reFX Nexus 4:5 - the ROMpler opens up

[noiseboyuk]

FWIW - over years I've read hair-raising cases of individuals who have received terrible support. I've also heard of people having very good experiences, and my own limited interactions have been fine. I don't think these two different experiences are really contradictory, because it will have depended totally on the individual that the customer has been dealing with.

There is a tendency for us all to equate the experiences that we personally have (or read about) with the quality of the product itself. And that's not an unreasonable link to make actually, if there's a negative or dysfunctional corporate culture, it's fair to think there might be a correlation. But based purely on the quality of the product, it's a confusing picture.

Nexus has always been marmite, a preset rompler of low CPU with only very limited editing but sound best-in-class at what it does. The jumps from 1 to 2 to 3 (2 to 3 took many many years) gave the impression that development wasn't a high priority, whereas the business model of endless XPs left users feeling jaded. That jump from 2 to 3 imo made Nexus a far better version at what it specialised in, which I thought was fair enough, and part of the bargain you enter into with it. The jump - I don't think it can really be called a jump actually - from 3 to 4 was nothing more than a point update, and then the feeling of being ripped off came dramatically to the forefront again. It raised the prospect of short-term paid updates required to even keep buying their pricey expansions. The inference on their corporate culture wasn't good at all.

And then 4.5 arrived out of the blue, and it feels like the rules changed. It's now not the closed system we all thought we were buying into. Not a full synth, but half way towards one. No further charges for those who bought into 4. Even the marketing felt different. With 4 it was the empty - and rather pathetic - rhetoric of "entering the 4th dimension". Now it's "this is the update you've been waiting for", a tacit acknowledgement that the previous update very much wasn't.

So I understand those with grievances, I feel their pain. reFX has not always been an easy company to like. But as of right now, their actions have shown that - at the very least - they've realised that having such an exploitative and hostile attitude towards their customers doesn't make good business sense, and they had better be seen to play ball.

[revvy]

Not a full synth, but half way towards one.

Just halfway?

Only had a couple of hours with it so far and to be honest I’ve not got much further than jamming with presets, especially enjoying Yoad Nevo’s guitar stuff, very usable and inspiring.

Gonna have to try the templates thing tonight

[SLiC]

OK- so I finally joined the NEXUS party!

Since it opened up with the 4.5 update, I have had a lot more interest in it...BF sale and my VAT code working meant I got it for a fair price. Expansions still seem very expensive to me but there is so much in the 'basic' NEXUS (almost 4000 pre-sets will take a while to listen to!) that this isn't a big deal for me.

So- it sounds great, pre-sets are very good (some are basically songs!) and you really can get in the engine now and starting with a pre-set make it sound significantly different, certainly enough to make it your own or fit what you are doping.

Nop regrets, but never easy buying a synth you can't demo and can't sell!

[revvy]

Can’t sell?

[noiseboyuk]

Not a full synth, but half way towards one.

Just halfway?

Only had a couple of hours with it so far and to be honest I’ve not got much further than jamming with presets, especially enjoying Yoad Nevo’s guitar stuff, very usable and inspiring.

Gonna have to try the templates thing tonight

Yes, halfway sounds about right. You can't really start from scratch and program, you can't add oscillators or (AFAIK) swap samples. But you can really unpick things and make them useable to you. Speaking of which....

[noiseboyuk]

So- it sounds great, pre-sets are very good (some are basically songs!) and you really can get in the engine now and starting with a pre-set make it sound significantly different, certainly enough to make it your own or fit what you are doping.

Exactly this. I often wondered what the point of such elaborate SQs are - instant fun gratification, but you can't use them really. Except you do now have a lot more potential to isolate and manipulate elements to a good degree.

[revvy]

Use the entire SQ.

Eat the entire confection.

[noiseboyuk]

Use the entire SQ.

Eat the entire confection.

Thing is, you can't use them commercially or in library music unless you are modifying them, it's out of scope in the EULA.

[revvy]

Use the entire SQ.

Eat the entire confection.

Thing is, you can't use them commercially or in library music unless you are modifying them, it's out of scope in the EULA.

Maybe FigBug/Manoel could please clarify for us to what extent an SQ needs to be modified before I can use it in a commercial track?

And an ARp?

I’m not talking about the sound in isolation, I mean as part of a song.

[revvy]

Not a full synth, but half way towards one.

Just halfway?

Only had a couple of hours with it so far and to be honest I’ve not got much further than jamming with presets, especially enjoying Yoad Nevo’s guitar stuff, very usable and inspiring.

Gonna have to try the templates thing tonight

Yes, halfway sounds about right. You can't really start from scratch and program, you can't add oscillators or (AFAIK) swap samples. But you can really unpick things and make them useable to you. Speaking of which....

From a quick play I don't think 50% is fair at all.

You can have 1, 2 , or 3 OSCs or WTs or 3WTs + 1 OSC. Select the OSCs and then ENVs, LFOs etc pretty much like most synths.

Samples - seems not.

Here's a 3 OSC/Layer thing:

Screenshot 2022-11-26 at 8.50.17 PM.png

[noiseboyuk]

From a quick play I don't think 50% is fair at all.

You can have 1, 2 , or 3 OSCs or WTs or 3WTs + 1 OSC. Select the OSCs and then ENVs, LFOs etc pretty much like most synths.

Samples - seems not.

And there you go. We can quibble about percentages all day, but there are significant limitations not common to most soft synths, and the UI isn’t really designed for from scratch programming. I’m perfectly fine with that btw, it’s moved from a pure ROMpler to something inviting much more control, but the UX paradigm is still based around preset starting points. That’s okay!

[SLiC]

As a new user there seems to be a lot of things (particularly within the oscillators) that don't seem to be selectable for modulation, am I missing something or is this just a current limitation of the opening up?

I guess a lot of this depends on if you're a 'glass half full' person- there is a lot that can be tweaked for a Rompler, or it's limited for a synth!

[revvy]

From a quick play I don't think 50% is fair at all.

You can have 1, 2 , or 3 OSCs or WTs or 3WTs + 1 OSC. Select the OSCs and then ENVs, LFOs etc pretty much like most synths.

Samples - seems not.

And there you go. We can quibble about percentages all day, but there are significant limitations not common to most soft synths, and the UI isn’t really designed for from scratch programming. I’m perfectly fine with that btw, it’s moved from a pure ROMpler to something inviting much more control, but the UX paradigm is still based around preset starting points. That’s okay!

Yes, it is OK!

And yes, preset starting points is clearly the main dish, you are right in that regard, of course.

I'm not quibbling, honestly. Playing with my new, pricey toy, and learning how it works.















85%.

[revvy]

@ SLiC OSC modulation is limited to this, no?

Screenshot 2022-11-26 at 10.01.46 PM.png

[FigBug]

As a new user there seems to be a lot of things (particularly within the oscillators) that don't seem to be selectable for modulation, am I missing something or is this just a current limitation of the opening up?

There are no hidden modulation parameters. If you don't see it then it's not modulatable.