KVR :: Instruments » Is it something to bet on a Virus synth? [View Original Topic]
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mikedw - Sat Apr 07, 2012 11:59 am

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Is it something to bet on a Virus synth?

Or you can replace it with the software, find soft synths sound worse.

What you think...

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rob_lee - Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:07 pm

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The Virus is a Virus, if you have one keep hold of it.. i have the TI Snow and will have the Polar again next month (i always regretted selling) just my opinion here, i love hardware synths and i have not found a replacement in software for the Virus although im sure people will tell you otherwise here.

Virus all the way mate

Rob

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vaisnava - Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:12 pm

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The virus is just a fun dream machine to program... I loved mine and miss it dearly. However, the thing I love about software is the instant recall of VSTi's and such. Always as I left it... I imagine the TI series is similar, but I never had a chance to play with one.

$.02

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rob_lee - Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:15 pm

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Agreed, however with the Virus Control in the newer TI range this lets you recall just as a vsti. I can't wait to get my new one next month

Rob

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dsynth27 - Sat Apr 07, 2012 1:51 pm

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I agree with Rob and others...I love my Virus TI and I have not found a VSTi that can replace it. I have most of the best VSTi but the Virus has a great smooth sound and character imo.

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aMUSEd - Sat Apr 07, 2012 1:55 pm

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Me too - I'm playing one of Howard Scarr's great patches on it right now. I have many great plugins and several other great hardware synths but the Ti is so versatile and very playable. Plus Access are brilliant for constantly updating and developing it - new OS 5 just on the horizon with yet more new filters etc

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Bronto Scorpio - Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:01 pm

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The Virus can't really be replaced imo. It has many great, unique features and they are constantly adding more since years.
It simply sounds great too imo! And it is WAY more then a trance machine!

One day I'll get one

I wouldn't say that softsynths sound worse though.
There just isn't another synth (software or hardware) which sounds like a Virus. Just like a violin doesn't sound like a piano, none of them is better, just different.

A Virus will never replace Zebra or Diva for example, but they won't replace the Virus neither.

Cheers
Dennis

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aMUSEd - Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:22 pm

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Video showing off new filters and other stuff:

http://virus.info/page/render/lang/en/p/1/do/The_Virus_TI___Totally_Integrated_Synthesizers.html

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JPQ - Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:02 pm

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I want know more these unique things?
ps. i so rare this replace thing when we talk success.

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4damind - Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:06 am

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It can be replaced and many do that with Massive, Zebra, etc. It sounds not better or more "analog" or stuff. It's a good sounding digital synth with a lot of options and yes, it's a bit a standard synth for trance guys (IMO you will not find a known trance guy without a Virus )

I like my Virus but I like my Nord Lead more

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Howard - Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:20 am

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Ingonator - Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:29 am

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I wanted to sell my Virus TI desktop (which i got since around 2005/2006 i think) since around one year or more but so far i did not get the guts to finally sell it. Based on the many bugs in the past the Virus TI and me is a little bit a love & hate relationship.

BTW when i purchased the TI desktop i had a Virus KC keyboard at the same time which i got around 2004 (i sold a Jupiter 8 to buy the Virus KC BTW...).

If i should finally decide to sell the TI i would sample the hell out of it before. Some Hypersaw samples i already used in Synthmaster and PPG Wave 3.V.

I guess it's like with a Moog synth. If you want the Moog sound, get a real one (i got a Slim Phatty last year..) and if you want the Virus sound get a Virus...

Anyway with softsynth like e.g. Synthmaster 2.5 you could already come very close but will still miss a few features of the Virus TI and of course it will be difficult to exactly replicate the wavetables of the TI.


Ingo

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:55 am

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I know this is stretching your analogy in a way that you didn't necessarily intend, but...

How many people here would be able to identify a violin and a piano in a blind test?

How many would be able to identify a filter sweep, bass or pad as being from a Virus in a blind test?

(for an answer to the second, see the many guess the synth threads )

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tehlord - Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:00 am

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10 print "Teh Virus IS a softsynth"
20 goto 10

Run


Teh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynthTeh Virus IS a softsynth



It's just a really good one with a cool dongle.

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:05 am

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ftfy

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Ingonator - Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:17 am

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This is what i would call an expensive dongle (no instruments included):
http://www.sonic-core.net/shop/product_info.php?info=p172_SCOPE-XITE-1.html




Ingo

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izonin - Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:23 am

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Virus threads vs. Diva threads.

Quality comes at a price, be it $$$ or CPU cycles.

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:29 am

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Cripes!

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:32 am

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Short answer: Yes

Longer answer: The Virus C really was the best thing since sliced bread when it came out - great sound quality, usability and power at a time when contemporary native plugin synths, still in their infancy, were pretty crude. The idea that there was "nothing better than a Virus" had some justification.

In the intervening years plugins have equalled or bettered (mostly the latter) the Virus on every measure - flexibility, sound quality, usability, affordability...

Yet the "nothing better than a Virus" meme persists. But that is all it is, a meme.

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:40 am

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But over time CPU cycles get cheaper, roughly halving in price every 18 months. The various incarnations of the Virus have not.

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Ingonator - Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:57 am

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New features (for free) have been added with every major OS update of the TI. Now you could even use the Arpeggiator pattern as a mod source so you could do some wave sequencing stuff when used with the wavetables.

The DSP power has been upgraded too when the changed from the TI to the TI2 (which was the only hardware upgrade since a very long time).


Ingo

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:05 am

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Yep, and new features get added to native plugins for free too - and those updates can be more frequent and add more features than the infrequent, somewhat limited updates you see with the Virus.

The innovation is in native software these days - Access are just playing catch up.

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tehlord - Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:13 am

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The way I see it (and I have owned a Virus Ti) is that Access need to make the Virus VST truly work the same way that any other VST does. Being able to open only one instance with only 3 outputs severely restricts it's usability imo, and it was the main reason I sold the Ti. Take that feature away and you're left with a great sounding, but fairly standard instrument.

It also needs a huge increase in DSP power to justify the cost, otherwise standard VST plugins are just so much more convenient, and equally as powerful. The Virus does have a unique flavour but i'd never buy a new one. It's just too much money.

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kmonkey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:17 am

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As usual bunch of good advices and hell lot of techgeek idiosyncratic nonsense in these kind of threads..

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osiris - Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:18 am

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One word: Cell......
Another word: NO!

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samsam - Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:22 am

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Dongle:


Virus:


You're doing it wrong.

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izonin - Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:22 am

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But if we talk purely about sound, the Virus is still way ahead of it's VSTi clones. Soundtoys' Filterfreak is the only filter that matches the quality of TI's ones. With polyphony in mind, even if Access released a Virus plug-in, you wouldn't be able to run it even on a fast machine.

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:34 am

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[on second thoughts...forget it]

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themachinelt - Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:38 am

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Massive, Audjoo Helix probably You can aswel add Dune

Still Virus has some of the features and that flavor...but with mentioned VSTs you can mimic that Virus flavor.

If you want roland, get sylenth1

I have virus ti snow for few years, and still its kinda the main stynth for the main sounds.

Its core sound just gets in the mixdown so well that you basicly find hard to change with something else (even you can), i suppose virus still have some charm, some power....Hell maybe it has some "hidden frequency" like in 25th frame theory ?

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aMUSEd - Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:50 am

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Actually it comes with a lot of instruments and fx

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jupiter8 - Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:01 am

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Why not ?

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Bronto Scorpio - Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:04 am

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Again, I'm not saying the Virus sounds better than VSTs but it sounds unique.
Check the Grain- and Formant Oscillators video: http://virus.info/page/render/lang/en/p/15/do/Support_contact_and_resources.html

Please do that with, Dune, Sylenth, Zebra....

The only VSTs which have similar features are Massive and Zebra but they sound completely different.
Most people still seem to think the Virus can only do trancey "Hyperswas", that's really not true! I completely agree that these trancey sounds can easily be replaced with VSTs.

Cheers
Dennis

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osiris - Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:15 am

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Oh goody, a Virus Easter thread....


Deja Vu, Jamais Vu
Let's call the whole thing off...

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CT - Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:35 am

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Similar story here. Had a TI2 but sold it. Felt much lighter after selling it, and richer too

Bought a bunch of soft synths thereafter, including alchemy, zebra, dune, twin 2, synth squad. And still had enough money left for a pair of decent monitor speakers. One major plus point about all the hype surrounding viruses (or virii ) is that they have good re sale value

Couldn't be happier.

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:40 am

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Sorry Dennis, I have to respectfully disagree with you there.

In the grand scheme of things the differences in sound between VA synths are really not *so* great. If they were that obvious, the various guess the synth threads here would not end up as the more-or-less random lists that they all do.

And I watched the Virus vowel filter vid and don't hear anything startlingly unique there - at least I'm not sure that, without reference to known examples, I'd be able to recognise it next to Zebra doing something similar.

(Btw, in that recent Diva/guess-the-synth thread I managed to convince someone that Diva has a "very good vowel filter" - so getting one synth with a vowel filter [and loads of other tricks] to sound close enough to another synth with a vowel filter isn't likely to be so difficult.)

...couldn't find the "grain" vid on the Access site, but I'm willing to bet you could find a plugin that would get you in similar sonic territory.

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liquid wind - Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:44 am

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That's why the hype is so maddening really, the synth is versatile and worth a lot of respect, but the unshakable "does it sound like a virus?" meme is geared mostly towards a particular sound that dozens of other synths can do. Good synth with way too much obnoxious mysticism surrounding it.

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osiris - Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:45 am

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Was that Diva? Cause you know that was me...I thought it was that piano pluggy......
I still stand by what I said. It sounded like a very good vowel filter.

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:57 am

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I do now (had to go and check) - yes it was Diva.


Not sure which bit you were referring to - the choir or the talk box bass - but thanks anyway.

And that wasn't a dig at your expense. It was more an illustration of how supposedly very unique, identifiable sounding synths are anything but when tested blind. I've never guessed one right yet.

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Bronto Scorpio - Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:58 am

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No problem! That's why we are here, to discuss things. And to feed our GAS I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Boesendorfer and a Steinway without reference, can we burn all Steinways now?

If you go down that route you probably only need Synth1 (there is even some truth to that).

The Virus is different than Zebra just like Diva is different than Zebra.
All 3 have their uses

Cheers
Dennis

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Bronto Scorpio - Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:58 am

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This!

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4damind - Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:08 am

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I think this is not true. Access is not the only company able to design filter algorithms. There are a lot developers with the same or better knowledge.
U-he, Fabfilter, FXPansion, Tone2 are only some companies with excellent filters.

TI has 2 Motorola DSP I guess, this is not the same processing power like a actual Intel CPU. I expect that a Virus plug-in would not use more CPU than NI Massive or U-He Diva with highest oversampling rate.
It's not the processing power it's more the realtime behavior and how processing power will be shared between different processes (and interrupted).
With a Virus you will not have the problem that other processes will interrupt operations. You have no boot time, no problems with latency or bad developed plugins crashing the host.

But also Access is not free of problems. Their operating systems for the Virus had a lot of bugs with every release. I remember it needs some releases to have a proper timing with OS6.5 for the Virus C and the Virus TI was full of problems and bugs when released. Access is not better than others, they are not developing better or more stable software than others or have more knowledge than others.

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:10 am

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Haha - yes, that's a closer analogy than violin/piano.

Burning all Steinways might be taking it a bit far - but I certainly wouldn't recommend someone buy one if there were much cheaper and equally-good/better pianos available.

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izonin - Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:19 am

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Because quality filters use a lot of CPU cycles. Try running 32 instances of Filterfreak, and you'll see.

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chk071 - Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:25 am

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I'm pretty sure you can reproduce most of the more versatile sounds you're talking about on other synths/soft synths too. It's just that many trance sounds, arpeggios, supersaws or whatever are pretty much standards of sound design which just get produced/reproduced a lot.

Not sure why there's so many threads like "which soft synth to replace synth x" either though, every synth, be it hardware or software, sounds slightly or completely different. The pure fact that there's no "which hardware synth to replace my plugin" should show that there's pretty much of a irrational hype about hardware synths. I can understand it to a certain degree though, nothing beats real "hands on" feeling...

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tectonica - Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:27 am

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As info:
One instance of the Virus Powercore Vst-Plugin (compares to Virus B, up to 16Voices + effects ) also even runs on only one single Motorola-DSP of a TC Powercore Element.
It's old Dsps have 100Mhz each.

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izonin - Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:30 am

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Are you comparing Massive's filters and the Virus TI's filters? And yes, Diva's filters are excellent. In divine mode they use 5-10 times more cycles than Massive's.

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Bronto Scorpio - Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:42 am

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Fair enough! I completely agree that the Virus is a bit to expensive but is has it's place nontheless.
If someone would ask me if he should buy Zebra or a Virus I'd recommend Zebra without even thinking! WAY more value for money.

Completely unrelated: Some Diva trance
Diva Mono Trance

Cheers
Dennis

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tectonica - Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:56 am

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Indeed I agree with you on this I really love Zebra and it's possibilities.
But on the other side the Virus really brings a big load of Presets with it, that must be found or bought for Zebra on the other side. Even for somebody not so keen on programming synths, this is a + for the Virus, imho.

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jupiter8 - Sun Apr 08, 2012 5:01 am

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What's FilterFreak got to do with the Access Virus ? They don't run the same algorithms.

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izonin - Sun Apr 08, 2012 5:11 am

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I think that, sonically, Filterfreak is very close to the filters in the TI. It has the same liquid, musical character. Maybe the code isn't identical, but the basic algorithms must be pretty close.

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jupiter8 - Sun Apr 08, 2012 5:20 am

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Doubt it. Fact is the processors in the Virus are orders of magnitude slower than an ordinary Intel CPU. There are plugins that runs on both and the instance counts on the DSPs are way lower than they are on a CPU. As a quick comparison The Glue will run 1 or 2 instances on the latest PT HDX chip,how many can an Intel I2600 run ? 100 ?

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 5:29 am

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izonin's posts in the indistinguishable from hardware thread are informative - bit of a saga, but worth a read

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izonin - Sun Apr 08, 2012 5:38 am

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Hmm, I don't see why the guys from Soundtoys, ex-Eventide employees, who worked on the H3000, would use a less CPU efficient algorithm, than the one in the TI. I've tried recreating basic Virus patches with Filterfreak, and could instantly match the sound.

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izonin - Sun Apr 08, 2012 5:44 am

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Yep, I was the only one who took the time to download the ensemble demo and study it in Reaktor.

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dsynth27 - Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:30 am

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If this Virus is overrated just don't buy one! I love mine and all of my softsynths also...you are not going to convince anyone that the Virus is not worth it! If you have the scratch (cash) and love the sound buy it! If not, or are not into the sound buy a softsynth that you think can replace it or in your opinion is better for whatever reason and be happy!

Many of us here and elsewhere love the Virus sound and softsynths too....but it is only fair to comment if you have owned one and many people that dislike the Virus have never used one for a significant enough time to honestly comment. These people have already decided that the the Virus is a dongle, can be replaced by software etc., does not sound great, too expensive, overrated!

It is a great synth that has a character that is difficult to replace without jumping through many hoops...I use what works in a track and I always use the Virus for at least one sound...along with my softsynths. Just do what works and use the sounds you are happy with....

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DevonB - Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:49 am

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I find the "plugin x is cheaper than a Virus" comparisons silly. The Virus is a computer, a sound card, some models have the keyboard, essentially the "host" (can't play a VSTi without some host at least), plus the sound engine/effects processor all in one. How much did you pay for your PC, the OS it runs, the host you're running in, the sound "card", and keyboard controller you're using, all of which are relative to the "cost" comparison. Obviously this argument goes for any hardware synth, not just the Virus.

I know what I paid for my Computer, OS, Host, Keyboard, and Sound card was far more expensive than most hardward synths at the end of the day. And that's before adding any VSTi's to the mix. It's only when you start to buy more VSTi's that the cost ratio comes down, and that's not the topic of conversation either...

As for "quality", I tend to look at synths as they have "a quality", more than "the quality" (think "she has blonde hair" as "a quality" vs. "she's a pretty blonde" as "the quality".) The former is more based on facts and the later more based on opinion. Adding both to the discussion becomes far more interesting than just the later.

BTW - I like the Virus, and have owned a Virus. They do have a great synth.

Devon

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liquid wind - Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:57 am

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People who own hardware synths don't buy computers?

huh, learn something new every day...

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cryophonik - Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:01 am

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Ugh, don't you people get sick of rehashing the same old boring Virus-vs-softsynths thread every freaking week? The arguments never change, so why not just make it a sticky and be done with it?

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:02 am

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I wouldn't want to be open to criticisms of unfairness or dishonesty - would three years be long enough? That's how long I had mine.

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trimph1 - Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:05 am

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Good Grief.

Get over yourselves. Sheeesh.

Why do you people come up with Virus vs this that and the other softsynth sequel all the time?

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dsynth27 - Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:13 am

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Right! +1 - Agreed!!

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hakey - Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:13 am

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why do people feel the need to so loudly profess their lack of interest in a discussion?

sheesh etc...

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dsynth27 - Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:18 am

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Reread what I wrote..I do not care if you like it or not. Just respect what others decide to use is my take. There is no way you can prove an opinion. It is best to stick to the facts. The fact is all of these tools are great and we are all lucky to have these tools compared to years past. Just use what is best for you....that does not require you trying to prove one synth being "the best". I am interested in this discussion but not when it gets silly!

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S0lo - Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:28 am

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If budget is a concern, have a look at the Waldorf Blofeld. Comparably very good, and using it is child's play while you can still go deep.

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cryophonik - Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:30 am

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The same reason we tell people to use the search function when they ask a commonly asked question, the same reason Mac/PC threads are locked, the same reason that concurrent threads discussing the same topic are merged, etc. It's obviously not about a lack of interest, it's about redundancy. And, yes, this topic has been discussed to death here.

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pdxindy - Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:27 am

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Yeah, there is nothing quite like clicking through layers of menus on tiny lcd screens

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pdxindy - Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:32 am

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Hey It has been at least 2 weeks this time!!!

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pdxindy - Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:35 am

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Apparently not

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izonin - Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:00 am

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To Virus or not to Virus?

This is a fundamental question, when it comes to trance production. Would Armin van Buuren's tracks sound as good as Orjan Nilsen's, if he used the TI too? At least, when you don't own one, you can blame the crappy VSTi's.

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osiris - Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:08 am

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I think Armin uses ES2

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tehlord - Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:18 am

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That needs a dongle too






/ruuuuuuuns

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Bronto Scorpio - Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:20 am

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osiris - Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:34 am

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Kriminal - Sun Apr 08, 2012 10:54 am

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the formner is not based on facts, its opinion.
'she has blonde hair' is 'a fact', saying its 'a quality' is an opinion.

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metalifuxx - Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:24 am

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Q: How many trolls does it take to start one more virus vs software thread?
A: Any, and all of them, at any time.

Q: How many trolls know how to use the KVR forum search?
A: None of them.

"I cantz make Trancez withouts V1rus. Plug1ns are sh!te...Pleaze Help"

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dsynth27 - Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:50 pm

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DevonB - Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:07 pm

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Being blonde is as much of a quality as being a brunette, redhead, or bald.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quality?s=t





Devon

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JimmiG - Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:51 pm

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DSP chips are more about cost savings than pure performance - they're less complex and more specialized so they can run with a simpler general purpose CPU for control (typically a 16-bit microprocessor), a smaller operating system using less memory (measured in kilobytes rather than megabytes or gigabytes), and they produce much less heat than Intel or AMD chips (nobody wants a noisy fan in their synth). In terms of pure processing power they're nowhere near even a several years old general purpose CPU from AMD or Intel, though they're optimized for exactly the types of instructions you need for real-time audio processing. Most DSP chips are around 500 MIPS (million instructions per second) or less. Even the CPU in your iPhone is several times more powerful than that (I'm guessing around 3 to 4,000 MIPS in the latest model). Intel CPUs do 80,000 MIPS or more.

It's all in the algorithms. Those used in the Virus are
1) Very efficient
2) Very high quality
3) Proprietary, with the source code only known to Access developers

#1 is why the Virus can have up to 100 voices with just two simple DSP chips (the same type used in surround sound receivers, cheap stereo systems with digital effects etc.). A port to native x86 code could never be that efficient, but with lots of Assembly/SSE code it could be done with a few percent CPU usage (Zebra, Sylenth1, Dune etc. are all ~1-2% CPU for simple chords on a modern CPU.

#2 is why it sounds so good.

#3 is why no clone will ever sound exactly the same regardless of how much processing power is available.

I'm thankful that different developers have developed their own algorithms. If all plugins had filters and oscillators that sounded exactly like the Virus, it would be a very boring world.

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mbncp - Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:44 pm

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The TI2 Polar makes a great balcony synth for these hot summer nights. Add a huge fan, some drinks, an iThing and you're set for some good fun.

For producing sw is probably easier to deal with, but if you are a balcony guy, go for the virus.

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themachinelt - Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:01 pm

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I kinda disagree, check Lexicon reverbs released for PC. They take sooo small amount of power, yet sounding great and having lexicon flavor

p.s. now was thinking...if our cellphones CPUs are so powerful, why virus is still on old DSP chip :X

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tehlord - Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:08 pm

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I'd hazard a guess that it's because these threads are usually started by people who are already using softsynths, and want to know if buying a Virus will turn them into Armin.

It's the Virus that these questions are always about. When was the last time you saw the same question about a Blofeld/Lead/Motif/Prophet?

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xamido - Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:21 pm

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Everytime of the week this kind of question appear. It's amusing how it's always the same people debating.

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mcnoone - Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:22 pm

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Yes it's something.
I'll bet 50 bucks on the virus.

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4damind - Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:26 pm

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Funny thing is that it seems that Armin doesn't use very much the Virus. His main keyboard is a Nord Lead. In his studio session videos he mentioned more the Fabfilter synth and stuff.
The trance guys which are for many a bit the "big boys" Infected Mushroom using more Nord Modular, Surge. Amit Duvdevani doesn't remember about the name/version of this "thing" in the rackspace (Virus TI) in a actual studio video... It seems the Virus has today not this usage people expect.

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mkdr - Mon Apr 09, 2012 12:28 am

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500 MIPS is very fast for a DSP chip.. The original Virus B (16 part, 24 voices) runs on a 150MHZ dsp that can produce a peak of 270 MIPS.


Which is crippled down by bad software, yes. Most of the crunching on mobile phones is anyway related to graphics, which is run on a separate dsp-chip.. also known as a gpu.

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izonin - Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:23 am

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Not Armin, but Orjan Nilsen! That guy knows how to use the Virus and his tracks are pure heaven.

Armin mostly uses Twin2 and V-Station for his latest stuff.

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Kriminal - Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:27 am

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only picking the definition to suit you, nicely done, whereas the 'quality' you actually meant was very diff

qual·i·ty (kwl-t)
n. pl. qual·i·ties
1.
a. An inherent or distinguishing characteristic; a property.
b. A personal trait, especially a character trait: "The most vital quality a soldier can possess is self-confidence" (George S. Patton).
2. Essential character; nature: "The quality of mercy is not strain'd" (Shakespeare).
3.
a. Superiority of kind: an intellect of unquestioned quality.
b. Degree or grade of excellence: yard goods of low quality.
4.
a. High social position.
b. Those in a high social position.
5. Music Timbre, as determined by harmonics: a voice with a distinctive metallic quality.
6. Linguistics The character of a vowel sound determined by the size and shape of the oral cavity and the amount of resonance with which the sound is produced.
7. Logic The positive or negative character of a proposition.
adj.
Having a high degree of excellence: the importance of quality health care.

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tehlord - Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:27 am

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Armin was just a name I plucked out of the aether, it's just an illustration that a lot of people will think they need a Virus as it's the only way to sound like producer X

And just for the record, Nilsen stated that Sylenth1 was pretty much a replacement for the Virus for 'that' sound. I came to the same conclusion 2 years ago when I sold my Ti.

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izonin - Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:32 am

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Yeah, I saw that video too. Only I hated the sound he made with Sylenth1. Not that it's a bad VSTi, just the Virus has some magic in its code.

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izonin - Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:48 am

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Blofeld and Largo use the same code. Some Largo patches can be very CPU intensive, and I don't think that the DSP chip in Blofeld is quite as powerful as the one in Virus Ti. So, it's easy to imagine that a Virus VSTi would require a very fast CPU.

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GeorgeZ - Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:06 am

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Ye, funny that! They never seem to consider that the actual song needs to be worth something as well Well, that's how SW and HW companies make money of course... selling millions of copies / units to dreamers with no clue Classic.

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rob_lee - Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:08 am

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LOL George

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jupiter8 - Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:10 am

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The Virus PowerCore ran 16 voices on a single Motorola chip. The Novation V-Station PowerCore ran 8 voices on a single Motorola chip. The Novation V-Station VST ran fine fine on my Pentium 4,you do the math.

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izonin - Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:15 am

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The PoCo Virus was a 1999 Virus B ....

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jupiter8 - Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:18 am

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I know. The TI has got much faster DSPs,on the other hand it does 80 voices compared to the 24 of the B which tells me the load per voice isn't that much different.

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kmonkey - Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:23 am

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Yuo forgot to mention that Poco has different FX section, reverb is entirely different sounding, filter types are different, sound is different etc. Worth to mention

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izonin - Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:24 am

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I still think that it will use 2-3 times more cycles than Largo. But, yeah, maybe less cycles than Diva.

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jupiter8 - Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:33 am

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The Motorola DSP56311 does 150 MIPS according to Motorola themselves (up to 270 actually using The Enhanced Filter Coprocessor (EFCOP)) , the dual Freescale DSPB56367PV150 in the TI does 300 MIPS (which is odd since that means the actual DSP isn't faster,there's just more of them).

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jupiter8 - Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:34 am

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Compared to the hardware Virus ? I doubt that,why would they do that ?

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izonin - Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:38 am

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It's difficult to compare chips with different architecture. A 500MHz video card with a parallel processing GPU will run DirectX faster than a 3GHz Intel CPU.

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