterson
20 years ago
It looks like it's got amazing possibilities. It badly needs more snaps to illustrate these. The manual is very thorough, but for us more hands on learners, nothing beats being able to decipher the parameters on a good diverse set of snaps. I really appreciate the immense amount of work that has clearly gone into this. A good set of sounds will enable this synth to reach the audience that I am sure it deserves.
Thomas Weber
20 years ago
Upon reflection after my initial excitement, and not to sound ungrateful, this fantastically well-structured beast deserves a much wider and larger palette of demo snaps. Among the nine presented here, and as wonderful as they are, I hear about 3 variations within a single class of sounds. Was it our impatience that made it so? Maybe it is up to the rest of us to show what this beast can do. I haven't yet had a chance to play with it enough, but I see great possibilities here. One other criticism, which is not unique to this instrument, is that something has to be done about sticking keys on the graphical keyboards. Is a bug in Reaktor causing this?
N Marsh
20 years ago
I'm blown away by it....thanks very much for a very fine piece of work.
Art Juchno
20 years ago
"I feel like I just received a major upgrade to Reaktor. Thanks a bunch." I'll second that. This is fantastic!!! Only played with it for a few minutes and I love it to death. (All HTML tags will be removed.)
Thomas Weber
20 years ago
Wow Ernest! This really blows my mind. Leviathan took about 10 times as long to load as any other ensemble. I know you've been working hard on it for a long time and it really shows. It seems like I've been waiting forever. Did you ever post version 1 in the User Library? I'm not even going to pretend I know even a small percentage of what there is to know about Leviathan at this stage, but I love your demo snaps and your extensive layouts are some of the cleanest and most visually appealing I've ever seen. And then to top it off, you provided an incredibly classy and informative manual/tutorial. Your design skills and generosity are astonishing. I feel like I just received a major upgrade to Reaktor. Thanks a bunch.
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