KVR Audio

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Wed May 18, 2016 2:47 pm

[insertrandomVSTlistwhichdoesn'tsoundlikeaVirushere]

Well, i never played on a Virus, but Spire also appears to me at least remotely in that direction. Electra2 is pretty cool too with the Virus hypersaw waveforms, and the JP-8k supersaw waveforms sound great too.

There's also Cell, but, frankly, with every half a year which elapses with no info, news whatsoever, my hope is shrinking and shrinking. Plus, it'll 32-bit only, so, i'll rather forget about it. Spire does everything i need in that regard anyway.

do_androids_dream · Post by **do_androids_dream** » Wed May 18, 2016 3:13 pm

Short answer.... No.

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed May 18, 2016 3:37 pm

Cell is actually not a Virus emulation, the architecture is completely different ( I've chatted with the devs not so long ago ). The development is still going on but apparently rather slow.

I think, all Virus replacement questions may be put into one of these cathegories
A) "I never owned a Virus and don't want to go hardware but I've heard that Virus is cool and pro and whatnot, what VSTi can replace it?" Depending on the style of music and preferred kinds of sounds, basically any of the currently popular VA and/or wavetable SW synths with a bunch of decent effects will serve.
B) "I own or have owned a Virus and love its sound but don't want to deal with the original hadrware anymore for this or that reason, what VSTi can replace it?". Then this is really hard. If I were forced to get rid of mine, I would most probably use the following combo to fully cover all the bases where I currently use Virus:
Spire + Sylenth + Diversion or Massive + (maybe) Dune2 or Zebra + Fabfiler Saturn + Guitar Rig.
But it will never sound exactly the same.

bbrylow · Post by **bbrylow** » Wed May 18, 2016 4:28 pm

Kontakt Library from CL-Projects which is a complete Virus sampling that is wonderful!

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Wed May 18, 2016 4:28 pm

b-pole wrote:any news here after more than 1 year?

Now we're waiting for Access to make a Virus that sounds like Spire.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Wed May 18, 2016 4:30 pm

There are some synth plugins that reproduce parts of teh Virus Ti, including the upcoming Tone2 Icarus. Anyway there is no plugin that EXACTLY replaces both the faetures and the sound of a Virus TI and i doubt there will be a plugin soon that will fully replace it.
So if you really want to have the sound of a Virus then nuy a Virus. If you just need parts of it then some plugins like e.g. Electra 2.1, Icarus, Spire, Synthmaster and some others could maybe be a good replacement.

Talking about the Hypersaw Electra 2.1 and Icarus seem to be the ones who nail it while Icarus could use this for all kinds of waveforms, not just the Sawtooth.

FWIW last year Markus from Tone2 bought my Virus TI (Mark I) desktop. I had owned it for around 9 years, starting with one of the very first and buggy OS versions (maybe 1.22 or something like that). Over the years and many OS updates many bugs were fixed and lots of new features were added. Actually the newer OS versions are like a completely new synth and that with free updates.

If i got a lot of money to spend in the future i would like to get a TI2 keyboard or maybe even a TI3 if it should be released until then (AFAIK nothing known about it yet).

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed May 18, 2016 4:36 pm

Duh, I've just thought that this thread looks kinda incomplete without this synth Mr. Ingo is currently secretly testing.

Now everything is OK

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Wed May 18, 2016 6:32 pm

recursive one wrote:Duh, I've just thought that this thread looks kinda incomplete without this synth Mr. Ingo is currently secretly testing.

Now everything is OK

I am using that new softsynth you mention since some months and had done a lot of pathes with it already (many more will follow) so i guess i have a clue if it is good or not, at least IMO.

FWIW i had mentioned that i owned a Virus TI desktop for around 9 years and also owned a Virus KC before that. That's much more than most of the people commenting here at KVR and especially in this thread.

Obviously some features in Icarus are based on the Virus Ti and Markus at Tone2 bought my TI last year like i alraeady mentioned. Before i sold my TI i also compared the Hypersaw in Electra 2.1 to that in the TI and Electra IMO really nailed it and the same is mostly true for Icarus (while in Icarus this works for all waveforms and there is also a Stereo Hypersaw mode with stereo spread).

Many people when talking about the TI seem to forget about that it is a wavetable synth and that there are the format and granular modes for those wavetables.

Last Virus TI OS updates added more envelopes, additional filters (in the FX section) and other stuff that somehow also make the wavetable part more interesting than it already was. Also seems to be possible to use the Arp pattern as a modulation source.

As alraeady mentioned IMO there is no full replacement for a Virus TI yet and if i should have the money for it in the future it couldl be possible that i get a TI2 or a successor like e.g. a TI3 (not sure if and when this will come).

At the moment o own two hardwae VA synth that are both capable of using wavetables and got a very complex synth engine. Those are a Waldor fBlofeld desktop and a Novvation UltraNova.
I also got a bunch of Hypersaw samples from the TI (at different detune amounts) which i am also using inside the Blofeld (using the sample playback feature).

Synthman2000 · Post by **Synthman2000** » Sat Jul 16, 2016 9:27 am

Isn't the better Virus versions just a 3 oscillator synth with analogue waveforms wavetables, LFO's, envelopes and effects much like 4 - 5 VST synths I could mention.

Surely it must be in the programming ability to replicate some of the sounds.

These sounds appear quite dated to me, maybe it is his preference of programming/playing style:

Some sounds here awful, some nice.. your own taste and production genres are more important than 1 synths sound engine:

I really do not hear what the fuss is all about. I have about 15-20 modern software synths and they can do any of this I can hear.

I hope Virus owners enjoy their instruments but I think it is some case of "The grass is greener on the other side". And really it is just a case of gear lust to know for sure.

What synth sounds like a Virus ? A Virus for those who want one, just save and get it

and for the others just use the incredible synths you already have. Fuss about nothing IMO.

Make a good track and forget lusting after some imaginary magic bullet synth.

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Sat Jul 16, 2016 9:38 am

There are also Virus TI wavetables provided by some guys, usable eg. in Serum. The filter is of course the most difficult part, so I don't know how close Serum can sound.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:32 am

Synthman2000 wrote:Isn't the better Virus versions just a 3 oscillator synth with analogue waveforms wavetables, LFO's, envelopes and effects much like 4 - 5 VST synths I could mention.

Surely it must be in the programming ability to replicate some of the sounds.

Frankly, that's the "i don't hear the difference" version. No synth sounds exactly like another. Just try to replicate everything you can do with the Virus with Dune 1. Good luck. Close enough might be close enough for you, but others will disagree. The Virus has a very distinctive sound. I don't want to claim that you can't replicate some of its sounds up to 95 % accuracy, but, hey, are we really content with 95 % accuracy? Why are we here, on this site? Why do we make music? To be happy with "close enough", and 95 % quality, or are we "GAS'ing" about the last 5 %?

That said, if you don't care about the Virus', or any other hardware's sound, nevermind, and move on. For those who do like it, there might be no alternative. Personally, i can't afford, or want to afford hardware, and i do appreciate the loads of advantages of software. And Spire e.g. sounds so good to me, that i wouldn't bother anyway. Except someone sells me a Virus TI Polar for a silly price.

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:14 pm

Synthman2000 wrote:Isn't the better Virus versions just a 3 oscillator synth with analogue waveforms wavetables, LFO's, envelopes and effects much like 4 - 5 VST synths I could mention.

Surely it must be in the programming ability to replicate some of the sounds.

These sounds appear quite dated to me, maybe it is his preference of programming/playing style:

Look at the description of the vid "Some of the original sounds that I made on virus b while ago. Mostly vintage\retro style and most of them are without effects".

Virus B is one of the earlier Virus models, the new viruses have more (and better) filters, more oscillator types (various kinds of wavetable morph modes, hypersaw), also the effects are very improtant part of the virus sound.

Long story short, it is not easily replaced with plugins. Spire may sound close, but Virus wins in fatness, agressiveness and strong presence.

Elektronisch · Post by **Elektronisch** » Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:01 pm

bbrylow wrote:Kontakt Library from CL-Projects which is a complete Virus sampling that is wonderful!

Same you can say about Nexus 2 because it does include alot of sounds that were made using virus, but that doesnt mean anything since this is just sample based library. Its useless if you are in to programing.

goldenanalog · Post by **goldenanalog** » Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:10 pm

chk071 wrote:No synth sounds exactly like another.

Yep. Exactly. What was true (6) years ago, is still true now.

Plus the experience is different working with hardware versus software - can take you down different paths creatively.

Example: I have a hardware copy of the much-despised Yamaha TX-16w sampler - a true industry embarrassment if there ever was one. Took a 3rd party to straighten out its OS. I have it still because I *love* the way that it grinds out sound! Gritty, raw, etc. - but for many (saner) people, the sampler is e-waste, especially considering that it's also done in software.

So the Virus line - the A, B, C, TI - are all individuals with their own sounds - they sound killer to my ears - all of them! But, I also agree with chk071 on this point as well: Spire is great! But it is not a Virus, as a Virus A is not a TI or an Arturia Origin or a Nord Wave etc. etc.

goldenanalog · Post by **goldenanalog** » Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:33 pm

You know: NED's Synclavier now basically exists in forward-thinking software. My guess is that it will probably go through several revisions over the next few years enhancing its sound & featureset - I'm guessing that this is the trend - so: since OS upgrades for the TI seemed to have stalled, perhaps even Access itself may be considering (if not actually) porting the Virus code to the PC - wouldn't it be something if a virtual Virus TI showed up in iPad land - and would any of us be truly surprised? I'd be absolutely thrilled, but not terribly surprised - not now.

The Moog system 15 app, as just (1) example, is flat-out superb.

Any VST like Virus TI !?