KVR Audio

mikedw · Post by **mikedw** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 6:29 am

I think Zebra3 will sound better than Nexus it is an important thing for me.
I've played around a bit with zebra2 and sometimes find a sound for use.

I do not love Zebra2 but what do you do when you need a sound. I hope Zebra3 sounds a little better than Zebra2

Then I wonder whether psy gangnam style has Zebra2 sound in the mix sounds like that. It's not my kind of mix sounds a little thin for my taste. Anyone know?

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 2:15 pm

mikedw wrote: psy gangnam style

I don't think you need Zebra for this. Check out Sylenth, or Massive, or ElectraX, or ANA. Zebra shines at pads, complex evolving sounds, acoustic emulation and so on. EDM stuff is not Zebra's strongest point.

I had the opportunity to play with basic Nexus package for a little. Honestly, i thought that the sound selection is a bit boring and the sound quality didn't blow me away. Probably, there are great sounds in expansions, I dunno, but the total bundle costs more than Virus TI Snow, that kinda pisses me off.

UltimateOutsider · Post by **UltimateOutsider** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 5:36 pm

People who listen to your music do not know or care what instruments you used, or whether you designed your own patches.

I normally design all my own patches from scratch (on hardware and software synths), but honestly, it's only because I don't have the patience it takes to audition a thousand presets when I'm in the middle of working on a song. I can design my own sound a lot faster than I can locate one in my ridiculously huge library of samples and synth presets.

If Nexus could read my mind and say "this is the patch you need for this part in your song" I would use it on everything I produced with no qualms. But that's not how it works.

Some people complain about Nexus2's "tweakability" but with the understanding that it is a ROMpler, exactly how much tweakability do you want? The thing has filter and envelope controls right there on the front page. It's got multi-layer control (mute, volume, pan, transpose) for every patch in its library. The thing has, what, six effect inserts? And you have complete control over the effects, which include a programmable trance gate. If you compare it against hardware ROMplers, I'm not sure there's anything more flexible than Nexus2. You're not designing patches from scratch on it- but that's absolutely not the point. (And again, no one listening to your stuff gives a crap.)

In general, I'd say: Buy the synth that makes the sounds you want.

One more thing to consider, though, is what's your normal songwriting workflow? I get all my song ideas when I'm about to fall asleep or when I'm in the shower. When I'm at my DAW I already know how I want my track to sound. This is why I find presets annoying; the browsing/auditioning process slows down my work.

I can only think of maybe two times in my life where I got a song idea by noodling around on my keyboard, flipping through sounds. But some people find MOST of their inspiration that way. People are creative in different ways and draw inspiration from different places. If you actually are inspired to create new songs when you browse through a library of cool sounds, you probably can't do much better than Nexus2 (assuming you've got the $$$ for all those expansions).

Brittlestem · Post by **Brittlestem** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 5:51 pm

mikedw wrote: psy gangnam style

Oddly enough, when I heard Gangnam Style, my first thought was, "This was done in Nexus"; the legato, generic dance lead riff is something you could cook up with Nexus' arp in no time at all.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:06 pm

mikedw wrote:Then I wonder whether psy gangnam style has Zebra2 sound in the mix sounds like that. It's not my kind of mix sounds a little thin for my taste. Anyone know?

Is it because he was rocking out in a stable in that video, you think you need a Zebra

If you gonna replicate a certain sound, looking for sample packs is probably the easiest, because you then get the loops, grooves, etc, all in one package. You just need to sequence it.

Getting a very expensive synth in this case, is like cracking a nut with a sledgehammer. The synth sounds in that song, I think you can manage to recreate with a freeware synth like Synth1 or Superwave P8

danbroad · Post by **danbroad** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:20 pm

Own both. Both excellent examples of what they are trying to achieve. Both different. You can have a ton of fun with either, and if you make music for fun that's what counts. You could also make a hit with either, and if you make music for money that's what counts.

The only problem is if you buy one and start wishing it did what the other one did.

cyphersuit · Post by **cyphersuit** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:27 pm

buy nexus. end of story.

DHR53 · Post by **DHR53** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:46 pm

Zebra is the one you "have" to own. Nexus is the one you "want" to own. Ha!

aquar · Post by **aquar** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 8:05 pm

If you are a musician and enjoy tweaking sounds then go for Zebra.
If you are a producer and enjoy dongles then go for Nexus.

cyphersuit · Post by **cyphersuit** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 8:11 pm

if i could only keep one instrument and one effect i would keep nexus2 and vengeance multiband sidechain.

quantum7 · Post by **quantum7** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 11:32 pm

Zebra is used by the likes of Hans Zimmer, Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, etc.

Nexus? Some of my Junior High School students that I teach like to play around with Nexus for techno FX.

msvs · Post by **msvs** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 7:07 am

Zebra is used by the likes of Hans Zimmer, Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, etc.

Nexus? Some of my Junior High School students that I teach like to play around with Nexus for techno FX.

not only your students... actually Jean Michel is also a happy Nexus user, too

beside some of the biggest names in the commercial pop, radio and dance music scene
http://refx.com/artists/professionals/

but it already had been mentioned in this thread several times: it depends on the sounds / genre you want to produce and on your workflow, which program will suit best for you.

Brittlestem · Post by **Brittlestem** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 10:06 am

msvs wrote:
Zebra is used by the likes of Hans Zimmer, Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, etc.

Nexus? Some of my Junior High School students that I teach like to play around with Nexus for techno FX.
not only your students... actually Jean Michel is also a happy Nexus user, too

Teacher: It's all about owning the right tools, not how creative you are with them.

nIGhT-SoN · Post by **nIGhT-SoN** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 10:52 am

Nexus doesn't make you creative. It gives you the sound already made. If you want to be creative, use Zebra than you will start your sound from scratch. Ofcourse you have to know what are you doing, but sometimes, using sounds already made, even presets from synths, is not the right approach. You will most likely have troubles with the mix since they are made in isolation, not in context of your mix. My suggestion, for all, would be to make your own sounds, that will make your mixing work much more easier.

DHR53 · Post by **DHR53** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 12:12 pm

Must be a private school... at $299.

reFX Nexus 2 worth buying or should I wait for Zebra 3?