Virus TI - quick review - oppinions

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-- Virus TI - quick review - oppinions

Posted by chrissundive on Jan-27-2010 08:36:

Virus TI - quick review - oppinions

So I decided to write a quick review of the infamous Virus TI, the holy grail of trance production ... or is it ?

I'm using the TI for the last 3 years and here are my conclusions :

Usage :
1 ) Total integration is a blast. The best way to work with hardware EVER! No other synth from my experience comes close to the ease of working with TI.

2 ) There are sync errors though. LFOs dont sync properly, they can slow down (seriously !). Occurring mostly while modulating OSCs with high freq (manual) LFOs. The ARP has the most trouble, so even though I write with MIDI I still have to bounce to audio before the final mixdown.

3 ) The librarian is AWESOME ... : )

Sound :
4 ) The sound has high enough quality for any studio application. And most of the stuff produced by this synth is high quality. TI in my opinion is a sort of one trick pony. It does some parts exceptionally well, and others very poorly.

Good example :
- Hypersaw massive trance leads. Plucks. Screaming pads.
Bad example :
- Saw based reese ... which sounds horrible. Any sort of DNB bass. Sub bass.

5 ) You can run out of notes playing ONE patch. Just use hypersaw, unison, some effects for arena type chords and play 5 note progressions ...

Front panel control :
6 ) For me : USELESS ! The front panel design is more complicated than a small Xiosynth or any other budget synth. I love tweaking the JPs for example, or the Roland JD800 and that sort of stuff, but the TI is rubbish for that. I only occasionally use the quick access knobs for tweaking presets. In effect its more like a plugin than a proper hardware synth.

So is it overrated ? Is it worth the reputation its got ? Whats your take on that ?

Posted by aNYthing on Jan-27-2010 11:58:

The longest I ever went without being infected was. 2 weeks, while I hunted for ti2. I had all variants of virus since version a, including redback that I bought for $1000 and sold for $2200

Posted by alanzo on Jan-27-2010 12:57:

Re: Virus TI - quick review - oppinions

All the things you complain about in my mind are summarzied by saying that the Virus TI feels more like software than an instrument. Access should just cut the shit and come out with a PCI card because that's where the instrument is heading. They've completely forgotten that there is an expensive dongle on the other side of that USB cable.

Posted by tehlord on Jan-27-2010 12:59:

Re: Re: Virus TI - quick review - oppinions

quote:
Originally posted by alanzo
Access should just cut the shit and come out with a PCI card because that's where the instrument is heading.

It's called a Powercore Express

Posted by alanzo on Jan-27-2010 12:59:

Re: Re: Re: Virus TI - quick review - oppinions

quote:
Originally posted by tehlord
It's called a Powercore Express

That's not 100% released by them. I'm saying their own PCI card with TI features.

Posted by tehlord on Jan-27-2010 13:06:

Re: Re: Re: Re: Virus TI - quick review - oppinions

quote:
Originally posted by alanzo
That's not 100% released by them. I'm saying their own PCI card with TI features.

Or just update the Poco plugin to include all the Ti features.

And make it multi instance openable

Posted by EgosXII on Jan-27-2010 13:24:

amazing sounds, i'm currently trying to sell my desktop TI though, as it doesn't really suit my workflow, and i really need more important things than a hardware synth atm...

(if anyone in Aus is looking for one, PM me )

Posted by chrissundive on Jan-27-2010 21:42:

I would definitely enjoy having a knob for every task on the front panel of the TI

Regardless of the flaws, it passed the final test for me. I sold my TI a couple of months ago, then got a Powercore virus ... then sold that one as well and went back to TI and I don't regret it. My studio is just not the same without that expensive dongle : ) I'm gonna try out the new OS tomorrow ... gonna share some thoughts after that.

And about the new OSsss ... I just love when companies treat their clients like gold and offer new functinality of this calibre for free ... along with new patches etc. Thats a major advantage and probably the thing that won me over.

Posted by cryophonik on Jan-27-2010 21:59:

quote:
Originally posted by chrissundive

I'm gonna try out the new OS tomorrow ...

Is OS4 going to be released tomorrow?

Posted by chrissundive on Jan-27-2010 22:11:

Sorry, my mistake. I was abroad for the past week and was checking out stuff from NAMM, along with OS4 for the TI. I just got back home and thought the download link @ access website is the dl link for the new os ... well its not

So I'll b testing it first day its out

Posted by cryophonik on Jan-27-2010 22:15:

quote:
Originally posted by chrissundive

So I'll b testing it first day its out

Same here - I've been watching the Access website like a hawk. Good to know I'm not the only one.

Posted by Nightshift on Jan-27-2010 22:33:

quote:
Originally posted by cryophonik
Same here - I've been watching the Access website like a hawk.

Posted by cryophonik on Jan-27-2010 22:37:

I don't think lurking is the appropriate term in this case. It's more like I've got my face pressed against the glass and I'm drooling all over the window.

Posted by Nightshift on Jan-27-2010 22:40:

hahahaha well i hope you are feeling better man

Posted by Magnus on Jan-29-2010 17:44:

For me, my experience with the Ti has been ok but not worth the money I paid for it. I've seriously been thinking about selling it as that money could be better invested into other gear or accessories that I'll get more use out of. Furthermore, the unforgivable "CPU Overload" errors still plauge me in Cuabse 5, rendering my Ti essentially useless. I think its days are numbered in my studio.