KVR Audio

tristan- · Post by **tristan-** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 5:47 pm

egbert101 wrote:Only 2,999 Euros for Nexus 2 and all the expansions. Well, that's a bargain. I'm sold.

and... why do you need it with ALL the expansions? tell me, how much Kontakt would cost you with "all the expansions"?

SciFiArtMan · Post by **SciFiArtMan** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 6:17 pm

Trancit wrote: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???

You make some very good points about mono-compatibility, and bring up a shortcoming of the Nexus sample base (as well as other complex synths and ROMplers).

But, are you aware that you can turn the Spread knob down (left), and either turn off specific effects, or override them with a new front panel effect that might even be set to off? For example, say a sample has built in reverb - you can often override that reverb by selecting the front panel Reverb, and adjust it as you like, including turning it off altogether. Same with the delay/Delay.

The effectiveness of this process varies from sample to sample, but generally this works pretty well on most samples. This doesn't address mono-compatibility directly, but it can have a fairly major impact in that general direction, as the stereo effect is often boosted by reverb or delay usage, which can be reduced or removed with this process. (And can all the patch designers give ping-pong delay a rest! I get it. It's a cool effect, but not on every damned pad patch!)

Of course further monofication can be achieved through adjusting the individual sample panning. But in my mind, mono-compatibility is an issue with many softsynths/ROMplers that create complex sounds, especially as the original patch designer probably adjusted to get the coolest stereo imaging effect while creating the patch.

I believe there are some fancier (expensive) mastering plugins (like Izotope Ozone maybe) than can reduce or eliminate phasing issues with mono compatibility in mind? Just a thought!

But I agree, when the samples are created with little regard for mono-compatibility it can lead to issues in that area.

Trancit · Post by **Trancit** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 6:48 pm

I tested a lot and for me the sounds I loved the most, were mostly the ones with problems...

Of course I know about the tweaking possibilities inside of Nexus, but most of the problematic ones have their problems at sample level... i.e. many sounds from the BigTone expansions... not much you can do to rescue the sound...

Sorry BigTone... great presets but you really should have cared about this topic...

noiseboyuk · Post by **noiseboyuk** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:03 pm

Pssst.... buy a spatialiser plugin. They're really cheap.

noiseboyuk · Post by **noiseboyuk** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:16 pm

Oh hey, waddaya know, there's a spatialiser already built in, I just looked as curiosity got the better of me. You learn something new every day.

Go to Mix, then the first l1 tab, and then select st enhcr. Turn the width to -127 and ta da - mono.

Trancit · Post by **Trancit** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:44 pm

noiseboyuk wrote: Go to Mix, then the first l1 tab, and then select st enhcr. Turn the width to -127 and ta da - mono.

...and ta da - sounds completely shitty...

Phase cancelations are phase cancelations... and if it is at sample level you can take your spatializer and can go home...

noiseboyuk · Post by **noiseboyuk** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:55 pm

No please, no need to thank me.

What you can't do with the built in one is just take one leg of the stereo, but that's easy in a full spatialiser. No phase cancellations then.

Trancit · Post by **Trancit** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 8:09 pm

noiseboyuk wrote:No please, no need to thank me.

You´re welcome...

noiseboyuk wrote:What you can't do with the built in one is just take one leg of the stereo, but that's easy in a full spatialiser. No phase cancellations then.

Yeah, that´s the only solution I´ve found so far, which works for some sounds...
The problem with many other sounds and this method is, that i.e. important parts of the sound are moving constantly from left to right and when you cut off one leg, the sound looses it´s character periodically...

This is the main problem with many Nexus sounds and their stereo overprocessing I meant originally...

If you collapse this sound you´ll get into phase trouble, if you cut off one leg you loose the sounds character...
I don´t know, what I like more or better less ... I guess, I like the collapsing better... at least it only happens if you hear it in mono ...

PS: ... and perhaps I am just a bit oversensitive to this...

noiseboyuk · Post by **noiseboyuk** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 8:23 pm

I do know what you mean, and it can be a bit of a problem. In some of the expansions they have mono and stereo versions of some patches, I guess fixing any phase issues at source. I tend to find you can usually fudge it a bit with something like the Waves S1, a bit of lopsided correction.

The other thing of course is effects, I tend to have to back them way off in a mix as they just build up to a whole loada mush.

My main wish for Nexus is that they'd get on with this next version and give us a proper browser. Since it is in effect a preset machine, having a modern tag browser is pretty essential.

REFX Nexus 2 - A Confessional