Nexus2 Manual (english) - PDF-S!
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1. a A A A legato and the speed parameter to 1 16 Now play some keys on your midi keyboard sequencer Sounds fat doesn t it All that s left to do now is to draw some notes into your sequencer like in the example Add your favorite kick drum on each beat and you ll be rocking in your chair That s all there is to it This trick works for any sound you apply these settings to of course bass sounds work best Try this technique out on any of the NEXUS presets Who knows you might even come up with something better 52 NEXUS User Manual TIPS amp TRICKS tutorial 2 the NEXUS hoover Here we ll try and emulate the famous Hoover sound using NEXUS2 First off we ll start with the arpeggiator been here F motte before right Create a new arpeggio pattern like in ee utes the picture and save it with a name of Hoover epa Now load up the preset German Trumpet 1 from within the Dance Leads category and apply your newly created arpeggio pattern to it by double click ing on the Hoover preset in the arp section Next we need to look at the portamento settings in the mod section Here you should set the status to Igt legato and the speed to 1 4 You re probably playing some notes by now and can hear that we re almost done All that s left to do now is to increase the amp modifier s attack atk parameter a little A setting of around 34 gives the sound an authentic Ro2. chr fla pha ens deg dst aph sth The same effects as the master effect see previous page but used as individual layer effects tg The Trance Gate is active for this layer dly Layer delay As soon as the master delay is activated all layer delay settings of a preset are automatically deactivated Only one delay can be active at a time either layer or master delay for obvious reasons oscillator matrix He you can adjust the volume panning transpose and detune parameter for each of the four available a oscillators You can also toggle the oscillators on off MEM I a EB Em by clicking on their respective numbers i N 0000 When there are two volume sliders for one oscillator see the third slot in this example then that oscillator uses a slave oscillator to play the same sound but pitched one octave higher than the master The volume of that slave oscillator can be adjusted with that second slider 38 NEXUS User Manual MIX output eq Here you ll find a fully fledged freely adjust able four band parametric equalizer freq Frequency the eq band affects gain Cut negative values or boost positive values for each band type One of eight selectable eq band types Every type allows the signal to be shaped a differ ent way q Defines the steepness of each band fx librarian In the top right hand corner of this page you can toggle between the mix view the output eq view and
3. knobs work proportionally the minimum and maximum posi tions will always set minimum or maximum values for all four layers irrespective of the original values eg sus rel on res Pressing this button switches the entire filter This knob modifies the resonance parameters modifier section on or off When switched for all four layers simultaneously off the original sound is not affected This switch can therefore be quite handy for A B atk dec sus rel comparison while adjusting the filter modi These four knobs modify the corresponding fier knobs filter envelope parameters of all four layers simultaneously Again you should remember env that values are added or subtracted as per This knob determines the strength of the filter centages of the original values envelope modulation The envelope amount set here is added to all filters in all layers cutoff This knob modifies the cutoff frequencies of all four layers simultaneously 20 NEXUS User Manual AMP MODIFIER The amp modifier knobs behave in exactly the same way as the kim e a g ui knobs work on pan 1 Ji AE spike spread A A Qu A atk dec A ud y 1 od sus rel on Pressing this button switches the entire amp modifier section on or off When switched off the original amplitude settings are not affected This switch can therefore be quite handy for A B comparison while adjusting the amp modifier knobs pan This knob modifies t
4. AR After Midnight 1 AR After Midnight 2 AR Baroque Renaissance The rating system lets you rate individual presets while using NEXUS2 Your ratings are stored and can be used later as a search criterion For example You can display all presets that you ve rated with five stars By default all presets are unrated and thus have zero stars Directly to the left of the YA a a info section are two small arrows pointing left right These are used to select the next or previous presets in the currently selected category and are useful for mouse only operation of NEXUS These arrows also allow speedy preset navigation in hosts that don t support the forwarding of key presses to VST instruments NEXUS User Manual 25 LIBRARIAN Right clicking on a category will open a context menu in which you can from top to bottom e a delete rename or create a new category iss 2 You can also create a new favorites folder into assic delete el which you can create links to your favorite pre ance nenne i NC rename sets To do this simply right click on the desired in preset and then select add to favorites fromthe ated new new favorites context menu It s possible to have up to eight favorites folders for example to sort different nt types of your favorite sounds new search The option new search creates a new vir tual folder and the search function looks for all sound
5. Amplitude Decay sustain Amplitude Sustain release Amplitude Release other rndPch Random Pitch pitch Pitch of all voices Ifo1Spd Speed of LFO1 Ifo2Spd Speed of LFO2 oscillators oscVol Oscillator Volume oscPan Oscillator Panning oscUp Sub Oscillator Volume arpeggiator arpgate Arpeggiator Gate arpShf Arpeggiator Shuffle trance gate tgMix Trance Gate Mix tgCont Trance Gate Contour tgWidth Trance Gate Width tgShf Trance Gate Shuffle master filter mstCut Master Cutoff mstRes Master Resonance delay dlyMix Delay Mix dlyMod Delay Modulation diyFbk Delay Feedback dlyLo Delay Lo Cut dlyHi Delay Hi Cut NEXUS User Manual 29 MOD MATRIX reverb revMix Reverb Mix revMod Reverb Modulation revDec Reverb Decay revLo Reverb Lo Cut revHi Reverb Hi Cut master effects fxDry Effects Dry Level fxWet Effects Wet Level chSpd Chorus speed flSpd Flanger speed flDpt Flanger depth fIFbk Flanger feedback phSpd Phaser speed degRt Degrader rate degBit Degrader bits degDst Degrader distortion disFrq Distortion frequency disDrv Distortion drive disGn Distortion gain apFlt Analog phaser pre filter apLow Analog phaser lower apFbk Analog phaser feedback stWdt stereo enhancer width stGn stereo enhancer gain rmDpt ringmod depth r
6. midi library mod freeze This button freezes the current waveform display in effect taking a snapshot of the current frequencies being output by NEXUS2 clear Lets you delete the current display and start from scratch filled Changes the waveform appearance Switches between solid and line display 36 NEXUS User Manual scope FFT This button switches the display mode between waveform Scope and Fast Fourier Transform i e frequency analysis L R This button switches the display mode to show both channels L R Left only L or Right only R zoom x zoom y Use these sliders to change the horizontal and vertical zoom factors of the display Zoom X controls the vertical zoom and Zoom Y controls the horizontal zoom Only Zoom Y vertical is available in FFT mode a MIX midi freq mix live sys The left column of this page is used for controlling the two master effects You can toggle be tween the two effect slots by clicking on their title The two arrow symbol swaps the two effect slots with each other The type option lets you select one of eight different effect types chorus Generally thickens and widens the sound by adding time modulated very short delays to the original signal flanger A very popular effect similar to chorus except that a portion of the delayed signal is mixed back into its own input feedback causing complex resonance phaser The class
7. 7 User Manual Copyright 2006 2009 by reFX Audio Software Inc All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form including photocopying or recording without the written permission of the copy right holder application for which should be made to the publisher at the above address Such written permission must also be obtained before any part of this publication is stored in an information retrieval system of any kind The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not repre sent a commitment on the part of reFX Audio Software Inc The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to any other media unless specifically allowed in the License Agreement INTRODUCTION 4 INTRODUCTION elcome and thank your for purchasing NEXUS2 You are now the owner of a high quality product that includes a professional and comprehensive sound library and an easy to use but powerful patch management system The demands placed on your computer s CPU are surprisingly low NEXUS is a sample ROM based synthesizer often called a rompler This means that NEXUS accesses sampled waveforms from your hard disk to generate its sounds Apart from the low demands on your CPU mentioned above this method also has other benefits It allowed us to sample several prohibitively expensive analog hardware devices and make
8. Nuendo support this feature BASIC FUNCTIONS overwrite warnings This option allows you to deactivate the warnings usually seen when attempting to overwrite data The default setting for this option is on delete warnings This option deactivates warnings when attempting to delete categories presets or patterns The default setting for this option is on page speed Allows you to change the speed with which the mouse wheel scrolls through lists Please note that not all hosts have mouse wheel support for their plug in windows We re working with these vendors to add this functionality in future releases of their host software NEXUS User Manual 17 CENTRAL DISPLAY ibrary mod Fantasy And Dream Gated Pads Piano Plucked Single Layer Leads Single Layer Pads um midi Y AR After Midnight 1 AR After Midnight 2 AR Baroque Renaissance The NEXUS display has several distinct functions These are selected using the eight buttons you ll find to either side of the display library Click on this button to show the preset brows er This is used for loading saving renaming deleting and managing your presets mod Click on this button to access the modulation matrix LFOs and their associated param eters arp Click on this button to access the freely edit able arpeggiator tg Click on this button to access the NEXUS Trance Gate 18 NEXUS User Manual freq Click on th
9. FLT Resonance 71 Master Filter Resonance 72 AMP Release 73 AMP Attack 74 Master Filter Cutoff 75 AMP Decay 91 Reverb Mix 94 Delay Mix 120 All Sound Off 123 All Notes Off NEXUS User Manual 57 APPENDICES appendix C category prefixes This is a list of prefixes used by us to categorize the factory content and expansions Prefix Category AR Arpeggio AT Atmosphere BA Bass BR Brass CL Classical Instrument DL Drumloop DR Drum FX FX Sound GT Guitar LD Lead OR Organ PD Pads PL Plucked PN Piano SQ Sequence ST Strings SY Synth TG Trancegate vo Vocal Choir ww Woodwinds 58 NEXUS User Manual
10. Hardstyle House Vol 1 Minimal House Minimal House 2 NuElectro Perpetual Motion Peter Siedlaczek s Total Piano Pop Psytrance Rauschwerk SID Store n Forward Stratosphere Vocoder to be released soon Crank 2 Vintage Drums NEXUS User Manual 45 EXPANSIONS amp SKINS skins NEXUS allows you to change the overall appearance of the plug in the GUI You can even change the current skin while NEXUS is open it doesn t need to be reloaded Each loaded NEXUS instance within a song remembers which skin it used so you can use different skins for different tracks e g Cobalt for Bass Black for Drums etc and it will all be saved and restored with your song NEXUS already includes four different skins White Black good Black evil and Cobalt and there are three additional skins packs available on reFX com each containing three new skins available skin packs oy Y y color Ds Bill Killed stark yellow 129 Sees lA Killer Tomato dark red White Lime strong lime precious metal Gold Silver Bronze Black good themed C64 just like the brown box T Bee silver with red display Vengeance grayish purple Alo ack evi Cobalt 46 NEXUS User Manual TIPS amp TRICKS TIPS amp TRICKS ere you will find some tips amp tricks that help you get the most of your NEXUS exper
11. In sync mode the speed can be set to stan dard note length including triplets and dot ted notes shape Here you can set the shape of the LFO sine sine waveform tri triangle waveform saw sawtooth falling waveform ramp a ramp rising waveform sqr square waveform chaos a new random value is generated every cycle granular This value makes the LFO waveform less precise more granular or coarse It limits the resolution of the internal calculations to create more digital versions of the shapes e g instead of a smooth ramp you will hear bigger steps less often NEXUS User Manual 31 ARPEGGIATOR o ON mode Selects how the arpeggiator plays back any notes you play on your keyboard up lowest to highest note down highest to lowest note alter lowest to highest and back order same order as keys played random random key held down poly all notes are played simultaneously with the ryhtm pattern of the arpeggiator octaves Determines the range of the arpeggio i e arpeggios can be transposed in octaves after each iteration 32 NEXUS User Manual midi treq mix live sys speed Arpeggio rate Available values are standard note lengths synchronized to your host ap plication triplets or dotted notes gate This value determines how long notes are held by the arpeggiator For legato portamento within an arpeggio you must set the gate
12. Marco Scherer a Dance Drums by Manuel Schieis lve 7 Dance Orchestra pe y by Manuel Schieis ys Dance vol 1 The following settings only affect the currently active instance of NEXUS within the current proj ect They re not stored per preset but are instead saved inside the project file of your host applica tion when saved mst tuning Fine tunes NEXUS globally in steps of 1Hz Standard tuning for the root key A is 440Hz transpose This slider lets you transpose the incoming midi data of NEXUS up or down in octave steps Especially owners of smaller MIDI key boards without transpose buttons will wel come this feature which effectively increases the range of their keyboard vel curve Velocity Curve determines how NEXUS in terprets velocity data when playing notes on your keyboard Adjustable from 10 very soft to 10 very hard voices This slider lets you limit the maximum number of voices that NEXUS can play back simultaneously Especially older and slower computers can benefit from a lower value By default the slider is set to 32 voices and can be increased up to 128 voices Please remember though that the more voices that sound and play simultaneously the more strain this puts on your CPU The default of 32 voices should be adequate for most users NEXUS User Manual 41 SYSTEM arpvelsrc Arpeggiator velocity source Establishes whether the first note or the most recently played note de
13. like to add a second NEXUS sound or more simply load another instance of NEXUS in your host and select another preset NEXUS is delivered with over 800 factory presets from all musical genres We recom mend that you audition them first to gain an impression of the power and versatility that NEXUS has to offer expansions Your NEXUS sound library can be expanded with additional presets and their referenced samples Each expansion holds a minimum of 128 new presets To learn how to import these expansions into NEXUS please read the section importing data on page 44 14 NEXUS User Manual special features NEXUS parameters can be automated via MIDI continuous controller data You ll find a list of the supported continuous controllers and their assignments in appendix A at the end of this document NEXUS is also able to interpret automation data sent from your sequencer For further information about instrument automation please refer to the manual that came with your host application NEXUS REFERENCE BASIC FUNCTIONS hen NEXUS is started for the very first time it will appear with its white skin see gui skin on page 42 The central dot matrix area displays the NEXUS preset browser library by default im 3 o j a neXus pI i midi vi O 4 O fa a mi 3 Ty AR After Micnight 1 sa a Y Cie Ae el estos i ws et AR Broken Saw x cutoff res 5 spre
14. these quality sounds available to you the NEXUS user Furthermore the complex sound architecture in NEXUS gives you extensive control over the most important parameters to customize the sounds to suit your personal tastes The internal architecture lets you generate highly complex soundscapes stacked sequences and or extreme modulations all with a depth and clarity you ve never heard before Dive into the world of NEXUS and experience a totally new dimension of sound Specifications and features Over 4 gigabyte library of high quality multisamples Eight alias free classic waveforms Over 890 factory presets covering all popular genres Four different filter types with flexible envelopes Two freely editable master effects Freely programmable 32 step arpeggiator with note transpose Freely programmable 32 step stereo trance gate Flexible delay with adjustable modulation Production quality reverb licensed from ArtsAcoustic Can be upgraded via separately available expansions 27 already available NEXUS User Manual INSTALLATION INSTALLING NEXUS2 ON A WINDOWS PC To install NEXUS on your Windows PC please follow these simple steps 1 Insert the NEXUS2 DVD into your DVD drive 2 Double click the file NEXUS Setup exe from within the Windows Setup folder on the DVD and follow the on screen instructions 3 Continue with DOWNLOADING THE LICENSE on page 8 MINIM
15. DING THE LICENSE NEXUS requires a valid license to be present on the USB eLicenser in order to run You have to download this license from the internet using the activation code you received via email when you ordered NEXUS2 To download your license to a connected USB eLicenser please follow these simple steps Download the License Control Center from http www elicenser net Install the License Control Center In the Wizards menu choose the option License Download Follow the on screen instructions That s it The license has been stored on your USB eLicenser and the activation code has become invalid Please note that you do NOT need to download the license on the same computer you plan to use NEXUS on You can use ANY Windows or Mac compatible computer to download the license Incase your music computer isn t connect to the internet simply use another one to download the license to the USB eLicenser The computer that downloads the license needs the License Control Center installed You can download the latest version of the License Control Center from http www elicsense net 8 NEXUS User Manual MANUAL INSTALLATION OF THE CONTENT To install the NEXUS content manually please follow these simple steps Insert the NEXUS2 DVD into your DVD drive Copy the folder Nexus Content from the DVD to any location on one of your hard drives but make sure that the har
16. NTO status These four buttons select the type of porta mento gliding pitch between notes as well as determining whether the sound will be polyphonic or monophonic off Polyphonic no portamento ply Polyphonic with portamento trg Monophonic re triggered envelopes Igt Monophonic legato envelopes legato portamento i e portamento is only ap plied between overlapping notes speed Determines the portamento rate The avail able values are standard note lengths syn chronized to your host application triplets or dotted notes 28 NEXUS User Manual MOD MATRIX The right half of the MOD screen is used for the mod matrix and editing the two LFOs In the mod matrix click on the left row of fields to select from a list of modulation sources and on the right row to select targets The slider in between adjusts modulation depth which is bipolar i e values can be either positive or negative Available modulation sources are Modwheel MW MW Aftertouch AT AT Pitch Bend PB Midi CC control change host automation an alternative to Midi CC and the two LFOs Available modulation destinations are filter modifier fltEnv Filter Envelope fltCut Filter Cutoff fltRes Filter Resonance fltSat Filter Saturation output volume Output Volume amp modifier pan Panning spread Amplitude Spread spike Amplitude Spike attack Amplitude Attack decay
17. UM PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Pentium lll 800MHz or better or AMD equivalent Minimum of 512Mb RAM 1Gb recommended Hard drive space required 4Gb Operation system Windows XP Vista Graphics minimum resolution 16 bit 800x600 Host Any application supporting the VSTi standard e g Cubase FL Studio Sonar etc or Pro Tools 7 3 or better 6 NEXUS User Manual INSTALLING NEXUS2 ON A MAC To install NEXUS on your Mac please follow these simple steps Insert the NEXUS2 DVD into your DVD drive Double click the file NEXUS2 Setup dmg from within the OSX Setup folder on the DVD and follow the on screen instructions Copy the folder Nexus Content from the DVD to any location on one of your hard drives but make sure that the hard drive has enough space to fit the entire factory content 4 Gb and please also make sure there is enough space left for expansions you might want to import in the future Continue with DOWNLOADING THE LICENSE on page 8 MINIMAL MAC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Mac G4 800MHz or better Mac Intel 1 4 GHz or better Minimum of 512Mb RAM 1Gb recommended Hard drive space required 4Gb Operating system OSX 10 4 10 5 Graphics minimum resolution 16 bit 800x600 Host Any application with VSTi support e g Cubase Nuendo Live AU AudioUnit support e g Logic Garageband Live or RTAS support Pro Tools 7 x amp DP 5 x NEXUS User Manual 7 DOWNLOA
18. ad ia N Lu Nad Nat Nad atk dec dec i A 1 yy rel rel Master Filter 7778 cmmwr7 eo ve G OR O O Y o OD I ui at Ss on cutoff res on type pngpg mix on type mix mod 33 2e es 47 gt iS E rE da Fi r A Liss Lis we we SA 5d GO Wd GH 0 se Gg type ntch slope time t back lo cut pre dly dec lo cut hi cut vol The individual sections are from top left to bottom right filter modifier Provides simultaneous control over basic filter parameters for all four layers central display Various functions see Central Display on page 18 amp modifier Provides simultaneous control over volume and pan parameters for all four layers 16 NEXUS User Manual master filter An extra filter applied to NEXUS2 s main output delay Master delay settings Please refer to page 23 for more information reverb Master reverb settings Please refer to page 24 for more information output Volume control and metering for NEXUS main output the Vengeance reFX logos If you click on these logos the NEXUS rear panel will appear giving you access to sev eral global settings and functions export with ultra quality overwrite warnings delete warnings export with ultra quality If this option is selected NEXUS will always use the best possible audio quality while ex porting The default setting for this option is off Currently only the Steinberg hosts such as Cubase amp
19. d drive has enough space to fit the entire factory content 4 Gb and please also make sure there is enough space left for expansions you might want to import in the future NEXUS User Manual 9 10 NEXUS User Manual QUICK START QUICK START ithin this section we will describe step by step how to load NEXUS into your host application and how to open it within a Cubase or Logic project If you use neither Cubase nor Logic or if you have other host related questions please consult the manual that came with your specific host application Please make sure that NEXUS has been installed correctly before starting your host application see previous chapter using NEXUS in Steinberg Cubase or Nuendo Cubase and Nuendo have so called nstrument Slots Open your VST instrument rack in Cubase the default shortcut for this is F11 Click on an empty slot and a list of all your VST instruments should appear Select NEXUS from this list An instance of NEXUS will be loaded and its name will appear in the selected instrument slot ns Now create a MIDI track and route this track s MIDI output to the instance of NEXUS you loaded earlier If your system has been configured correctly you should now be able to hear a sound when playing a key on your MIDI keyboard the patch Saw Init is loaded by default 0 00 To select a different preset open NEXUS click on the e All MIDI Inputs button wit
20. d into the currently selected category Remember if you d like to save an edited preset into a different category the destination category must be selected first 26 NEXUS User Manual ibrary mod f vib speed vib depth vib source The MIDI source used to control vibrato depth modulation wheel aftertouch or both vib speed This slider adjusts the vibrato speed i e the rate of an LFO dedicated to pitch modula tion vib depth Maximum vibrato depth Data from the vibrato source see vib source above is modulated with this amount pb range The amount in semitones that pitch is increased when the pitchbender is at its maximum position MODULATION pb range The amount in semitones that pitch is low ered when the pitchbender is at its minimum position vel volume This parameter is biploar and can therefore be set to both positive and negative values default is 0 When set to a positive value notes played with a high velocity have a high volume and notes played with a low velocity have a lower volume When set to a negative value this operation is reversed high veloc ity notes are lower in volume and low velocity notes are higher in volume The volume of notes in relation their velocity depends upon the value set here Most presets have velocity information embedded into them so changing this value in these presets simply accentuates any velocity differences NEXUS User Manual 27 PORTAME
21. d you ll find that the knob actually jumps to a pre defined value the same for each preset This is useful if you d like to apply a quick nice sounding delay reverb to a sound that doesn t already have one 48 NEXUS User Manual TIPS amp TRICKS using locks to keep certain settings Have you wondered what these small padlock symbols in most sections mean Once you ve locked an area it will retain it s current settings even when you load another preset This is really helpful if you for example found the perfect arpeggio pattern for your track but want to experi ment with different sound You simply lock the arp section and proceed to load other presets The arp section will retain it s settings and thus the pattern hidden features All main sections filter modifier amp modifier master filter delay and reverb have a small con text menu try right clicking on them which allows you to lock them as mentioned in Using locks to keep certain settings and or switch them off global off importing expansions and skins real easy Just purchased the latest expansion and want to use it right away Simply put the expansion and the license file for it on the desktop and hit the desktop button on the sys page That s it The license and expansion gets imported automatically and once the import process finished can be used right away This also works with more than one expansion and also with sk
22. de envelope Next the signal passes through up to two possible effect slots each effect slot offering eight possible effects see the Master Effects SIGNAL FLOW Each layer can optionally pass through a Trance Gate as well as a Layer Delay If Layer Delay is switched on the master delay effect see Delay is automatically disabled and vice versa Only one of the two can be active per layer The same rule applies to the Trance Gate and to the Arpeggiator Master Effects are the exception to this rule as these can be used in addition i e without affecting the availability of layer effects The mixed master signal is then passed through a limiter so the internal level will never exceed OdB The output section amplifies the signal to the level desired NEXUS User Manual 19 FILTER MODIFIER The two modifier sections require some explanation All modifier knobs have a neutral position by default centered If a knob is set to this position it will have absolutely no effect on the under lying parameter i e that parameter has precisely the same value as stored in the preset Setting a modifier to a negative position by turning the knob anticlockwise lowers values proportionally pe N for all four layers at the same time Similarly turning a modifier Ne knob up i e above the neutral position will increase all values proportionally for all four layers at the same time Because these si fi atk
23. es existing notes arp librarian In the top right hand corner of this page you can toggle between the full view and a reduced one The extra parameters are replaced with a small browser with which you can manage arpeggio presets This works in a similar way to the library browser described earlier Simply double click ona preset to load it saving presets Right clicking on the currently loaded arpeggio pre set name brings up a menu similar to when you save other presets This works in exactly the same way To rename the currently selected arpeggio preset simply double click on its name and make your changes my wares wegen lenny Dance Seq B bionic Chords sys Save Arp preset NEXUS User Manual 33 TRANCE GATE a ibrary mod arp tg mode Selects whether the Trance Gate works in mono or stereo mode If you switch it to stereo a thin line appears in the center of the pattern editor effectively seperating the left top and right bottom channels speed Should you want to change the speed in which the pattern is played back you can do it here length Determines the total length of the trance gate pattern The pattern display zooms ac cordingly mix This slider determines the dry wet mix i e the relative levels of non gated and gated signal 34 NEXUS User Manual midi Y contour If you find that the resulting sound is too choppy for your taste you can adjust its smoot
24. he pan positions left right balance of all layers spike This knob modifies the Spike value Spike increases the amplitude during the first 3 mil liseconds of a note resulting in a noticeably more percussive punchy sound filter modifiers See the first paragraph about Filter Modifier on the previous page for a general explanation of how the modifier spread The spread knob modifies the width of an alternating ping pong panning of the signal The pan position will switch between left and right for each note you play atk dec sus rel These four knobs modify the corresponding amp envelope parameters of all four layers simultaneously As is always the case for modifiers values are added or subtracted as percentages of the original values NEXUS User Manual 21 MASTER FILTER The Master Filter is applied to the entire output signal and is typically used for filter fades where the cutoff is slowly increased ri gt LS iy q A M on cutoff res i E es hp e bp 12 type ntch slope on This button activates deactivates the Master Filter By default the Master Filter is switched off cutoff Controls the cutoff frequency the most important parameter in any filter res Adjusts the amount of resonance at the cutoff frequency High values will often result in a whistling sound depending on the Type and Slope settings 22 NEXUS User Manual or dec
25. hin the instrument rack You ll now be able to a see the NEXUS preset browser Library Double clicking a preset name in the column to the right will load that particular preset Alternatively you can use the cursor keys to select a preset The up down keys scroll through the presets in MIDI Inserts the currently selected category Use the right cursor key Nexus to load the currently highlighted preset 12 NEXUS User Manual QUICK START using NEXUS in Apple Logic 8 Create a new song and then create a Software Instrument track When the newly created track is selected you will see the track inspector on the left hand side Click on the gray button under the letters I O but above the button labeled Out 1 2 A big list of instruments and plug ins will appear In this list select AU Instruments gt reFX gt Nexus gt Stereo RIOPTgeist Test Oscillator Ultrabeat Drum Synth GarageBand Instruments AU Generators AU Instruments To select a different preset open NEXUS click once on the same button you used to load NEXUS in the inspector You ll now be able to see the NEXUS preset browser Library Double clicking a preset name in the column to the right will load that particular preset NEXUS User Manual 13 QUICK START general information Because NEXUS receives on all 16 MIDI channels simultaneously there is no need to set its MIDI input channel manually If you d
26. hness by increasing the value of con tour actually the attack and release times of an envelope Higher values make the Trance Gate softer width This slider determines the stereo width of the trance gate delay This delays the wet level of the trance gate so first you ll only hear the ungated signal and as soon as the delay time has elapsed the gated one fadein Lets the gated signal fade in over the desig nated amount of time TRANCE GATE editing patterns The bottom half of this screen controls displays the currently selected Trance Gate pattern The blocks can be switched on or off by simply clicking on the steps in the grid filled boxes are on empty boxes are off A left click sets a box a right click clears it tg librarian In the top right hand corner of this page you can toggle between the full view and a reduced one The extra parameters are replaced with a small browser with which you can manage trance gate presets This works in a similar way to the library browser described earlier Simply double click ona preset to load it saving presets Right clicking on the currently loaded Trance Gate E i preset name brings up a menu similar to when you wr Save TG preset save other presets This works in exactly the same o way To rename the currently selected Trance Gate preset simply double click on its name and make your changes NEXUS User Manual 35 FREQUENCY ANALYZER ON
27. i ence Remember always to experiment and try new ways to accomplish your goals It s very rewarding to find new easier ways to do things you have done differently in the past Sometimes it s just a small but still important change that makes all the difference saving a preset into another category Do you want to save a preset that you ve tweaked into another category No problem just follow these easy steps Rename the preset by double clicking on the preset name and entering your own description This step is optional you can in fact save the preset with its original file name if you wish to do so but in most cases you d probably like to distinguish between the old and the new presets with a different name Click on the category in the category list that you d like to save your new preset into Right click on the preset name and choose save preset Your preset will now be saved into the category that you selected with its new name if you chose one quickly resetting a knob back to its optimal value Would you like to quickly reset a knob that you ve changed the position of back to its default value without having to reload the preset That s easy simply hold down the CTRL key and left click on the knob in question Voila Its back to its optimal position centered This works for all sections except for the delay and reverb sections which behave a little differ ently Try this in these sections an
28. i a e et dl MA A time f back lo cut hi cut mod Controls the amount that an integrated LFO modulates the Delay Time see below resulting in a slight pitch modulation of the delayed signal time This knob adjusts the delay time The avail able values are standard note lengths syn chronized to your host application triplets or dotted notes f back This knob adjusts the amount of delay feed back effectively the number of repetitions before the delay fades into silence lo cut The amount of highpass filtering applied to the feedback signal hi cut The amount of lowpass filtering applied to the feedback signal NEXUS User Manual 23 REVERB Reverb 4 a O room Ny e y A hall r y f en o lt h on type mix mod fe h LA dr h yi f 7 f Nat ul e e pre dly dec lo cut hi cut on Activates deactivates the reverb Whether or not reverb is active by default depends on the currently loaded type Use this button to select one of three reverb algorithms room small rooms gated reverbs hall larger halls arena very wide long and deep You can also click directly on a reverb type name to select it mix Used to adjust the dry wet ratio of the signal ie the amount of reverb applied 24 NEXUS User Manual NEXUS includes a professional quality reverb effect licensed from ArtsAcoustic It is unsurpassed in the software sector no other software synth has
29. ic phase cancellation ef fect the sound of which is comparable to a LFO modulated notch filter ensemble A more complex variation of the chorus effect The ensemble effect sounds more dense because it uses more delay and more modulation degrader Reduces the samplerate and or bit depth of the signal Can also add additional distortion distortion Adds non linear distortion around a selectable frequency Very good to simulate electric guitars analog phaser A much more advanced and smoother sounding version than the standard phaser When the speed is set to 0 the lower freq value sets the LFO phase directly stereo enhancer Widens or narrows the stereo field You can set affected the frequency range NEXUS User Manual 37 MIX feature matrix At the top right of the MIX screen is the Feature Matrix It shows the structure i e the signal flow of the currently selected preset The numbers to the left 1 4 show the used layers The 6 slots on the lines show you which modules effects are activated for each layer You can activate deactivate single elements by clicking on them However these modules effects cannot be changed only enabled or disabled as they re embedded into the preset itself You can toggle the entire layer on off by clicking on their respective numbers The abbreviations stand for the following prt Portamento is active for this layer arp Arpeggiator is active for this layer
30. ins It was never easier NEXUS User Manual 49 TIPS amp TRICKS setting a knob to a precise value Are the knobs not sensitive enough to set a particular value for a certain parameter Just hold down the Shift key while making your changes and the knob values should update in increments of one allowing you to set an exact value moving the NEXUS content folder Has your hard disk filled up and now you don t have enough free space to import the latest super fresh NEXUS expansion Or have you just bought a new super fast external hard disk and you d like to move the NEXUS content onto there No problem just follow these easy steps and it ll be safe in its new location in an instant 1 Find the current location of the NEXUS content folder On Windows this located in C Program Files VstPlugins Nexus Nexus Content by default On the Mac you ll have manually chosen a location when you first installed NEXUS find this folder Once you ve located the Nexus Content folder simply move it to its desired new location as you would with any other file folder Now open up your host application and load up an instance of NEXUS which will now proceed to search for the new location ofthe Nexus Content folder automatically This may take several minutes depending on the amount of drives and their sizes That s all there is to it From now on each time you use NEXUS2 your presets will be loaded from saved to the
31. is button to display the scope FFT frequency analyzer mix Click on this button to access the Master Ef fects Feature Matrix Oscillator mixer and Master EQ live News updates expansions skins and more the whole world of NEXUS is just one click away sys System settings for this particular instance of NEXUS2 These settings are stored with the current song project i e they are not saved along with a preset itself NEXUS is a pure ROM preset player However you can edit and change the presets to your heart s content To use all control elements and fully understand them you should know all about the basic structure of a NEXUS preset All sound starts out at the oscillator level Up to four oscillators generate the raw sound and each of these can be either a multisample or a classic waveform sawtooth square sine etc A layer can contain all four just one or no oscillator at all Which layers and how many of them are used within a preset can be seen in the Feature Matrix in the MIX section Portamento and or the arpeggiator can be switched on or off for each layer along with several other options Each layer is then sent through its own filter cutoff is controlled by the filter envelope Note that the filter section is very similar to the one available in the main page the Master Filter After passing through the filter stage the signal reaches the amplitude section controlled by an amplitu
32. le selector will open You can navigate this file selector to any location you like and select several files to be imported No matter which of the two ways you choose there are several things to consider before import ing You can only import skins and expansions for which you have licenses Licenses have to be imported the same way as skins and expansions You can select as many licenses skins and expansions in the file selector as you like They are all imported automatically in the right order It is recommended to leave the license files exactly the way they were delivered via email in ZIP format It is NOT necessary to unpack them The files contained within the ZIP archive are NOT readable by ANY other application The import process can take some time depending on the speed of your computer During the import process NEXUS displays a small progress bar This should update as the import process is working 44 NEXUS User Manual expansions Your NEXUS sound library can be expanded with additional presets and their referenced EXPANSIONS amp SKINS samples Each expansion holds a minimum of 128 new presets There are 27 expansions already available for purchase on reFX com and more are released in regular intervals available expansions Analog Bass Bigtone Signature 1 Bigtone Signature 2 Crank Dance Drums Dance Orchestra Dance Vol 1 Dance Vol 2 included in NEXUS2 Dance Vol 3 Guitars HandsUp Bass
33. mFrq ringmod frequency rmPhs ringmod phase offset rmTmb ringmod timbre 30 NEXUS User Manual Random Pitch is the only other non self explanatory modulation destination you can choose here This parameter affects how much each note is randomized in pitch Some presets pianos etc use this feature very subtly so that each note sounds unique This helps them appear more natural and less digital Using this feature on a normal syn thesizer sound can produce some interesting and unique results Although the slider for volume could actually be set to a positive value this will always have a negative impact on the sound itself as this parameter can only be affected negatively This is because you cannot get any louder than the volume knob itself only softer t library mod LFO1 amp 2 The two global LFOs are accessible by clicking on the Ifo tab These two LFOs can be used as modulation sources in the mod matrix Their speed can be modulated from the mod matrix as well so prepare for some weird effects mode Selects the sync and trigger mode free the speed is set as a numerical value and does not sync to the host syn the speed is synced to the host syTr the speed is synced to the host and the LFO is re started whenever a midi note is received and no midi notes are held down speed Sets the speed of the LFO In free mode this is a numerical value between 0 and 127
34. new location 50 NEXUS User Manual TIPS amp TRICKS sharing NEXUS presets Have you made a fat lead sound super fat Or have you put together a Trance Gate rhythm that even some African tribes would be proud of Would you like to share this newly created preset with your production partner or friends That s easy just follow these simple steps Make sure that your friend has a fully licensed and working version of NEXUS2 The following steps won t work without it nor will they work with the demo version for obvious reasons Ensure that you ve already saved your sound arp trance gate or fx preset If not then save it now with a name you ll remember Browse to your Nexus Content folder and you ll see amongst others four folders Arp Presets FX Presets Presets and TG Presets The folder names are pretty self explanatory see below for info If you d like to share a normal sound preset then open up the folder named Presets Inside you ll find all of your current categories Simply browse into the category that you saved your preset into and you ll find all of the presets that you d normally see within the NEXUS GUI Copy the preset s that you d like to share into a temporary location which you ll be able to find later e g the desktop Now you can share these files via e mail instant messaging or any other means without affecting your original preset files these are just temp
35. orary copies you can delete them when you re done NEXUS User Manual 51 TIPS amp TRICKS tutorial 1 perfect pitch bass OK so you re into hands up trance and you love the bass line in the factory preset Two Finger Madness 1 but would like it even more without the added kick drum Don t fear here we ll show you how to make the perfect solo Pitch Bass with NEXUS for use in your next production First we start with the arpeggiator yes the arpeggia E Lead Pattern 5 tor What we need to do here is to create our own MOT Monophone Terror E Offbeat Sequence itet new arpeggiator preset Start by setting up the step sequencer in the arp section like in the picture then save the preset Name the preset Pitch Bass Down as that s what it s doing bending down the notes We ll come back to this and use it later Next we need to find a suitable bass sound to use with our arpeggiator preset Trancebass 13 in the Bass category is ideal so go ahead and load up this preset Now your thinking where is this tutorial going Here s where it all comes together Click back on the arp section and load up the arpeggiator preset that we saved earlier Pitch Bass Down You re probably playing some notes by now but it still doesn t sound very good does it Here s the final step Click on the mod button and take a look in the por tamento section Set the status parameter to Igt
36. ply this technique to other sounds You could also position the first note in the sequence one octave higher lower or span the notes further apart to increase the effect s range 54 NEXUS User Manual APPENDICES APPENDICES appendix A MIDI implementation chart Function Basic Channel Mode Note number Velocity Aftertouch Pitchbend Control Change Program Change System Exclusive System Common System Realtime Aux Messages 56 NEXUS User Manual Default Change Default messages Sound range Note On Note Off Key Channels Actual No Song Pos Song Sel Tune Clock Commands Local On Off All Sound Off All Notes Off Act Sensing Reset x lt x x XxX XK x x Ooo x Remarks Messages are always received on all channels OMNI Mode is always on APPENDICES appendix B MIDI continuous controller support In addition to the messages specified in the MIDI implementation chart on the previous page the following MIDI continuous controller messages are recognized affecting the parameters listed below By sending MIDI CC messages from your host application you can change or even auto mate these parameters at any time CC Name 7 Volume 8 AMP Spread 10 AMP Pan 24 AMP Sustain 25 Delay Feedback 26 Delay Highcut 27 Reverb Decay 28 FLT Attack 29 FLT Decay 30 FLT Sustain 31 FLT Release 44 FLT Envelope 45 FLT Cutoff 46
37. reased during intros or breaks type This button cycles through several different filter types LP Low pass filter HP High pass filter BP Band pass filter NTCH Notch filter You can also click directly on a filter type name to select it slope Selects the steepness of the chosen filter type NEXUS offers three slopes 6db Octave rolloff 12db Octave rolloff 24db Octave rolloff You can also click directly on a filter slope name to select it The delay in NEXUS offers a variety of delay types and a delay time modulation to remove digital perfection from the feedbacks So to avoid robotic delays always remember to dial in a bit of mod for that extra warmth on This button activates deactivates the master delay effect Whether or not this is active by default depends on the loaded preset type This button lets you select one of four differ ent types of delay mono Simple mono delay stereo Simple stereo delay cross The left and right channels are swapped at each iteration pngpg Ping pong delay The delayed signal bounces between left and right channels for extremely wide stereo effects You can also click directly on a delay type name to select it mix Used to adjust the dry wet ratio of the signal i e the amount of delay applied to the cur rently loaded preset o mono FEN Ostereo ji 3 4 4 cross are w e on type pngpg mix mod das Fo i gt A
38. s that fit your criteria then displays the results in this new folder You can also search according to ratings Simply enter for instance as your search criterion This would find all presets that you ve rated with at least three stars If you d like to perform a fuzzy search enter your search criteria in quotation marks An example With the search criterion bass include the quotation marks you ll also find presets that contain brass as part of their names Letters and ratings can be combined e g bass will find all presets that contain the letters bass in that order with a three star rating or higher The search criterion allows you to search for characters that must be at the beginning of each name This effectively makes it possible to support sound categories as prefixes such as SY for synth sounds or BA for bass sounds If your search is shorter than three characters this criterion is enabled automatically A list of category prefixes we used for the factory content and the expansions can be found in the appendices chapter of this manual If you ve edited a preset and would like to save it right click on the name of the preset at the bot tom of the NEXUS library and a context menu will appear Simply select save preset from this menu If you ve changed the preset name beforehand by double clicking on the name itself a new preset is created and save
39. such a high quality reverb built in Now there s no need add external reverb effects to your synth sounds mod The MOD knob controls the amount of reverb time modulation resulting in a softer and warmer sound pre dly Adjusts the time it takes before the reverb signal appears affecting the perceived size of the room dec Adjusts the reverb signal s decay i e how long it takes to fade into silence lo cut The amount of highpass filtering applied to the reverb signal hi cut The amount of lowpass filtering applied to the reverb signal ibrary mod Fantasy And Dream Gated Pads Piano Plucked Single Layer Leads Single Layer Pads The library browser in NEXUS is divided into two main parts The column on the left dis plays a list of sound categories these can be compared to folders Highlighting a category here will display its contents in the right hand column There are three methods of loading presets 1 Double click on the preset name in the right column 2 Using the previous next button in the top right corner of the preset name 3 Using the cursor keys to select a preset and using right cursor key to load The bottom of the library browser displays useful information about the currently loaded preset Click on the right hand header info by default to display different types of info It cycles through info mem rating and author LIBRARIAN midi O
40. termines the velocity of the arpeggio outgain Output gain Should you find that the output level of NEXUS is generally too loud or too soft you can change the output gain from 3 to 3 db quality Quality setting for the interpolation algo rithm Especially older or slower systems will benefit from the low setting Otherwise we recommend keeping the default high setting The third option ultra should only be necessary if you re listening on high end audio monitors 42 NEXUS User Manual gui skin NEXUS allows you to change the overall appearance of the plug in the GUI You can even change the current skin while NEXUS is open it doesn t need to be reloaded Please read the import data section to learn how to import skins expansions The right hand column displays all currently installed expansions To learn how to import newly purchased expansions please read import data section on page 44 EXPANSIONS amp SKINS EXPANSIONS amp SKINS importing data There are two ways to import data into NEXUS The first way is to copy the data you wish to import onto the desktop Then simply click on the button labeled desktop which you can find in the system page of NEXUS2 All licenses skins and expansions that are found on the desktop will be imported automatically The second way is to click on the button labeled import data on the system page of NEXUS A fi
41. the FX browser This works exactly like the other preset browsers described previously Simply double click on a preset to load it saving presets Right clicking on the FX slot name brings up a context menu similar to the other preset browsers You can save the currently visible FX slot FX preset or both slots XFX preset only To rename the currently selected FX slot simply double click on its name and make your changes The browser displays the FX names with a category prefix You don t need to edit them manually The prefix is added automatically during save and removed during load NEXUS User Manual 39 reFX LIVE eo library mod midi US receiving data 37 Open this page for information about the latest NEXUS developments as well as new expansions and skins see gui skin on page 42 A left click on the information will start your standard web browser taking you directly to the appropriate web page A right click in this area offers a context menu allowing you to refresh the page The page is automatically refreshed once per minute 40 NEXUS User Manual On each launch of NEXUS the reFX Live system checks for NEXUS updates which can be automatically saved to your desktop This way you ll never miss a NEXUS update and you will always be using the latest version a ibrary mst tuning 440 Hz mos E transpose o vel curve o SYSTEM midi O Crank a by
42. to 127 and make sure that notes in the step sequencer are contigu ous length Here you can change the length of the arpeggio pattern The pattern display zooms accordingly filter Defines how the notes are filtered by the arpeggiator each time a new step is reached none notes are not filtered lowest only the lowest note passes highest only the highest note passes first only the first note held passes last only the last note held passes fixed CO C4 a fixed note is played editing patterns ARPEGGIATOR strum Only when the mode is set to poly will this have any effect The chords you play will spread out the notes in time The higher the value the looser and slower the strum shuffle Also called swing by some delays every second note in a 1 16th speed pattern by this amount This is a global parameter that af fects ALL arpeggiators even the ones played by the individual layers Notes can be entered at any position with a simple left mouse click Each note can be adjusted in length Simply left click on the right edge of a note and drag it to the desired length You can also hold down ALT and use the left mouse button to adjust the notes velocity Notes can be transposed up and down four octaves max try entering notes anywhere in the grid The small box under each set note is used to display and adjust the semi tone transpose of the respective note A right click delet
43. tterdam feel There s no real playing technique to this sound Simply press and hold a key and you should get the desired result Try applying your arpeggio preset and portamento settings to other NEXUS sounds for an alter native result You ll probably find that detuned or extremely wide sounds work best NEXUS User Manual 53 TIPS amp TRICKS tutorial 3 the uplifter effect Here we ll show you how to create an uplifting pitch effect with NEXUS perfect to create tension in a track just before the break This one is really simple and can be applied to almost all NEXUS sounds for different variations of the effect We ll use the preset Dutch Style 2 from the Dance Leads category for this tutorial so go ahead and load it up Now we ll dive straight into the mod section and make some changes to the portamento settings Set the status and speed parameters to the values shown in the picture You re probably still wondering how on earth this is going to work Well the finale happens in your se quencer Draw some notes into the piano roll of your sequencer like in the picture We ve filled 32 bars in exactly the same way The next note is always one semitone higher than the last Once you ve input all the notes into your sequencer go ahead and play it back You should get that famous rising pitch effect that you normally hear just before a track explodes Go ahead experiment and ap
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