Okay, the JP-8000 has keys while the JP-8080 doesn't. That is the main difference between the two, but the specs on the 8080 are better than the specs on the 8000. The 8080 has increased polyphony and unison. These synths are famous for their supersaw wave form. It tends to generate the uplifting trance lead sound. If you are going to get one of the two, get the 8080, it will sound more powerful (or at least it should with unison).

There are 3 series of virii. There is the Virus A, the Virus B and the Virus C. They are named such becasue the A was made first, then the B and then the C. They are just updated models. I have the C and its great for all those deep analogue sounds, especially analogue stlye basses. It puts out some wicked leads as well. It takes a while to get use to programming it though, while others have told me the jp-8080 is a little easier to get into.\

There are 5 models of the virus C. There is the Virus KC, the Virus C, the Virus C rack and the Virus c rack XL as well as the virus indigo.

The KC has all the keys on it (good quality but a shit load more expensive), the C is the KC without the keys. simply as that. The rack XL and the rack are rack mountable kits. They have a very small user interface and front panel (i think 2 inches high). The problem with these is that you don't have instant access to all the buttons and dials. You have to scroll through the menu to assign the dials to something. I you can afford the c or kc i would get one over the rack. The rack models are cheaper though. The rack XL is better than the standard rack, I can't remember the differences but it is substantial. The indigo is basically the Virus C with only a 3? octave keyboard. ( i think its three octaves). So basically, the indigo is a smaller version of the KC.

If you don't have a master midi controller and you want a high quality one, then by all means, go for the KC. If you have a midi controller, go for the Virus C. If you want to save a bit of cash, go for either a second hand B or C, depending on your budget.

The supernova is also a great synth, but I have no experience with it. SOS did a comparison between the SN and the virus C. Results were inconclusive.

What you need to decide is what fits your budget and what kind of trance sounds you want to make. They are both great synths, but if you have your heart set on making twisted, fat sounds, go the virus. If you want standard trance sounds, go the 8080.

Just to let you know, I dont have an 8080 so I can't compare the 2, I'm just going from what I've read. The Virus is great, I have one, but if you want to make your own sounds from scratch and have little experience with programming analogue synths, there is a learnign curve. The virus comes with a really really good manual though on how to work it.

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Thanks a lot man !

Just still not clear what the 'rack' stuff means. Is it basically that the non-rack one is not with those little metal plates on the side so you can stick and hold it in a rack where you also put your mixer/CDplayer etc.. ? Is that what they mean ? Would seem strange to have a version that is it and one that doesn't have it, so I must be mistaking.

So basically you're saying Virus is the future. heck I don't wanne recreate the trance from the old days ! The learning curve is no problem, I'll be using it 14h a day on occasions lol, so I should learn a bunch in a week or three I think

One thing about the Virus C, that was where my interest was for a start, but I have a problem :

I have a 'Roland-E68' keyboard. That's the keyboard series people tempt to buy when they play piano in a school It has suck ass samples and all that, but they're not too expensive, and it's a change from regular piano sounds that's all =) I used it for midi transfer all the time. Now I'm wondering if the E-68 can be hooked onto the Virus C to feed it the midi, and the Virus C can handle this. It worked with roland groove boxes that's for sure. But I never tried to hook my keyboard to the groovebox and the groovebox to my pc to record what comes out of it in a sequencer program..

Already thank you for the help, hope you can give me some help on this too !


[EDIT]
I'm having serious doubts between Virus C and SuperNova II now =/

Last edited by BelgianGuru on Sep-04-2003 at 12:30

Okay, the keyobard version looks like a normal keyboard. The virus c is a desktop synth. That is, it has no keys but also does not have the metal plates that hold it to the rack. The rack versions will have little screw holes on either end so they can be fitted to a racking system. Here's a picture to demonstrate. See how all you can see is the face plate. The rest is behind.




As far as using your roland keyobard, you should be fine. As long as it has velocity sensative keys, you're right. You don't need velocity sensative keys but they're nice to have as a lot of the virus functions can be assigned to velocity.

I would suggest plugging the keyboard into a midi interface on your computer and the virus to a midi interface on your computer. That way, you can run all your midi data through a sequencer like Cubase and edit it, and then send the fixed up melodies into the synth.

Hope the picture helps you understand what a rack mount looks like.

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Last edited by hey cheggy on Sep-04-2003 at 15:57

Or to help even more.

Virus KC (keyboard)


Virus C (desktop)


Virus C rack XL


Virus C rack


Virus Indigo 2

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1 out of every 4 people in this country are mentally disturbed. Look at your 3 closest friends. If they seem okay, then you're the one.

Thanks alot you guys, I'm gonne go for the Virus C then thanks.

Is there any difference in sound/hardware between rack and non rack ? Cause rack could be handy for my setup. Let me know, btw rackXL vs rack normal, again what the diff ? (can't see it on the last pics, they dead linked)

pictures are fixed now I think. Difference betweent the rack and rack XL.

XL has three main oscillators to the racks's 2
XL has 32 note polyphony vs rack's 16 note
XL has 5 FM modes vs rack's 1
XL has 6 mod matrix sources, rack has 3
XL has 9 mod destinations, rack has 6
XL has 98 simultaneous fx, rack has 66
XL has surround sound capabiltiy, rack does not
XL has 6 outputs, rack has 4


The XL's features are the same as the KC and C.

Model Comparison chart... click me

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1 out of every 4 people in this country are mentally disturbed. Look at your 3 closest friends. If they seem okay, then you're the one.

You the man Cheggy!

huh, the rack virus is like .. 1/10th of the buttons of the desktop series ? Is it supposed to be controlled by software or something ? Desktop version looks more fun then, all the buttons to play ith

Yeah, that's why the racks are cheaper. Less buttons. They're great if you're trying to save space, but you have to scroll through the menu to assign the dials to a function. A bit annoying. That's why I got the desktop.

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1 out of every 4 people in this country are mentally disturbed. Look at your 3 closest friends. If they seem okay, then you're the one.

I just bought a hardware synth and I chose the Virus C, cause it has infinitely superior specs to the JP-8080. I've also heard the filters on the JP series aren't particularly good either. The virus has 64 wave forms on OS6, far superior modulation matrix, 100x better effects, everything is better. Secondly, there are a lot of commercial and user sound sets for the virus. The JP-8080 is the sound of 1999, the Virus is the sound of the 2003.

As far as the models of Virus are concerned, you can actually mount the Virus C desktop unit in a rack. Access will provide you with "rack ears" which can be inserted into the side of the Virus C, so that it will fit into your rack. These cost a lot of money though! In Australia it cost me AU$170 (US$90). Also, it won't be a "true" rack synth, cause the midi audio and power cords come up the top of the synth, so you'll have to put it on the top of the rack.

So, I wonder what the Novation Supernova III's gonna be like

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