KVR Audio

Sholla · Post by **Sholla** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:54 am

Can't afford Virus now, but would love to know if there is any VST close to it.

I'm looking at NEXUS 2, Sylenth 1, Zebra, or something else?

Thanks

ZenPunkHippy · Post by **ZenPunkHippy** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:58 am

Sylenth can do some of the sounds, but it's not really versatile enough (IMO). Check out Zebra 2.5. Awesome synth!!

Peace,
Andy.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 8:01 am

If we talk about a synth with Hypersaw and wavetables (100 of them in the TI !!) there are not many i would say. Maybe Synapse Audio Dune or Tone2 ElectraX.
Waldorf Largo too but that has no "real" Hypersaws" except using the Unison which could sound almost identical.

Anyway i doubt that there is a softsynth which could 100% emulate a Virus TI so far. This is the reason why i still haven't sold my TÍ desktop even if i don't use it really much.

Nexus 2 is a ROMpler with some basic synthesis features. If you don't want to program your own sounds it could be OK but Nexus with all expansions is as expensive or more expensive than a real Virus TI, no joke:

http://refx.com/?page=products/nexus/summary
http://refx.com/?page=products/nexus/expansions

Fo sure more expensive than a second hand TI.

tibah · Post by **tibah** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 9:39 am

From the features I would recommend Rop Papen Predator or Tone2 ElectraX.

Sylenth1 misses some features and has not the amount of waveforms, so there is just a certain amount of different textures you are able to create, but I think loads of people compare it to the Virus and it's great for arpeggios and leads.

Another one got to be NI Massive.

From all those I personally own Predator. Made a comparison between Predator, Massive and Sylenth1, while Predator took the win. Features, handling, performance, sound - it did best to me.

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 9:44 am

Some people using Sylenth side by side with their Access Virus synth. Not as a replacement but as a add-on because Sylenth is capable to create similar sounds.

future-bit · Post by **future-bit** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:19 am

Viral Outbreak VST

http://www.nucleus-soundlab.com/viral-o ... lugin.html

Viral Outbreak is a new soundware product based on the sounds of the Virus* TI hardware synthesizer. Using the power of extensive 96khz multisampling, manual looping and professional preset design, Nucleus SoundLab brings this powerful electronica sound to your productions! Viral Outbreak is available both as a VSTi plugin, and a Reason 4.0 Refill.

thelizard · Post by **thelizard** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:39 am

I have a Virus. Zebra can do a lot of what it does.

For Hypersaws, just change an oscillator mode to quad or "eleven" and change the detune settings (not always as straight-up awesome as the Virus, but hey).

Zebra also does wavetables just fine. In fact, it can do detuned unison wavetables. Zebra also has a lot more options when it comes to envelopes (Virus has a filter envelope and a voice envelope, where Zebra has four standard ADSRs on top of MSEGs).

The one thing that Virus has over Zebra is that it has this cool filter saturation mode, where you can change the way that the oscillators distort when they clip (you can choose various forms of distortion, bit reduction, waveshaping, etc.). The Virus also has a large assortment of distortion algorithms in its effect section (I love using the Virus as a pseudo-pedal for guitar processing). If you combine a Zebra with Ohmicide, you won't be missing out terribly.

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). Massive also has incredible modulation options, along with a terrific unison mode (under the voicing tab).

The Virus, like a lot of high-end hardware synths, is sort of hard to explain. When you own it, you can't really replace it, but if you don't own it, you're not at any sort of disadvantage (and shouldn't convince yourself otherwise).

JPQ · Post by **JPQ** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:58 am

thelizard wrote:I have a Virus. Zebra can do a lot of what it does.

For Hypersaws, just change an oscillator mode to quad or "eleven" and change the detune settings (not always as straight-up awesome as the Virus, but hey).

Zebra also does wavetables just fine. In fact, it can do detuned unison wavetables. Zebra also has a lot more options when it comes to envelopes (Virus has a filter envelope and a voice envelope, where Zebra has four standard ADSRs on top of MSEGs).

The one thing that Virus has over Zebra is that it has this cool filter saturation mode, where you can change the way that the oscillators distort when they clip (you can choose various forms of distortion, bit reduction, waveshaping, etc.). The Virus also has a large assortment of distortion algorithms in its effect section (I love using the Virus as a pseudo-pedal for guitar processing). If you combine a Zebra with Ohmicide, you won't be missing out terribly.

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). Massive also has incredible modulation options, along with a terrific unison mode (under the voicing tab).

The Virus, like a lot of high-end hardware synths, is sort of hard to explain. When you own it, you can't really replace it, but if you don't own it, you're not at any sort of disadvantage (and shouldn't convince yourself otherwise).

you mean in virus there is no pitch envelope if true is sad. even my novation ksr has modulation envelope what i can use at least for filter,pitch and pwm.

adamszabo · Post by **adamszabo** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 12:29 pm

the virus does have a pitch envelope, an lfo can be turned into a retriggered envelope, and it can be routed to a lot of places.

kv331 · Post by **kv331** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 2:24 pm

Checkout SynthMaster 2.5 as well, it has more than the TI offers technically:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0

Its "digital" filters are indeed very close to the Virus filters, which is especially heard when you max the filter resonance and sweep the filter cutoff down.

Here are some of the highligted features of SynthMaster:

VA/Wavetable synthesis
Additive synthesis
Wavescanning synthesis
SFZ Sample playback synthesis
Vector synthesis
Massive modulation: Almost every continuos parameter in SynthMaster can be modulated by MIDI CCs, MIDI Velocity, global LFOs, voice LFOs, voice envelopes
Frequency/Phase/Ring/Amplitude/Pulse Width modulations: At audio rate
Analog/digital filters: With before/after/inside filter distortion
High quality effects: Ensemble, Phaser, LoFi, Distortion, FB Delay, Chorus/Flanger, Reverb, 16 Band Vocoder
500+ Presets: 400 more coming until in 01/11

origami · Post by **origami** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 2:47 pm

I own a Virus TI; no vsti is exactly the same as the Virus TI, that is so obvious; but probably you can say the same with all the good synths. is there any hardware synth that sounds exactly like Absynth, or Zebra?

But I can tell you my experience. After some time using the TI, I am going to sell it, not because I don't like it (I love its sound) but due to reasons of different nature. So I was looking for some kind of a replacement, aware as we've said that no synth sounds exactly like any other.

And I've found my replacement in Synapse DUNE. There are things you can't do with Dune that you can with the Virus and viceversa, but all in all, Dune is the most similar I've found to a Virus. Or at least (in case anyone disagrees with me) Dune allows me to do everything I need from the Virus. Maybe some Virus users would find limitations in Dune, maybe not. But I don't, considering my musical needs.

pepelogu · Post by **pepelogu** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 3:04 pm

origami wrote:I own a Virus TI; no vsti is exactly the same as the Virus TI, that is so obvious; but probably you can say the same with all the good synths. is there any hardware synth that sounds exactly like Absynth, or Zebra?

But I can tell you my experience. After some time using the TI, I am going to sell it, not because I don't like it (I love its sound) but due to reasons of different nature. So I was looking for some kind of a replacement, aware as we've said that no synth sounds exactly like any other.

And I've found my replacement in Synapse DUNE. There are things you can't do with Dune that you can with the Virus and viceversa, but all in all, Dune is the most similar I've found to a Virus. Or at least (in case anyone disagrees with me) Dune allows me to do everything I need from the Virus. Maybe some Virus users would find limitations in Dune, maybe not. But I don't, considering my musical needs.

I agree. I would say Dune and Sylenth comes closest soundwise.

Still though, by far no real replacement...

Kriminal · Post by **Kriminal** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 5:00 pm

Dune or Zebra

bmrzycki · Post by **bmrzycki** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 6:41 pm

thelizard wrote:The one thing that Virus has over Zebra is that it has this cool filter saturation mode, where you can change the way that the oscillators distort when they clip (you can choose various forms of distortion, bit reduction, waveshaping, etc.). The Virus also has a large assortment of distortion algorithms in its effect section (I love using the Virus as a pseudo-pedal for guitar processing).

I don't own a Virus but I do own Zebra. My thoughts below, for what they're worth.

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.

Finally, 2.5 added a new "SR Decimate" filter which gives digital distortion in the form of bit reduction. This combined with the previous two methods (shaper, VCF Drive) can really dirty up a signal.

I guess it all depends on perspective. I think Zebra has the tools to get you there without an additional plugin. It's probably likely it's not as easy as the Virus' single saturation knob though.

thelizard wrote: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

To me, I think the best synth to get is the one that clicks with you the most. If you really want to learn how to make your own sounds with the instrument you're going to have to invest several hours really learning the tool inside and out. Download the demos for DUNE, Zebra, Sylenth1, Massive. Read their manuals, play with them. Take a preset and modify it, both in a semi-random way and also in a directed "I want more midrange bite" ways. See which synths make this process seem easy and which ones you have to constantly fight to get there. You can still make some amazing sounds with synth1 if you invest the time...

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 6:56 pm

The Ti also has Graintable and Formant oscs (which I particularly love) - not sure if anything else has those (Reason's Maelstrom and Symptohm Melohman have somewhat similar Graintable oscs but not the format types and they don't wound that similar anyway)

Any VST like Virus TI !?