Free Tyrell Nexus 6 Synthesizer – More Synth Than Synth?

Free software synhtesizer Nexus 6

Amazona.de has released Tyrell N6, a free software synthesizer for Mac & PC.

The synth was designed by the members of the Amazona.de site as a sort of über-synth.

Here’s what they have to say about it (Googlish, from German):

Just in time for Musikmesse 2011, we are very proud to present you the first AMAZONA.de synthesizer, TYRELL Nexus 6.

The N6 is not some additional synth plug-in, but a sound generator, which was jointly developed with readers and, ultimately, programmed by Urs Heckmann (mastermind of U-He).

But the best part:

TYRELL N6 AMAZONA.de for free and now as readers with a final version available for download NOW.

Downloads are available at the Amazone.de site. If you give it a try, let us know if you think the Nexux 6 is more synth than synth!

66 thoughts on “Free Tyrell Nexus 6 Synthesizer – More Synth Than Synth?”

  1. I was really excited about this plug, probably because it was
    created by U-He and was being offered up for free ( as long
    as you have a membership at Amazona.de

    Once it was made available, I downloaded TyrellN6
    and fiddled around with it for a good 20 mintues, and that's all it
    really took as it has a well thought out layout.

    The hype at KVR was just that..HYPE. It's a nice plug, but really didn't
    impress me that much considering it was programmed by U-He.
    it stands up to the multitudes of ' FREE ' plugins, but isn't what alot
    of people made it seem like it was gonna be this awesome synth.

    Again, it's good, but there's absolutely nothing to write home about.
    I couldn't really find anything unique about this synth, and so it'll
    probably sit in my folder untill the next time I do some VST Folder Scrubbing
    and from there will probably be deleted.

  2. well it sounds quite good, especially the blade runner preset. have to play more with it though to become convinced

  3. Actually I think the best part of that article is just below the download links (above the logo). Here's the non-Google translation, sorry for possible mistakes:

    "And those of you who now think that we gave up on our dream; a hardware Tyrell are mistaken. As the name says; the Tyrell Nexus 6 is only a copy of the fully analog Tyrell. Oh allright: we admit.. The copy should always be modeled after the original. But in this special case the exception defines the rule should be allowed here".

    I sort of disagree that they tried to present this as an "Uber synth". They simply present their first own developed synth and are obviously very proud of that effort, but the paragraph which I copied and translated above IMO also clearly shows that they're not some bunch of arrogant guys who feel they created the "mother of all soft synths", far from it.

    Alas; time for a test run.

  5. A nice synth, at a first glimpse not very convincing but still managed to pack some surprises here and there.

    The distribution is cool. No strings attached; just download the zip file, manually place either the 32 or 64 bit version in your vst folder and you're good to go. 2 oscillators, "sub" oscillator, 2 lfo's, filter section, matrix ('routing') section, 2 envelope sections and a mixer. Next to that a noise generator is present for some specific sounds and ring modulation is also supported. You can also modify the oscs a little by adding vibrato or changing the what I believe to be pulse width.

    At first the sounds seem very sub standard. It supports a good variety of sounds; from pads to alternative ("circuit") to common but so far all of that is already supported by your average soft synth and not too special.

    Another minus (for me) is the way they divided their presets into several sections. Click on "load" to see what I mean: several people (so I assume) presenting several presets: "Julian Ray, Howie, 3ee, Tasmodia" as well sections like: "MIDI programs" and "Noise factory". That doesn't look convincing to me; it takes my attention away from that which matters: what kind of sounds and presets I'm dealing with. As end user I don't care who made it (no offense here naturally); I /first/ want to know what kind of sound I'm dealing with. This leaves me guessing a little.

    Another small issue for me is that I can't easily reset this synth to a "zero" state. I like tuning and playing, and somewhat dislike that I first need to manually reset every control before and save my own zero-state preset before I can experiment with the individual parts themselves. (note: double click on a control to move it to its default state).

    Don't get me wrong here: it is a very decent synth, but in comparison to the gear I already have…

    And then I fell into "RW presets" and ended up with "Monoculture". The glide effect on this thing is quite amazing IMO. I put "transpose" back to 0 and was pretty amazed with the sound. It reminds somewhat of the NI Razor presentation. And speaking of NI: its comparable to Absynth 5's "Screaming Leader" preset, but with a much better and easier to use glide effect. Can't wait to check how I can use an LFO to add some wobble / dubstep.

    So summing up I think there's more than meets the eye ("ear") here! I was about to remove it after half an hour, but having experienced this stuff makes me hang onto this a little longer.

    All criticism put aside this is a very interesting synth. Lets also not forget that its provided free of charge and as such actually comparing this with stuff like Absynth 5 and not feel awkward about it should also say something…

    My 2 cents.

  6. funny how my comment never made it, I submitted and was told that it was pending approval, and still hasn't shown up. :~[

  7. I've just givein it a quick spin. Seems like it's based on the ACE engine. So while it's going to be a bit CPU heavy, has the possibility of creating some very interesting harmonic content with only a few controls.

    I think it might sound basic at first try because there are no built-in FX. Drop a few FX on these patches and things perc up a bit. Patches like 3ee_Sprocket shows that there are some very interesting modulate possibilities with a simple interface.

    So far I'd see this is a pretty awesome synth for free.

  9. In the patch HS Hero Guitar, throw on a little verb and delay, then turn the knob to in MATRIX next to the left of Tyrell: Tune2 with label ADSR2. This causes a pretty nasty detune/drift. Also, the ability to have different up and down ranges for pitch bend is quite nice for leads.

  11. I love the idea of a Blade Runner synth! Mark, your comments on this have me stoked!

    But where are the sound demos?

    Looking forward to checking this out over the weekend!

  14. This Tyrell 6 thing is ok. Really can't complain since it's free and is probably better than most free things out there.

    Here's a demo I made using seven instances of Tyrell and basic reverb, delay and dynamics in Cubase:
    http://soundcloud.com/alivemachine/tyrell7

    The interface is very well done. Seems like it's missing something though as far as the routing goes. The sounds are average. Reminds me the Zebra thing I played a while back.

  15. This Tyrell 6 thing is ok. Really can't complain since it's free and is probably better than most free things out there.

    Here's a demo I made using seven instances of Tyrell and basic reverb, delay and dynamics in Cubase:
    http://soundcloud.com/alivemachine/tyrell7

    The interface is very well done. Seems like it's missing something though as far as the routing goes. The sounds are average. Reminds me the Zebra thing I played a while back.

  16. This Tyrell 6 thing is ok. Really can't complain since it's free and is probably better than most free things out there.

    Here's a demo I made using seven instances of Tyrell and basic reverb, delay and dynamics in Cubase:
    http://soundcloud.com/alivemachine/tyrell7

    The interface is very well done. Seems like it's missing something though as far as the routing goes. The sounds are average. Reminds me the Zebra thing I played a while back.

  17. This Tyrell 6 thing is ok. Really can't complain since it's free and is probably better than most free things out there.

    Here's a demo I made using seven instances of Tyrell and basic reverb, delay and dynamics in Cubase:
    http://soundcloud.com/alivemachine/tyrell7

    The interface is very well done. Seems like it's missing something though as far as the routing goes. The sounds are average. Reminds me the Zebra thing I played a while back.

  18. This Tyrell 6 thing is ok. Really can't complain since it's free and is probably better than most free things out there.

    Here's a demo I made using seven instances of Tyrell and basic reverb, delay and dynamics in Cubase:
    http://soundcloud.com/alivemachine/tyrell7

    The interface is very well done. Seems like it's missing something though as far as the routing goes. The sounds are average. Reminds me the Zebra thing I played a while back.

  19. This Tyrell 6 thing is ok. Really can't complain since it's free and is probably better than most free things out there.

    Here's a demo I made using seven instances of Tyrell and basic reverb, delay and dynamics in Cubase:
    http://soundcloud.com/alivemachine/tyrell7

    The interface is very well done. Seems like it's missing something though as far as the routing goes. The sounds are average. Reminds me the Zebra thing I played a while back.

  22. I think some people might be under-estimating this based on the presets. This is a free version of A.C.E.! Instead of the cabling UI you have a straight-forward matrix. The sound design options here are tremendous, and with that signature Urs sound this is going to be an instant favorite among designers. If you prefer to stick to prefab presets, give it a month and you'll be sure to see lots.

    For the more adventurous who might not have played with A.C.E., set the mod Via to "Pressure" and the Destination to Osc2 FM; if you have After-Touch on your MIDI keyboard the "Software vs Hardware" debate will have been answered.

  23. One feature I like on my pulse is the random feature which generates random values for all patch parameters. It would be cool if soft synths added some version of this.

  24. Spent some more time with Tyrell and compared it to Reaktor, Predator and Largo. The raw oscillator sound quality of the Tyrell is not even close compared to these others. It's lacking in detail and richness. It relies too much on unison too. But it's not bad for being free and it has a great UI.

  25. Sounds anything but run-of-the-mill to me. It's not a Virus-esque VA full of effects-drenched trance presets, it's based (at least some aspects of it) on Urs spending some time with the Roland Juno 60 and Jupiter 6, from what I've read. I think Urs really "gets" the envelope behavior of the early '80s Roland analogues. Personally, I don't hear Predator or Largo's oscillators as being a standard against which to judge anything (the former aliases pretty badly and the VA oscillators on the latter don't sound at all special to me).

  33. i had the damnedest time getting this to run in either FL studio or Live, iam on win xp sp3. So i initially gave up and deleted.

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  65. i downloaded it but when i try to run… i cant do it why ?? all i see is THE SYSTEM CAN NOT FIND THE PATH SPECIFIED” –
    MY PC IS WINDOWS 7”

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