I know I have already mentioned the Access Virus but yesterday I had a chance to try out a Virus Ti2. It has been a few years since I had a play around with a Virus. What put me off a little bit back then was the fact that although it was very expensive the build quality seemed a little flimsy. The plastic controls seemed very weak as if they could never survive life on the road. I do not know how much they have changed under model Ti2 but they seemed pretty good to me. Maybe I was being a little harsh on the earlier models but that is just how I remembered them to be.
Well what is there not to like about an Access Virus Ti2? For a start I did not have time to preview all of the presets - Why? - well that is because there are so many of them. There are 512 RAM patches and 26 banks of 128 ROM patches making an overwhelming total of 3840 patches. If that is not enough to keep you going on the long winter nights then you can download more free from various places (including Access themselves) or purchase from some of the many sound creators around the globe that have put packages together for modest sums.
I love this beast of a synth, it has been around a while now and is still going strong. It has an amazing spec - just look at the Sound Engine specifications:-
Sound Engine
* Various oscillator models including Virtual Analog, Wavetable, HyperSaw, Grain- and Formant Table types.
* A maximum of 192 parallel effects in total. Reverb and delay, chorus, phaser, frequency shifter, ring modulator, distortion, 3-band EQ and new Character processors.
* 2 independent multi-mode filters (HP, LP, BP, BS) and the Analog Filter which was modeled after the Moog MiniMoog™ cascade filter with 6-24 dB Slope and self-oscillation.
* 32-step user-programmable arpeggiator pattern for every patch.
* Modulation Matrix with 6 slots each featuring 1 source and 3 destinations.
* 3 LFOs with 68 waveforms to choose from. 2 fast ADSTR envelopes.
* Knob quantise for creating stepped controller movements. The stepping automatically syncs to the Virus clock or an incoming MIDI clock.
* Adaptive control smoothing for jitter-free modulations on all important parameters.
* Multi mode with embedded patches.
The patches I did preview were just great. I sure could use some of those gritty trance sounds in my setup and you have so many controls to tweek the sound as you wish - absolutely great fun. To get an idea yourself without me struggling to explain - check out the many YouTube clips available. I am certain that most of what you will hear you will love.
There are only two things that annoy me - the first is the selection of patches. There are so many of them, this product deserves a big selection dial - like the one found on the Roland Fantom G. On my visit I only found one way to select sounds which was continually pushing a button. I hate these methods because in a few years these buttons would have worn out. I have made a quick read of the manuals to find out if there are alternative ways of selecting sounds but I could not find anything. If you know of any other ways please let me know.
The second annoying thing as I have said before and I have stated this to Access direct is about the colour. The white look is sexy and stunning. If I was in charge of this company every product would be white. It looks so much better than the dreary black, blue and brown. I asked Access about their limited 100 White editions of the Virus desktop and this is their reply:- "I'm sorry to say but we're completely sold out with the "Whiteout edition" of the TI2 Desktop. At this point we cannot tell whether this ever will be repeated again. Currently there are definitely no plans for this."
It is a shame I had to leave the shop and not stay there all night tinkering away, but when I got home I looked up details of the new O/S due to be released shortly as a free update for all Virus TI users. Most of the the users on the Access forum are wondering exactly when this will be released but believe it will be no later than the end of March 2010. This is what Access say about O/S 4 :-
"Six meticulously modeled overdrive stomp boxes greatly complement with the existing arsenal of distortion algorithms in the effect section. The new speaker cabinet emulation is a fantastic and easy-to-use toolkit to add further character; especially to roaring acid lead and sync sounds. You like retro style? Our new Vowel filter will be your best friend, offering a sonic pallet from Talk Box to WahWah sounds.The Comb filter puts the metallic shine on your patches known from many glitch and progressive tracks. And The new arpeggiator allows you to modulate any of the parameters available to the modulation matrix."
Well there you have it - the Access Virus may be an old synth but it now has yet another lease of life in 2010.
For more information on all Access Virus Synths and / or sales visit :- Absolutemusic