Price Paid: US $2200
Ease of Use: 8
Version 1.0
The presets sounds great, but way too many ROM against RAM ratio.
The unit is pretty straight forward with a minimum of "German" quirks, certainly not as many as say the Waldorf Q,
The manual is very good but an odd shape and size, difficult to control physically (oh those Germans!)
The shift key is in constant use and since its a momentary button you need two hands to affect change.
The MAJOR drag is that the shift functions throughout the entire panel are stenciled in dark amber against a black surface making it IMPOSSIBLE to read. I will have to print out the text and paste them under the knobs and switches which offer the shift functions-bummer!
For this reason alone I ALMOST opted for the 3 octave Polar.
Also on the bummer meter is that there is no power switch- you have to hold down both transpose buttons to put the Virus to sleep.The power cable is a 2-pronger and very flimsy.
Ive not attempted to connect this to a computer yet to take advantage of the editors but the graphics denoted in the manual look nice and the parmaters well addressed.
Features: 9
The manual states it has polyphony ranging from 80 to more than a hundred voices-yes ambiguous language.
The essential FX are represented adequately.
Its a 16 part multi-timberal unit.
No sequencer- but hey this isnt a workstation. An arpeggiator is on board that seems to work well and easy enough but I have not tried to sync it to MIDI clock yet.Be mindful of their terminology like crotchets and quavers.
There is also a 32 band vocoder (sadly I have not tried this yet).
The unit also coan route external signals throught the filters,envelopes ringmod etc- very cool.Other cool features include: Filter saturation,programmable soft knobs,pseudo surround sound, Remote mode (too use as a controller),panic- for resets,much more.
Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
This keyboard is very expressive with two VERY smooth wheels, velocity and pressure sensitivity.
While the German models typically target trance,dance,techno pants. The TI can be used for anything that needs a synthetic element or sound FX.
Pads are rich and full too.
Reliability: 6
Mine has already crashed on me twice, despite doing nothing but playing it in the most normal of operations. The wood panels look nice but make me a little nervous about toting it around even in a flight case.Its not that the unit looks fragile in any way, but my gut tells me to keep this pup in the studio.
Customer Support: N/A
Overall Rating: 9
In the strictly analog modelling department I own a Supernova 2,Nord Lead 3, Waldorf Q. The Virus TI blows them all away in the fidelity realm.Yes,the Nord is the easiest to program but can get lost in the track easily,The Supernova has some serious output gain issues and is cumbersome to get around quickly, the Q is just plain friggin' weird.
The Virus TI is a high-res instrument with dual processors- hands down best of its type.Yet it is still some what of a boutique-specialty piece and should be treated as such.Its on par with a Roland V-synth XT rack in terms of fidelity and is only bettered, in my opinion, by the A1 analog modellors in the Korg Oasys. I wish it made use of the huge amount of baron real estate it has on the top panel i.e. much more rooms for knobs and sliders to do away with the annoying shift functions.A power switch, better power cable, and text that can be read for the shift functions.The TI, Polar or TI desktop would make an excellent additon to any synth set-up.
Submitted by keith barnhart at 03/24/2006 12:45
Price Paid: US $2,500
Ease of Use: 8
OS v 1.0.8. I just got this synth pretty recently, but I wanted to post my impressions so far to hopefully answer questions people who have been waiting for this synth for a year may have. I use this synth almost exclusively as a hardware synth, so I can't comment on its TI features nor its behavior as an AU plugin. (The reason I still buy hardware synths is that plugin stuff is too finicky and unreliable for my tastes.)
It's not too difficult to use, but definitely not the easiest synth I've ever programmed, either. The limited number of knobs means there are A LOT of menus and a lot of button-pressing. It's really a shame that they didn't use the other half of the front panel for more knobs or sliders. Sliders are much better for envelopes, anyway! Some very commonly used parameters, like arp hold and osc 3 level, have to be accessed by holding the shift key--very user unfriendly, although the three assignable knobs under the diplay make up for that to a small extent. The display is fine, the wheels are great, and the internal power supply is great, all increasing the ease of use. The manual is very good, although a spiral binding would make it easier to lay it out flat so you can read it while using the synth with both hands. Tempo-related LEDs are white instead of red, so they're easy to pick out quickly. Plus they blink in a way that corresponds to the waveform--instant on and fade off for sawtooth, fade on and fade off for sine, etc. Very nice. The one other white LED lights up when you pass any knob through the value stored in the preset. That way you know exactly how to undo an edit you've made, even if it wasn't the most recent edit. This is a really great feature, and one that you'll soon wonder how you did without.
Some of the presets are amazing. Many of them are drowning in WAY too much reverb, and many of them are clearly designed to show off what the synth can do instead of actually being useful. But they're just presets--you should program your own sounds, of course. It's too bad that there are so many ROM banks, though, and so few RAM banks. It would be nice to be able to keep some of the presets, for instance, but to turn down the reverb on them or something like that. But the only way to do that is to use up one of the user memory slots. Bad design. Also not great is the fact that the rear jacks are below and inset from the main rear panel. This makes it more difficult than it should be to plug or unplug things, when a simple angled rear panel like that on the Jupiter 6/8 would have fixed that. The jacks are labeled along the top of the synth, so that helps a little. (But just a little.)
Features: 8
The number and complexity of the synthesis options makes this a synth programmer's dream, and the expressiveness makes it a true instrument. The polyphony is nominally around 80 voices if you don't use the third oscillator or the modelled analog filters. I do use those things, so I have less polyphony, but I don't know (or care) exactly how much. It's enough. No traditional expansion capabilities, although Access has a great track record of providing OS updates with new features, so I guess that counts. Effects are great (if overused on the presets), and it's great to not hear them burp as you change presets. Since they're fully multitimbral, the prevous sound keeps its effect and dies away, while the new sound uses its effects and is unaffected by those of the previous sound. Excellent.
Although the end-cheeks feel like real, solid wood (unlike most synths with "wood effect" end-cheeks), I'll actually come out of the closet as someone who hates wood end-cheeks. It's a marketing ploy capitalizing on our nostalgia and attempting to further the illusion that this is like a real analog synth. It's not. Wood is less sturdy then metal, it dings more easily, and it contributes to deforestation. I miss the more aesthetically honest black end-cheeks of the Virus C. That said, the shape of the end-cheeks is excellent for carrying this synth around safely.
No sequencer, pressure-sensitive keys, and the best-feeling non-piano-weighted keyboard out there. The keys are full-size (unlike most other synth's keys, which are a little smaller), and they have a firm, smooth, perfect semi-weighted action. They bottom out onto something with a little padding, so you don't feel like you're banging your fingers on a table top, but they're definitely not squishy or spongy. Who would ever want to play anything else? The V-Synth's keyboard sucks compared to this, for example--smaller keys, less resistance (so harder to play expressively), and they bottom out on something hard and unforgiving. Ugh. The Virus' keyboard is the same as the one in the Novation Supernova II, the E-mu E-Synth, and the Kawai K5000. It's a joy to play.
Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
This synth mostly sounds very digital to me, but that's mostly a compliment because I love digital synthesis. I have to admit, though, that the analog emulations are surprisingly unconvincing. There's A LOT of aliasing in the upper two octaves or so, even when the oscillators are set to classic mode playing square or sawtooth waveforms, and even when the modelled analog filter is in use. I've never played earlier versions of the Virus, so I can't say how it compares. The filters usually sound very smooth and beautiful, but occasionally not--ROM D-71 "LikeSkin @," for instance, sounds steppy when you turn the filter cutoff knob. Changing the filter in this patch to the analog filter model does not help, but other sounds that use the non-analog-modeled filters don't sound steppy. I don't get it. Also, the main volume knob is steppy in the very low-volume range on some sounds, but not on others. "LikeSkin" and some other sounds have clear jumps between volume knob settings of 0, 1, 2, etc., but other sounds do not. Maybe there's an effect they all share that is more processor-intensive? I haven't investigated this further yet.
I was hoping this synth would fulfill both digital and analog roles in my setup, but I think I'm going to have to buy an Ion or Micron for the analog stuff. Before anyone accuses me of being dumb for buying something without first knowing what it sounds like, they should know that I don't live anywhere near a store that sells synthesizers. I have to buy stuff online, then return it if I don't like it. Last time I drove 3 hours to get to a Guitar Center, the room there was so loud that I would have missed these subtleties, and this Guitar Center no longer lets customers use headphones "for health reasons." So I wouldn't have noticed these aspects of the sound until I got home anyway.
Two of my all-time favorite synths, the PPG Wave 2.3 and the Sequential Prophet VS, exhibit digital artifacts too, so these flaws are not a deal-breaker to me, I'm just surprised that the analog emulation isn't better. That said, the bottom end of this synth is huge and can probably knock you off your feet, and when the filters are smooth, boy are they smooth and creamy and beautiful. The Virus' digital side is gorgeous and amazing. "LikeSkin" struck me as beautiful, and I wanted to see what spectral waves it used, but they're analog waves! Alternatively, some of the spectral waves or wavetables have an acoustic richness and complexity that is fantastic for a synthesizer. I often find myself thinking that this is the sound that ROMplers dream about but have never yet acheived. I don't have much to say about the HyperSaw waves because I haven't really been using this as a VA. Some of the sounds that use HyperSaws are huge and expansive, though.
The wavetables (the main reason I bought this synth) are great. I wanted wavetables that could scan SMOOTHLY between waves, no stepping. (I sold my Microwave IIXT because of its steppy wavetables and because I can't really afford both synths.) 95% of these wavetables scan very smoothly, but there is occasional steppiness if you listen very closely. I think it's subtle enough that it would be unnoticeable in a mix, so it's OK with me. Some of these wavetables suggest PPG and Waldorf sounds, and some are totally new. Some focus on a few timbres, and some have waveforms that are all over the map. Excellent! I REALLY hope Access adds user wavetables to a future OS update, because I really, REALLY would love to use that feature. Oh man...
Reliability: N/A
Too soon to say, but it feels very well made. The software hung up once during an OS upgrade, but it was easily resolved and all else has been great.
Customer Support: 10
I emailed them once while waiting for the synth to be released, so I wasn't even a customer yet, and they got back to me right away. I emailed them once since buying the synth with the same results. Very nice. Plus they're still releasing OS updates for previous Virus models! It's hard to imagine Roland or Korg doing that. Their Programming Analogue Synths tutorial book must have been a huge effort for them to produce, with little advertising value, but they did it anyway. And it's free. Right on!
Overall Rating: 9
With an improved, Ion-level analog emulation engine and with the whole panel full of real-time controls, I'd give this synth a 10. Without those features, it gets a 9. It's an incredible synth, though, and deserves a 10 if compared to a ROMpler or some other lesser synth. (With a 76-note keyboard, I'd give it a 12!) The main things I love are the overall sound, all the waveforms and modulation options, and the keyboard feel. The main things I don't love are the way the third oscillator is treated like an add-on, all the empty space on the front panel, and all the digital artifacts in the analog emulation. It's still an incredible synthesizer, though, and I look forward to years of happy programming on it.
I also own a Sequential Prophet VS Rack, a Roland XV-5050 for acoustic emulation, a CME UF8, and Kurtzmann upright piano. I'll probably be buying an Alesis Micron soon, or a rack version if they come out with one, and I dabble just a little bit with a few soft-synths: PPG Wave 2.v, Vector Sector, and Cameleon 5000 on a G5 iMac with a Firebox interface. I sold a Novation Supernova II and a Waldorf Microwave IIXT to buy this Virus TI, and even though it has more shortcomings than I expected, I still don't regret the switch.
Submitted by Rob Haines at 01/15/2006 13:07
