Much of the hi-tech musical instrument industry, already close to computer manufacturers, got even cosier like Apple and Emagic's amazing trick — where did the music software company go? Of course, this carelessly selective overview only conveys one side of the story.
Not everyone likes mixing 40 tracks of music with a mouse. Some people actually prefer the sound of analogue instruments and not just ones with lots of knobs on — acoustic guitars and yes, even that human voice thingy can sound pretty good sometimes, too.
And, more prosaically, manufacturers and retailers, the underlying structure of the musical instrument industry, have found that software doesn't offer anything like the margin that hardware does, and is harder to sell and support — if you can sell it at all, that is.
A lot of money that would have been appearing on the positive side of hi-tech musical instrument manufacturers and retailers' balance sheets a few years ago seems latterly to have been spent instead on laptops, cheap keyboard controllers and broadband connections to Kazaa. And so, as usually happens with any kind of revolution, the pendulum has started to swing back towards the centre, and the movers and shakers of the industry have begun to investigate ways of taking the best parts of the computer-based way of working, and the best aspects of hardware-based systems, and making them work together in a form that they can sell to make a decent profit.
Yamaha, for example, have been exploring this with their 01X-based mLAN systems, and also more recently in the form of their Studio Connections initiative with Steinberg, both of which aim to create systems comprising hardware integrated with and completely controllable from software. They call this concept 'total integration'. All of which brings me to Access' new Virus range, which also flags itself as a 'totally integrated' set of products hence 'TI' — although Access's efforts are nothing to do with Yamaha's separate initiatives.
This isn't just a Virus C with some extra computer interfacing built in, though; it's a completely new hardware synth with plenty of features beyond those concerned with computer integration. But more on that side of things in a moment. How exactly does a hardware synth 'totally integrate' itself with your computer? But whereas the Virus plug-in for the Powercore did all the sound generation using TC's Powercore chips, in a Virus TI system, the sound is generated by the hardware synth.
Naturally, this means the physical knobs on the Virus will also be useable as hardware MIDI controllers for computer-based instruments. At least, that's the theory. At the time of writing mid-October , not all of the TI aspects of the new Virus have been finalised.
Beyond the features relating to the TI concept, the new Virus has undergone many changes in comparison to the Virus C; some cosmetic, others internal but highly significant, and others in the synth engine itself.
There's even a completely new manual. The front panel has been reorganised, adding a larger, more user-friendly xpixel display, handy extras like the dedicated tempo LEDs for each of the three LFOs, and more dedicated knobs such as the new one for the Tap Tempo function, and the three Quick Edit controls for altering parameters on the display. Further contributing to the light show is the rear-panel illuminated Access logo, which will eventually be capable of blinking in sync with MIDI or internal clock rates.
The circuit board for the inputs and outputs on the desktop version is separate from the main board, and can be rotated, Mackie-mixer-style, to provide connections on either the rear panel, for desktop work, or on the underside for when the Virus is rackmounted upright. Inside the synth, there are now two main DSPs, the main effect of which has been to increase total polyphony. Although this varies depending on what's active at any one time, Access are now claiming 'average' counts of over 80 stereo voices.
Aside from physical changes, the architecture of the new Virus's synth engine is very different, too. The beefed-up DSPs have also allowed them to offer delay and reverb on a truly multitimbral basis ie.
What's more, the part Multi mode memories can now be separate from the single sounds if you wish — so editing the patch data for one of the parts in a Multi no longer overwrites that preset in single mode, and vice versa. If this doesn't take your fancy, however, you can still work with the new Sequencer mode, which behaves in the same way as the old Multi mode did, with single sounds sharing their memories with the multitimbral parts.
However, because Hypersaw is effectively 'nine oscillators in one', you can also use the Virus' Unison mode to have up to eight Hypersaw oscillators per note, which means you could have 72 oscillators per note!
Or, do the same with the second oscillator and get oscillators per note, and add a bit of the sub-oscillator for bass! This is just plain wrong, but so addictive! Other features of the new TI engine include six modulation matrix slots with one source and three destinations, giving six sources and 18 destinations in total. There are, however, a few problems that were present in the engine that Access are gradually fixing through updates. There are some issues with the arpeggiator when trying to slave the Virus to an incoming MIDI Clock signal which older Virus users may remember from previous 'first' versions , although I didn't find this a problem when using the Virus in TI mode as a plug-in, presumably since the sequencer coordinates the sample-accurate sync.
And there seems to be a problem with the tuning in the arpeggiator occasionally, which completely foxed me for a while, but I later found other users having the same problem, which has been described on forums as the 'drunken' arpeggiator.
In short, aside from a few teething troubles, the new sound engine is amazing. However, it's now time to look at the seriously impressive aspect of the new Virus — the computer integration. Installing the Virus TI for use with your computer sequencer is easy, and although a CD-ROM is supplied containing the installation software, Access recommend checking their web site to make sure you have the current version.
Once you've launched the installer, the appropriate software will be installed, and during this process Windows users will be asked to connect the Virus to a USB port on their computer Mac users can simply connect the Virus after the installation. The Windows installer also informs you and this advice concerns both Mac and Windows users, as described in the manual that you cannot connect the TI to your computer via a USB hub — see the box over the page for more info.
Once the drivers are installed, the Windows installer will ask you to disconnect and reconnect your Virus TI, and after this the installation will be complete. If the installer is supplied with a firmware update for the Virus TI OS, the cross-platform Virus TI Firmware Update application will run for about 10 minutes, during which you can't do anything to the synth.
It's now time for the real fun to begin. This means that you can use the TI as a front end for your computer music system with no extra MIDI or audio hardware required, which is useful.
And what's really nice is that the audio driver output will be mixed with the output of the Virus synth engine, which already gives you a much more integrated approach than ever before with a hardware synth. The only things I found annoying were the rough nature of the user interface for the ASIO Control Panel for Windows users see right , and the lack of documentation describing how to use it.
It's not obvious how the options should be configured, and the layout looks like a throwback from Windows 3. On the Mac side, I set the buffer size in Logic to samples approximately 3ms at There's also the all-important USB 2. In addition to these facilities, the Polar and Keyboard models also feature a built-in PSU the Desktop has an external brick , two jack connections for Control and Hold pedals It'll look good on stage! Of course, the feature we've all been waiting for is to run the actual Virus synth engine as a plug-in.
And if you're wondering whether the Virus TI can still operate as an audio and MIDI interface when running the Virus engine as a plug-in, the answer is yes — which is really, really useful!
The Virus TI's plug-in application is referred to as Virus Control , and when you start the plug-in on your host, the Virus TI will switch into Sequencer mode and no longer work as a stand-alone synth. The Virus control surface itself effectively becomes a control surface for the Virus Control plug-in, and this control is achieved by internal communication between the TI and Virus Control , so there's no additional work required by the user.
And despite the internal nature of this communication, you can still automate Virus Control with your host's own automation system. Again, this requires no setting up: just enable automation in your host, adjust parameters on the control surface, and the host will record the movements as if you were adjusting on-screen controls directly. The beauty of this system is that you can control the plug-in at any time from the TI, regardless of which Track is selected in your host. A further mode Access have created for the Virus TI is Remote mode, and this enables the Virus' front panel to control other software instruments and effects in addition to the TI — or rather it will.
Virus Control shown overleaf appears to the user as if it were any other instrument plug-in. Behind the scenes, MIDI data from the instrument plug-in is sent to the synth engine via USB, and audio from the synth engine is sent back to Virus Control so that the plug-in outputs audio to the host application, allowing you to use other plug-in effects to further process the Virus' audio output.
Like many products running over USB, the TI seems to work variably from computer to computer, depending on configuration and host.
Check out the unofficial Virus user forum at www. I fell into the latter category, aside from the non-USB related sound engine problems I've already mentioned, and a slight problem with latency. If you're using the TI as your main audio interface as well, the audio has to travel back down the USB cable again, and although the audio would be have to be sent out by the host at this point no matter what interface you were using, I noticed the latency when using the Virus as both a plug-in and an audio interface was greater than when using another main audio device.
Even with an additional audio interface, though, you have to be careful to keep your buffer sizes small no greater than samples to keep the TI plug-in playable. However, the upside to Virus Control is that latency is only an issue when performing in real time: on playback, the TI, like any other instrument plug-in, is capable of sample-accurate operation.
And another bonus is that the audio doesn't have to be routed back to your host sequencer when using the TI in Sequencer mode. Like the Virus hardware, the Virus Control plug-in also has multiple outputs: there are two stereo outputs available to your host, and in Virus Control 's Common page, you can set whether the main and secondary audio outputs are routed to an output on the plug-in, or directly to an output on the Virus TI itself.
This latter option has a few pros and cons; firstly, it's more useful if you're using the Virus TI as your main audio device, so you don't need an additional mixer, and also, it prevents you from further processing the audio output of the Virus in your host.
On the plus side, though, you could use the direct routing for real-time performance, and then switch to the plug-in's output for playback and mixing. It's a nice touch that addresses a potential problem. The Virus Control interface is pretty well laid out, and, as the manual points out, if you're familiar with using a hardware Virus or a plug-in version , the TI plug-in is pretty self-explanatory — which is just as well, since there is little documentation available for Virus Control at the time of writing, although more is planned.
I particularly liked the Arp page, which makes programming the arpeggiator so much easier than on the Virus' control surface, and the new Easy page looks pretty cool, with the ability to adjust both the cutoff frequency and resonance of the filter with the mouse at the same time. All 16 parts of the Virus are displayed in a column to the left of Virus Control , and here you can load and save individual patches, adjust the volume and pan of a part, and select a part for editing in the main display.
Sequencer mode, which is the mode the TI uses when you're working with Virus Control , is similar to Multi mode, in that you have 16 simultaneous parts, but it actually works like having 16 simultaneous Single modes rather than one Multi mode.
In addition to storing patches directly on the Virus, Virus Control can also save patches to your local disk if you run out of space on your Virus, and as on the Virus Powercore plug-in, these are stored as banks of patches in MIDI file format. Actually, the Browser page of Virus Control is the only aspect that slightly lets the side down. Access chose to display the patch list as if the patches were on an LCD screen a bit like NI's FM7 , and style aside, this just makes it hard to read the patch list.
Some better faster search facilities would also have been good, although I hear this is another area Access are working on. While it's true that using audio devices with USB hubs can often be problematic, I decided to ignore this warning initially and see if the Virus TI would still be functional connected in this way. However, I wasn't being awkward: the Windows computer on which I was installing the Virus TI was in a machine room some feet away from the main workstation where the monitors, keyboards and Virus TI were located.
Since the maximum length for a USB cable to allow for reliable transmission is about So I ignored the initial warning during installation, and at first, all was well. The installer detected that I had connected a TI even though it was via a hub , and the drivers were still installed correctly.
At this point I was thinking 'hub, shmub! While this is annoying, it's understandable. Given the number of incompatibilities that users could encounter using the many possible types of USB hub, it does make a degree of sense for Access to ensure that the TI is used in a way that always gives the best possible results. On the other hand, if you're using a computer with a limited number of USB ports such as an Apple Powerbook , it would be handy if an Expert mode could be added for those users who want to take their chances!
I really love the Virus TI. It's not perfect; there are some issues to be resolved, and features to be implemented. But, for me at least, there's nothing about the TI in its current state that would prevent me from having a good time or making a purchase, despite the fact it's not uncommon to see the odd bug.
For example, I noticed that when I was selecting patches from the TI in Sequencer mode, Virus Control didn't always display the correct patch name. Still, it's reassuring to see Access releasing regular updates on the Internet for users who have already bought the new Virus, continuing their good practice of offering regular updates for previous Virus models.
The Virus has always been a fine-sounding synth, and it's always been fun and intuitive to program. The TI takes this to the next level; the new engine, with its additional DSP resources, is fantastic, and the improvements to both the Virus' hardware user interface and the new software interface, in the form of Virus Control , make the TI a dream to program. The 'total integration' features have been well thought out, and, for the most part, well implemented — everything you could conceivably want to do with a Virus attached to your computer seems to be possible.
The only missing piece is the 'still to come' Remote mode, but I don't think this is a serious omission. I think I'm going to buy a TI Polar because, for me, it's the perfect desktop instrument.
I can have it right next to my computer keyboard and mouse, it's the perfect master keyboard for generating MIDI data when an note keyboard isn't required, and, of course, it has the best-sounding Virus synth engine to date. It's not particularly cheap, and the Polar costs the same as the note Keyboard version, but it's such a great instrument that I can't really criticise the price, because you really do get what you pay for.
Access' latest Virus incarnation was worth the wait: users for whom the TI will be 'their Virus' and seasoned Access veterans alike are in for a treat. While it might be obvious, you can't run more than one instance of the Virus plug-in simultaneously, since you only have one Virus engine attached. Fortunately, this does no harm, and you can simply remove the second plug-in instance and carry on using the first.
One potential way around only having one Virus TI and let's not forget the TI is part multitimbral! Using Freeze in conjunction with the TI could be rather neat; imagine being able to use one instance, freeze it, move onto another instance, freeze that, move back to the first instance and make changes, and so on.
So long as all TI instances were 'frozen' before opening or unfreezing another, it could all work rather well. Unfortunately, Freeze-style features aren't compatible with the Virus Control plug-in at present — not even if you're using the Polar!
The release notes promise it for 'a future upgrade'. This didn't stop me trying it nonetheless, but I got very corrupted-sounding audio, almost as if the Virus was trying to play at a faster tempo. This makes sense, because most Freeze functions work by performing what is basically a faster-than-real-time bounce. Even if Freeze had worked, though, I noticed that the plug-in wasn't always released under Logic Pro ; the Virus TI stayed in Sequencer mode even after the original plug-in instance was frozen.
Even if you'll never need to use the Freeze function in your sequencer, the behaviour just described could still affect you, as it applies to all non-real-time, off-line bouncing, not just freezing. This means that if you do a bounce down or export of your finished mix inside your sequencer, you'll need to make sure that the real-time mode is selected for the time being.
Just as I was about to submit this article, Access posted a version 1. According to the company's release notes, v1. The Remote functions and Freeze support are still to be added in a future release, though. The cold realities of having to move house several times in quick succession, plus the difficulties and costs of keeping vintage synths well serviced, have conspired mercilessly to whittle down my studio.
Recording and sound design is now a percent computer-based experience for me. I have no regrets; I like contact with the hardware that's producing the sound I want, but I'm able to run more synths, samplers and effects in software than I've ever owned at one time. And I like a life which isn't drowning in leads and means that I have desk space to spare.
But working solely in software presents its own problems. Thus, the idea behind the latest breed of hardware synth — the type that adds DSP resources to your system rather than demanding more of their host — is one I like. Access's Virus TI is a particularly attractive implementation of this idea.
The Virus family has become a classic in a relatively short time, and software implementations have been quite demanding, running on higher-end DSP-based audio systems. Host-based options would suffer and, being frank, no doubt Access would suffer from piracy. The hardware-plus-software approach provides manufacturers with security, and users with power.
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