Nerve Drum Machine

[ramangill]

So here lies my dilema. Nerve is $199. Looks great and awesome reviews. NI Komplete 7 is $599 which has Battery and a lot of other useful tools.

Setting aside the budget. Would it make sense to go with Komplete as Battery is pretty good as well. Difference I see here is that Nerve seems like you can do a lot more things more "freely"...meaning more functionality....but Komplete 7 offers a whole new world.

What is the community's thoughts on these two products?

[[email protected]]

I think when developers come out with new drum plug-ins the bulk of their business comes from production noobs

I understand the sentiment, I feel that way about a lot of the marketing-speak of synths+effects. However there are some very big names as Nerve customers who certainly aren't noobs. There's something to be said for having everything in one small window with pattern/kit mixing+matching and getting fresh results. I never once thought Nerve would be for everyone but have been pleasantly surprised by the response among 'professionals' to it. The term 'workflow' keeps popping up

Setting aside the budget. Would it make sense to go with Komplete as Battery is pretty good as well. Difference I see here is that Nerve seems like you can do a lot more things more "freely"...meaning more functionality....but Komplete 7 offers a whole new world.

Battery and Nerve are pretty different, Battery is closer to Drum Racks where NI's Nerve equivalent (integrated sequencer) is Maschine.

If you can only rationalize getting one, despite being 3x the price I'd recommend to start with Komplete 7 as you'll get a ton of great stuff. I use a lot of it frequently (Kontakt/FM8/Massive/Reaktor the most). After digesting it all, you might still find a want for Nerve down the road. I've yet to actually use Battery on a production - between Impulse/Drum Racks/Nerve I feel pretty covered

[pandora9]

I finally bit the bullet and bought Nerve recently (thought it was way too expensive until I took the plunge, but have changed my mind now), and I'm LOVING it ... it is supremely elegantly designed, musical, fun and FAST, with some unique features. Very, very creative work-flow. I highly recommend it.

[piZMo]

this

The precalc params frequently get mentioned as something that many Nerve users find invaluable (the Snap param which is a quasi-transient shaper and the re-synthesis ones seems to get the most love). I've added several items to precalc in the 1.01 (most notably, parametric EQ with GUI and a plate reverb).

[ramangill]

I think when developers come out with new drum plug-ins the bulk of their business comes from production noobs

I understand the sentiment, I feel that way about a lot of the marketing-speak of synths+effects. However there are some very big names as Nerve customers who certainly aren't noobs. There's something to be said for having everything in one small window with pattern/kit mixing+matching and getting fresh results. I never once thought Nerve would be for everyone but have been pleasantly surprised by the response among 'professionals' to it. The term 'workflow' keeps popping up

Setting aside the budget. Would it make sense to go with Komplete as Battery is pretty good as well. Difference I see here is that Nerve seems like you can do a lot more things more "freely"...meaning more functionality....but Komplete 7 offers a whole new world.

Battery and Nerve are pretty different, Battery is closer to Drum Racks where NI's Nerve equivalent (integrated sequencer) is Maschine.

If you can only rationalize getting one, despite being 3x the price I'd recommend to start with Komplete 7 as you'll get a ton of great stuff. I use a lot of it frequently (Kontakt/FM8/Massive/Reaktor the most). After digesting it all, you might still find a want for Nerve down the road. I've yet to actually use Battery on a production - between Impulse/Drum Racks/Nerve I feel pretty covered

OK OK OK....So I watched this lengthy vid with Dom Kane explaining how he does this stuff and it turns out he also uses Nerve. He explained it a little but more so he showed how easy it was to use and come up with ideas. Now if I got this correct Nerve does the following as well:
a. Beat Repeat
b. Shuffle or Groove
c. Effects Sequencer or something like a Randomizer?

Are you able to add effects like Reverb or Delay to each channel or section? Reason I ask is cause in this video, Dom talk about his fav feature of it being that once he creates his beat, he can then export it to LIVE and seperates it into its own channel which I think is cool so that you can have total control over it. I know LIVE's current Drum Rack does this as well

OK, so here is the noob dumb question of the day, LOL.
In simple terms (cause there are several confusing definitions), difference between Drum Racks and Intergrated Sequencer?

[jpga]

Nerve and Ableton is magic,,

[[email protected]]

OK OK OK....So I watched this lengthy vid with Dom Kane explaining how he does this stuff and it turns out he also uses Nerve. He explained it a little but more so he showed how easy it was to use and come up with ideas. Now if I got this correct Nerve does the following as well:
a. Beat Repeat
b. Shuffle or Groove
c. Effects Sequencer or something like a Randomizer?

You can do all of the above to some degree, yes. Further randomization and hybridizing options will be added in the future. You can sequence SVF or FX Send, or MIDI CC to control other instruments. It is not intended to be an "effects sequencer" as most people do this sort of thing more methodically (there are some fringe plugins which do more effect-sequencing). The "Beat Repeating" is not a buffer-based repeat, so it is a little different (e.g. repeating 16ths with a swing will still follow the swing feel, CC's and notes you output will repeat).

Are you able to add effects like Reverb or Delay to each channel or section? Reason I ask is cause in this video, Dom talk about his fav feature of it being that once he creates his beat, he can then export it to LIVE and seperates it into its own channel which I think is cool so that you can have total control over it. I know LIVE's current Drum Rack does this as well

Nerve has 8 stereo outputs, so you can create additional audio tracks in Live and put different plugins on different pads or groups of pads from Nerve. You can also drag-out individual pad parts (rendered to audio automatically) directly to Live audio tracks, in Nerve 1.01

In simple terms (cause there are several confusing definitions), difference between Drum Racks and Intergrated Sequencer?

Drum Racks are essentially "sounds linked to MIDI notes", you hit play and nothing will happen unless you create a MIDI clip - it requires you go to your host sequencer to program parts. This ends up being a fair amount of switching views between your "MIDI part" and editing pads.

With an integrated sequencer, the drum machien "listens" to the host (Ableton) for tempo/position but programming the beat happens in the plug-in window itself Besides ergonomics of having everything in one compact window for beat-making, having an integrated sequencer ends up meaning you will likely get different results, whether by using other patterns since they are all readily available, or from switching between the patterns in realtime, or perhaps making each pad have a different pattern length (e.g. kick drum = 1 beat pattern, snare drum = 4 bar pattern, perc = 9/16ths pattern, etc).

-Steve
http://www.xferrecords.com

[Rationalizer]

I must say that if I didn't have Maschine I would buy Nerve instantly. I tried the demo and I really liked the step sequencer and the possibilities of editing a single drum hit (especially stretching and bending). I have huge sample library so I also liked the random sample load.

I found the video with d. Ramirez very educational: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80FrclbkxFM

But as I said, I already own Maschine so there's no real reason for me to invest to Nerve (which oddly makes me a bit sad).

[starving student]

did you try nerve from within maschine, if so how did it go?

[ramangill]

In simple terms (cause there are several confusing definitions), difference between Drum Racks and Intergrated Sequencer?

Drum Racks are essentially "sounds linked to MIDI notes", you hit play and nothing will happen unless you create a MIDI clip - it requires you go to your host sequencer to program parts. This ends up being a fair amount of switching views between your "MIDI part" and editing pads.

With an integrated sequencer, the drum machien "listens" to the host (Ableton) for tempo/position but programming the beat happens in the plug-in window itself Besides ergonomics of having everything in one compact window for beat-making, having an integrated sequencer ends up meaning you will likely get different results, whether by using other patterns since they are all readily available, or from switching between the patterns in realtime, or perhaps making each pad have a different pattern length (e.g. kick drum = 1 beat pattern, snare drum = 4 bar pattern, perc = 9/16ths pattern, etc).

-Steve
http://www.xferrecords.com

LOL, that by far is the best definition I have ever read! Thanks!

So I finally bit the bullet and downloaded the demo. A little confusing at first, but I can see the potential right away. I guess I need to fool around with it a little more. I must say the sounds it comes with are nice.

I will check out d. ram's vid and see it...but Steve...will you post up any more vids on Nerve with some more tutorials or basic walk throughs for people who learn best by watching others?

[The Northern Contingent]

I must say that if I didn't have Maschine I would buy Nerve instantly. I tried the demo and I really liked the step sequencer and the possibilities of editing a single drum hit (especially stretching and bending). I have huge sample library so I also liked the random sample load.

I found the video with d. Ramirez very educational: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80FrclbkxFM

But as I said, I already own Maschine so there's no real reason for me to invest to Nerve (which oddly makes me a bit sad).

It may seem odd to many but I have had Maschine and Nerve for a long time now, and will never get rid of either. Obviously Maschine has the hardware element to it, but Nerve offers an interface and workflow that allows the user to create some wild beats that, although might be possible in Ableton after several hours of crafting, can be done in moments in Nerve. Just as Steve said above, Nerve is designed as a tool to make music with.

One thing no-one has mentioned, however, is the phenomenal support Steve offers to his customers. There is no other developer I know of that provides such quick, detailed feedback to customer questions, nor that updates their product so frequently as Steve. I would wholeheartedly recommend Nerve to anyone thinking of investing in a drum machine.

[ramangill]

One thing no-one has mentioned, however, is the phenomenal support Steve offers to his customers. There is no other developer I know of that provides such quick, detailed feedback to customer questions, nor that updates their product so frequently as Steve. I would wholeheartedly recommend Nerve to anyone thinking of investing in a drum machine.

Huge selling for people like me!

[icedsushi]

So here lies my dilema. Nerve is $199. Looks great and awesome reviews. NI Komplete 7 is $599 which has Battery and a lot of other useful tools.

Not saying you should go one way or the other, but one thing people aren't including with cost comparisons like this with Komplete is the cost of the upgrades. Most independent developers include free updates. With Komplete you're paying to update the whole bundle every time a new version comes out, even though there may be individual components or plugins in it that you aren't using at the time.

Also, it seems Maschine would probably be a better comparison to Nerve than Battery would. And Maschine isn't included in Komplete.

I haven't tried Nerve but I did watch several of the videos at length. Probably most sounds/workflow could be achieved just with drum racks. But it seems there are a few of the per sample DSP FX, like pulse width to sample & one or two of the other parameters with positive/negative values that couldn't easily be done in Live by itself. Then there is workflow preference...

[Rationalizer]

did you try nerve from within maschine, if so how did it go?

Other than using Maschine as a standar midi controller, I didn't even think about that.

[mp3]

Okay so I downloaded the demo and tried it out with a few of my favorite drums from my stash. I was able to get a lot of interesting new texture out of my sounds very quickly. For sound design its the bizness! I might buy it just for that. In fact, if you could make a one cell version with just the synthesis section of the plug (for use with drum racks etc.) that would be absolutely perfect for me!

The Sine parameter is excellent for taking out the fundamental frequency of a kick drum or snare and just leaving you with the unpitched element of the drum. The timestretch and pitchshift are very good quality and very useful in this context. The superimposed envelope perfect. The LFO is both easy and powerful. Snap and Sub look like they'll come in handy at times. And its crazy that the plug is so good with those tools that the filter (usually the first tool I turn to) was almost an afterthought... Having said that, the filters all sound good! The only thing I didn't like was the Bits and Sample Rate parameters, but that's because I'm more into the old school sampler sound than the glitchy decimated thing. It would be great if the behavior was switchable, or if you included an ol skool sampler type degradation.

This plug is really unique in terms of sound design. Big ups Steve! I'm sure your users have provided plenty of feedback, but one thing I think would be useful would be a quick way to reset a parameter back to zero. And also, I didn't check, but is it possible to load a sample while keeping all the precalc/envelope/filter/LFO settings intact? Another idea would be to allow us to save and load all those synthesis settings as presets.

I actually prefer recording drum sequences instead of step sequencing, so I didn't dig in to the step sequencer too much (but I've used guru in the past so I'm well aware of what its capable of and how it works), but the one cool thing about the step sequencer (which I don't think Guru can do) is that it affects notes that come in from the host as well. In other words, you can program the beat (in the host or external sequencer) like you normally do, and add filter modulation using Nerve's step sequencer. How cool is that!