REFX Nexus 2 - A Confessional

[AnX]

I bought Nexus 2.

Was unsure about it as I've always distrusted ROMplers due to coming into music production at a time when the ROMplers of the 80's and 90's were still very much a thing but very much maligned in the circles I moved.

I was worried that the presets would either be hard to get to sit in a mix or dominate the mix. I was worried that they'd be totally untweakable. I was worried that it would be supremely bad value for money. I thought I'd feel as if I was cheating and not "keeping it real" with my inner synth dude.

But I had need for a good ROMpler for the band I'm in so I embraced the fear and clicked BUY.

HO. LY. SH. IT.

It sounds incredible, and in the past few days I've got more done than I have in the past few weeks. It's like a breath of fresh air... I feel free to concentrate on the music rather than getting distracted by creating the "right" sounds. I wish I'd been able to admit sooner to myself that, although I love sound, I'm not a synthesist and putting pressure on myself to create sounds from scratch is pointless. I *do* feel like I'm cheating but I don't care.

I will continue to relax by having fun with Reaktor/Blocks and making noise for the satisfaction of it all but, otherwise, my music life has been royally kicked up the bum and I can't see myself opening a "proper" synth for a while unless there's a sound I absolutely have to use.

Just wanted to put that out there as I haven't been this excited about making music for a long time. Will report back in 12 months to see if i'm sick of it.

OK....refx havent done anything for years...years...so im wondering how much they paid you to *make a statement* for the sake of publicity for a dead company....



*lie

[Zexila]

Maybe something green could help yourself to widen your musical horizon at least...

Pahahahahaha yeah, what's new, Future Trap, is it the thing or I missed that?

Seriously, it could be argued much of the innovation we see in tech was from people on drugs, including weed. So much of our history is imbued with the fruits of intoxication. Someone needs some mushroom tea and a nice hooka in their life I think

Yeah, but doing cocaine and than set on Tomorrowland is far from it.

[braj]

Lots of work gets done on cocaine. I'm not endorsing it, but that's the truth.

[Zexila]

Lots of work gets done on cocaine. I'm not endorsing it, but that's the truth.

Lot of work done by millions on toxic fumes too on their every day job.

[braj]

Lots of work gets done on cocaine. I'm not endorsing it, but that's the truth.

Lot of work done by millions on toxic fumes too on their every day job.

Work gets done despite those toxic fumes, not because of it. Anyhow, if you want to deny all the human history of using drugs for various reasons that helped achieve certain ends, go ahead. From coffee to LSD, humanity wouldn't be the same without them. Music certainly wouldn't.

[Zexila]

Work gets done despite those toxic fumes, not because of it.

Ah, we have glue sniffing virgin here.

Anyhow, if you want to deny all the human history of using drugs for various reasons that helped achieve certain ends, go ahead. From coffee to LSD, humanity wouldn't be the same without them. Music certainly wouldn't.

I'm not denying it, just saying that there's not much innovation in doing cocaine, few hookers and Tomorrowland, musical or any.

[tedannemann]

It's simple, if it works for you, awesome, but that still doesn't' change the fact that Nexus is massively tailored to particular thing and getting it for something different isn't best investment one could make.

Who was talking about getting it especially for something different?
On the other hand I am quite happy that open minded human beings weren't using a TR-303 (bass player) or a TR-808 (drummer) for what they were intended to, their tailored use as replacement in a band...
You don't have to be afraid of Nexus it won't hurt you or brainwash you into a EDM clown. Just relax...

[Zexila]

It's simple, if it works for you, awesome, but that still doesn't' change the fact that Nexus is massively tailored to particular thing and getting it for something different isn't best investment one could make.

Who was talking about getting it especially for something different?

Me and the guy that had the convo from which you took that quote.

On the other hand I am quite happy that open minded human beings weren't using a TR-303 (bass player) or a TR-808 (drummer) for what they were intended to, their tailored use as replacement in a band...
You don't have to be afraid of Nexus it won't hurt you or brainwash you into a EDM clown. Just relax...

That's it, now I'm just gonna buy Nexus complete and make Future Fap Anthems. It's mine genre, I pioneered it, back off.

[SciFiArtMan]

Well I don't even understand the popular concept that this type of sound has to be used to make this or that type of music! Sounds are just sounds, and can be used wherever one wants to use them, IMO.

Sure, some sounds scream of some popular song or usage, but even those iconic, recognized sounds can find a place in totally unrelated music (but you have to be careful!)

Very true. Both Avenger and Nexus though are designed to be EDM-friendly... I use Avenger for mainly non-dance stuff - it can absolutely be done and its a real joy to program, but left to its own devices the synth naturally guides you down certain paths. With such limited editing, this is obviously more true for Nexus than Avenger.

Yeah, I wish I'd bought Avenger, but it came out shortly after I got Nexus. And it's obvious Nexus and its soundsets are heavily geared toward EDM. I actually bought it for the guitars and orchestral sounds, initially. I knew what I was getting into, and pondered the move a great deal. But a Xmas sale came up, and off I went to the races. And I love what I get out of it, but I realize I'm facing the end of the non-EDM styled soundsets. We'll see what the future holds for the little ROMpler that could...

[tedannemann]

That's it, now I'm just gonna buy Nexus complete and make Future Fap Anthems. It's mine genre, I pioneered it, back off.

That's the spirit!

[braj]

Work gets done despite those toxic fumes, not because of it.

Ah, we have glue sniffing virgin here.

Anyhow, if you want to deny all the human history of using drugs for various reasons that helped achieve certain ends, go ahead. From coffee to LSD, humanity wouldn't be the same without them. Music certainly wouldn't.

I'm not denying it, just saying that there's not much innovation in doing cocaine, few hookers and Tomorrowland, musical or any.

https://archives.sfweekly.com/shookdown ... plete-list

[Zexila]

Work gets done despite those toxic fumes, not because of it.

Ah, we have glue sniffing virgin here.

Anyhow, if you want to deny all the human history of using drugs for various reasons that helped achieve certain ends, go ahead. From coffee to LSD, humanity wouldn't be the same without them. Music certainly wouldn't.

I'm not denying it, just saying that there's not much innovation in doing cocaine, few hookers and Tomorrowland, musical or any.

https://archives.sfweekly.com/shookdown ... plete-list

That was the times, now we have just

https://soundcloud.com/daleri/epic-mashleg

[SciFiArtMan]

i think if you bough Zebra and just used 3rd party banks you could find more diverse synth sounds for all the genres you do, here, just a few banks:...

I've had Zebra for quite some time, and I believe I have all those soundsets (especially love those Josef Hollo banks!) I love Zebra, and much prefer this type of control! But I was sold on the guitars and orchestral sounds (especially in the Hollywood bundles) in Nexus, and felt I could get so much of what I wanted through Nexus, as opposed to the several other plugins I'd need to achieve the same goals. And decided to go the Nexus path, and glad I did. Nexus actually works beautifully with Zebra, and other high-end flagship synths, IMO!

I've never been big on using ROMplers, and rarely samplers beyond mellotrons, nylon guitars, drums, and orch sounds, but I just fell in love with a score of Nexus presets, and took the plunge.

But thanks for your suggestions, Zexila!

[Zexila]

i think if you bough Zebra and just used 3rd party banks you could find more diverse synth sounds for all the genres you do, here, just a few banks:...

I've had Zebra for quite some time, and I believe I have all those soundsets (especially love those Josef Hollo banks!) I love Zebra, and much prefer this type of control! But I was sold on the guitars and orchestral sounds (especially in the Hollywood bundles) in Nexus, and felt I could get so much of what I wanted through Nexus, as opposed to the several other plugins I'd need to achieve the same goals. And decided to go the Nexus path, and glad I did. Nexus actually works beautifully with Zebra, and other high-end flagship synths, IMO!

I've never been big on using ROMplers, and rarely samplers beyond mellotrons, nylon guitars, drums, and orch sounds, but I just fell in love with a score of Nexus presets, and took the plunge.

But thanks for your suggestions, Zexila!

Yeah, that orchestral expansions are just spot on, saw your old thread about it, glad you got your penny's worth.

[Trancit]

I absolutely love Nexus for the quick access of really good presets, but... and for me this is a real showstopper:

Many many of these presets (i.e. many pad sounds) are far overprocessed regarding their stereo image and turn your mix into a bloody mess when listen to it in mono...

I know, many of you don´t care nowadays, but if I listen even to many new productions, the best sounding mixes are the ones, which are the most mono compatible ones...

And here is where Nexus really fails... because it´s mostly sample based (or entirely...don´t know) and you don´t have access to fx inside of the preset, you cannot do anything to improve the sound in regards of mono compatibility if you encounter any problems...

What are your thoughts on this topic???