Is ReFX nexus 2 worth getting?

[shonoob]

I have been looking at ReFX Nexus for quite awhile now. I currently only use Xfer Serum as my main synth. How do the two VSTs stack up quality wise? I know they are substantially different, but since I have Serum already, is Nexus worth the investment? Why?

Also I looked on their website, on checkout it says you need to buy some sort of usb physical copy as the license for $20. Is that mandatory?

Thank you very very much!

[DJ Warmonger]

Nexus is a rompler. It can only play factory banks and they are pricy, Plus, it gives little control over patches.

Nexus IMO is the way to milk noobs who can't synthesize, but if you're one of them you will be amazed by quality of patches

[recursive one]

If you are into dance music, I'd suggest you to consider Reveal Sound Spire or U-He Hive as cheaper alternatives.

Judging from the demo clips on ReFX website, Nexus sounds good but nothing outstanding, and AFAIK it offers very little control over the sound, while Spire and Hive are actual synths.

[tristan-]

I will tell you what.

Many people just don't understand this..

People tend to think that using a "ROMpler" to make music is easier than using a synth. I think it's bullshit. Why? because Nexus sounds amazing! right out the box! why not use it? you never tell a pianist "what a bad record you made, you didn't synthesize this sound yourself"!
seriously, the expansions released in the past two years are smashing. Listen to the Hollywood expansion - it sounds better than many of the better Kontakt libraries combined. All sounds are meticulously crafted and sit perfectly in a mix. Nexus has very high quality filters built in. One of the highest quality reverbs in the market.

I love synthesis and use it all the time. but Nexus 2 is something else and unique in the market.

If you want to just work, and you don't mind forking out some $$ Nexus 2 it is. Just listen to the demos, it's amazing.

[keisuki]

Listening to the demo on the site, Serum is more than capable of those sounds. Play with the unison, add an envelope to a low pass filter (turn sustain down), add the compressor and check the OTT (multiband) option, simple pluck.

Electro-bass sound; try a bandpass filter on a saw and some distortion. Serum has FM for those deep house basses. None of those Nexus sounds are good, nor worth $250 (plus whatever else for the certain pack each sound is from). It's all about layering, as it is they layer several instances of Nexus in that demo, so you're going to have to do that anyway, might as well just use Serum for it. If you put the time in, you will get far better sounds out of Serum.

Also for supersaws, these sound awful - seconding Spire or Hive. ^

Free USB-port for eLicenser

Yes the USB key is mandatory according to the site.

edit; adding onto the above post, there's nothing wrong with ROMplers - use whatever sounds good for sure, but that's my point; in my opinion Nexus doesn't sound good (to me at least)

[LFO8]

Listen to the Hollywood expansion - it sounds better than many of the better Kontakt libraries combined.

I am curious, which film composers use Nexus in there productions?

[tristan-]

Listen to the Hollywood expansion - it sounds better than many of the better Kontakt libraries combined.

I am curious, which film composers use Nexus in there productions?

Listen. It's not about claims. Just SOUND.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjvDqgLZkSs

but this is only one aspect of Nexus (albeit an amazing one), it really shines with electronic roms. everything will sit so well in a mix. If you want to just PLAY or just work, what could be better? it's just like a pianist who buys a piano with great sound out of the box, instead of playing on shitty keys and than altering the sound in a DAW or replacing it with multi GB libraries.

[keisuki]

Isn't Nexus a 9GB+ library anyway? For the price of Nexus and one Hollywood bundle (there's three in total), why not just get Omnisphere 2 and save $20? Then you get far nicer sounds, an entire synthesis and sampler engine on top of that content and better effects AND you don't need a USB port for the key (afaik, I don't use Omni).

[V0RT3X]

It's an attractive and pricy package for people who don't really want to do their own sound design from scratch.

Sound design is limited due to the fact it's a rompler, so there is no option to edit the source material etc. Also since nexus is sample based it will play nicer with your computers CPU in a multi track session. This can be a really nice thing for people who don't like to freeze much.

Serum on the other hand is a true synthesizer in the sense you can create your own sounds so you'll get way more out of it, but the CPU usage will also be higher because you are using a full blown synth.

If i were you i would probably pick up a sampler plugin instead because this will at least give you more control over your sound versus being constrained to the "expansion packs" that you have to buy for new sounds in nexus.

Kontakt is a very good sample player, and can be bought fairly cheap if you look around. I posted a thread a while back on how to get the crossgrade price from a free sennheiser product. Another perk of owning kontakt is that it gives you access to a huge huge world of sounds that go way beyond the narrow range of "EDM style" stuff that REFX likes to market.

Kontakt also gives you a lot of control over sound design and the FX section puts Nexus to shame in my opinion.

One more perk to owning kontakt is that you dont need a usb dongle licenser plugged in to use it.

[tristan-]

Omnisphere and Nexus are two totally different beasts. Omnisphere hardly gives you "mainsteam" sounds if you may. It all depends on what you're after, they're all good. if you're making the next chartbuster, Nexus would be the better option and sits perfectly in the mix straight out of the box.

[V0RT3X]

Omnisphere and Nexus are two totally different beasts. Omnisphere hardly gives you "mainsteam" sounds if you may. It all depends on what you're after, they're all good. if you're making the next chartbuster, Nexus would be the better option and sits perfectly in the mix straight out of the box.

Do you work for Refx or something?

[bronxsound]

in my view Nexus over the years has lost its "magic". the recent expansions (say 2-3 years) are boring and primarily focus on providing dozens stacked/processed saw sounds. i don't say it is useless. it allows quickly sketch up an idea. but older sound packs (not all of them of course) were/are way more inspiring. personally i think there are better more creative alternatives these days.

[tristan-]

Do you work for Refx or something?

lol dude.

No. but it's great at what it does. I'm also a huge fan of Diva 2, does that mean I work for them?
I do prefer working with Vengeance and Fabfilter plugins as far as electronic music comes to mind though.

Anyways, once I receive a job offer from one of those devs and accept it if it's good enough, I'll notify here ofcourse

[V0RT3X]

Do you work for Refx or something?

lol dude.

No.

Fair enough, i was just curious lol.

Yah i can see it useful for people who want a quick selection of ready to go sounds. It surely gives you more time to focus on composing vs getting lost in sound design. I guess it all boils down to what you want to work with in the end.

[tristan-]

Yah i can see it useful for people who want a quick selection of ready to go sounds. It surely gives you more time to focus on composing vs getting lost in sound design. I guess it all boils down to what you want to work with in the end.

Exactly. It depends how much control you want over the sounds. Many professional keyboardists use Motif sounds right out the box, it's what you hear on many many recordings. I never heard anyone tell them "how lame, you didn't synthesize!". I see Nexus as an electronic music equal to a Motif, just as Omnisphere would be for example for a film composer. The strings and guitars in Omnisphere are rarely matched.