Classified Ads. Forums 2 2. News 3 3. Write a user review Filter. Our members also liked: Waldorf Blofeld. Average Score:. Write a user review. Value For Money : Excellent. Reue Saturday, I was looking for a machine that can both collect some sounds of "pass and the ability to tweak the I servi. I had two crashes but nothing serious. USE I am of the stage and I needed a machine that could get me out of the beaten track pattern and fantom xr I use a lot of bidouills sounds on the latter.
I wanted to find some textures I could find some software and it's done just by fiddlin…. I wanted to find some textures I could find some software and it's done just by fiddling the oscilloscope.
I ride a project with other musicians using sonorits such as hang, and even the pitcher udu drums. I took me a while before I decide, not being very aware of the possibilities and especially since most of the features on subjects lend themselves Machine analog modeling confusion. I test the P08 for example, and I immediately felt comfortable, my ears students being shot p5, p, JP8. However, I see more marketing than anything else and TI's most innovative I think. FM makes beautiful things. I tried the preset that can be obtained via the website access, there's also the matter from preset and to do his taste.
At this price, I still can not believe it. Child, clear, intelligent clear when I think I hesitated with an IT desktop for double price fearing not have quick access to settings, but first I have no regrets because just press shift and the corresponding parameter right and bam you have all the settings at the speed of light in the 3 knobs, left and right and left button for pages, if you tweak together with the filter, the parameter is left continuous display settings and put themselves in harmony with the rest.
More thousands of its interchangeable online and free This synth estl'omega When we go on the Access software, we enjoy, think everything is simple, easy to use, clean, efficient, logical, seriously.
Value for money is unbeatable if you think about it because this synthesizer give you more than 10 VST Synth would,and I doubt that you resell so fast A small pipe before the end, the New checker monitors nearby Monkey Banana, German Construction costs Jewish and costs you twice in the competition for quality can be even smaller and made to take advantage of a pure listening your Virus TI Snow is the nerve center of a musical production Professional high Trampe!
The first thing about this unit that I noticed besides the sounds of it is that it is very portable. I have not seen many desktop synths built this well and still be affordable and portable. But perhaps the highlight of the new Virus TI engine is the addition of two new oscillators: Hypersaw and a true Wavetable oscillator. One nice touch is the ability to adjust which wave in the table you're using via the Wavetable Index parameter, and the waves are crossfaded to allow for smooth transitions, which works really well.
If you assign Osc 2 as a Wavetable oscillator, you can also use the FM features of the second oscillator to sonically destroy anything! Hypersaw is basically a sawtooth oscillator, except that it's able to generate up to nine sawtooth waves in parallel, and you can add more and take away these additional oscillators in real time with no glitching, which is really neat. Needless to say, this is great for huge-sounding patches, and there's a detune option on the Hypersaw oscillator to really thicken the sound, along with a sync toggle.
However, because Hypersaw is effectively 'nine oscillators in one', you can also use the Virus' Unison mode to have up to eight Hypersaw oscillators per note, which means you could have 72 oscillators per note! Or, do the same with the second oscillator and get oscillators per note, and add a bit of the sub-oscillator for bass!
This is just plain wrong, but so addictive! Other features of the new TI engine include six modulation matrix slots with one source and three destinations, giving six sources and 18 destinations in total. There are, however, a few problems that were present in the engine that Access are gradually fixing through updates. There are some issues with the arpeggiator when trying to slave the Virus to an incoming MIDI Clock signal which older Virus users may remember from previous 'first' versions , although I didn't find this a problem when using the Virus in TI mode as a plug-in, presumably since the sequencer coordinates the sample-accurate sync.
And there seems to be a problem with the tuning in the arpeggiator occasionally, which completely foxed me for a while, but I later found other users having the same problem, which has been described on forums as the 'drunken' arpeggiator.
In short, aside from a few teething troubles, the new sound engine is amazing. However, it's now time to look at the seriously impressive aspect of the new Virus — the computer integration.
Installing the Virus TI for use with your computer sequencer is easy, and although a CD-ROM is supplied containing the installation software, Access recommend checking their web site to make sure you have the current version. Once you've launched the installer, the appropriate software will be installed, and during this process Windows users will be asked to connect the Virus to a USB port on their computer Mac users can simply connect the Virus after the installation.
The Windows installer also informs you and this advice concerns both Mac and Windows users, as described in the manual that you cannot connect the TI to your computer via a USB hub — see the box over the page for more info.
Once the drivers are installed, the Windows installer will ask you to disconnect and reconnect your Virus TI, and after this the installation will be complete. If the installer is supplied with a firmware update for the Virus TI OS, the cross-platform Virus TI Firmware Update application will run for about 10 minutes, during which you can't do anything to the synth.
It's now time for the real fun to begin. This means that you can use the TI as a front end for your computer music system with no extra MIDI or audio hardware required, which is useful. And what's really nice is that the audio driver output will be mixed with the output of the Virus synth engine, which already gives you a much more integrated approach than ever before with a hardware synth. The only things I found annoying were the rough nature of the user interface for the ASIO Control Panel for Windows users see right , and the lack of documentation describing how to use it.
It's not obvious how the options should be configured, and the layout looks like a throwback from Windows 3. On the Mac side, I set the buffer size in Logic to samples approximately 3ms at There's also the all-important USB 2.
In addition to these facilities, the Polar and Keyboard models also feature a built-in PSU the Desktop has an external brick , two jack connections for Control and Hold pedals It'll look good on stage! Of course, the feature we've all been waiting for is to run the actual Virus synth engine as a plug-in. And if you're wondering whether the Virus TI can still operate as an audio and MIDI interface when running the Virus engine as a plug-in, the answer is yes — which is really, really useful!
The Virus TI's plug-in application is referred to as Virus Control , and when you start the plug-in on your host, the Virus TI will switch into Sequencer mode and no longer work as a stand-alone synth. The Virus control surface itself effectively becomes a control surface for the Virus Control plug-in, and this control is achieved by internal communication between the TI and Virus Control , so there's no additional work required by the user.
And despite the internal nature of this communication, you can still automate Virus Control with your host's own automation system.
Again, this requires no setting up: just enable automation in your host, adjust parameters on the control surface, and the host will record the movements as if you were adjusting on-screen controls directly. The beauty of this system is that you can control the plug-in at any time from the TI, regardless of which Track is selected in your host. A further mode Access have created for the Virus TI is Remote mode, and this enables the Virus' front panel to control other software instruments and effects in addition to the TI — or rather it will.
Virus Control shown overleaf appears to the user as if it were any other instrument plug-in. Behind the scenes, MIDI data from the instrument plug-in is sent to the synth engine via USB, and audio from the synth engine is sent back to Virus Control so that the plug-in outputs audio to the host application, allowing you to use other plug-in effects to further process the Virus' audio output.
Like many products running over USB, the TI seems to work variably from computer to computer, depending on configuration and host. Check out the unofficial Virus user forum at www. I fell into the latter category, aside from the non-USB related sound engine problems I've already mentioned, and a slight problem with latency.
If you're using the TI as your main audio interface as well, the audio has to travel back down the USB cable again, and although the audio would be have to be sent out by the host at this point no matter what interface you were using, I noticed the latency when using the Virus as both a plug-in and an audio interface was greater than when using another main audio device.
Even with an additional audio interface, though, you have to be careful to keep your buffer sizes small no greater than samples to keep the TI plug-in playable. However, the upside to Virus Control is that latency is only an issue when performing in real time: on playback, the TI, like any other instrument plug-in, is capable of sample-accurate operation.
And another bonus is that the audio doesn't have to be routed back to your host sequencer when using the TI in Sequencer mode. Like the Virus hardware, the Virus Control plug-in also has multiple outputs: there are two stereo outputs available to your host, and in Virus Control 's Common page, you can set whether the main and secondary audio outputs are routed to an output on the plug-in, or directly to an output on the Virus TI itself.
This latter option has a few pros and cons; firstly, it's more useful if you're using the Virus TI as your main audio device, so you don't need an additional mixer, and also, it prevents you from further processing the audio output of the Virus in your host. On the plus side, though, you could use the direct routing for real-time performance, and then switch to the plug-in's output for playback and mixing.
It's a nice touch that addresses a potential problem. Then there's the Character option, which allows the signature sound of several classic synths to be 'applied' to your Virus patch by shaping the output tone of the sound you're building.
Alongside the original mode, Analog Boost, three Vintage settings recall classic synths from yesteryear, while other settings like Lead Enhancer or Stereo Widener speak for themselves. Each setting features a range of tweakable controls and good things can happen even when you choose an 'inappropriate' setting for the sounds you build. For instance, we got some great results on lead sounds while using the Pad Opener setting. Apparently, one of the top five Virus user requests has been that the Virus software be configured to allow for sidechain inputs from within a host sequencer.
OS 3 delivers this, which means that you can assign an audio input to act as an in-DAW feed to the Virus itself. So, any stereo source can be processed through the Virus's effects, used as a vocoder input signal, or shaped using the Virus envelopes.
Is that the sound of whooping we hear? We should mention that while Snow users won't benefit from the hardware 'upgrade' to the TI, OS 3 is fully compatible, so the new effects are all yours. If you're a fan of the Virus concept to the extent that you've already bought one of the TI modules, we can officially announce that Christmas has come late or very early for you. Get to the website, download OS 3 and upon installation, you'll discover that your unit has suddenly spawned some very tasty new effects.
They've always combined great usability with a sophisticated sound that suits many different genres — and not just dance music, although they absolutely excel in that area. While each revision of the Virus keyboards and modules has added more features, polyphony and raw DSP power to the basic recipe, Access the German company that makes the Virus took quite a bold step a few years back in replacing the successful revision C models with the TI range.
In case you don't have it handy, there's a recap in the 'Totally Integrated' box. Value for money is not in question; these are phenomenal synths by any standard, and well worth their asking price. The Snow is a cute little module, measuring 28 x 15 x 5cm and weighing about 1.
Construction quality is reassuring, with a metal chassis and good-quality controls amounting to 21 momentary touch buttons and six conventional pots. There are also 18 white LEDs, but no illuminated Access logo, which might disappoint long-standing Virus lovers. The perspex-like panel that covers the x 32 pixel LCD looks the business, and overall the off-white, grey and brown finish is attractive, and goes well with an iMac and various other pieces of Apple hardware!
You'll have to decide for yourself if the wood-effect front-edge panel strip is elegant, ridiculous, or maybe even slightly ironic The Virus Control plug-in stays tightly integrated with the Snow hardware — the first time you run it it syncs all patch locations and, if necessary, updates the Snow's firmware. Supplied as standard with the Snow comes an in-line AC adaptor which is required at all times, even if you're working via the USB connection , a USB cable, a Quickstart manual in English, Spanish, German and French and, possibly a first for any synth, a shoulder bag.
This is a trendy Logstoff M4 Messenger, which is big enough to take the Snow and its associated bits and bobs, and have room left over for a few personal items. You might squeeze a inch laptop into it too, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Also, it has virtually no padding, so I'd advise against chucking it around too much when carrying the Virus. A summed mono signal is available from the right channel socket, and the left channel socket allows a pair of conventional stereo headphones to be plugged in — clever. Let's start by looking at the Snow in its role as a 'traditional' synth module, driven via MIDI by a controller keyboard or sequencer. Used this way, you essentially have a choice of two operating modes: Single an Multi.
Single, as you might expect, gives you access to just one of the Snow's patches at a time, driven by a single MIDI channel. Multi offers multi-timbral operation, where up to four parts can be assigned a separate or indeed the same MIDI channel, and have key ranges, transposition, pan position and other playback attributes defined.
You can store these setups in one of 64 Multi presets, and as each of the part 'slots' within these are separate from the single patches you won't get that annoying situation that has plagued many a synth over the years, where modifying or overwriting a patch in one multi can inadvertently wreak havoc in another.
Working in Single mode, the Snow's quite minimalist user interface is easiest to understand. Calling up banks and patches is easy and quick: hit the Bank button and you can switch between the eight ROM and eight RAM banks using the two rows of eight buttons above.
With the bank selected, the same two rows of buttons then allow you to choose from the 64 patches in each bank. After recalling a patch, the LCD prominently displays the patch name and its memory location. A patch category such as Bass, Lead, Pad and so on is also displayed, along with what looks like a mobile phone's battery indicator, which actually gives a guide to the complexity of the patch, and how 'efficient' it is in terms of polyphony.
Then, along the bottom of the LCD, three parameter names are shown, corresponding with the three 'soft' knobs beneath the LCD. As you can guess, these give easy access to various synth parameters, but while some patches have the knobs assigned to familiar parameters like filter cutoff and pulse width, in other patches it gets a little more arcane: 'elevate', 'scream', 'destroy', 'infect' and 'hype' were some of the more unusual names I spotted. These knobs are supplemented with dedicated filter cutoff and resonance knobs which, via a shift key, also adjust filter and amp envelope amounts, and taken as a whole they allow a surprising amount of flexibility while demanding almost zero synth-programming knowledge!
I couldn't discern any 'stepping' of values when sweeping the knobs either, and everything seemed super-smooth.
To get beyond this admittedly rather shallow editing depth there are two ways you can go, depending on how much control you want. The key to both is the Edit button. Hit and release the button and the Snow invites you to select an Edit Menu — that means pressing one of the upper row of eight buttons, reading the names printed beneath, such as Osc 1, Osc 2, Filters, Mod and so on.
The Snow then displays an 'easy' edit screen offering up to three of the most important and 'powerful' parameters associated with that part of the synth architecture, which can then be adjusted with the knobs beneath the LCD.
When you've finished tweaking one set of parameters you can press one of the other seven buttons to move on to more, or press Exit to finish.
It's a beautiful system that gives you real power to tweak or even completely transform a patch in no time at all, while cutting through the complexity of the synth architecture.
When Easy editing doesn't provide enough control, a variation on the same approach gives you access to every single parameter that makes up a Virus patch. This time you press and hold the Edit key before selecting the button corresponding to which part of the patch you want to edit.
Now, with so many more parameters on offer, the LCD shows three at a time, and a pair of bottom row buttons marked 'Parameters' are used to cycle through screenfuls of parameters.
The potential for getting lost here is greater, but is still minimised by clear labelling in the LCD. Editing sounds in Multi mode works in exactly the same way, except that the Multi menu parameters are now enabled, and you can use the Part button followed by buttons one to four on the bottom row of eight to select which part you want to edit. The soft-synth-like behaviour lets you automate synth parameters really easily — no messing about with MIDI continuous controller values here — and because Virus Control settings are saved in your DAW's project files, you can enjoy total recall of Virus settings as you open them.
And the load on your computer's CPU? Nothing, of course, or at least next to nothing. But what if you're not a computer-based DAW user, or you want to gig with your Virus as well?
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