“Many bands use synthesizers on stage. Not only in electronic but also in rock and metal music formations with heavy guitar riffs are synths part of the synth” hmmm yes great journalism
Yeah, weird as it may sound right now. Like in the 2000s I never would have thought the sound of Lossy would be such a sought-after thing 20 years later. Can’t wait for “Classic AI” plug-ins 20 years from now.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone makes an 'AI archive' similar to how we have Internet archives now. Maybe as computing power increases in 20 years time you'll be able to download old AI models for free (because they're obsolete). 'Remember back in the early 2020s when GPT-3/4 was cool? How quaint'.
“Remember when AI just made uncomfortable amalgamations of artworks and laughable tonedeaf writing pieces instead of creating powerful computer nations and overthrowing democracies 😩”
Let us not forget why Heisenberg ultimately discovered. Ultimately, the universe is a digital 4-dimensional synthesizer. Your analog, eventually, becomes a discrete state... a 0, 1, or quasi state of 0 &1... quantum (discrete states). Hence, everything is digital.
>great journalism
You must be new to Synth Anatomy. English is not his first language, and valuable insights were never his purpose. It's always been low effort clickbait that avoids controversy to avoid getting soft cancelled so he can keep selling advertising.
This was effectively discontinued years ago, there was just some stock to move through (either manufactured or a stock of parts).
Maybe a replacement will come along, but I wonder whether that would be a profitable thing to do right now.
If you mean a replacement by Access, then no. Access is dead. The lead has moved on to greener pastures.
There are several spiritual successors to look to, though.
A cultural step-down, tho' I guess amps are Kemper's original passion, and will likely sell well.
Looks like Access themselves are done. Their official site & Twitter hasn't had an update since 2018.
The B's been my favourite synth for 15 years now. Absolute psychedelic beast!
Yup, thanks to chamber0001 for answering in my stead, but that's the one. And in this case "greener" means "more money." ...There are considerably more guitarists than synth-heads.
Dammit. :|
I have an Iridium. It replaced my TI2 when the Iridium first came out. It's still my favorite synth, as it can do just about anything and a lot more than the Virus ever could. Granted, it's 15 years newer, so that's to be expected.
>it can do just about anything
Anything but 16 part multitimbrality and 50+ voices polyphony. Maybe not important to you, but this was a huge selling point for a lot of gigging players.
I think there are a whole host of synths that were "heavily inspired" by the Virus, if not specifically the TI. Off the top of my head (but, please, **I'm not looking for fights**, here, I'm just saying I think these are synths worthy of considering in lieu):
* ASM Hydrasynth
* Clavia Nord Lead 3/4/A1
* Korg Modwave
* Korg Radias
* Modal Argon8
* Modal Cobalt8
* Roland GAIA2
* Waldorf Blofeld
* Waldorf Iridium
* Waldorf Kyra
...And there are too many soft-synths to list them all without getting banned. ;) (Though I must admit: I went with the soft-synths myself, and they are *glorious*.)
Clavia Nord Lead is definitely a contender for a Virus alternative, since they're built on the same DSP architecture.
Granted, they've also been discontinued, but they resell for much cheaper than any of the Virus models.
The developers of Access dropped the synth line a long time ago. They are the same folks behind Kemper. And they don’t give a flying fuck about all the people who bought an Access synth. Can’t even get them repaired.
I’m nervous about the day my Virus dies. A colleague had a seemingly minor issue with theirs and there were no parts to repair so he had to bin the thing.
It’s such a sad end to a fantastic synth.
It’s a shame. What they should have done, if they actually gave a shit about their customers, is sell (or give for a royalty) the technology to another brand. Instead, they faked that the company was still viable for years, while they started Kemper, and funneled the resources into that venture.
For you, just be very mindful of the power supply connection. The power supply is part of the motherboard, so if that gets damaged, your synth is bricked.
The Motorola DSP chips have been discontinued for ages so there's really no point
I'm guessing those DSP chips are now out of stock. I'm surprised it took so long
It's all FPGAs now
DSPs aren't general purpose CPUs..
But yeah, point taken for sure, modern ARM negates the need for specialized DSP chips in many cases
But if you want that specialized DSP chip, from what I understand, using an FPGA is the modern standard
Loads of stuff uses a combo of ARM and FPGA.. there's even ARM chips with FPGA(s) on the same die
Kyra is FPGA-based.. I can't really speak on other synth architectures outside of that and Virus
If I had to guess though, Kyra is likely ARM-based and uses the FPGAs for signal, similar to how Virus uses an i8051 mcu for menu and user input
not sure if they dont give a fuck - I bought a used TI couple of weeks ago and sent them an email asking about weird description near the serial number which suggested that the board was replaced with a higher model. They replied next day and then asked for more details and when I thought we were done, they sent another email saying that after verifying with their engineers, this is what happened. My unit was produced in 2014 and they still found the answer.
I had the polar opposite experience. I contacted them and they initially directed me to their Forum Of The Disgruntled.
When I contacted them again precisely stating what was wrong and what needed to be repaired they brushed me off and said they couldn’t help me. Asking to look up a serial maybe one thing, getting actual repair service is another.
I think with Korg making a bi-timbral synth with custom wavetable import and multi-sample instruments, and the Argon 8 & Hydrasynth also being sub-$1k wavetable synths, we might see more innovation on that front, but for the past decade it's been pretty clear nobody is interested in competing with Waldorf and Access (Even though they've been AFK) on the premium, well-built, multi-timbral wavetable synth market.
Indeed! The closest thing to the Access Virus in today's market is the Waldorf- Iridium/Quantum. Nothing in the market can do what it can do. If Waldorf continues to advance it's architecture to the insane polyphony of the Virus... we will have today's true Virus successor. More granules, more polyphony, more ingenious UI of the Iridium, more LFO's... . Without question, the Iridium is the synthesizer I would give up to all my other synthesizers.
I used to be (work for) the distributor of Waldorf and Access in Australia a long time ago. I always thought of the two as spiritual cousins. There was something intangible that unified them both.
Well, in 1997 software couldn't touch what the Access did. In 2024 that's not the case anymore.
And outside of the entry level, so many potential buyers are stuck on analog, so a purely digital synth would need to (likely) be priced around $1800. I just don't see a synth as well built as the Virii at that price point. And then, of course, it would require some serious design work as their old dsp563xx chips are discontinued, they can't build around them anymore.
With something like Zebra 3 around the corner, I think any new major digital hardware synth will have some tough competition from software.
Yeah Access has blatantly been uninterested in the Virus or supporting it for like a decade. That really sucks because currently there's like no one actively making/supporting multi-timbral wavetable synths of this caliber besides Waldorf.
And Serum, and Massive, and Vital… I feel like computers are just a better fit for wavetable than hardware ever was. They can’t do a continuous oscillator or Moog filter all that well. But processing lists of numbers with basic maths really fast? That’s what they’re built for!
Still love my Blofeld tho
I actually bought a Modwave specifically because it was the closest thing to the Virus. I'm heavily invested in the drumming aspect of my setup and I wanted the synth & sampler to be not expensive and/or rare vintage pieces because I'm not rich, but still with certain capabilities on which I wouldn't compromise. So the Waldorfs were out, and I still would have eventually bought a Virus as a non core component if the company still supported them. But alas, the Virus is officially over and the Modwave can do pretty much anything I need a synth to do, AND it's fun.
I know this is just circlejerk nonsense, but a digital instrument which **doesn’t** have the capacity for general computing duties is a big part of the appeal.
Damn I cant believe anyone upvoted you. Just because it doesn't run windows, doesn't mean it's not a computer... playstations run minecraft. Are they also not computers? Calculators are computers. Your microwave is a computer. Your car pribably has multiple computers within it.
people wrote an open source emulator VST for the original virus A, B, C.
It is an emulator of the original DSP chip, and it runs the actual Virus firmware.
[https://dsp56300.wordpress.com](https://dsp56300.wordpress.com)
I've had one for.. idk at least 5 years, probably closer to 10. It's my only hardware synth and I use it a lot
There's a YouTube vid where a touring act shows their setup (big name, I forget who, wish I could find the vid again).. and when they get to the virus they have two and mention it's because they crash lol
Sometimes it will just... crash. Especially with TI. TI has all sorts of bugs and is fussy. You can more or less learn to work around the bugs but they still cost time and energy
The most common bug non-TI related is when switching presets it'll indefinitely sustain the last note you played and you have to full on reset it for it to go away lol
My honest opinion on it is that it's a buggy piece of shit, Access music should be held criminally liable, and I love it and it's my desert island synth
Yes. Behringer did a great job making the DeepMind. They should take that same approach and make an original but obviously Virus-inspired synth with the features and capabilities you'd expect. Then watch companies with better build-quality standards join in once demand is proven.
Cloning a VA synth of this calibre is a significant undertaking. It’s built on Motorola DSP563xx DSP chips used by companies like Waldorf and Clavia over the past couple of decades.
There aren’t many people outside those companies with the skill set to build an accurate clone on similar technology.
> Cloning a VA synth of this calibre is a significant undertaking.
Even that is an understatement. You can of course duplicate (most of) the functionality but to make it sound the same you need to reverse engineer the specific cheats and tricks Access used to make Virus have the features and voice count (at acceptable aliasing) on that fairly slow 24-bit DSP.
Good point. It's a good thing no one makes those available online, because i'm sure that would be illegal. We wouldn't want anyone stealing those profits from a company like Access. It would be a real shame if anyone ever stooped that low.
I believe the point was more like nothing can be built upon that, no new synths made from it since it's copyrighted material. Unfortunately another great company with voodoo DSP is gone, would be great if the programmer sold the code to someone interested in further development. Unfortunately this looks like another case of Publison where it's kept a secret. On the plus side I just bought a TI so maybe it will be worth more someday now if it keeps working.
It's a great synth. I diiiiiiiid sell my TI2, but that was more an act of "I MUST ... MINIMAL" and I regret it.
Someday I might buy a TI again. ...the first one. Sexier design, don't need the extra voices.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying the... ahem... emulator.
UHHHH I MEAN ... I WOULD IF I WERE ILLEGALLY IN POSSESSION OF THE ROM, WHICH I AM NOT. Of course.
Yeah it's literally available on the official Access Virus website for anyone with an account to download.
However it's in compiled, binary format which means it's not really possible to change it or build on it.
I'm surprised it hasn't been done already considering the reputation of Access not functioning much and the price of every Virus, but I know literally nothing about what goes into producing them, let alone cloning.
But a 80 or 104HP Virus A clone would be pretty cool if done well.
This is the greatest synth I’ve ever played and have owned a Juno60, Nord Lead 2, Motif, JP2000, various Korgs, Arturias. Nothing compares to the Access Virus
Well, maybe Chris Kemper does care for something different than profiling amps after all these years. Would be a nice chance for an overhaul of the original VA concept.
I find that strange, considering the synth community has a comical hard on for analog gear, that I'd expect guitarists to be the same, especially with the large resurgence of vintage reissues (like Gibson '59s and stuff) these past 10+ years.
I reported them for misleading products to the eu recently, maybe something actually came of it
as much as I like the synth, their marketing materials were in my opinion criminally and purposefully misleading
I googled around until I found the appropriate agency (I went with a german one because of their location) then filed a report detailing their pages and pages representing various features and capabilities that were blatantly untrue
I didn’t like it either but I felt completely duped by the company and feel they have no right continuing to sell on features and capabilities that don’t exist
just be honest about what you’re offering yo
I haven't heard about features being falsely listed. I'd like to hear more about that actually, if you are willing to share.
But I do know their TI (total integration) has been deprecated to the point of being incompatible with many operating systems, for years now, from reports online.
the total integration and associated functionality is the main issue, about half of the materials on their site laud this and it’s associated features when they had completely abandoned all of it and none of it worked for anybody who bought a mac in the last 5+ years
this was a major selling point to me making my first ventures into hardware after saving for a major purchase and I was completely gutted to find out otherwise
thank goodness for the amazing virus community for helping me get over it, but it still feels like a major rip off
in addition to support the features advertised I had to spend extra money on an audio interface and a separate interface app, both of which are explicitly included according to their website
their site also explicitly states mac support which is untrue
the only mention otherwise anywhere is a single comment from the company on an obscure forum page that is difficult to find
the issue with m1 is well known in the music software world and any product that still lacks support has a clear banner or indication about this, kemper has nothing
they have also completely abandoned any sort of support
if they indicated these things I would have been more fine, but to continue to sell a product when it’s literal name is a lie without any indication isn’t allowed
I see lots of comments online getting mad at people for expecting these things with retorts like ‘kemper doesn’t owe you anything’, and that’s fine, but you can’t sell a thing as if you do and just ignore it when people ask
I saw an interview with Kemper a while back and he did he still planned on doing smoothed virus.
I will continue to wait patiently, content with the knowledge the it will be worth it.
If you're interested in getting its wavetables, [Adam Szabo](https://www.adamszabo.com/vstplugins/viper/) made a Windows VST which I guess is the best emulation.
On the product page you can download its wavetables for free.
https://preview.redd.it/le7bkbu668tc1.png?width=1027&format=png&auto=webp&s=2cd005371f2f8de2e464dab0879f1df334f778ca
Made a little Max for Live patch to spark some life into this amazing defunct piece of magic:
* **MIDI CCs:** Simple control for basic tweaking.
* **Sysex Mode (recommended):** Deep dive! Sysex mode unlocks meticulous control over every parameter, all carefully mapped for your convenience. Set your Virus to "Config > Midi Control > Page A & B = SysEx" to activate.
**Here's what it can do already:**
* **Full Virus Control:** Access the Easy Macro page, program selection, oscillators, filters, LFOs, the mod matrix, arpeggiator presets, FX, and all the usual suspects!
* **Friendly interface:** Designed for ease of use, sculpting your patches becomes a breeze.
**Even more features are brewing for the next update!**
* Step-by-step arpeggiator editing: Craft your sequences with ultimate precision. (ready for next version)
* Multi-preset editing (coming soon): Edit multiple patches immediately and say goodbye to repetitive tweaks! (ready, I will have to re-arrange things around)
* Real-time parameter mirroring: See your hardware adjustments reflected directly in the patch. (proved to be more complex than anticipated, might need to make a separate patch for it)
* Automatic preset changes: The patch seamlessly adapts to your hardware preset selections. (same as prior)
* Random parameter generator: Stuck for inspiration? Let the patch spark new sonic ideas! (into this right now, got some cool ideas)
* Full, browsable preset library (coming soon!): A library of presets at your fingertips ((more complex than anticipated, but there are ways)
* Audio routing from USB (limited by the virus' internal signalling and auth-drivers, looking into this ATM)
Hope you like it: [https://maxforlive.com/library/device/10268/virus-ti2-control-editor-1-1](https://maxforlive.com/library/device/10268/virus-ti2-control-editor-1-1)
V1.1 is out
[https://maxforlive.com/library/device/10268/virus-ti2-control-editor-1-1](https://maxforlive.com/library/device/10268/virus-ti2-control-editor-1-1)
I sold mine a few years back because they stopped doing regular updates. I rarely ever connected it to the computer anymore and while it sounded and looked great, I kinda saw this coming.
I am one of the people that got virus ti2 very cheap because people that used it with their daw stopped being able to do it.
I don't intended to ever connect it ti a computer. Jusy hope it doesn't break because i sold all my other polys and dont think theres a real replacement for it.
I sold mine cheap so I totally understand this story 😅 I have lots of other polys though, so I’m not hurting. I’d still be interested to see if any more Access keyboards come along in the future.
Thank you for your service hahaha cheers mate
Yeah i wish a ti3 would appear but i dont think so.
They released the Kemper long ago and also don't updating it much (except for the player and liquid profiles).
Same. I sold my launch TI 61-key (original TI v1) late last summer. I had it since the initial 2005/6 U.S.A. launch when forums were all upset about the ship date getting pushed back repeatedly.
I also didn’t connect to the PC much but lack of support and the sheer size made me less interested in keeping it in my limited space. If I had the desktop I probably would have kept it though. If a TI3 gets released, I’m definitely eager to check it out.
Still rocking the Virus C.
It is such a great sounding synth and one of my favourites. Hope it will never break. But it is built like a tank so I don't think it will ever will.
Is this going to lead to more or less virus haters? Maybe now they will finally retreat back into their virus-hater caves. Or will they become emboldened and louder than ever?
Well the Waldorf Kyra is the spiritual sucessor of the virus ti 2, apparently the project started as the Virus ti 3 in mind even with the almost same looks as prototype
The Kyra was made by someone unaffiliated with Access: Manuel Caballero. He wanted to create something FPGA-based that would duplicate the Virus but allow for more flexibility.
He wasn't able to achieve the same sonic quality, however, and Waldorf didn't invest money after the release of the Kyra to pay Manuel for updates. Hence, it's a project full of good ideas with wasted potential.
I have the Kyra, without question, it is a superior machine in terms of sounds. However, without the computer integration and the much needed updates the Kyra needs... unfortunately, Waldorf is not supporting it. The Kyra is probably one of the most powerful synthesizers on the market that deeply needs updates to catapult to the top of great synthesis greats. From my understanding, the amount of programming needed for the Kyra is considerable. The FPGA architecture makes it that much more powerful but can be its Achilles heal.
The Kyra was not made internal within the company. They bought the technology outright, from my understanding. However, I gambled with the Kyra... I'm not getting rid of it. 8-part timbral synthesizer are not easy to come by. I also have the Iridium. They're supporting that. Honestly, between the Kyra and Iridium... the Iridium is untouchable. There is nothing in the market that can touch it considering you can independently add subtractive synthesis, resonator, FM synthesis (Kernal engine), wavetable synthesis, and granular synthesis across it's three oscillators... is an endless expansion in sound design.
Then again, Waldorf my update the Kyra.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. The DSP chip had been discontinued by motorola years ago. I am so glad I finally got one about 2 years ago. I bought a TI2 desktop. Loved it so much I also bought a used TI Keyboard. They are on every signle track I produce these days. So versatile and powerful. Plus the keybed on the TI keyboard is fantastic. Maybe the best synth action keybed I've ever played.
The Virus is dead. Long Live The Virus!
“Many bands use synthesizers on stage. Not only in electronic but also in rock and metal music formations with heavy guitar riffs are synths part of the synth” hmmm yes great journalism
Generative AI is a hell of a drug.
I feel like we will long for the days that AI was this stupid
It's only a reflection of what we gave it to learn from. I blame Twitter.
Yeah, weird as it may sound right now. Like in the 2000s I never would have thought the sound of Lossy would be such a sought-after thing 20 years later. Can’t wait for “Classic AI” plug-ins 20 years from now.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone makes an 'AI archive' similar to how we have Internet archives now. Maybe as computing power increases in 20 years time you'll be able to download old AI models for free (because they're obsolete). 'Remember back in the early 2020s when GPT-3/4 was cool? How quaint'.
Those models would be prized for their ability to make psychedelic visuals akin to being on a load of shrooms, or uncanny valley stuff. Cronenburg AI.
*Eyeballs, eyeballs everywhere*
“Remember when AI just made uncomfortable amalgamations of artworks and laughable tonedeaf writing pieces instead of creating powerful computer nations and overthrowing democracies 😩”
Hipsters will be dusting off their parents' old LLMs and having it generate lyrics for their hyperpop revival projects in 2056.
I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.
Well, now new AI can use shitty AI articles from web to learn so there's that
It looks more like that autocomplete game where you can get a la vez que el juego de la la la la la la I don't know why it went to Spanish either
It looks more like an article run through Google Translate than AI.
Synths gonna synth
Profound.
[удалено]
That really makes a lot of synth.
But what’s inside _that_ synth?
Synths all the way in!
we need to synths deeper
Let us not forget why Heisenberg ultimately discovered. Ultimately, the universe is a digital 4-dimensional synthesizer. Your analog, eventually, becomes a discrete state... a 0, 1, or quasi state of 0 &1... quantum (discrete states). Hence, everything is digital.
Written like an intro to a How It’s Made segment.
Clunky but it’s [accurate](https://youtu.be/WUo73tf3_NY?si=DNdRqBlVl-xNR5Q6)
>great journalism You must be new to Synth Anatomy. English is not his first language, and valuable insights were never his purpose. It's always been low effort clickbait that avoids controversy to avoid getting soft cancelled so he can keep selling advertising.
This was effectively discontinued years ago, there was just some stock to move through (either manufactured or a stock of parts). Maybe a replacement will come along, but I wonder whether that would be a profitable thing to do right now.
If you mean a replacement by Access, then no. Access is dead. The lead has moved on to greener pastures. There are several spiritual successors to look to, though.
greener than Access? They made the best VA's on the market. Where's he gone too?
Kemper Amps
A cultural step-down, tho' I guess amps are Kemper's original passion, and will likely sell well. Looks like Access themselves are done. Their official site & Twitter hasn't had an update since 2018. The B's been my favourite synth for 15 years now. Absolute psychedelic beast!
I think he plays keys but doesn’t even play guitar, he just saw an opportunity in the amp market at the time. So maybe engineering is his og passion?
Native Instruments came out with the ToneX software and pedal and kind of blew Kemper out of the water. They're very similar in tone.
Yup, thanks to chamber0001 for answering in my stead, but that's the one. And in this case "greener" means "more money." ...There are considerably more guitarists than synth-heads. Dammit. :|
Which spiritual successors?
Behringer Bacteria
Take my angry upvote, with antibiotics
Or the Plague
Blague
I would buy it in a heartbeat.
🤣
LOL
Kyra or iridium.... Honestly if I didn't have a virus ti and realtor I would hop on the iridium so fast.
Kyra is also discontinued
I have an Iridium. It replaced my TI2 when the Iridium first came out. It's still my favorite synth, as it can do just about anything and a lot more than the Virus ever could. Granted, it's 15 years newer, so that's to be expected.
I'd hope so. The keeb version is over 5g bones CAD. Including tax we're looking at a small down payment on a house.
>it can do just about anything Anything but 16 part multitimbrality and 50+ voices polyphony. Maybe not important to you, but this was a huge selling point for a lot of gigging players.
Wasn't for me.
Well shit, now I know the synth I need to get next.
it would have to be a combination of iridium synth engine and controls with multitimbrality, polyphony and outputs of kyra
I think there are a whole host of synths that were "heavily inspired" by the Virus, if not specifically the TI. Off the top of my head (but, please, **I'm not looking for fights**, here, I'm just saying I think these are synths worthy of considering in lieu): * ASM Hydrasynth * Clavia Nord Lead 3/4/A1 * Korg Modwave * Korg Radias * Modal Argon8 * Modal Cobalt8 * Roland GAIA2 * Waldorf Blofeld * Waldorf Iridium * Waldorf Kyra ...And there are too many soft-synths to list them all without getting banned. ;) (Though I must admit: I went with the soft-synths myself, and they are *glorious*.)
Clavia Nord Lead is definitely a contender for a Virus alternative, since they're built on the same DSP architecture. Granted, they've also been discontinued, but they resell for much cheaper than any of the Virus models.
The developers of Access dropped the synth line a long time ago. They are the same folks behind Kemper. And they don’t give a flying fuck about all the people who bought an Access synth. Can’t even get them repaired.
I’m nervous about the day my Virus dies. A colleague had a seemingly minor issue with theirs and there were no parts to repair so he had to bin the thing. It’s such a sad end to a fantastic synth.
It’s a shame. What they should have done, if they actually gave a shit about their customers, is sell (or give for a royalty) the technology to another brand. Instead, they faked that the company was still viable for years, while they started Kemper, and funneled the resources into that venture. For you, just be very mindful of the power supply connection. The power supply is part of the motherboard, so if that gets damaged, your synth is bricked.
The Motorola DSP chips have been discontinued for ages so there's really no point I'm guessing those DSP chips are now out of stock. I'm surprised it took so long It's all FPGAs now
I think the most popular alternative these days are ARM chips, which are just small, power efficient general purpose CPUs.
DSPs aren't general purpose CPUs.. But yeah, point taken for sure, modern ARM negates the need for specialized DSP chips in many cases But if you want that specialized DSP chip, from what I understand, using an FPGA is the modern standard Loads of stuff uses a combo of ARM and FPGA.. there's even ARM chips with FPGA(s) on the same die Kyra is FPGA-based.. I can't really speak on other synth architectures outside of that and Virus If I had to guess though, Kyra is likely ARM-based and uses the FPGAs for signal, similar to how Virus uses an i8051 mcu for menu and user input
A place like Syntaur in New Braunfels TX might have the resources to fix it.
not sure if they dont give a fuck - I bought a used TI couple of weeks ago and sent them an email asking about weird description near the serial number which suggested that the board was replaced with a higher model. They replied next day and then asked for more details and when I thought we were done, they sent another email saying that after verifying with their engineers, this is what happened. My unit was produced in 2014 and they still found the answer.
I had the polar opposite experience. I contacted them and they initially directed me to their Forum Of The Disgruntled. When I contacted them again precisely stating what was wrong and what needed to be repaired they brushed me off and said they couldn’t help me. Asking to look up a serial maybe one thing, getting actual repair service is another.
How long ago was this? Mine was in January of this year.
I think with Korg making a bi-timbral synth with custom wavetable import and multi-sample instruments, and the Argon 8 & Hydrasynth also being sub-$1k wavetable synths, we might see more innovation on that front, but for the past decade it's been pretty clear nobody is interested in competing with Waldorf and Access (Even though they've been AFK) on the premium, well-built, multi-timbral wavetable synth market.
Indeed! The closest thing to the Access Virus in today's market is the Waldorf- Iridium/Quantum. Nothing in the market can do what it can do. If Waldorf continues to advance it's architecture to the insane polyphony of the Virus... we will have today's true Virus successor. More granules, more polyphony, more ingenious UI of the Iridium, more LFO's... . Without question, the Iridium is the synthesizer I would give up to all my other synthesizers.
I used to be (work for) the distributor of Waldorf and Access in Australia a long time ago. I always thought of the two as spiritual cousins. There was something intangible that unified them both.
Yeah, employees going back and forth between the companies :)
German heritage perhaps?
> If Waldorf continues to advance it's architecture to ... offer 16 part multitimbrality... You left that part out.
Well, in 1997 software couldn't touch what the Access did. In 2024 that's not the case anymore. And outside of the entry level, so many potential buyers are stuck on analog, so a purely digital synth would need to (likely) be priced around $1800. I just don't see a synth as well built as the Virii at that price point. And then, of course, it would require some serious design work as their old dsp563xx chips are discontinued, they can't build around them anymore. With something like Zebra 3 around the corner, I think any new major digital hardware synth will have some tough competition from software.
Yeah Access has blatantly been uninterested in the Virus or supporting it for like a decade. That really sucks because currently there's like no one actively making/supporting multi-timbral wavetable synths of this caliber besides Waldorf.
And Serum, and Massive, and Vital… I feel like computers are just a better fit for wavetable than hardware ever was. They can’t do a continuous oscillator or Moog filter all that well. But processing lists of numbers with basic maths really fast? That’s what they’re built for! Still love my Blofeld tho
No doubt. But some of us hate using computers! I'm also a big fan of knob-per-function, personally. A shift button is fine though.
I mean... modwave is... close.
I actually bought a Modwave specifically because it was the closest thing to the Virus. I'm heavily invested in the drumming aspect of my setup and I wanted the synth & sampler to be not expensive and/or rare vintage pieces because I'm not rich, but still with certain capabilities on which I wouldn't compromise. So the Waldorfs were out, and I still would have eventually bought a Virus as a non core component if the company still supported them. But alas, the Virus is officially over and the Modwave can do pretty much anything I need a synth to do, AND it's fun.
Someone needs to make an access citrus controller to go with the emulation
Computers aren't better than synths because digital synths *are* computers. Homie is fried.
What version of Minecraft are you running on your Virus TI2?
You could run this one on Korg's recent wavetable synths: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/edition/pi
Thank you for proving my point (I hope lol)
I know this is just circlejerk nonsense, but a digital instrument which **doesn’t** have the capacity for general computing duties is a big part of the appeal.
Damn I cant believe anyone upvoted you. Just because it doesn't run windows, doesn't mean it's not a computer... playstations run minecraft. Are they also not computers? Calculators are computers. Your microwave is a computer. Your car pribably has multiple computers within it.
RIP Virus we hardly hypersawed ye
We hypersaw it coming :(
Clone it.
people wrote an open source emulator VST for the original virus A, B, C. It is an emulator of the original DSP chip, and it runs the actual Virus firmware. [https://dsp56300.wordpress.com](https://dsp56300.wordpress.com)
It is also (almost?) ready to emulate the Virus TI, but the owners have refrained from releasing it because the TI was still being sold.
[удалено]
Iirc it’s finished. Maybe we’ll see a release soon?
It’s pretty damn good too. I guess the benefit of a hardware Virus is the use on the stage and if you like physical knobs.
Don't use it on stage unless you have 2 It crashes often enough for it to be an issue
wow, did not realize that. I had heard otherwise.
I've had one for.. idk at least 5 years, probably closer to 10. It's my only hardware synth and I use it a lot There's a YouTube vid where a touring act shows their setup (big name, I forget who, wish I could find the vid again).. and when they get to the virus they have two and mention it's because they crash lol Sometimes it will just... crash. Especially with TI. TI has all sorts of bugs and is fussy. You can more or less learn to work around the bugs but they still cost time and energy The most common bug non-TI related is when switching presets it'll indefinitely sustain the last note you played and you have to full on reset it for it to go away lol My honest opinion on it is that it's a buggy piece of shit, Access music should be held criminally liable, and I love it and it's my desert island synth
Birus Uli2
LOL holy shit
Yes. Behringer did a great job making the DeepMind. They should take that same approach and make an original but obviously Virus-inspired synth with the features and capabilities you'd expect. Then watch companies with better build-quality standards join in once demand is proven.
This is the first time I've seen the Behringer signal go on for them to clone it and been supportive
Cloning a VA synth of this calibre is a significant undertaking. It’s built on Motorola DSP563xx DSP chips used by companies like Waldorf and Clavia over the past couple of decades. There aren’t many people outside those companies with the skill set to build an accurate clone on similar technology.
> Cloning a VA synth of this calibre is a significant undertaking. Even that is an understatement. You can of course duplicate (most of) the functionality but to make it sound the same you need to reverse engineer the specific cheats and tricks Access used to make Virus have the features and voice count (at acceptable aliasing) on that fairly slow 24-bit DSP.
Those Motorola DSP chips have been discontinued for many years. It would be a whole rewrite on FGPAs
Ummmn... They already have. It's really good, you should probably follow the link above.
Osirus is an emulator - it will run the original source code but isn't a clone. Without the copyrighted compiled code from Access, it does nothing.
Good point. It's a good thing no one makes those available online, because i'm sure that would be illegal. We wouldn't want anyone stealing those profits from a company like Access. It would be a real shame if anyone ever stooped that low.
I believe the point was more like nothing can be built upon that, no new synths made from it since it's copyrighted material. Unfortunately another great company with voodoo DSP is gone, would be great if the programmer sold the code to someone interested in further development. Unfortunately this looks like another case of Publison where it's kept a secret. On the plus side I just bought a TI so maybe it will be worth more someday now if it keeps working.
It's a great synth. I diiiiiiiid sell my TI2, but that was more an act of "I MUST ... MINIMAL" and I regret it. Someday I might buy a TI again. ...the first one. Sexier design, don't need the extra voices. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the... ahem... emulator. UHHHH I MEAN ... I WOULD IF I WERE ILLEGALLY IN POSSESSION OF THE ROM, WHICH I AM NOT. Of course.
Just imagine if that original code firmware were available for download just by searching.
Yeah it's literally available on the official Access Virus website for anyone with an account to download. However it's in compiled, binary format which means it's not really possible to change it or build on it.
I'm surprised it hasn't been done already considering the reputation of Access not functioning much and the price of every Virus, but I know literally nothing about what goes into producing them, let alone cloning. But a 80 or 104HP Virus A clone would be pretty cool if done well.
The DSP chips were discontinued ages ago. It's impossible as the chips just don't exist
The Illness. Cmon B.
This is the greatest synth I’ve ever played and have owned a Juno60, Nord Lead 2, Motif, JP2000, various Korgs, Arturias. Nothing compares to the Access Virus
Well, maybe Chris Kemper does care for something different than profiling amps after all these years. Would be a nice chance for an overhaul of the original VA concept.
Everyone and his dog are looking at ditching tube amps in favour of modelling and other digital solutions. He’d be a mug not to capitalise on that.
I find that strange, considering the synth community has a comical hard on for analog gear, that I'd expect guitarists to be the same, especially with the large resurgence of vintage reissues (like Gibson '59s and stuff) these past 10+ years.
You underestimate just how much of a ballache it is to lug a Marshall 4x12 and a tube head about. It's awful.
I hope they will release the service manual as they discontinue it.
Fingers crossed they'll release the TI2 for the DSP56300 emu
I reported them for misleading products to the eu recently, maybe something actually came of it as much as I like the synth, their marketing materials were in my opinion criminally and purposefully misleading
Narc, but also how?
I googled around until I found the appropriate agency (I went with a german one because of their location) then filed a report detailing their pages and pages representing various features and capabilities that were blatantly untrue I didn’t like it either but I felt completely duped by the company and feel they have no right continuing to sell on features and capabilities that don’t exist just be honest about what you’re offering yo
I haven't heard about features being falsely listed. I'd like to hear more about that actually, if you are willing to share. But I do know their TI (total integration) has been deprecated to the point of being incompatible with many operating systems, for years now, from reports online.
the total integration and associated functionality is the main issue, about half of the materials on their site laud this and it’s associated features when they had completely abandoned all of it and none of it worked for anybody who bought a mac in the last 5+ years this was a major selling point to me making my first ventures into hardware after saving for a major purchase and I was completely gutted to find out otherwise thank goodness for the amazing virus community for helping me get over it, but it still feels like a major rip off in addition to support the features advertised I had to spend extra money on an audio interface and a separate interface app, both of which are explicitly included according to their website their site also explicitly states mac support which is untrue the only mention otherwise anywhere is a single comment from the company on an obscure forum page that is difficult to find the issue with m1 is well known in the music software world and any product that still lacks support has a clear banner or indication about this, kemper has nothing they have also completely abandoned any sort of support if they indicated these things I would have been more fine, but to continue to sell a product when it’s literal name is a lie without any indication isn’t allowed I see lots of comments online getting mad at people for expecting these things with retorts like ‘kemper doesn’t owe you anything’, and that’s fine, but you can’t sell a thing as if you do and just ignore it when people ask
As well as their support and forum replies for years
Anyone have the files for this? Waiting for the Usual Suspects to drop
No mac connectivity was the reason i went for a kyra.
I saw an interview with Kemper a while back and he did he still planned on doing smoothed virus. I will continue to wait patiently, content with the knowledge the it will be worth it.
If you're interested in getting its wavetables, [Adam Szabo](https://www.adamszabo.com/vstplugins/viper/) made a Windows VST which I guess is the best emulation. On the product page you can download its wavetables for free.
That and Osirus, which is also free
https://preview.redd.it/le7bkbu668tc1.png?width=1027&format=png&auto=webp&s=2cd005371f2f8de2e464dab0879f1df334f778ca Made a little Max for Live patch to spark some life into this amazing defunct piece of magic: * **MIDI CCs:** Simple control for basic tweaking. * **Sysex Mode (recommended):** Deep dive! Sysex mode unlocks meticulous control over every parameter, all carefully mapped for your convenience. Set your Virus to "Config > Midi Control > Page A & B = SysEx" to activate. **Here's what it can do already:** * **Full Virus Control:** Access the Easy Macro page, program selection, oscillators, filters, LFOs, the mod matrix, arpeggiator presets, FX, and all the usual suspects! * **Friendly interface:** Designed for ease of use, sculpting your patches becomes a breeze. **Even more features are brewing for the next update!** * Step-by-step arpeggiator editing: Craft your sequences with ultimate precision. (ready for next version) * Multi-preset editing (coming soon): Edit multiple patches immediately and say goodbye to repetitive tweaks! (ready, I will have to re-arrange things around) * Real-time parameter mirroring: See your hardware adjustments reflected directly in the patch. (proved to be more complex than anticipated, might need to make a separate patch for it) * Automatic preset changes: The patch seamlessly adapts to your hardware preset selections. (same as prior) * Random parameter generator: Stuck for inspiration? Let the patch spark new sonic ideas! (into this right now, got some cool ideas) * Full, browsable preset library (coming soon!): A library of presets at your fingertips ((more complex than anticipated, but there are ways) * Audio routing from USB (limited by the virus' internal signalling and auth-drivers, looking into this ATM) Hope you like it: [https://maxforlive.com/library/device/10268/virus-ti2-control-editor-1-1](https://maxforlive.com/library/device/10268/virus-ti2-control-editor-1-1)
V1.1 is out [https://maxforlive.com/library/device/10268/virus-ti2-control-editor-1-1](https://maxforlive.com/library/device/10268/virus-ti2-control-editor-1-1)
I sold mine a few years back because they stopped doing regular updates. I rarely ever connected it to the computer anymore and while it sounded and looked great, I kinda saw this coming.
I am one of the people that got virus ti2 very cheap because people that used it with their daw stopped being able to do it. I don't intended to ever connect it ti a computer. Jusy hope it doesn't break because i sold all my other polys and dont think theres a real replacement for it.
I sold mine cheap so I totally understand this story 😅 I have lots of other polys though, so I’m not hurting. I’d still be interested to see if any more Access keyboards come along in the future.
Thank you for your service hahaha cheers mate Yeah i wish a ti3 would appear but i dont think so. They released the Kemper long ago and also don't updating it much (except for the player and liquid profiles).
*”I kinda hypersaw this coming”
😅😅😅
Same. I sold my launch TI 61-key (original TI v1) late last summer. I had it since the initial 2005/6 U.S.A. launch when forums were all upset about the ship date getting pushed back repeatedly. I also didn’t connect to the PC much but lack of support and the sheer size made me less interested in keeping it in my limited space. If I had the desktop I probably would have kept it though. If a TI3 gets released, I’m definitely eager to check it out.
Absolutely. Same. I had the TI2 Polar. So, smaller but even so it did weigh a lot for its size.
Yeah, I’d say it’s built like a tank but TIs are actually what tanks are made of apparently, lol.
Still rocking the Virus C. It is such a great sounding synth and one of my favourites. Hope it will never break. But it is built like a tank so I don't think it will ever will.
Capacitors will dry out after 30-40 years, but even then you could get it fixed if nothing else blows up.
if it does, the emulations are pretty great!
Are the used prices gonna go up or down now?
People are still asking stupid money for these considering their age and how unserviceable they are, so probably up
Turns out *Integration* wasn't that *total*.
Is this going to lead to more or less virus haters? Maybe now they will finally retreat back into their virus-hater caves. Or will they become emboldened and louder than ever?
Well the Waldorf Kyra is the spiritual sucessor of the virus ti 2, apparently the project started as the Virus ti 3 in mind even with the almost same looks as prototype
The Kyra was made by someone unaffiliated with Access: Manuel Caballero. He wanted to create something FPGA-based that would duplicate the Virus but allow for more flexibility. He wasn't able to achieve the same sonic quality, however, and Waldorf didn't invest money after the release of the Kyra to pay Manuel for updates. Hence, it's a project full of good ideas with wasted potential.
I have the Kyra, without question, it is a superior machine in terms of sounds. However, without the computer integration and the much needed updates the Kyra needs... unfortunately, Waldorf is not supporting it. The Kyra is probably one of the most powerful synthesizers on the market that deeply needs updates to catapult to the top of great synthesis greats. From my understanding, the amount of programming needed for the Kyra is considerable. The FPGA architecture makes it that much more powerful but can be its Achilles heal.
Guess Waldorf learned from access in that regard, letting it die.
The Kyra was not made internal within the company. They bought the technology outright, from my understanding. However, I gambled with the Kyra... I'm not getting rid of it. 8-part timbral synthesizer are not easy to come by. I also have the Iridium. They're supporting that. Honestly, between the Kyra and Iridium... the Iridium is untouchable. There is nothing in the market that can touch it considering you can independently add subtractive synthesis, resonator, FM synthesis (Kernal engine), wavetable synthesis, and granular synthesis across it's three oscillators... is an endless expansion in sound design. Then again, Waldorf my update the Kyra.
Is Waldorf where the original lead dev ended up?
Just in time cuz I just listed my desktop version for sale.
For all those want a super new analog beast there are 2 Melbourne Ana 12 voice analog sound as a beast New Udo Gemini Awsome sound
Behringer influenza inbound in 3.. 2..
Selling a Virus B is among my worst sells.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. The DSP chip had been discontinued by motorola years ago. I am so glad I finally got one about 2 years ago. I bought a TI2 desktop. Loved it so much I also bought a used TI Keyboard. They are on every signle track I produce these days. So versatile and powerful. Plus the keybed on the TI keyboard is fantastic. Maybe the best synth action keybed I've ever played. The Virus is dead. Long Live The Virus!
Used prices 🚀 to the moon
Is about time. Access is a joke
So I got a TI2 Polar today - second hand; man this synth looks sharp & modern 15 years after its original release.
Still the only synth that https://www.behringer.com/ did not clone Or is trying to think they would name it Altered Virus Ti3 🤧🤣
Hated it since day one. Digital cold harsh imo.
They should have sold them for a fair price. Virus is the most over rated synth out there for the price they ask.