The "Zebra2 plays Virus" challenge

[Urs]

And guess which synth this one is?
http://www.mindtrick.com/music/PhatMath.mp3
(yes, it's all a synth)

I'd say neither Virus nor Zebra...

JP8000?

[Urs]

[...] more like the zebra to me [...] I didn't like it at all...

[zvenx]

no no no....that can't be a JP8000.....Roland and Virus are my two favourite filters.
rsp

[Urs]

no no no....that can't be a JP8000.....Roland and Virus are my two favourite filters.

Well, I voted for JP8000 because of the feedback thing... heard it only once in a shop almost 10 years ago shortly before I bought the Virus

[Urs]

Anyhow, I suspect that the "typical" thing about a Virus is its emphasize of spectrum above 3kHz or so? The Virus-like examples seem to have way more stuff going on up there... more than my analogues/softies would do by default...

Maybe I go to my dealer tomorrow and check one out. Mine seems pretty dead. Not worth a repair. /methinks it doesn't sound like a Virus at all anymore.

Am I right that the TI's HyperSaw oscillators are the ones that are aliasing free? Can someone provide an uncompressed example of a pure unfiltered Hypersaw with different settings (detune, number of saws)?

[zvenx]

by the way, I must tell you I always appreciate how you take constructive or sometimes not so constructive criticism
rsp

[Howard]

So I did a blind test with Grrrl. She immediately identified the Virus (the original and Howard's, if it's indeed one). She also thinks that jacobh's demo is one. Needless to say, she still prefers my deep version (Zirbrus4) over any other even though she only found Zirbrus3 was a Zebra...

So at least I fooled Grrrl BTW: If anybody is still wondering, my version ("Zebrus1") was Micromodular with external FX. I tried to tame that NM-typical digital edge (mainly by using Rob Hordijk's "comparator" trick of feeding back a mixer module, and by not using much filter envelope). Obviously overdid it

[zvenx]

lol. phew.... I feel vindicated...lol..... so yeah I will say even STRONGER now..lol
NOTHING sounds like a virus except a virus....lol
rsp

[kuniklo]

Am I right that the TI's HyperSaw oscillators are the ones that are aliasing free? Can someone provide an uncompressed example of a pure unfiltered Hypersaw with different settings (detune, number of saws)?

I don't have my TI anymore but I did do some spectral analysis of the oscillators before I sold it. The stock oscillators don't alias much but they also don't have much high-frequency energy compared to other VAs. The standard lp filter also cuts the high end quite a bit even when wide open and I think these two factors contribute a lot to the Virus' dark/soft tone.

The Hypersaw, on the other hand, has a fuller spectral range. I used to use the Hypersaw with density of 1.0 when I wanted a sharper lead sound. Even then I'd generally turn up filter res and cutoff down a bit on the first filter to eq up the sound and use the second filter for soundshaping.

Getting bright, sharp leads out of the Virus is actually kind of hard.

[Howard]

Am I right that the TI's HyperSaw oscillators are the ones that are aliasing free?

Yes, much cleaner than "SuperSaw" as I recall. Urs - could you not borrow a TI and try it out yourself?

BTW: I notice aliasing like I notice toothache, so it wasn't much fun trying to tease "analog" sounds out of e.g. the V-Synth - I was younger and needed the money

[shogger]

And guess which synth this one is?
http://www.mindtrick.com/music/PhatMath.mp3
(yes, it's all a synth)

Some very Moogy sounds in there but dunno what it is. Most sounds are very good. I guess Zebra. The Phaser in Zebra sounds similar.

Shogger

[bluedad]

So at least I fooled Grrrl BTW: If anybody is still wondering, my version ("Zebrus1") was Micromodular...

would you share that patch?

[Howard]

lol. phew.... I feel vindicated...lol..... so yeah I will say even STRONGER now..lol NOTHING sounds like a virus except a virus....lol..rsp

Actually it just means that it's not too easy to make an Micromodular sound like a Virus. BTW: Any other Micromodular owners here? I recently played a gig (Here&Now + Planet Gong) with nothing more than my Micro, a Lexicon LXP-5 and my Xboard49... gear minimalism is fun!

[kuniklo]

Actually it just means that it's not too easy to make an Micromodular sound like a Virus. BTW: Any other Micromodular owners here? I recently played a gig (Here&Now + Planet Gong) with nothing more than my Micro, a Lexicon LXP-5 and my Xboard49... gear minimalism is fun!

There's also examples of a Nord G2 sounding remarkably like a Minimoog, a lowly AN1x sounding more analog than many other analogs etc etc. Mainly what these things prove is that a talented patch designer can stretch a flexible synth architecture in many directions. I just don't find this all that interesting. If you really like the sound of the Virus, buy a Virus. Why not use instruments for their strengths and move on and write some music? A one-size-fits-all solution is never going to be satisfying if there's one particular size you want.

[jacobh]

How's this?
http://www.mindtrick.com/music/Virus_Arp3.mp3

whatever this is. I like......very aggresive and cutting.....for genre's that require that it would work great. I actually much much prefer this to the Howard 'virus' file that he faked us with
rsp

This is actually done with Reason's Subtractors (stacked in a Combinator), and some of Reason's internal effects.