What vst sounds closest to the Virus TI?

[IvyBirds]

Complaining about this specific difference is like complaining about the perception of sound when you stand 1 meter from the speaker versus 1 meter and 10 cm. Sometimes I wish I was as enthusiastic as some of you.

Except that NOBODY ever did in this thread.

There is one group of people who just won't shut up about the DAC: those being obviously extremely desperate to discuss it no matter what, and who seem super eager to jump on anyone daring to just utter the term DAC, like that person just had claimed that the DAC is the most important bit of the Virus. And even the repeated assurances by those that they absolutely not care either way is going to make them shut up about it.

You don't think the DAC makes any difference and nobody here ever claimed it did, so why on earth won't you guys just finally shut up about it? Why do you need to discuss a DAC that in yoru own words makes no difference for pages? Seriously: just why?

Reminds me of atheists not shutting up about God not being existant. As an agnostic I find that just as irritating as the nutters from the bible belt.

The only reason to mention that they didn't model the DAC to your satisfaction is because you do think it does make a difference and people in this thread have said that it makes a difference

Not sure what you are taking about, but thanks for lecturing all of us about taking about the DAC while you yourself talk about the DACs

As a general rule of you don't like the way a conversation is going you shouldn't interject yourself into that exact conversation and then lecture others about the evils of engaging in it

That is almost as silly as complaining that they didn't model the DAC if you think it doesn't matter

[Gam456]

What do Access think about all this? I bet they can't be happy surely?

Apparently they/he is OK with it. No interest in synths now, just doing amp sims etc

That's their prerogative. But you can't register, afaict, without a serial number for the hardware.

You don't need to register. I literally just went to the access site and got a list of all OS downloads sitting there.

https://www.virus.info/downloads

Go to category/OS or similar

It's all there, no registration required

Did you even try to downlaod? Let me guess. No

Yes. Works fine here on my phone android/chrome

Do You have a magic phone ?
Doesn't work on Android, Ipad, Windows 11 without an account

[miloszz]

Given the number of things people are largely unable to identify in blind tests (analog synths vs. emulations, semi-hollow guitars vs. solid, MP3s vs lossless files, etc. etc. etc. into infinity) I'd love to see someone pass a blind DAC test.

[cryophonik]

I thought I remembered reading Sylenth1 was not an emulation of it, but could make very similar sounds as a Virus.

Maybe similar, but Sylenth1 has a different character. I’ve owned around 15 different Viruses (A through TI2, each in different formats) over the past few decades, currently own a desktop TI2, and haven’t been without some version of a Virus since the early 2000s. I also own Sylenth1 and I generally think of it as having a smoother, rounder, and warmer sound than the Virus, which sounds a bit more nasally and midrange-y (but in a good way) in comparison.

As for the OP’s original question about which synth “sounds” like a Virus, a few have already been mentioned and, yeah, Sylenth1 could still be included on that list. I buy and use synths to make music and design sounds, so I’m not one to sit around A/B’ing synths, but there are a couple of soft synths that often remind me of the Virus character. One of them is ANA2, the other is Nexus 5. Of course, neither synth is intended to emulate the Virus and they have different architectures, but these are two synths that often make me think, woah, this sounds like it could be coming straight from my Virus.

[jens]

Well, when you interject with a specific nugget of information, it’s safe to say that you did because you believe that it makes a difference, or else why would you bring it up?

I can only speak for myself of course, but had they not made that comment, I would have made it. And I have not the first clue about the Virus DAC(s?) and neither do I care.
It would simply have been to be more exact - which it is. You can't interpret anything else into it without the other having explicitly stated it.

When you say "there's a cloudless sky today" and I reply with "except for that little cloud over there" you can't interpret that as me saying "it's about to rain".

Now you are putting words in the mouth of the poster to make your crappy argument work. There were no adjectives describing the DAC, like, “except for the perfectly transparent DAC.” In your analogy, they just said, “except for clouds.”

Way to dramatically misunderstand my "crappy argument".

My argument was that there are no adjectives required. So as crappy as it may have ever been, you understood none of it. It obviously flew miles past your head. I don't know why.
I thought it was pretty simple and it doesn't exactly take a genius to understand it.

Here's a simple fact: The emulation is the complete deal minus the DAC. That's how facts work. It is perfectly possible to observe things without passing any judgement whatsoever.
And *gasp* without the slightest desire to use any adjectives.

I get that half the fun of boards like this for many of you guys is to pass judgement after judgement after judgement on every possible occassion and to look for opportunities left and right to HAVE that argument no matter what, but here it is really getting more silly than usual.

So, to reiterate: OsTIrus is a complete Virus emulation minus the DAC. And that's a fact, even if it eats you up inside - and it's the last thing I will say on the matter.

[Dalle]

When you listen to the emulator it’s going to pass through a DAC anyway, which will sound just like he Virus one, nothing

[IvyBirds]

[

So, to reiterate: OsTIrus is a complete Virus emulation minus the DAC. And that's a fact, even if it eats you up inside - and it's the last thing I will say on the matter.

But you are wrong when you say that. It does emulate the DAC because again all the DAC is doing is exporting uncompressed PCM Audio Data Streams and that is 100% emulated in the plugin. When you run this plugin you will get the same exact Uncompressed PCM Audio stream as if you had the hardware connected to your computer via the Optical Outs or the USB outs

With Computer Systems and Software running on them the term "Emulation" is defined as "imitation of behavior of a computer or other electronic system with the help of another type of system" you can't get a better emulation than the exact data stream coming out of your emulator

But again if you think the high resolution transparent DAC in the Virus Ti actually colors the sound in some way explain why and what that is. If you don't then explain how the emulator that is emulating the exact PCM Audio data stream that comes out of the DAC isn't being emulated

All the DAC is doing is taking the data off the CPU and turning it into a PCM data stream. How do you emulate that in a plugin? By taking the data off the emulated CPU and creating a PCM Data Stream

It is not emulating or modeling the analog outputs of course but there is far more to that than just the DAC. The Virus Ti had very clean balanced outputs. Not sure why you think anyone would emulate that when you already have that being emulated in your computers sound card or interface

Now for synths like the OG DX7, Plogue modeled everything including the bespoke DAC and analog output stage on their OPS7 plugin because unlike the Virus Ti that Digital Synth very much had a DAC and analog output stage that effected the sound.

Unlike the Virus Ti that DAC on the OG DX7 was a 12-bit DAC, with a 2-bit compander that was prone to producing small errors it also has a filter at 16kHz to filter out aliasing above that frequency. The 12-bits with 2-bit companding along with the filter is something worth emulating and modeling. Plogue claims this is bit accurate and based on 35+ years of first hand experience with DX7 hardware I believe them. You can however bypass the DAC Emulation and when you do you find out that even bit accurate emulation of such a DAC is very very subtle

Now fast forward 22 years from 1983 to 2005 when the Virus TI came out and they were using a 24 Bit DAC with no companding or data compression you know exactly what you have in your computer sound card and/or interface. You don't need to emulate the analog stage as you already have it, and the digital outputs are emulated perfectly


Quite frankly anyone whining about not emulating the DAC on this plugin is either misinformed, or deliberately being misleading

[Gam456]

I never seen any comment on Discord about an emulation of any DAC.
Ostirus is like the usb output, there is no DAC for the USB.

[fmr]

I never seen any comment on Discord about an emulation of any DAC.
Ostirus is like the usb output, there is no DAC for the USB.

If you know how to read, you may have read before that the output of the ANALOG outputs and the DIGITAL outputs (these ones don't pass through any DAC) is virtually undistinguishable. This was written by soeone who owns (or owned) a real Virus.

[osiris]

wen live in the age of miracles.

[ghostwhistler]

Is the OSCAR (or, specifically, Gforce's ImpOSCAR emulation) similar to the Virus?

[Gam456]

I never seen any comment on Discord about an emulation of any DAC.
Ostirus is like the usb output, there is no DAC for the USB.

If you know how to read, you may have read before that the output of the ANALOG outputs and the DIGITAL outputs (these ones don't pass through any DAC) is virtually undistinguishable. This was written by soeone who owns (or owned) a real Virus.

If you know how to read. I'm saying there is NO emulation of a DAC on Ostirus. Notghing else
Btw I own a real Virus Ti2 desktop

[El°HYM]

wen live in the age of miracles.

TAL-DAC is very good, but they didnt emulate the VIRUS DACs.

[Gam456]

Is the OSCAR (or, specifically, Gforce's ImpOSCAR emulation) similar to the Virus?

No. Apple and orange. OSC OSCar is an hybrid, 2 digital waveform OSC with additive. Vcf and vca are analog. The orginal was monophonic and duaphonic

ImpOSCAR goes beyond the origianl with polyphony, effect etc...

Bass Station, Peak and Summit use a vcf close to the OSCar. Chris Huggett was the engineer (also the WASP).

[fmr]

I never seen any comment on Discord about an emulation of any DAC.
Ostirus is like the usb output, there is no DAC for the USB.

If you know how to read, you may have read before that the output of the ANALOG outputs and the DIGITAL outputs (these ones don't pass through any DAC) is virtually undistinguishable. This was written by soeone who owns (or owned) a real Virus.

If you know how to read. I'm saying there is NO emulation of a DAC on Ostirus. Notghing else
Btw I own a real Virus Ti2 desktop

AFAIR no one said there is. They emulate the CPU (the Motorola DSP), and use the original software code for the synth part. If you do own a real Virus, do you "really" maintain that emulating the DAC is necessary? Can you post a proof of that?