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

[1-2-Many]

actually, unlike some people may think, Nexus does A LOT more under the hood, than just playing samples There are oscillators with saw, noise, sq etc...
lfos, envelopes, unisono, filters, amps, distortions, different fx, arps, tg's and hundreds of more parameters, like a "real" synth offers. However, like Urs said already, Nexus has a different concept, the concept of being a huge preset library player. So most of these parameters are not accessible in the user version. But they are there and are heavily used for creating the sound you hear So yes, Nexus may be a rompler, but it is a synthesizer, too. Every preset has a lot of sound design going on, and its not just a sample playing. You would be suprised how "rough" and simple most of the samples sound in the source condition.

Thanks for the info...Nice to know it is so fully featured ... for YOU.

[recursive one]

OP, check out this, seems that Synthmaster is what you actually need

https://soundcloud.com/kv331synthmaster ... ter-style/

[quantum7]

A friend of mine has all (I believe) available expansions for Nexus 2 and I spent hours at his studio on several occasions going through everything. The Hollywood expansion was the only expansion I remember not being Dance or Trance music oriented. I cannot fathom anyone using that for Hollywood soundtracks. It was horrible IMO and sounded no better than your typical ROMpler keyboard by Roland or Korg...not even up to the level that at least Kurzweil gives you in that department. The pianos on Nexus are horrible...if you want it to sound like a real piano......but great for dance I guess. Nexus is great for techno, dance, trance, etc., even though I kept hearing the same old sounds it seemed like on every other expansion. I want to like Nexus because when I'm not writing New-Age and soundtrack I do love writing techno and dance to change this up, but Nexus is so uninspiring compared to the likes of Zebra, Omnisphere or Alchemy. Sorry.

[aquar]

A friend of mine has all (I believe) available expansions for Nexus 2 and I spent hours at his studio on several occasions going through everything. The Hollywood expansion was the only expansion I remember not being Dance or Trance music oriented. I cannot fathom anyone using that for Hollywood soundtracks. It was horrible IMO and sounded no better than your typical ROMpler keyboard by Roland or Korg...not even up to the level that at least Kurzweil gives you in that department. The pianos on Nexus are horrible...if you want it to sound like a real piano......but great for dance I guess. Nexus is great for techno, dance, trance, etc., even though I kept hearing the same old sounds it seemed like on every other expansion. I want to like Nexus because when I'm not writing New-Age and soundtrack I do love writing techno and dance to change this up, but Nexus is so uninspiring compared to the likes of Zebra, Omnisphere or Alchemy. Sorry.

I guess that's what happens when a company closes off competition.
The resulting soundsets/expansions suffer because its a closed loop.

I think if reFX had been more generous and opened Nexus up for anyone who
wanted to produce soundsets for it by now it might be a different story.?
I think I understand their philosophy to a point, thousands of sub standard soundsets may have actually hurt the sales of their own in house stuff.

But as you say their own expansions aren't anything to write home about.
I think if I shelled out for their complete bundle weighing in @ an unbelievable €2.599 I'd be absolutely gutted.
That's a virus TI down the drain

Still there's a lot of producers out there who obviously think Nexus is worth it.

[quantum7]

My buddy is a self-made millionaire and bought all the expansions because he can pretty much buy anything music-related that he wants....but for the average Joe I would personally think it nuts to shell out 3k for the Nexus and all expansions. For that amount you could buy Omnisphere, Alchemy, Synthmaster, Zebra, Diva, Dune, Sylenth, & Kontakt.....and have 1k left for a Novation UltraNova....and a dinner for 2 at an expensive restaurant with your favorite lady.

[msvs]

It was horrible IMO and sounded no better than your typical ROMpler keyboard by Roland or Korg

Remember, Holly1 costs 55€, not 999€. It can not compete with a 20GB library with true legato etc... But there are some really amazing things possible with it (we got tons of mp3s from users which are really cool, or listen to the demo mp3), btw check out the Hollywood 2 then as soon as your friend will have it

The Hollywood expansion was the only expansion I remember not being Dance or Trance music oriented.

well, the main target group for Nexus is really Dance music, but apart from that they are quite many expansions, which have nothing to do with dance. We always try to serve some niche genres, too - even if they sell not as good as the basic dance stuff. If we would go for the money only, we would release Dubstep vol. 1 to Dubstep vol. 524

I think I understand their philosophy to a point, thousands of sub standard soundsets may have actually hurt the sales of their own in house stuff.

yes you are completely right, thats one of the main reasons for a closed system. We wanted to have full quality control over everything which is released for Nexus.

but for the average Joe I would personally think it nuts to shell out 3k for the Nexus and all expansions

no one is forced to buy the complete bundle. Nexus actually is with 249€ quite affordable and in the mid price segment on the market. It already comes with over 1000 presets in the basic version.

[izonin]

OP:
I can't afford a Virus Ti, should I get Nexus or Zebra instead?


Get Zebra, since it's a synthesizer.

[quantum7]

OP:
I can't afford a Virus Ti, should I get Nexus or Zebra instead?


Get Zebra, since it's a synthesizer.

+1

[bailees7irish]

For that amount you could buy Omnisphere, Alchemy, Synthmaster, Zebra, Diva, Dune, Sylenth, & Kontakt.....and have 1k left for a Novation UltraNova....and a dinner for 2 at an expensive restaurant with your favorite lady.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

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