2.reFX Nexus 2.0

 

NEXUS2 is a next generation ROM synthesizer that delivers a level of sonic quality unsurpassed by even the highest end hardware.
Euphoric leads, glowing keys, otherworldly pads . . . NEXUS2 does it all.

NEXUS2 is the kind of instrument that you go to when you don't want to spend time programming – it's a ROMpler rammed full of inspirational, pro-quality sounds.

Updates to the original Nexus brought many improvements, such as a new distortion effect, a polyphonic/chord arpeggiator mode with strum option, an internal limiter, and lock modes, so that sections retained settings when switching presets.

reFX claims that version 2 packs in more than 70 brand new features and refinements.

 

Features

 

The Arpeggiator

You know it, and so do we: Dance music would not exist without those magical arpeggios that bounce around in your head weeks after you heard “that track” at the club. So we didn’t skimp on NEXUS 2’s redesigned Arpeggiator. A 32-step sequencer, note and octave transposition, and adjustable loop start position are just a few of the controls you’ll want to go deep with as you build up your tracks. Apply some of the dedicated Arpeggiator presets to NEXUS 2 sounds to create a raging, punishing barrage of sound, or an uplifting, magnetic melody. If you hear it in your head, NEXUS 2’s Arpeggiator can do it.

The TranceGate

Add hypnotic, goosebump-inducing rhythmic effects to your sound with NEXUS 2’s redesigned TranceGate. Work with the intuitive, freely adjustable 32-step sequencer to nail the exact rhythm you hear in your head. Use the tempo-synced delay and fade-in controls to add spaced-out delays and subtle, gradual floods of sound. Change the loop start position, and pan gated sounds between right and left channels to create an enveloping stereo image. Or turn to the store of dedicated TranceGate presets, which allow you to convert any NEXUS 2 sound into a pulsating wave of sonic bliss.

The Mixer/FX

As with all other parts of NEXUS 2, we’ve made the fusion of power and simplicity the basis of the Mixer/FX section. You want an intuitive, flexible, and above all, premium-grade set of tools when it’s time to add finishing touches to your NEXUS 2 sounds. Dedicated FX presets help you add gloss and sheen in just the right places. A reverb and analog phaser from Arts Acoustic, a stereo enhancer, and two FX slots are just three ways we’ve sweetened the deal in the NEXUS 2’s Mixer/FX section.

The Modulation

NEXUS 2 provides nearly endless modulation possibilities; whether you want to use “traditional” LFO pitch modulation or go completely out there and tweak phaser feedback, for example. Let your imagination run wild: Just choose your source and your destination and let NEXUS 2 make it happen.

 

 

The sounds

The Library tab enables you to browse the 762 factory presets via the faux-LCD screen. These are split into 16 subcategories, including Arpeggios, Dance Leads, Piano, Fantasy and Dream, Epic Pads, Gated Pads, Classical and more.

This amounts to 4GB of content created by Manuel Schleis, the golden-eared sound-wizard behind the acclaimed Vengeance series of dance sample discs. The manual says that "prohibitively expensive analogue hardware devices" have been sampled, and the kinds of synth patches that are tricky to recreate in software are much in evidence, such as Roland JP-8080 and Access Virus leads and pads.

'Real' instrument sounds feature less heavily, and are of the slick, 'workstation' variety.

Nexus2 remains a dance-music-focused product, and this is affirmed by the inclusion of an all-new expansion: Dance Vol. 2. This is in addition to the factory bank outlined above and adds 128 bang-up-to-date dance patches that are especially suited to trance, electro house and hard dance styles.

There are many downloadable expansions available to buy at the reFX site, covering a variety of genres and priced at €70 each. The latest two are Dance Vol. 3 and the C64-themed SID pack.

If you really feel like flashing the cash, you can buy new GUI skins, too. That said, Nexus2 now comes with, ahem, four skins as standard.

Tweaking potential

You can't create sounds from scratch using Nexus2, or import samples into it, but there are sound-shaping options aplenty. The front panel knobs and buttons are unchanged since v1, yet the LCD panel offers some neat new tricks.

The Mod screen offers control over vibrato, portamento and pitchbend (now with a +/-48 semitone range), but the main point of interest is the spruced-up modulation matrix. This now has over 100 destinations, and all effects (except ensemble) have at least one modulatable parameter.

Mod sources include the mod wheel, aftertouch, pitchbend, CC and host automation, and twin user LFOs. When we used the first version of Nexus we grumbled about the lack of those user LFOs (they eventually debuted in v1.2), so this time we're going to suggest that since the mod matrix is more powerful, there should be user ADSRs too.

Nexus2's arpeggiator and Trancegate each have their own page and are among the best we've seen. As well as the usual arpeggiator modes for up, down, order, and so on, Nexus2's has a mini-sequencer in which you can set the octave and – new for v2 – semitone transposition per step.

Sequences can be up to 32 steps long, and you can set the note length and velocity for each. The display zooms in and out as you adjust the length, so that the sequence always occupies its full width. Markers above the sequencer area show quarter-note beats and the current play position, and there's a movable loop-point marker.

Fans of funk will enjoy the new Shuffle option, although we'd like eighth-note swing, too. Strangely, the random mode didn't work – it gave the same results as the ordered one.

Whereas the arpeggiator triggers notes within the synth, the trancegate is an effect – it modulates the volume level, and can create choppy, gated trance pads. The length is now freely adjustable and new Delay and Fadein controls can introduce the gate effect gradually when a new note is played (we'd like this on the vibrato too). The marker and shuffle functionality of the arpeggiator are replicated here as well.

There are lots of preset patterns for the arp and trancegate, and you can also set odd pattern lengths for each to create shifting, prog-tastic polyrhythms.

 

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