The Future (?) of Access Virus

[DrGonzo]

I don't agree with this doom & gloom vibe.

The whole Virus line have been going strong since the beginning, it survived the time when hardware was frowned upon and plugins were predicted to practically end hardware. The market for hardware synthesizers are right now bigger than it has been for some time.

It's obvious that Kemper have his attention elsewhere, but that doesn't mean the end of the Virus. It wouldn't surprise me if he will go back to his roots whenever he feels guitars amps are getting boring.

Regarding it being too costly - I don't know about that. Nords are selling well and they are VAs/Romplers, Teenage Engineering are selling the OP1 for quite a big lump of dough and it has been going since 2013. Elektron are selling their boxes like hot muffins - and they are not cheap either.

The Virus line have served me well since the B model and every time I turn on my TI I'm still blown away about how cool things you can do with it. And I work as a sound designer.

My biggest fear is rather that it will just drop out of a clear blue sky one day, cost 2500 Euro and I will pre-order it even before I've finished reading the specs

/C

[Elektronisch]

I don't agree with this doom & gloom vibe.

The whole Virus line have been going strong since the beginning, it survived the time when hardware was frowned upon and plugins were predicted to practically end hardware. The market for hardware synthesizers are right now bigger than it has been for some time.

As alot of other hardware synthesizers

It's obvious that Kemper have his attention elsewhere, but that doesn't mean the end of the Virus. It wouldn't surprise me if he will go back to his roots whenever he feels guitars amps are getting boring.

Well it seems likely, alot of major shops are going out of stock of even Desktop synths and Virus Ti Snow has been silently discontinued doesnt mean anything? i dont think so

Regarding it being too costly - I don't know about that. Nords are selling well and they are VAs/Romplers, Teenage Engineering are selling the OP1 for quite a big lump of dough and it has been going since 2013. Elektron are selling their boxes like hot muffins - and they are not cheap either.

I agree here, i dont agree with being costly either. Well at some part...Virus does cost alot of money but in comparison with other VAs its priced similar and for what you get i could even argue that its quite a bargain. 16 parts multitibral with so many features, even little snow at 990 eu (until it was discontinued) with 4 parts and 4 different outputs (basicly 4 synthesizers) is quite a deal.

[DrGonzo]

Well it seems likely, alot of major shops are going out of stock of even Desktop synths and Virus Ti Snow has been silently discontinued doesnt mean anything? i dont think so

I was thinking about that as well.

The Snow has been discontinued and that was a couple of years ago if my memory doesn't mess things up. But the full models have not. I have also been seeing them becoming out of stock in places like Thomann - but they always stock back up again.

Which only can mean there's still demand for them.

/C

[recursive one]

I gather from the article in the OP that Virus hardware relies on some old generation chips which may become unavaiable any time soon, thus making further production of current Virus models impossible.

If so, we may speculate if Access would in this case develop new hardware based on newer chips, or port the software to run on regular PC/Macs, or just discontinue the whole Virus line (which seems to be the most realistic scenario)

[Amram]

I wonder if there is any discussion going on @ Access to bring out a software version of this synth......

On Access forum the members asked for open code the answer was NO from @chris.

[chk071]

Well, why would he... sometimes really wonder what people are thinking... one of the most successful VA's in history.

[DrGonzo]

I wonder what the Kemper Amp is based on. Probably not the same DSP components or they would face the same problem further down as well.

It is interesting to think about the Snow though. Since that format was discontinued and the full models have not, my conclusion is that it couldn't have been a huge seller.

/C

[EvilDragon]

Kemper still uses Freescale, running at 400 MHz.

[gentleclockdivider]

Freescale used to be motorola ..right ?


edit: and then freescale was bought by nxp ( dutch ) which in turn was bought by qualcomm ..
A lot has happened the last few years

[EvilDragon]

Yup.

[gentleclockdivider]

The acquisation of freescale( and nxp) by qualcomm was just a meagre 47 billion dollar .

A bit too fast and totally off topic , seems that the acquisation is still happening ...the 47 billion was just a bid .

[db3]

"Not in the near future, but maybe a bit later we will also put some more effort into the keyboards"

[gentleclockdivider]

That's a first class 'ass licking ' interview .

[CapnLockheed]

Speculation of this kind is a pointless waste of time and energy. You don't have a crystal ball. Although it may seem obvious in the now....no one can know what tomorrow will bring. The stories of Léon Theremin, Nikola Tesla, Bob Moog and Don Buchla are rife with twists and turns that none of them saw coming.

If you have a Virus....consider yourself lucky....and shut up and play your Virus.

[Synthman2000]

It came to mind what sums the virus up for me. I learn something new, get surprised and marvel every time I switch it on and tweak a preset I made or start a new one. The end results are greater than the sum of parts. Oscillators, filters, effects and each synth parameter complements every other very well.

I personally think it would be a very sad day if this hardware ever stopped being made. Its depths are beyond any other synth I have encountered if you are willing to put time into experimenting. It has a bit of a limitless feel about it. Or if not quite limitless, enough potential combinations to give the impression of always having something more to give that most importantly sounds good in the end. Instead of pointless unusable sounds.

Oh and it sounds like money...it sounds expensive. It does wide, deep and expansive better than any other synth I know. It just sounds right, for me anyway.