School me on Nexus 5

[billinder33]

I'm specifically interested in a couple of things before spending the time demoing...

First, the sound design aspect. How does it compare to synths like Serum, Current, etc? Is it something you enjoy using? Versatility?

Second, what about the presets and organization? Are they logically ordered or do you rely mostly on a tagging system? What happens when adding sound libs are added?

Third, what are your thoughts on the sample content? I find it hard to tell based on all their demos of cliche EMD dreck. Also, I find the '10 latest releases' a strange way to bundle content. Is it worth it or should I just buy a la carte? Is there enough content in the default install to prevent GASing over adding more libs?

Finally, does this fill any gaps if you already have Omnisphere 3 and Serum 2? When would I reach for Nexus over the others?

[enCiphered]

Sound design in Nexus is… theoretical.
You don’t design sounds so much as accept what has been decided for you. Putting Nexus next to Serum or Omni is absurd. Serum hands you atoms and says build whatever you want. Nexus hands you a plastic object and says this is what music looks like. Do not modify, do not ask why.
Tagging system works fine, assuming you enjoy tags like Epic Lead, EDM Lead, Bigger EDM Lead. Adding libraries just adds more of the same designer’s sonic handwriting, stacked infinitely like cloned wallpaper.
I thinks default install is enough to make music.
It is not enough to stop GAS, because the entire ecosystem is built around “just one more expansion and then it’ll sound fresh.” (It won’t.)

If you already own Omnisphere and Serum, Nexus fills exactly one gap:
a pre-chewed aesthetic with no room for intent

You reach for Nexus when you’re on a deadline and don’t want to think. You want something that sounds finished without being interesting. Or you’ve temporarily given up on joy.
You reach for Omnisphere or Serum when you want identity, control, longevity or anything resembling originality.

Final verdict:
Nexus isn’t bad. It’s just frozen in amber, forever repeating the aesthetic of one sound designer who really, really liked his own presets.

[BBFG#]

Though I don't own Nexus, I find Omnisphere fits that last description of it.
And it's starting to feel like that other synth is just getting mentioned for the sake of mentioning it. Never thought of it was anything special.
TBFT, my personal demos with it were the first version. I'll probably check into the second version soon.
2nd edit: Downloaded and demo'd again and my original conclusion still stands. Nothing special to me.
YMMV.

[cryophonik]

Sound design in Nexus is… theoretical.

I think you're confusing the older ROMpler versions of Nexus (1-4) with the newer Nexus 5, which opened up the sound design architecture making it a very capable VA, sampler (loads user content and multi-samples), granular, FM, etc. It's a very powerful synth/sampler now, yet it still has all the old ROMpler capabilities.

As for the content, it comes with thousands of presets, but they're very much centered in various dance/electronic styles. There are a ton of expansions available for it in many genres and instruments, but they're still largely focused on dance/electronica. I own Nexus 5, Omnisphere 3, and Serum 2. I rarely use Serum tbh and the fanboyism on this forum is way too much for me, so I won't even comment except to say that Nexus 5 is a much different instrument. I think Nexus and Omnisphere probably have more in common in that they both offer a range of synth and sampling capabilities and have huge libraries. Omnisphere's factory content is less dance-oriented, but I'd suggest that you watch some Nexus 5 tutorials/reviews on YouTube to see for yourself if it offers anything you might be missing.

[Teksonik]

Sound design in Nexus is… theoretical.
You don’t design sounds so much as accept what has been decided for you.

You really should do at least a little research before spouting such uninformed nonsense.

Nexus 5 is one of the most capable synths I own and it's a joy to patch. When I sit down with it I don't ever feel limited in sound design in any way. Nearly unlimited Oscs and layers capable of sounds from classic analog to ambient space music and almost anything in between. It's a sound designer's playground.

To the OP, sadly there is no demo version for Nexus 5 so you just have to put the time in watching videos and not just the "official" ones but those made by end users on Facebook etc.

Asking us here can lead to some serious misinformation (as shown above). I love Nexus 5 but that doesn't mean you will....you just have to put the effort in to find out if it will work for your needs.

[revvy]

Nm

[billinder33]

Asking us here can lead to some serious misinformation (as shown above). I love Nexus 5 but that doesn't mean you will....you just have to put the effort in to find out if it will work for your needs.

I specified v5 in the title, so figured this guy was referring to the older versions. I'll hit up a few YouTube vids as well. No demo makes the input here even more valuable.

[nusound mind]

What use for it do you have in mind? If sound design, you're unlikely to make the most unique, cerebral & abstract, never before heard on planet earth blip-squiggle-bloops, but to me I like it b/c;

a) it sounds really good. b) the ratio of good sound to cpu hit is among the best, and c) it uses a lot of samples which for me is a plus to add layers of depth, realism, heft and so forth. And d) you can get a good sound going with relative ease and efficiency.

I don't like the limited control over samples, no way to change start points and so forth.

I'm guessing you could find yt tutorials to alleviate your question re: operation and sound design.

[dune_rave]

What about Avenger vs Nexus?
These both offer top notch edm sounds.

[wagtunes]

The old Nexus is a rompler, which is why I never bought it and never cared. The new Nexus is a totally different beast which is why today I finally bit the bullet and purchased it.

Need something quick? There is tons here. You should have no trouble finding something that will fit your project. I already have an idea for my next song from just one patch.

Want to really dive in and make Nexus more personal? You can do that too if you want to spend the time, as with any other synth. It won't just magically happen. You will have to learn the architecture.

Nexus is finally the synth I always wished it would be but never was.

Today I am a happy owner. And I have been programming synths for 50 years. Nexus does not disappoint.

Like Tek said, these people really should do some research before spouting such nonsense. It just makes them look stupid.

[billinder33]

What use for it do you have in mind? If sound design, you're unlikely to make the most unique, cerebral & abstract, never before heard on planet earth blip-squiggle-bloops, but to me I like it b/c;

My 5 main synths are Serum, Phaseplant, Omnisphere 3, Diva and Kontakt. When I use Serum and Phaseplant, even if my intent is to stay inside a more traditional box, I always end up losing control and adding a bunch of crazy filters and formants and OTTs wavetable effects and end up in "blip-squiggle-bloop" land. So I bought Diva to force myself to stay inside the box of pre-dubstep synthesis when needed, and while admittedly it sounds great, I find the UI to be tedious AF and somewhat unpredictable when I'm trying to get a specific modulation or tailor a specific tonality.

I started using Omnisphere as a substitute for Diva (and Kontakt in some cases), and while the tweakability may not be as deep as something more modern, it's good enough. And because of the way it's laid out, I rarely want to go much deeper than the global 'smart settings' on a given patch. But my main issue with it in that the patches are all over the map, even when filtering by tags. When you ask for a pad or pluck or whatever, there's such a wild variation in the presets it returns. So for me it's more like a rompler for creative exploration, vs. one for honing in on a specific sound.

And then Kontakt is just a different animal altogether and I mostly use it for things like Damage, orchestral libs, the various libs of organic instruments with prebuilt phrases, etc. And while Analog Dreams sounds nice, some of it doesn't sit well in a mix and it's a royal pain to configure inside the app as well.

So I watched a video a while back where someone was using Nexus 5 to explore variations of a pluck sound without totally wrecking the core of the sound. He was bringing similar samples in and out of the patch and getting good underlying tonal variations, without anything else changing, and I thought that was an interesting approach (I could probably do a similar approach in Omnishpere, but I'm not that impressed by the 'Mutations'). The new backend configurator in Nexus 5 looks like the kind of interface that I would actually enjoy using for tweaks.

My main concerns with Nexus (aside from the price), 1) ease of use in the configurator. It looks easy enough based on what I've seen but interested to hear other's experiences with it 2) How I should assess the available content given the dozens of preset packs available? I don't understand why the bundle is 'last 10 releases' and not just 'pick what you want'. 3) A lot of presets walkthroughs I saw on Youtube were multi-layer with drums, which IMO is a stupid waste of a preset in the age of DAWs with limitless tracks. Who would actually use these other than people writing utter cliched slop?

So the use case for Nexus would be rompling though standard Moog/Juno/Prophet style saw/pluck/pad/lead presets, finding something close to what I have in my head, and using the backend to make relatively minor adjustments. Basically replacing Diva, of which I just can't stand the UI/UE (heresy I know!), without needing to buy a whole slew of VA emulations with skeuomorphic UIs.

Open to any opinions or other viable options.

[joshuaveldman]

Any reason not to use the Plugmon Mona skin for Diva. Changed the game for me using Diva. Now I actually enjoy creating patches

[m-ac]

Nexus cant come close to the other synths you mention for sound design. First thing that comes to mind, you can't edit the start point of a sample, at least with refx content. This alone is a huge blocker for me.

[BBFG#]

For sound, Tone 2 blends the easiest with Omni IMO. Rob Papen Blue is good towards that too. Unfortunately, they're skewmorphic and may not fit your UI tastes. Nexus appears to be a money suck to me and I probably will never considered it for that reason. Not with so many other (and better) options available.

[twal]

For sound, Tone 2 blends the easiest with Omni IMO. Rob Papen Blue is good towards that too. Unfortunately, they're skewmorphic and may not fit your UI tastes. Nexus appears to be a money suck to me and I probably will never considered it for that reason. Not with so many other (and better) options available.

What other options besides Omni do you believe? Nexus was a revolutionary product and now is a fully programmable synth. Omni is same. Halion, Falcon great synths obviously but not serious romplers in my opinion. I'm presuming you mean great synth/exceptional rompler or perhaps something else. For one man show, nothing really beats Omni in this department but if we are talling rompler/synths with loads of contact and great programmability I don't believe there is anything above Nexus 5 except Omni; or perhaps I'm not thinking correctly at the moment. But what do you mean by better options?