Introduction

Welcome to the Limelite tutorial. Limelite is a very powerful instrument for generating beat loops and much more. Listen to this short audio appetizer of snapshots that we will discuss in detail in the tutorial.

This tutorial is mainly for beginners and intermediate users of Limelite. However, it's possible that even advanced users, who already spent a lot of time with this instrument will find new tricks or inspiration on the following pages.

The NI Electronic Instruments 2 comes with a manual / documentation that is... how can I say... very compact, if you know what I mean. :-)

It explains briefly what each knob is doing in Limelite, but it does not demonstrate how to take advantage of all these features to make music.

This is what the Limelite tutorial is for. If you ever wondered what Pulp is or how you could use all the modulation functionality to make interesting loops, then this tutorial is for you.

The best way to use the tutorial is, of course, with Limelite running in parallel. Load the tutorial bank into Limelite and just follow the guide. If you presently have no access to Limelite (maybe you are in the office or on a business trip), you can nevertheless go through the pages and listen to all snapshots as mp3 audio files.

So, bring a large cup of coffee (tea works as well), start up your Reaktor (or EI2 XT) and enjoy the LIMELITE tutorial.

Remark 1:

I assume that you played around with Limelite already and have an understanding of the most basic things like drawing a pattern into the sequencer window, turning on and off specific sample modules (kick, snare, etc.), selecting snapshots in the snapshot window, and so on. If this is a problem for you then I suggest you read the short manual (pdf) in the documentation folder of your EI2 installation.

Remark 2:

If you are a Reaktor 5 user, make sure that the "tie bug" is fixed in your Limelite version. This bug corrupts the TIE module, so that it generates no sound. There is an update available on the Native Instruments website.

For an alternative solution do the following:

Right-click (ctrl-click on Mac) on the wav knob in the TIE module and select "Show in structure".

Next, right-click on the sampler loop module and select "Properties".

Select the leftmost tab and de-activate the "Oscillator Mode".

That should fix the "TIE bug". Credits go to Sowari for posting this fix on the Native Instruments Reaktor forum.