Looking for Access Virus emulations

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I listened to a soundset of the Novation Supernova some days ago, and while the oscillators sounded ok (not exactly great though), i was like wow, VA has come a long, long way... especially the sound of the filter and the envelopes have so much more bang nowadays that it isn't funny anymore. That said the Supernova is from 1998-2000 though, so it would be more fair to compare a more modern VA hardware synths with nowadays soft synth. but i'm pretty sure everything made before 2004 would pretty much suck in comparison. The Virus filter and envelopes bang pretty well though. :)

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Just searched for some details about the Virus TI OS 5 that is the latset major OS version. The first OS 5.x version seemed to be released in 2012 and here ar some details:

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/ ... envelopes/

So this added more filter modes to the 3rd filter that is found in the FX section (up to 4 parameters could be modulated) and 2 new envelopes (originally teh TI/TI2 had only 2 envelopes).

A cool thing at Access Music is taht besides tons of free soundbanks taht you could download at the website for free after installing the TI software (including the drivers and teh plugin) you also get some tutorial banks including patches that show the use of new features that were added to the latest OS. Those banks are usually available in the browser of the plugin.
Last edited by Ingonator on Fri May 22, 2015 7:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Ingo Weidner
Win 10 Home 64-bit / mobile i7-7700HQ 2.8 GHz / 16GB RAM //
Live 10 Suite / Cubase Pro 9.5 / Pro Tools Ultimate 2021 // NI Komplete Kontrol S61 Mk1

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to OP
you dont need virus to move forward music-wise. seriously. the same money will buy more possibilities/options in software realm. actually if you think of something special in hardware have a look at roland v synth. rack version can be snapped for similar money.

total integration actually failed for me and i consider it as a software editor. it may be just me but i have never managed to sync ti reliably across the whole project without printing parts as i go.

shame waldorf abandoned the idea of blofeld vsti interface...

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bronxsound wrote:to OP
you dont need virus to move forward music-wise. seriously. the same money will buy more possibilities/options in software realm. actually if you think of something special in hardware have a look at roland v synth. rack version can be snapped for similar money.

total integration actually failed for me and i consider it as a software editor. it may be just me but i have never managed to sync ti reliably across the whole project without printing parts as i go.

shame waldorf abandoned the idea of blofeld vsti interface...
Like the Virus TI the Blofeld is insanely powerful in terms of features.

There seem to be 3rd party Blofeld plugins (VST and/or Max 4 Live) but there is no audio transmission via USB yet which is needed for full integration like in the TI.
Last edited by Ingonator on Fri May 22, 2015 11:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Ingo Weidner
Win 10 Home 64-bit / mobile i7-7700HQ 2.8 GHz / 16GB RAM //
Live 10 Suite / Cubase Pro 9.5 / Pro Tools Ultimate 2021 // NI Komplete Kontrol S61 Mk1

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i am not aware of any usable and well executed one for blo. i spoke at some point with waldorf team and they were apparently working on something. but it was a few years back.

anyway, today there are so many quality vstis and vsts so cant be bothered with hardware pretending to integrate with DAW.

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bronxsound wrote:i am not aware of any usable and well executed one for blo. i spoke at some point with waldorf team and they were apparently working on something. but it was a few years back.

anyway, today there are so many quality vstis and vsts so cant be bothered with hardware pretending to integrate with DAW.
In the future there should be indeed a successor for the Blofeld, not sure when this will be and which features it will have.
Ingo Weidner
Win 10 Home 64-bit / mobile i7-7700HQ 2.8 GHz / 16GB RAM //
Live 10 Suite / Cubase Pro 9.5 / Pro Tools Ultimate 2021 // NI Komplete Kontrol S61 Mk1

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For occasional "click & pops" when using the Virus TI via USB only (did happen easily wit hearkly OS versions but did not seem to happen for everyone...) there currently seem to be two solutions:

- install the latest Virus TI OS and drivers (currently OS 5.1.1 Public Beta from the end of last year or 5.0.8 final)
- disabling USB selective suspend in windows power options : this is currently offerd by the TO software installer to be done automatically. This seemed to help many people that had probems in the past.

I had done both here (on Windows 7 64-bit) now and currently it seems to run very smoothly. For the audio output i use my Focusrite Saffire audio interface, not the TI as aan audio interface (which is possible too...).
It also seems to be necessary to use the TI directly at an USB port, not with a Hub.

Besides using the VST2 plugin for the TI feature at Windows there is also an option to use the VST3 if you got a compatible host.

Of course there is always the option to use the synth without any computer using standard MIDI (or the keyboard version) and the analog outputs. Sometimes using the Virus TI that way could be nice too... :)
Last edited by Ingonator on Sat May 23, 2015 10:46 am, edited 2 times in total.
Ingo Weidner
Win 10 Home 64-bit / mobile i7-7700HQ 2.8 GHz / 16GB RAM //
Live 10 Suite / Cubase Pro 9.5 / Pro Tools Ultimate 2021 // NI Komplete Kontrol S61 Mk1

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I found it similar Bronxsound.
Eventually Access got the arp to sync in DAW-
however, I can't play it live with the plugin editor open-
it's just too much delay/latency

Mine gets a big tick from me though, coz I have been using it as a soundcard for more than 5 years,
and all of it still works.

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bronxsound wrote:i spoke at some point with waldorf team and they were apparently working on something.
Image

:drool:
"I was wondering if you'd like to try Magic Mushrooms"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"

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nix808 wrote:I found it similar Bronxsound.
Eventually Access got the arp to sync in DAW-
however, I can't play it live with the plugin editor open-
it's just too much delay/latency

Mine gets a big tick from me though, coz I have been using it as a soundcard for more than 5 years,
and all of it still works.
same here. i use snow as an audio interface. and it does it really well.
having also c rack i must say i preferred using more than snow.

i appreciate what ingo says. it might be just me. however problems occur on two setups regardless the os config.

i am not saying anything against virus (well it costed me leg and arm) but workflow wise i would put korg micro x as a good solution. in terms of integrating into the setup. no audio via usb. true. but the vsti panel is comprehensive. no lags. no session restore issues. simply brilliant. and i can live with recording it as an audio track. unfortunately it is dead now for 64bit os. so at the end there's always something which disappoints.

i think that someone who would develop well thought out vsti interfaces for hw units could still earn a few bucks these days.

ok. i am moaning too much i guess...

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bronxsound wrote:
nix808 wrote:I found it similar Bronxsound.
Eventually Access got the arp to sync in DAW-
however, I can't play it live with the plugin editor open-
it's just too much delay/latency

Mine gets a big tick from me though, coz I have been using it as a soundcard for more than 5 years,
and all of it still works.
same here. i use snow as an audio interface. and it does it really well.
having also c rack i must say i preferred using more than snow.

i appreciate what ingo says. it might be just me. however problems occur on two setups regardless the os config.

i am not saying anything against virus (well it costed me leg and arm) but workflow wise i would put korg micro x as a good solution. in terms of integrating into the setup. no audio via usb. true. but the vsti panel is comprehensive. no lags. no session restore issues. simply brilliant. and i can live with recording it as an audio track. unfortunately it is dead now for 64bit os. so at the end there's always something which disappoints.

i think that someone who would develop well thought out vsti interfaces for hw units could still earn a few bucks these days.

ok. i am moaning too much i guess...
Got the "normal" TI desktop here and AFAIK the Snow also has less DSP power (wher teh TI2 is te most powerful) which could maybe lead to certain trouble too. The Snow seems to have a single DSp while the TI desktop has two and teh TI2 has also 2 but more powerful ones.

Anyway i guess there are a bunch of factors that could be onvolved for making the total integration working properly which could lead to different expperineces for different users.
Anyway it seems to be a good idea to laways use teh latest OS version and not to use the TI USB at a hub.
another point is that except for testing purposes i usually never used the TI as an audio interface but used a dedicated interface for the output (at the moment a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP.

Anyway besides the total integration the editor for the TI sems to work great for programming patches and it is very useful or even essential for using the additional features that were added over the years and which have no dedicated controls at the hardware (like e.g. the 2 new envelopes and the new filters at the filter bank in the FX section).

The TI dekstop with the latest OS versions contains 4 RAM banks and 26 (!!) ROM banks (which are possible to overwrite with a certain tool) which was much fewer in the first OS versions. Not sure how much banks are included in the TI Snow.
Last edited by Ingonator on Sat May 23, 2015 12:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ingo Weidner
Win 10 Home 64-bit / mobile i7-7700HQ 2.8 GHz / 16GB RAM //
Live 10 Suite / Cubase Pro 9.5 / Pro Tools Ultimate 2021 // NI Komplete Kontrol S61 Mk1

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Are this Russian guys still working on a Virus emulation? I remember about some sound snippets and stuff but I have not followed this threads a lot.
Ok, there is of course the question if there are so many people really need this? I own a Virus C/XL and use it very rarely and like some of the newer plug-ins a lot more.
For a new hardware synth I would not buy a Virus today, maybe a Jupiter 80, Prophet 08/12, Nord 4 etc. but a Virus? So my interest for a Virus emulation is also very limited.

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4damind wrote:Are this Russian guys still working on a Virus emulation? I remember about some sound snippets and stuff but I have not followed this threads a lot.
Ok, there is of course the question if there are so many people really need this? I own a Virus C/XL and use it very rarely and like some of the newer plug-ins a lot more.
For a new hardware synth I would not buy a Virus today, maybe a Jupiter 80, Prophet 08/12, Nord 4 etc. but a Virus? So my interest for a Virus emulation is also very limited.
IMO the feature sets of a Virus C and a TI (or TI2) are hardly comparable, especially if you take the features into account that were added with the OS updates of the TI of the last 9 years (like eg. the 3rd multimode filter with a bunch of advanced modes and the 2 new full featured envelopes 3+4 with OS 5.x).
FWIW in 2006 when i got the TI desktop i had a Virus KC keyboard at the same time that i sold shortly after that.

Speaking about the Hypersaw feature in the TI this is IMO hard to replace with an Unison like in the previous Virus models (and the Unison which is also included with teh TI needs much more DSP power...).

Of course also the wavetable part of teh TI that was enhanced with later OS versions (e.g. more wavetables, formant + granular + WavePWM modes, modulation with the Arp pattern and with the latset OS also 2 additional envelopes) make a big difference in comparison to the previous Virus models A-C.

---------------------------------------------------------------

The advanced filter modes added with OS 5 (found in "filter bank" at the FX section) include e.g.:
- Ring Modulator
- Frequency Shifter
- Vowel Filter
- Comb Filter
- 1 Pole up 6 Pole XFade filter: morphable between LP, BP and HP (like a SEM filter)
- LP VarioSlope Filter : variable Slope and/or Poles
- HP VarioSlope Filter : variable Slope and/or Poles
- BP VarioSlope Filter : variable Slope and/or Poles

Up to 4 parameters for those are available in the mod matrix (as a mod destination). They could be used in combination with the 2 other filters.


The closest plugin i currently got in terms of features seems to be Tone2 Electra 2.1 (also with the new Hypersaw modes added to the Ultrasaw oscillator mode at that update an the new filter modes in v2).
Ingo Weidner
Win 10 Home 64-bit / mobile i7-7700HQ 2.8 GHz / 16GB RAM //
Live 10 Suite / Cubase Pro 9.5 / Pro Tools Ultimate 2021 // NI Komplete Kontrol S61 Mk1

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I can suggest TC Powercore virus too, it is beast comparing to classic VSTs

but did you/anybody figured out how to fix in FL and some other DAWs? Every time I export sound of TC Virus is like 100millisseconds delayed, i tried everything delay compensations, buffers etc. but when playing realtime it is okay so I have to record it realtime and then import as wav

Thx

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Prototech wrote: Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:34 pm I can suggest TC Powercore virus too, it is beast comparing to classic VSTs
Unfortunately 32-bit and obsolete.

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