Frank Verderosa
Mixer, Sound Designer, Composer
What is Source Nexus Free?
Source Nexus Free is a tool from Source Elements that doesn't require anything but a Chrome based web browser (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, etc) a strong internet connection (preferably ethernet and high speed), and a link from me!
Step 1
Once you've clicked the red button above, the Source Elements Nexus Gateway will launch and ask for the passkey. For this connection, the passkey is: frankv. Then click "Join Session".
Step 2
Once you've joined, you can choose your display name, and select your microphone input and speaker (headphone) output. For example, you might select Scarlett Solo Input 1 for the Microphone and Scarlett Solo Output 1&2 for your headphones (so it's in both ears). You can click TEST to hear a ringtone to make sure you're hearing it.
In the upper right corner of this window, you will see the option to "Show All Setteings". Clicking that will reveal a table for Max Audio Bitrate toward the bottom. Make sure that's set to Best/ 256/Mono (see second image below).
VERY IMPORTANT: You'll also notice "Use Original Audio (HQ)- make sure that is selected. Once you have this set, hit OK!
Step 3
Once you click OK, you have now joined the session. You will see 2 boxes- yours and mine. Neither of us will have video engaged here, since we're connecting via Zoom (you should have already received my Zoom link). You will see a button along the bottom of the window that says "Push Spacebar to Talk". That's more for client use than for you. You're going to want to click the red microphone icon to the right of that to unmute yourself to let your microphone be heard. If at any point during the session you need to mute yourself, you can click this icon again. This is a convenient cough/ sneeze button.
You can also click the RECORD button when you're unmuted to instantly start recording a backup for the session. This version will let you record for 90 minutes. When you hit stop, it will automatically save a WAV file of the session to your download folder.
Step 4
At this point, we should be able to hear each other. If you're hearing me through your laptop speakers and not your headphones- double check your input and output settings and don't forget to hit refresh if you need to make an adjustment.