Nektarine Manual

Nektarine is designed to enable control of plugins from compatible Nektar hardware complete with parameter and patch browsing.

Capable of hosting VST, VST3 and AU plugins, Nektarine can be run in any DAW or MIDI music software product able to host AAX (Pro Tools), AU, VST or VST3 plugins.

 

1.1 Who can use Nektarine

Nektarine is included with compatible Nektar products including:

• Aura
• Panorama T4/T6
• Panorama P1/P4/P6 running alongside Bitwig, Reason, Studio One or Logic Pro (10.7 or higher) integration*
• Impact GXP49/61/88

Software authorization is not required to run Nektarine though some functionality is only available when used with a compatible Nektar product. Be aware that any user is bound by the EULA and any redistribution of Nektarine is strictly prohibited.

* Nektarine will work with Panorama P1/P4/P6 either standalone or with any DAW as long as Nektar DAW integration is not running, except as indicated above.

 

1.2 New Features

There are many improvements in Nektarine 2.5 including a revised UI which display all instrument and effect plugins in the Rack and adds a Browser pane to the right of any window.

Additional features and improvements include:

• Master output control and meter.
• Channel output meter added to all instrument and send channels
• Mixer page showing  instrument and send channels in a traditional mixer layout.
• Revised Pads page for Aura users showing all 16 pads in one view.
• Pads swap, copy and paste features.
• Drag and drop of content from the browser to plugin slots and pads.
• Better regression map handling should ensure preservation of mapping as plugins are updated.
• Audio folder mounting for audio browsing of libraries.
• DP-1 drum sample player included for Aura users
• DP-1 factory library included for Aura users.
• Plugin scan on startup option added.
• Multi-threaded audio processing.
• A ton of bug fixes.
• Plugin in window open from Instrument Channel strip when clicking on name. New in 2.5.34.

 

1.3 Installation and setup

Nektarine 2.5 can be downloaded after a Nektar user account has been created and a compatible product has been registered in My Account on the Nektar website. The process of installation is straight forward:

• Connect your Nektar device to a USB port on your computer or to a powered USB hub. Unpowered hubs should not be used.
• Download the Nektarine installer package and run it. If your account includes the ‘DP1_Installer+Factory_SoundBank’ package, run the DP-1 installer as well if desired.
• On completion, launch Nektarine either standalone or as a plugin in your DAW. Make sure to rescan plugins in your DAW’s Preferences menu so Nektarine is seen. In Windows the install path is: C:\\Program Files\\Steinberg\\VSTPlugins.
• Select your preferred plugin formats you in the Nektarine welcome window. Plugin formats can be selected or deselected subsequently in the Settings menu however if you have a lot of plugins, you may want to disable formats you don’t use, to reduce initial scan time.
• The welcome window in additon provides some simple tips about how to load plugins using drag and drop. Click “Ok got it, take me to Nektarine” when done.
• Once the Nektarine GUI appears, plugins gradually populate the browser pane as they are scanned. If the browser pane is not open, click ‘Browse’ in the header to bring it in to view.
• If DP-1 was installed in step 2, import the ‘DP1_Factory_Soundbank.nek’ by following the steps in 5.13 Batch Importing Patches. Note that the Soundbank Multipatch kits can only be viewed/loaded when the pads profile is selected. On Panorama T4/T6, press [Shift]+[Instrument] to toggle the two profiles. If Aura is plugged in at first bootup, Nektarine automatically boots with the pads profile selected following.

MacOS Note: If you are running MacOS 10.15 or higher and your Nektar device does not control Nektarine, follow the steps to resolve the issue on this page.

 

 

1.4 The Header

The Nektarine header is a permanent fixture with access from any of the views.

Starting from the left, the first buttons select the following views:

1. The first 3 buttons select the the pages Rack, Mix and Pads (Pads is only present if used with Aura).

2. The following 3 buttons show/hide elements within the Rack, Mix and Pads view pages. Enable all 3 buttons to display Instrument channels, Send slots and the Browser pane all at the same time.

3. Control and Settings buttons open each of those pages. The last button is info which opens the manual pages (including this one) in a web browser.

4. The multipatch field show which multipatch is current loaded. Click in the display area to produce a popup list to select a new multipatch. A multipatch stores all Nektarine settings for recall at any time, in any version of Nektarine (standalone or plugin). If you are running Nektarine in a DAW, all settings are also stored with the DAW song/project. After initial install, only the default multipatch is available. Save your own configuration as a default multipatch so it loads every time you launch Nektarine.

5. The master output meter shows the output volume from -inf db to +12 db. The meter also includes a volume control. Pick up the white volume indicator using your mouse to click and hold, then move it.

 

1.5 Instance Status Indicator (6)

If a compatible Nektar device is connected and detected by Nektarine, the device indicator appear. When multiple compatible devices are connected at the same time, a device indicator for each will be displayed. The device indicator is solid when the instance is controlled by a Nektar device and outlined when it’s not. For example, two tracks in a DAW are hosting Nektarine. The Nektarine instance that’s currently controlled by a Nektar device is solid and the device indicator in Nektarine hosted on any other track is outlined (i.e. not controlled).

If Nektar DAW integration is used with Nektarine, control activation happens automatically when a track is selected. A Nektarine instance can be locked to a device so it’s controlled even when other DAW tracks are selected. To lock an instance, right-click on the solid device indicator. To unlock, repeat the process.

Solid: The instance of Nektarine is the currently controlled.    

Outline: The instance is not the currently controlled.

Lock: The instance is locked and therefore the currently controlled. Right-click the the instance activator in Nektarine to lock and unlock.

 

1.6 Resizing Nektarine and display performance

Nektarine can be resized by grabbing the bottom right corner with the mouse and moving it in the desired direction to resize. If hosted in a DAW, the size of Nektarine is stored with the DAW song/project.

The graphical design is vector based and therefore can adjust to display settings set in your operating system. For example, if you use a high resolution display and have scaling set to 150%, the Nektarine standalone app will scale to that resolution.

If Nektarine is hosted in a DAW, scaling information will be received from the DAW. If you use 2 displays each with different resolution, you may experience Nektarine adjusting if moved from one display to the other. Ultimately this is probably similar to what you experience with other software products.