Access Virus Ti Sounds
Glauco Schlembach
The first Virus was released in 1997 and each new iteration has added more features more powerful hardware, and greater musical potential. That evolution explains why the Virus TI series is so sought after and why it receives such praise from owners, press, and fans all over the world.
Artists including Depeche Mode, Madonna, Linkin Park and The Prodigy tour with a Virus-based setup. Producers such as Sasha, Pete Tong, Roger Sanchez and Dr. Dre consider the Virus a core part of their studios. Composers such as Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, John Powell and Mark Isham are enthusiastic Virus users, utilising its signature sound for their Hollywood blockbuster soundtracks.
The Virus TI line of synthesizers includes 4 different variations: two keyboard models and two desktop versions. The great news is that all of these instruments produce the same award-winning sound. In this way, we offer you a choice of formats without compromising the most important aspect of any instrument: how well it performs musically.
This synthesizer will make any desktop proud! The TI Desktop features an all-metal enclosure with a wooden strip on the front. Loads of knobs and buttons give direct access to the most important sound shaping parameters. This range of instant access hands-on control will delight those who don't like menu diving. Like all other Virus TI synthesizers, a stereo analogue input offers the power to process external signals through the Virus' sound engine. An optional 19" rack mounting kit is available for purchase.
Its compact form factor makes the TI Snow an ideal choice for traveling musicians. It's footprint is not larger than an issue of Mix Magazine. Nevertheless it features the exact same sound engine of it's bigger brothers with about 50% of the voice count -- a top performer at every jam session. The patch select buttons make searching for the right sound a breeze and allow you to access any of the 1024 internal patches with four or fewer button clicks.
61 semi-weighted keys with great action and jacks for connecting pedals make the Virus TI Keyboard a performer's dream. The wooden side panels offer a great "grip" and make transportation a more enjoyable task. With over 3300 onboard sounds you will never run out of ideas while jamming.
Designed as the ideal companion to any DJ or project studio, this 37-key model is not only compact but also stunningly beautiful. The side panels are a mix of wood and pure aluminium, while the white LEDs add class and style. The sound engine is exactly that used in the powerful and versatile TI Desktop and Keyboard models.
The boost/drive/distortion/waveshaping and filters make external drums sound ridiculously good. And it can be a drum machine itself, with 16 different sounds, all going through different FX and filters. Truly ridiculous.
Just the number of voices is almost totally absent in modern synths. Analog I get bit modern digital synths with only 8 voices. The essenceFM and workstations / kurzweil type beasts - but even if you take out multimbrality as a core, the limitation in voice allocation for modern hardware is annoying.
The suggestions for modern successors will get you some interesting sounds for VA (I think the micromonsta2 gets close in a more limited feature set) but not in function. To match what the virus can do for a digital synth you really have to get software.
one that can do both and fix the weak links of Virus with Mac OS and Logic X software for recording. I like how easy it is to use new Elektrons with Overbridge to record tracks in stereo super fast and easy!
Obviously whether it ever was or not is a matter of opinion, although producers of electronic music seem to hold it in that high regard. I find it impressive that Access hasn"t felt the need to replace the Virus TI2 after over 10 years, and bargains on used ones are few and far between. Obviously many new and impressive synths have come out since then that could be considered comparable/competitive, but it seems that Access is pretty confident that the TI2 still holds its own today.
I do not own one but last week, I saw a used Access Virus sitting in a music store in a KB case with a $1,995 sticker price. My 1st thought was, they've got to be f'n kidding. I'm sure that price was negotiable but still...a brand new synth in the box with no fingerprints or dust on it can be bought for less.
This article from 2017 suggests there are underlying reasons that TI2 hasn't been updated in 11 years. Not so much because Access didn't feel the need, but rather the underlying DSP technology the Virus was built on aged out, and any continuation would have required a wholesale code migration. Specifically, the article suggests the Motorola 56000 series chips went end-of-life-cycle, and that it was known for some time this was going to be a road block to continuation of the Virus.
I'm a longtime owner of a KC and still a fan. No doubt some of the options available today can outperform the Virus in many ways given its dated architecture, but its depth continues to handily outstrip my own imagination for sound design.
Even today the Virus usually gives me a better result than my VST's. Moreso than the guts, I suspect a lot of it for me is the control surface design--it's the best tactile synth I've ever worked with. And that glorious keybed...the Fatar TP/8S action is seldom used in synths (as far as I know the Moog One is the only other TP/8S synth currently in production), but most people who know that keybed prefer it, and the AT implementation is just right.
I too have been curious why we haven't seen an update since the TI2. The point about Kemper having wrung every last bit of sonic goodness out of the archaic Motorola 56000 chipset seems like it must be at least a partial explanation. I've also read articles and interviews with him suggesting that he's been more passionate about developing his amp modeling technology over the past decade, and that he may redirect his attention to the synth market at some point soon.
Would I buy a Virus again today? In fact, I just did. I've been splitting my time between two places and needed a decent polysynth in the second location. I was nearly set on the Hydrasynth, as so many veteran forum members whose opinions I respect are big fans, and a new Hydra can be had for about the same $ as a used KC or first version TI. Poly AT, updated technology, easier DAW integration...there's a long list of reasons for me to step into the current decade with a Hydra. And yet when a mint TI popped up on Reverb a few months ago, I couldn't pass it up.
I've been on that TI for about 3 months now, and love it even more than my KC. I'd be embarrassing myself by touting the "new features" my circa 2006 TI has introduced over the KC (golly, USB!), but I am happier than ever with it. The Virus Control VST is nice (though props to Mystery Islands for their Virus HC VST which does many of the things Virus Control does as well or better, and works across the entire range of Virus hardware), the TI's added knobs and LED's are exactly what I never realized the KC was missing, and the user-definable CC templates make it a much more capable controller for my VST's.
Don't get me wrong: I am sure I would love a Hydra given its rave reviews and likely many others from the current crop, but I think a used KC or TI still deserves a good look for VA buyers where keybed and build quality are a major consideration.
I bought my kB (Virus B, keyboard version) used from ebay for 620 bucks. I (stupidly) sold it for about the same price a few years later because I wanted a clonewheel. That thing was the best-built keyboard I've ever owned, with the best action. I only used it for "classic analog" sounds in my band--perhaps not what it is known for--but it sounded incredible. I remember the band whipping their head around when I pulled up some big unison aggressive lead sound, guitarist is like "YEAHHH!!!!"
I reckon I have plugins now that sound "better" though of course synths don't all have the same sound and it's pretty useless to compare. Maybe "more hi-fi" would be a better way to describe it. Specifically thinking of u-he's Repro, which I find mind-blowing every time I pull it up to play it. I agree with the post above about the control surface, that's where it shines. I had so much fun live playing with all the controls. I'd purposefully not save all that many patches for different songs because I enjoyed taking one of my dozen or so and tweaking them as the mood hit me, it was as creative as playing the notes.
The Virus TI is the most powerful standalone synth ever released. It's at the heart of many a rave to this day. I found a TI 61 (not a TI2) last winter for 1100USD, and it is the most impressive piece of electronics I've ever owned.
It spans the gamut from serious OBXa emulation, or moog, to a full compliment of wavetables, FM, granular, comb, vocoder, all were gradually updated in a serious of huge firmware upgrades over a decade.
It can play with the computer or replace it. It has an excellent interface with Logic, and many other DAWs. But if you combine it with a great MIDI sequencer/Sampler, you don't need a computer at all. I use the 2005 MPC 1000 with JJ OS, which is an unbelievable MIDI sequencer, like the Virus, unequalled in 2020.
Yes the latest Polys have tricks the virus does not have and the abiltiy to tweak various aspects which the virus does not. Quantum or Hydrasynth. But they are epically underpowered and missing many fundmentals the Virus has.
The TI is 16 part multi-timbral. The Hydrasynth is 1 part. A few new synths can do 4 parts. The older Blofeld does have 16 but runs out of voices pretty fast (but is another example of an older synth still current). The TI's voices are not unlimited, but it has many and the TI2 more.
How is it possible there is no competition for the Virus? Only need an acronym to understand: DAW. The DAW simply murdered big multitimbral workhorses like the Virus and the A6, and the feature sets of synths has never been the same.
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