Refx Nexus - Automate program changes

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sinextesia
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Refx Nexus - Automate program changes

Post by sinextesia » Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:37 am

Hi,

I would like to play Nexus as a hardware synth live and I need the way to automate program changes. I'm not sure if midi program changes are implemented in Nexus, anybody knows?. I would like to automate the Nexus program changes by launching midi clips...

I know that a workaround would be chaining multiple instances of Nexus in a instrument rack and then using the chain selector but I was looking for a simpler solution (system performance etc.).

Anybody?

Thanks!

Monchai
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Re: Refx Nexus - Automate program changes

Post by Monchai » Sat Sep 26, 2015 3:19 pm

I wanted to do that for a long time also dunno how

sinextesia
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Re: Refx Nexus - Automate program changes

Post by sinextesia » Sun Sep 27, 2015 10:07 am

Hi,

Official response from Refx:
"Sorry, but that is not possible. Nexus would have no way of knowing what "bank 5, preset 97" means. As soon as you add a new category (add an expansion, rename something) the order of banks and presets would change.

It simply doesn't make any sense to support program-change messages in a preset system as flexible as Nexus.

I personally think you're using the wrong tool (Ableton Live) for the job. MainStage (by Apple) is specifically designed to be used as a live-performance tool. You can use program-changes, foot-pedals, midi-cc etc. to switch between "Songs" (settings of presets forALL AU plugins) effortlessly. You can stack them, create splits etc."

So it is not possible at the moment. In my opinion this functionality could be for example implemented with a "User" category that could be controlled by program changes. Similar to the functionality from NI Massive for programs.

So I will have to stick to Sylenth and Massive as my "live" synths...

Regards,
Jon

SpecialGuest
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Re: Refx Nexus - Automate program changes

Post by SpecialGuest » Tue Mar 08, 2022 6:17 pm

I personally think you're using the wrong tool (Ableton Live) for the job. MainStage (by Apple) is specifically designed to be used as a live-performance tool.
LOL what a load of shit. I'm about to do a lesson with a client right now I'll see if I can figure something out. He's blowing up all of RAM using chain selector.
You can use program-changes, foot-pedals, midi-cc etc. to switch between "Songs" (settings of presets forALL AU plugins) effortlessly. You can stack them, create splits etc."
yeah you can do all that with Ableton and much more with MFL including morph between preset states even – that's not the issue. The issue is that Nexus is actually just a bloated sampler with recordings of synthesizers and that changing preset state doesn't change the internal generative process that manipulates the signal. Changing filter states on an internal loaded array of samples isn't going to change the samples into other samples. I think personally that Nexus is the issue not Ableton but we're about to do an hour of this so I'll see if there's a workaround. The only one I can think of without being able to send direct program changes is a purging of the samples from memory on silent instances. You then use follow action to preload the samples so they are ready to be performed and just use the chain selector to select the instance. If Nexus doesn't support this then it's probably SOL
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Oddest Noise
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Re: Refx Nexus - Automate program changes

Post by Oddest Noise » Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:04 pm

Hi, I asked the same question to ReFX and got this answer:

"Since NEXUS is not a hardware synthesizer, there is no reason to use program change messages. Simply load multiple instances of NEXUS, one for each instrument."

As a customer who paid a few hundered Euros, I wanted to point out how much I miss the Program Change option:

Me: "Could you please include in an update a list of banks and presets that can be used with the MIDI Program-change command?"

ReFX: "No, we won't. This is an outdated concept that was itself a workaround because of hardware limitations. Only 16 midi channels, each hardware synthesizer costing thousands of dollars, midi-through lag, etc., made something like program-change messages necessary. That hasn't been the case in almost 20 years."

Me: "If this is not possible, I think this is a great loss, from which it can be assumed that this option should be there by default."

ReFX: "It's not a great loss. You seem to think we work in a vacuum and have zero contact with our users. We have customers who use 30-40 NEXUS in a single project with no problems whatsoever. A few years ago, I did a test to see how far I could push it, and I've loaded well over 50 instances of NEXUS into Logic, all of them playing presets, without any dropouts or issues."

Conclusion: In my opinion, ReFX doesn't seem to understand the technical needs of their customers and is holding it back in a not so friendly way. :cry:

[jur]
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Re: Refx Nexus - Automate program changes

Post by [jur] » Sun Dec 04, 2022 4:58 am

Oddest Noise wrote:
Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:04 pm
Hi, I asked the same question to ReFX and got this answer:

"Since NEXUS is not a hardware synthesizer, there is no reason to use program change messages. Simply load multiple instances of NEXUS, one for each instrument."

As a customer who paid a few hundered Euros, I wanted to point out how much I miss the Program Change option:

Me: "Could you please include in an update a list of banks and presets that can be used with the MIDI Program-change command?"

ReFX: "No, we won't. This is an outdated concept that was itself a workaround because of hardware limitations. Only 16 midi channels, each hardware synthesizer costing thousands of dollars, midi-through lag, etc., made something like program-change messages necessary. That hasn't been the case in almost 20 years."

Me: "If this is not possible, I think this is a great loss, from which it can be assumed that this option should be there by default."

ReFX: "It's not a great loss. You seem to think we work in a vacuum and have zero contact with our users. We have customers who use 30-40 NEXUS in a single project with no problems whatsoever. A few years ago, I did a test to see how far I could push it, and I've loaded well over 50 instances of NEXUS into Logic, all of them playing presets, without any dropouts or issues."

Conclusion: In my opinion, ReFX doesn't seem to understand the technical needs of their customers and is holding it back in a not so friendly way. :cry:
8O what a stupid dishonest answer they gave you! The truth probably is they don't want/can't implement it and they're giving you pseudo-rational bullshit answers instead of confessing they can't/don't dare implementing it.
Shame on them.
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Tarekith
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Re: Refx Nexus - Automate program changes

Post by Tarekith » Sun Dec 04, 2022 6:33 am

Wow, that's quite a response. :(
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