Reaktor 7: Is Native Instruments Set to Release a Major Update, Including VST Export for Custom Plugins?
A Community Post From an NI Employee Just Turned Heads, Super*Saw Was Apparently Only the Beginning
5,0 / 5,0 | 
Reaktor 7: Native Instruments Delivers a Major Update, Including VST Export for Custom Plugins · Source: NI / GEARNEWS
Native Instruments is apparently working on a major Reaktor update, possibly Reaktor 7, that would let users export ensembles as standalone VST plugins. According to a forum post from an NI employee, the freshly released Super*Saw synth (built together with A. G. Cook) already comes from this exact new Reaktor platform. That’s a genuine in-house confirmation, and it’s already got people talking.
Native Instruments Reaktor 7: Everything on VST Export, the New Platform, and What the Forum Post Reveals
Reaktor Has Been Sitting in the Shadows Lately
Reaktor and the standalone synths that grew out of it haven’t exactly been a priority for Native Instruments over the last few years. The last major Reaktor update was version 6.5 with VST3 support back in 2023, and the last standalone synth to come out of the Reaktor workshop was Super 8, released in 2020. Especially after the acquisition by inMusic, plenty of people in the community feared that a product this complex and niche might just quietly get dropped from the new lineup.
That’s exactly why a recent community post is turning heads. Matthew from Native Instruments wrote on NI’s official community forum that Super*Saw is the first product built on a new platform update for Reaktor, one that, according to Matthew, will eventually get opened up to all Reaktor builders too. He put it this way: “A.G. Cook and friends were creating and using the patches that became this product long before they became this product.” So Cook and his team were apparently already working with the Super*Saw patches well before any of it turned into a finished plugin.
VST Export and High-Res UIs for Reaktor Builders in Reaktor 7?
Things get interesting with the technical details Matthew shared in the same post. The new platform update reportedly lets Reaktor builders create standalone plugins that still run on the Reaktor engine internally, but with high-resolution UIs, dedicated authorization mechanisms, and their own distribution and installation paths.
For anyone not deep in the Reaktor community: Reaktor lets you build synths, samplers, experimental tools, and effects, all stored as proprietary ensemble files (.ens). Thousands of these ensembles are available for free in the Reaktor User Library, though often with GUIs that feel more like the early days of plugins than modern software. A high-res UI option would genuinely make a difference here.
VST export itself is something plenty of Reaktor users have been asking for over the years, especially anyone already building complex tools in Reaktor. According to Matthew, though, this won’t be a feature for every hobbyist tinkerer, it’s aimed more at professional builders, similar to the existing Kontakt Player licensing model with its own Native Access integration. That would mean Native Instruments gets a cut of licensing revenue on Reaktor ensembles going forward too, a model that never quite took off with the existing Reaktor Player program.
Other NI Flagship Titles Are Reportedly Getting Updates Too
Beyond the Reaktor 7 news, Matthew hinted in the same post that other flagship titles are set to receive significant updates in the coming months, without naming any specifics. After the recent Absynth 6 release, a facelift for FM8 wouldn’t be a stretch, and a reworked interface for Massive X would be welcomed by plenty of users too, sonically excellent, but the current UI feels pretty dated by now.
Bottom Line on the Reaktor 7 Rumor
A regulated but genuinely usable VST export for Reaktor ensembles would be a far more sensible path than the current flood of quickly thrown-together, AI-coded plugins you see everywhere in the market right now. Quality over quantity, that would genuinely benefit the Reaktor community.
The fact that Native Instruments, under its new inMusic ownership, is apparently still investing in Reaktor instead of quietly shelving it is at least a reassuring signal for anyone who feared the tool might just disappear. Whether and when this actually turns into an official Reaktor 7 remains open for now, we’ll keep you posted.
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