Nexus

Review Nexus 2 version 2.0.1

User Interface:

Im going to say right from the off that Refx Nexus has revolutionised the way i work with music.The user interface is very pleasing to the eye due to the various skins that can be purchased,although when you purchase Nexus 2 you get 4 free skins and the Dance Volume 2 expansion which is great.Navigation within Nexus 2 is made easy with a single mouse click to access the various features within.There is nothing to confuse the user as within a couple of hours of using Nexus 2 you'll soon be very familiar with the instrument.

Sound:

The sound of Nexus 2 is non other than brilliant,the quality rivals many top hardware synths without a shadow of a doubt and possibly sounds better than most.
Added in version 2 are the excellent e.q facility which are:

new EQ types: lowpass, highpass, bandpass, bandpass2, notch, peak, lowShelf, highShelf,Q factor for each band
free frequency (20-18000hz) for each band
separate gain (-/+24db) for each band
on/off switch for each band

these features alone make Nexus 2 a winner.

Features:

Nexus 2 comes with a ton of new features and i in particular love the way i can mute different layers within any given multi-sample preset,you can transpose and detune any given oscillator which then brings endless possibilitie's to new sounds being created.You can also create an empty bank and save and rename those edited presets to your own banks.The arpeggiator is totally user programmable and there is a great arpeggio library included.my favourite feature is the shuffle feature within the arp page as i regurarly use the 66% shuffle option which adds great value to the way i work.
Nexus 2 now has 2 MultiFx and the new Phaser has 16 stages and sounds truly amazing..i could go on but you have to try Nexus 2 to really find out what it can do.

Documentation:

Documentation is well explained.(Enough said)

Presets:

I myself own about 10 of the available 20 expansions and plan to purchase the Dance Volume 3 expansion in the week however again all expansions are of the best quality and developed by the best sound designers around and all credit is due to Refx for the sheer quality of sounds provided.
Everything is there from Electro to trance and from the down right gritty industrial to the chilled out spacey stratosphere expansion.There is something for everyone here and scope to then edit and re arrange those sounds into something totally different.

Customer Support:

The Refx customer support is one of the great things about owning Nexus as they are on hand every day on the forums answering user problems and you can also submit tickets for any other support.
I like the fact that the people who designed not only Nexus but even the sound designers are there to offer advice so for that reason support is 10/10

Value For Money:

For what you get with Nexus version 2 i think the price is second to none and when you buy various expansions whether it be 1 or more you instantly get a 15% discount when you go to checkout so for me this is really good value for money

Stability:

There are only 2 occassions where Nexus 2 has crashed for me using 2 presets,however this is expected in a new product and as always will be rectified with later updates and does not cause much for concern.I cannot deduct a point for this reason as it is very new and the problem only lie's with the muting and unmuting of a certain preset.Other than that i can run easily 10 instances of Nexus on my machine not that i need that many.All in all the stability for me makes Nexus 2 a winner.

Overall:

If you don't own Nexus 2 then Get it! It's already improved my workflow to no end and is probably my favourite piece of gear now that it's at version 2 and the fact that Nexus now uses a copy protection dongle which holds your licence makes it more attractive and it's also a very welcome addition to an already great piece of kit.I for one would recommend Refx Nexus 2 to anyone making electronic music as from the start it oozes creativity with fantastic results and i hope this review has been helpful
cheer Rob Lee