Any VST like Virus TI !?

[pdxindy]

If you want a workhorse synth with a diverse sound palette to fill the role that a Ti would, then Zebra is an excellent choice. Top notch sound quality, huge sonic range, lots of high quality soundsets (both commercial and free), ongoing creative development (not just dropping some features in to sell an update), innovative gui, great value for the dollar (or currency of choice).

Learn to use it well, and it will keep surprising and satisfying you for a long time to come. There is no synth that will exactly duplicate a Ti, so if you must have a Ti, then get that. If you want something that is a creative force in its own right, then check out Zebra.

[bobbybland]

I'd love for a talented sound designer to take whatever synth he feels is the closest and try to re create a TI bank - specifically the hypersaw's,pads brass etc. ,think it'd be a great seller. I purchased a bank from Adam Van Baker for Massive,and it's very close to that Virus sound.yummy

The Viral Outbreak option has some of the sampled flavor from the TI,but it's not 100% synthesis.

If Dune and Sylenth say EletraX are naturally close,then it might just need a dedicated sound designer to show his interpretation of the TI sound to show it can be done.
I agree though,there's nothing 100% yet that I've heard that is dead on to the TI. waiting for one tho

[b-pole]

I stopped with Virus after version b and sold the thing.
Nevertheless I miss this gear still up to now.

[pdxindy]

I find development to be an under-rated consideration. 2 of the other synths mentioned in this thread, and both solid synths are Massive and Sylenth1. Both came out 4 years ago about the same time Zebra 2 did.

If you look at the development of all 3 since then, Massive had one nice update with some new features (v1.1) a few months after its release and nothing since besides minor compatibility/bug updates. Close to 4 years with no significant development.

Sylenth1 had a number of feature updates in the 6 months following its release which added to its sound quality and range of sounds. Version 2, released 2 years ago was about usability and the Mac port. Nothing much as far as sound development. The last significant sound improvements to Sylenth1 were 3 years ago.

Zebra on the otherhand has had and continues to have steady and significant development. Just recently was added the PD OscFX bringing the sounds of the CZ synths to Zebra. When Urs develops new tools, you know that the benefits find their way into Zebra.

It takes quite a while to learn a synth really well. It is an investment of time and energy. I appreciate that as Urs keeps developing new tools and as CPU's get faster, that Zebra keeps moving forward and that Urs does not just sell a new synth to make the user get the latest at significant cost.

I purchased Zebra 4 years ago, and in that time there have been the equivalent of 2 or more likely 3 paid upgrades from many companies, but I have not had to pay anything more and the latest developments end up in Zebra. And since I have learned Zebra well at this point, when new stuff arrives, I can make use of it really well right off. Zebra is an instrument you can keep growing with. Like I said, I think this quality is under-rated in value.

With hardware, you have to buy the next version, Virus A, B, C, Ti... etc... With Zebra you buy it and when the next version comes, you can get it free (so far).

[origami]

yes, but do synths need to change?
I mean, some of the best electronic music was made 5, 10, 20 years ago. They used synths available at the time. Were they worse than the ones existing today?. If you like the sound of the Virus B, you don't need for it to change. Some improvements are well received, but if a synth sounds superb in 2007, it must definitely sound superb in 2010.

[pdxindy]

yes, but do synths need to change?
I mean, some of the best electronic music was made 5, 10, 20 years ago. They used synths available at the time. Were they worse than the ones existing today?. If you like the sound of the Virus B, you don't need for it to change. Some improvements are well received, but if a synth sounds superb in 2007, it must definitely sound superb in 2010.

You can be sure anyone with an old analogue modular would have killed to have recallable presets...

and with softsynths, there are things possible now with current cpu's that were not possible a few years ago.

Also, if you like the sound of the Virus B, you can just keep it... sure... but if the Virus Ti adds something you also like, you have to pay lot of money to get that addition.

That does not mean something is wrong with a synth that does not change, but it is a valuable "feature" for the ones that do... especially with softsynths.

[thelizard]

Zebra 2.5 added new filter modes, most of the Drive knobs now add considerable saturation over their 2.3 VCF filter equivalents. Zebra also has shaper modules, while some would consider a bit tame, when combined with the new Drive features can yield some very nice results. The 2 XMF Filters also offer a whole lot of distortion in the form of the Overdrive knob. It can be really easy to over-use that knob and get a moment.

The next closest VST I own is Massive, mainly because of the vibe of its wavetables (It has this over Zebra. Zebra can do wavetables wonderfully, but the ones built in to Massive have that specific palette).

PietW. from KVR was kind enough to convert several of the Massive wavetables into Zebra2 format. You can grab them (along with several hundered more wavetables) from here:
http://u-he.com/PatchLib/zebra.html#mseg

I think this is one of the most level-headed Virus discussions I've seen on KVR (usually they explode quickly).

I really appreciate the link to the Massive wavetables. I'm going to download those now... Holy cow! There's also the Adventure Kid waveforms. Goodbye, afternoon.

As for the saturation of the filters, it's a bit different from the separate "modes" that Zebra offers. I agree that the XMF is one of the beastliest plug-in filters I've ever listened to, but the Virus offers more in the way of distortion types. It's a lot more similar to the way that Fabfilter's Volcano presents filter types.

You have your base filter curve (LP, HP, BP, and BS... hardy har har), and then saturation types for each curve (Volcano more or less controls the color and stability of the resonance). So, the Virus has four filter types with fifteen saturation options, and then 24 distortion algorithms post-filtering (You can see why I use the Virus on my guitar a lot).

With the Zebra's standard filters, there aren't too many variations upon the HP, BP or BR modes (again, the XMF is different). My main gripe with the Virus is that it doesn't present too many different pole selections (the whole sweet spot vs. flexibility argument).

[Vectorman]

PietW. from KVR was kind enough to convert several of the Massive wavetables into Zebra2 format. You can grab them (along with several hundered more wavetables) from here:
http://u-he.com/PatchLib/zebra.html#mseg

I hadn't dropped by the Zebra PatchLib page in quite a while and wasn't even aware of all the new things that have popped up there. Very cool. Zebra really is the gift (albeit one I bought for myself) that keeps on giving.

[origami]

pdxindy, and the same way people nowadays pay a lot of money to get a Korg MS-20 for instance. But yes, of course, if your synth can be better than what it is, why not?

And about the Virus, it's true that it's a very popular synth, and me I've been after it for years; I actuallt owned an Indigo years ago, and I own a TI now. BUT as a hardware synth, even with its integration, I (a 100% software musician) find its limitations. I luuuurve the way vsti synths integrate with daws and I don't find that in hardware synths, though of course the TI gets close. If I was not so dependent on software integration, the TI would be just perfect for me.

Of course I love having the physical aspect of the synth; but regarding sound, yes the Virus can do things most vsti synths can't, but regarding sound, and having into account my limitations as a programmer of sounds, owning the TI has made me aware that what some vsti synths like Dune (or Sylenth 1, or even 'smaller synths' like Novakill synths, or Asynth, or Synth 1) offer me in terms of sounds is more than enough for the music I make. And actually, if there existed a sort of perfect controller designed for Dune, for example, I woulnd't change it for a TI in my life.

[jobromedia]

Try my plugin JBM Jagular from last years DC. Gives you 512 digital waveforms, supersaw, FM and a lot more.

[Ingonator]

That does not mean something is wrong with a synth that does not change, but it is a valuable "feature" for the ones that do... especially with softsynths.

The Virus TI is maybe the wrong example here. Since OS 1.0 so many features have been added or improved that it's like having at least 2 new models. The highlights for me were the addition of Formant + granular synthesis (OS 2.0) and the implementation of the Arp/sequencer as a modulation source (OS 4.0).

[4damind]

I find development to be an under-rated consideration. 2 of the other synths mentioned in this thread, and both solid synths are Massive and Sylenth1. Both came out 4 years ago about the same time Zebra 2 did...

This seems to be a problem with many plug-ins, that further development is stopped or very slow, if the first hype is over.
May be that the developers recognize that they cannot make enough money?

[bmrzycki]

As for the saturation of the filters, it's a bit different from the separate "modes" that Zebra offers. I agree that the XMF is one of the beastliest plug-in filters I've ever listened to, but the Virus offers more in the way of distortion types. It's a lot more similar to the way that Fabfilter's Volcano presents filter types.

You have your base filter curve (LP, HP, BP, and BS... hardy har har), and then saturation types for each curve (Volcano more or less controls the color and stability of the resonance). So, the Virus has four filter types with fifteen saturation options, and then 24 distortion algorithms post-filtering (You can see why I use the Virus on my guitar a lot).

With the Zebra's standard filters, there aren't too many variations upon the HP, BP or BR modes (again, the XMF is different). My main gripe with the Virus is that it doesn't present too many different pole selections (the whole sweet spot vs. flexibility argument).

I agree it's not a 1:1 comparison, few synth comparisons are. Urs has said in the past he felt Zebra was a bit lacking in the area of distortion. The shapers only have a couple of modes and are fairly tame. He did say he had it on his (very long) list of items he'd like to add/update.

Were you aware of the Zebrify plugin? I'm curious to know if you, a guitar player, have tried it as an effect unit. Maybe XMF + Shapers + a tad of EQ can get you to a happy place too?

To be honest, my favorite distortion unit is Scream 4 in Reason. My second favorite is probably the KarmaFX effect unit.

And yes, I'm glad this is still a civil discussion!

[thelizard]

I agree it's not a 1:1 comparison, few synth comparisons are. Urs has said in the past he felt Zebra was a bit lacking in the area of distortion. The shapers only have a couple of modes and are fairly tame. He did say he had it on his (very long) list of items he'd like to add/update.

Were you aware of the Zebrify plugin? I'm curious to know if you, a guitar player, have tried it as an effect unit. Maybe XMF + Shapers + a tad of EQ can get you to a happy place too?

To be honest, my favorite distortion unit is Scream 4 in Reason. My second favorite is probably the KarmaFX effect unit.

And yes, I'm glad this is still a civil discussion!

I really love Zebrify, but you know what? I don't think I've ever tried the XMF on my guitar. I'm going to have to try that when I get back to my apartment after the holidays (I don't fly with my guitar anymore after how... ummm... "polite" the TSA is).

I agree that the shapers are a bit on the "tame" side. If you're familiar with hardware modulars, they remind me of the Doepfer A-136, which does a great job of mutating simpler waveforms from oscillators, but has trouble doing very much of interest with complex signals. The Virus runs the spectrum of aggression, and tops it off with a few stompbox algorithms as well (these were added this year, I think).

I don't want to shift the focus of the conversation away from VSTs, but it is important to me, too, that I can use the Virus away from the computer. I once spent a vacation home with just Guitar->Virus->Headphones. That's not me saying "This is why the Virus is 'better' than VSTs". It's more or less why I've grown to use it in more situations (that, and it cost me a crapton of money )

I *have* used Runciter a whole lot on guitar, more as distortion (or is it technically overdrive?) and less as a filter. That one sounds really cool when used pre-chain with Guitar Rig.

[4damind]

A Virus is not easy to replace it's also the "must have" synth for mostly all trance producers this days. A very versatile synth...
Sometimes its better not to buy the 20th average softsynth and instead putting some money aside to buy a good hardware synth (like a Access Virus)