It’s been 8 months since I bought NEXUS 3 and after finally reading the online manuals and watching YouTube tutorials I finally figured out why I do not like this VST. Let me start by stating that there’s nothing wrong with it at all. The depth of the synths are great, the sound design capability is pretty straight forward, and you always get firmware updates. However, I produce mainly RnB, Trap, G Funk, and Alternative RnB (yes, this is a thing. Google it) and this VST doesn’t really have sounds that I need for those genres. I mainly pull this VST out when I’m working on Pop records like the one that was recently released, “Bartender Babe” by nasira. Great investment but let me tell you how if only I had figured out why I even needed this plugin in the first place I would’ve just stayed with NEXUS 2 and saved a few hundred bucks.
After about the 7th track that I was working on for the day I kept finding myself diving into NEXUS 3 and then moving over to Serum. At one point I found myself actually diving into VST’s like Sytrus and a few Kontakt libraries in the middle of catching inspiration. I’m sure as most of you know that’s never a good idea. Stopping the flow of creativity just so you can dive into a new VST and learn it is a good way of frustrating yourself. I just couldn’t figure out why in the hell I couldn’t find a decent preset in this thing. I started YouTubing how to create different sounds from different libraries and after about 2 hours I gave up. The next morning when I got back to my workstation I went on to ReFX’s website to see what I was doing wrong. After glancing over at NEXUS I noticed some of the names of the sound libraries and looked them up on the website. After researching the purpose behind the presets of those sound libraries it became very apparent as to why I just couldn’t find inspiration for the song ideas I had. The presets are meant for House, Tropical House, and EDM tracks. The plucks, the synths, and even the basses all were super bright because well, they’re not meant to be used for say a Larry June Type Beat. Great, a $300 lesson learned. Of course, there’s nothing stopping me from diving into those oscillators and creating my own presets but what I hope would assist me with sparks of creativity before taking a masterclass was a fail. So how can I, or you, make sure you don’t make this same mistake again? Its actually pretty simple and what some would call a tier 3 level of understanding. You need to know not only why the VST would be a great fit for what you are trying to accomplish but also the how.
We all know NEXUS 2 can be heard in every trap beat from 2009 to 2018. The presets for this genre are bar none as the synths have dark tones and the arpeggiation of those synths just fit with the groove of the drums and hi hats. Did you need NEXUS 2 to accomplish those sounds? No, but it did make the job a hell of a lot easier if you were working on a project from an artist inspired by 808 Mafia or Internet Money type beats. How NEXUS 2 made the job easier was simply because as stated before these were the sounds the pros were using. Think about it. Instead of spending hours on hours recreating the sounds of a Sledgren or Johnny Juliano you now had access and didn’t have to touch a button. I am not championing the idea of recreating everything you hear on today’s major playlist, but as a producer having access to those sounds makes it very easy when working with an artist who’s influenced by that genre or particular song. If artist ‘A’ says they like how Wiz Khalifa’s album sounded all you had to do was pull up NEXUS 2 and flip through some presets and then, boom! This is the sine wave synth from Kush and Orange Juice. Now we can make our version and the average music listener will find something in our record that will resonate with them. It’ll spark the, “damn, this remind me of something but it’s fire!” Yeah, tricks of the trade.
So the next time you are browsing your favorite plugin website and your mouth starts to water at the idea of a new VST try to find the reason why you even need it and you’re going to use it. I believe Curtiss King said it best when he said that you can recreate just about any sound you hear if you know what knobs to turn. I know this isn’t the most glamourous thing but you said you wanted your own sound right? Of course I practice what I preach. I am in no way a master at turning those oscillators but I know which ones help me achieve the sound that I am looking for. Once you dive into it it’ll become second nature and pretty soon you’ll be dropping masterclasses on YouTube as well.
I’ll have NEXUS 3 on stand by, you know, just in case…….
