Access virus

[deastman]

Dunno. It has some kind of thing going for it for sure. Some sweet spot. Of course it's not comparable with analog synths, but, there are great sounding digital synths (like the Waldorf Q as well).

Out of interest: Why have you decided to hold on to your Virus A?

I guess I’m just a hoarder. I’ve rarely ever sold gear. Early on I was ripped off a couple of times selling gear long distance, and it really soured me on the idea. Also I’m lazy and it takes effort to find a box and packing material, drive it over to UPS, etc. It isn’t that I hate the Virus A, and I’d like to think I’ll use it again someday. Maybe I’ll layer it with that Waldorf Q which is also gathering dust in storage!

[chaosWyrM]

ive had my indigo since '01 and i love it. it sounds amazing and nothing does what it does as well as it does it.

now that thats out of the way...i almost never use it. the ease of use and lower cost of vsts far far outweighs the (not that much really of a) difference in sound. would i ever get rid of it?....no way. still, knowing what i know now...i def. wouldndt get one if i didnt already have one.

[cleverr1]

Do you think the access virus will live on ?

My GAS has resulted in a collection including Dune 3, Spire, Serum, Avenger, Viper, Zebra etc. etc. etc. yet I use the poco Virus (a Virus B) on practically everything. I think that's because of; confidence that it will sit well in a mix, it's familiar, and it's difficult to get it to sound bad. It's not overly complex yet it doesn't feel limiting. I also have a Virus Ti that I used to use live.

I feel that even if the trends move away from synth sounds the Virus can produce, there will still be cultural resonance towards it similar to the M1 sounds, DX7 or the 808 and 909 that are popular on contemporary releases.

For a 20 year old synth it has already "lived on" and will continue to do so.

[clipnotic]

Those who say it says it sounds different to another synth it’s all the same , a synth is a synth simple.

We indulge the inner child by buying all these audio toys , All these companies know this very well , im guilty of it !

DAWS like Logic have absolutly everything you need , apart from wave sysnthesis which I’m sure will come !

So everyone sell everything you got and stick with one synth that does the lot !

100% nonsense!

[paulm12]

Do you think the access virus will live on ?

My GAS has resulted in a collection including Dune 3, Spire, Serum, Avenger, Viper, Zebra etc. etc. etc. yet I use the poco Virus (a Virus B) on practically everything. I think that's because of; confidence that it will sit well in a mix, it's familiar, and it's difficult to get it to sound bad. It's not overly complex yet it doesn't feel limiting. I also have a Virus Ti that I used to use live.

I feel that even if the trends move away from synth sounds the Virus can produce, there will still be cultural resonance towards it similar to the M1 sounds, DX7 or the 808 and 909 that are popular on contemporary releases.

For a 20 year old synth it has already "lived on" and will continue to do so.

That's actually a good point, and one I didn't consider (I just got my TI2 a few months ago because I knew I'd need something to keep me company during lockdown). Even now people pay top dollar for emulations of the M1, DX7, 808, 909, Minimoog (although I guess its the odd one out since its analog), TB303, JP8000, etc. The Virus defined an era in dance music that cannot be erased, and still gets plenty of use today. It also helps that it is a very flexible synthesizer in its own right; most VST synths still cannot match the features of the Virus (although many do come close, none seem to match it exactly except may be Viper but I'm on Mac)
So I think the Virus's success is a combination of many things. First is the sound, and also probably the Hypersaw is worth mentioning here too as it too has its own character/sound. Next is the application of this sound to many hit records, which increases its status, even to the point of influencing and perhaps defining certain genres of music. I do think the Total Integration thing was a really cool idea, and one I still don't think we have seen replicated since, but from what I understand the Virus was already popular by then.
However you will be hard pressed to find another synth, hardware or software, that offers what the Virus has (I'm specifically referencing the TI2):

• 3 Oscillators, with VA, Wavetable, VA, Granular, Hypersaw (Saw x9)
• 8x Voice unison (in addition to oscillator unison described above), so this can mean easily over 100 oscillators triggered with a single note. Probably a bit overkill TBH but Dune 3 can get even crazier
• Dual filter architecture with filter FX
• ~80 voices of polyphony
• 3x LFOs, 2x Mod envelopes in addition to Amp and Filter Envelopes
• 16 (!) parts multitimbral (although with only 3 USB outs and 6 analog outs, you probably won't use them all at once, or you'll run out of polyphony)
• Total Integration (for non Catalina users, something I am suffering from as I had to get a new mac)
• Over 3000 factory presets (really comes with over 7000 if you download everything)
• Atomizer, and a Vocoder
• Basically zero CPU hit

Once again, most synths cannot even come close save for a few. Serum is a strange one to mention; its a great synth and a better wavetable synth IMO (and I believe this should be common fact), but with only 2x oscillators and 1 filter, it cannot do everything the Virus can. Dune and Viper are probably the closest, although Dune is missing a few features the Virus has but has plenty of its own that the Virus doesn't have (after all, Dune isn't supposed to be a clone of the Virus but something else entirely, and it does this extremely well with a low CPU hit).

If Kemper doesn't decide to make a new Virus, the current models will likely become a prized item like the TB303, especially since the motorola chips inside are out of production iirc.

[FapFilter]

The Virus might still be an excellent synth (but so have been VSTi for a long while aswell), but featuritis is actually VSTi's forte where even the Virus, while pretty feature packed for a HW synth, doesn't look all that special.
And the “80“ voices go down quickly when you use more complex sounds. I think you can even make it choke with just a few voices if you go really hardcore with your patches.
Though multitimbrality is indeed a thing that is not all too common in plugin synth land, other than samplers and more like just a handful of “true“ synth plugins.
Then again software doesn't really need multitimbrality that much. It easily makes things more complicated and you can simply open as many additional instances as your CPU can handle, whereas it could be getting expensive if you bought 20 Viri, Moogs, or TB-303 each just to achieve similar things.

[aMUSEd]

Do you think the access virus will live on ?

My GAS has resulted in a collection including Dune 3, Spire, Serum, Avenger, Viper, Zebra etc. etc. etc. yet I use the poco Virus (a Virus B) on practically everything. I think that's because of; confidence that it will sit well in a mix, it's familiar, and it's difficult to get it to sound bad. It's not overly complex yet it doesn't feel limiting. I also have a Virus Ti that I used to use live.

I feel that even if the trends move away from synth sounds the Virus can produce, there will still be cultural resonance towards it similar to the M1 sounds, DX7 or the 808 and 909 that are popular on contemporary releases.

For a 20 year old synth it has already "lived on" and will continue to do so.

That's actually a good point, and one I didn't consider (I just got my TI2 a few months ago because I knew I'd need something to keep me company during lockdown). Even now people pay top dollar for emulations of the M1, DX7, 808, 909, Minimoog (although I guess its the odd one out since its analog), TB303, JP8000, etc. The Virus defined an era in dance music that cannot be erased, and still gets plenty of use today. It also helps that it is a very flexible synthesizer in its own right; most VST synths still cannot match the features of the Virus (although many do come close, none seem to match it exactly except may be Viper but I'm on Mac)
So I think the Virus's success is a combination of many things. First is the sound, and also probably the Hypersaw is worth mentioning here too as it too has its own character/sound. Next is the application of this sound to many hit records, which increases its status, even to the point of influencing and perhaps defining certain genres of music. I do think the Total Integration thing was a really cool idea, and one I still don't think we have seen replicated since, but from what I understand the Virus was already popular by then.
However you will be hard pressed to find another synth, hardware or software, that offers what the Virus has (I'm specifically referencing the TI2):

• 3 Oscillators, with VA, Wavetable, VA, Granular, Hypersaw (Saw x9)
• 8x Voice unison (in addition to oscillator unison described above), so this can mean easily over 100 oscillators triggered with a single note. Probably a bit overkill TBH but Dune 3 can get even crazier
• Dual filter architecture with filter FX
• ~80 voices of polyphony
• 3x LFOs, 2x Mod envelopes in addition to Amp and Filter Envelopes
• 16 (!) parts multitimbral (although with only 3 USB outs and 6 analog outs, you probably won't use them all at once, or you'll run out of polyphony)
• Total Integration (for non Catalina users, something I am suffering from as I had to get a new mac)
• Over 3000 factory presets (really comes with over 7000 if you download everything)
• Atomizer, and a Vocoder
• Basically zero CPU hit

Once again, most synths cannot even come close save for a few. Serum is a strange one to mention; its a great synth and a better wavetable synth IMO (and I believe this should be common fact), but with only 2x oscillators and 1 filter, it cannot do everything the Virus can. Dune and Viper are probably the closest, although Dune is missing a few features the Virus has but has plenty of its own that the Virus doesn't have (after all, Dune isn't supposed to be a clone of the Virus but something else entirely, and it does this extremely well with a low CPU hit).

If Kemper doesn't decide to make a new Virus, the current models will likely become a prized item like the TB303, especially since the motorola chips inside are out of production iirc.

They seem to be indicating development has stopped though - the software part hasn't been updated even for bug fixes for years now, neither has the firmware, and the Control plugin is no longer working on Macs with Catalina and above. It's a shame, they used to regularly post substantial updates with new features etc. It still works as hardware of course but the total integration was useful - for now I am staying on Mohave as I have several things Catalina will break (Metasynth, Nord G2 Modular editor etc) but sooner or later I might have to decide to let go of those in order to stay working on stuff that needs me to update.

[paulm12]

The Virus might still be an excellent synth (but so have been VSTi for a long while aswell), but featuritis is actually VSTi's forte where even the Virus, while pretty feature packed for a HW synth, doesn't look all that special.
And the “80“ voices go down quickly when you use more complex sounds. I think you can even make it choke with just a few voices if you go really hardcore with your patches.
Though multitimbrality is indeed a thing that is not all too common in plugin synth land, other than samplers and more like just a handful of “true“ synth plugins.
Then again software doesn't really need multitimbrality that much. It easily makes things more complicated and you can simply open as many additional instances as your CPU can handle, whereas it could be getting expensive if you bought 20 Viri, Moogs, or TB-303 each just to achieve similar things.

Yeah the 80 voices is under "average" load, but I'd be surprised if you ever got below 20-30 even with the most complicated granular or formant table patches, unison, etc. I've never run into a big issue with it TBH but of course I haven't had it for long. Even then, I'd say even the beefiest of computers would have take a significant hit generating patches like that at 192kHz with 20-30 voices.
I do agree with no need for multitimbirality on VSTs, it was aimed more at other hardware than VSTis. Even with large Kontakt libraries and stuff I rarely use multi-out and simply just call up a new version of the plugin if I need a new instrument.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think the Virus is like the second coming or anything. More just an observation that its been 10-20 years and we still haven't really seen it be completely surpassed.
Surpassed is an interesting term because with analog synths, you can add features but the sound remains. With digital, I think its a lot harder to justify "outdated" hardware when new stuff can have pretty much the same sound engine but more features or is easy to use. Compare, say, the DX7 to things like FM8 or even FMX in MODX. Way easier to program and more powerful IMO (not to say there's no place for a DX7 though). But with the Virus, its not only still revered for its sound, but also its flexibility as a synthesizer.
Luckily, Access said they are working on a Catalina fix (I asked when I bought my Virus a few months ago). It was a third-party company that made the Virus Control Center plugin so they've been waiting on them to do the fix IIRC.

[cryophonik]

The Virus A is already a modern classic that is still used in productions and found in many hobbyist and professional studios. In 30-40 years, the TI and entire Virus line will be the same, while Serum and every other current software synth will be unsupported, obsolete, and long forgotten.

[FapFilter]

Yes, the Virus is a classic, but so would be Absynth, Z3ta, Zebra, Guru, or quite a few Reaktor ensembles (just to name a few off the top of my head) if they were molded into tactile stand alone hardware devices.

[cryophonik]

...if they were molded into tactile stand alone hardware devices.

Yup. But, they're not.

...and the OP's question was:

Do you think the access virus will live on ?

Yes, hardware will always live on, especially when it's one of the most highly sought-after instruments of the past two decades. Software will not live on. It may evolve into something different over time, but each version will become obsolete and worthless over time and depreciate to nothing.

No guys , I’m just curious because because why would you buy one when something like serum blows it out of the water

You should never, ever submerge an electronic device in water. That's about as dumb as asking if a quality hardware instrument will live on and then comparing it to software.

[chk071]

I guess the closest to hardware with "legendary status" is Sylenth1 in the software world.

I definitely agree that hardware seems to be more prone to "classic" evergreens, simply because there is that element of physicality, which makes for a better "relationship" to your gear. I guess that's the thing with software: Ending up with a shed load of plugins in your plugin folder which makes for a "meh" experience, because abundance gets boring over time. That's also a reason why I don't have hundreds of plugins on my computer, but limit myself to the ones I really like.

[mitchiemasha]

Do you think the access virus will live on ?

One will need to replace the internal PSU but other than that... for sure.

Keyboard version TI that is.

[Friendly Noise]

I still like it very much in 2022.

[Vectorman]

I still like my TI61 pretty well, though I'll admit 90% of the time it's getting used as a controller rather than as a sound source. Of course, one thing that's changed since the last time this thread was active is that now you CAN run the Virus as a plugin. (Well, at least the B and C so far, but the TI is almost sure to follow.) It's sort of nice to think that, even after most of the hardware Viruses have failed many years in the future, the sound of these (and other) synths can potentially still be preserved via DSP emulation.