quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Random Phatty sound: http://jbj.raceriv.com/sounds/lilriff.mp3 (narrow pulses)

was awesome

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So I went to GC this afternoon and played around with the P08 and Virus TI. To be honest I expected the P08 to be a lot better then it turned out to be. Now, keep in mind, it can be hard to evaluate equipment properly at GC, but I was the only person in the keyboard area the majority of the time.

My biggest complaint with the P08 was the knobs. This seems like a common complaint with this unit, but the knobs just were not very responsive. Often just barely touching a knob would change the value by a little or sometimes a decent amount. If you try to spin a knob too fast, its like it didn't "catch" and the value barely moved. The sound was fairly disappointing. IDK, maybe I was expecting too much, but there was just something sort of "off" about the sound to me. It wasn't bad, just didn't sound really good to me. This was fairly disappointing because i thought that it would sound a lot better in person versus the demos I have seen online, but it really sounded about the same. Maybe the Moog spoiled me or maybe I just didn't like the sound of the DCO's. The Pulse waves didn't sound "square" at all, more like a saw-square combo. it was missing that "hollow" tone you usually get with a square wave. The envelopes were "off" somehow as well. I really couldn't get a good "snap" from the VCF/VCA settings no matter how hard I tried.

The Virus, on ther other hand, sounded really good. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it sounded versus what i expected. Now, it definitely has a "VA" sound to it, especially when the settings were pushed to extremes, but overall, it seemed to have a huge variety of sounds, and the oscillator types have improved the sound of the unit a whole lot. My experience with the unit this afternoon has definitely changed my mind about the unit. It just might have moved into 2nd place right behind the A6.

YOur analaysis of the Prophet 08 seems about right. The sound in general is off... unlike anything I've heard but unfortunately in a bad way. The envelopes are definitely *not* snappy.

The A6 has very sensitive knobs, too. But they are responsive. You just have to move them very slowly/delicately.

The virus is what it is... but one thing I've noticed is that for every 3 people who say it's awesome, there's at least one that says it sucks. I've hardly seen any negative reviews about the A6's sound... mostly just about the interface which, I agree, can be a pain at times. But certainly not as much of a pain as menu-diving in the Virus.

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Yeah, its turning out that I'm having a fair bit of trouble finding out from various shops when the A6's are available. I wont be able to place an order until around December, but I dont want to shell out all that cash and then wait 6 months before I see the unit. I played that game back in the 90's when I bought my Virus B and Access Music's distribution in the US sucked big time.

Sweetwater says they have a waiting list ,but 1 is available if I order it now (yea right). Zzounds doesn't carry them. Novamusik, says that I can place an order but it could be on the order of several weeks to several months before one is available, they just dont know.

So its back to the old "can I find one new" problem with the A6. I really wish there was a way I could try one out. Its an awful lot of money to drop on something I cant test out, even if it does get stellar reviews from people who own it. It's very frustrating...

The LP puts out such ass-kicking sounds, I wonder if I haven't been spoiled.

I'm planning on going back to GC a couple more times to play with the TI. I want to be absolutely certain that it sounds good on a different day. Maybe I was just in a stellar mood this afternoon, or something. When a decent amount of people who I trust are all giving me different reviews on the TI, then I know that I need to try it out more than once.

One thing about the TI is I wonder how well it is going to sit in a mix. I mean, playing with the unit standalone is one thing, but if I cant get anything out of it to sit properly, than thats a problem. The LP fits right into the mix with very little post processing, but I understand thats a common characteristic of true analog synths (which adds to their appeal).

I'm also hoping that they didn't change the keyboard feel in the new TI2 series. I always thought the full keyboard TI had really nice keys for synth action and nice ,big mod/pitch wheels. Whatever unit I end up with I'd really like to use as a primary MIDI controller as well. I've about had it with my Remote SL61.

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Originally posted by Eric J One thing about the TI is I wonder how well it is going to sit in a mix.

You've heard it sitting in mixes more times than you can probably count. If you've listened to any electronica in the past decade, you've heard it everywhere. It's really that simple. The naysayers can say what they want about the Virus "sound" and slam it 'til the cows come home, but the fact of the matter is really quite simple: it didn't become one of the most widely used synths of all time by being crappy or by only being able to produce one characteristic sound.

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quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik You've heard it sitting in mixes more times than you can probably count. If you've listened to any electronica in the past decade, you've heard it everywhere. It's really that simple. The naysayers can say what they want about the Virus "sound" and slam it 'til the cows come home, but the fact of the matter is really quite simple: it didn't become one of the most widely used synths of all time by being crappy or by only being able to produce one characteristic sound.

so true

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quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik You've heard it sitting in mixes more times than you can probably count. If you've listened to any electronica in the past decade, you've heard it everywhere. It's really that simple. The naysayers can say what they want about the Virus "sound" and slam it 'til the cows come home, but the fact of the matter is really quite simple: it didn't become one of the most widely used synths of all time by being crappy or by only being able to produce one characteristic sound.

Thats something that's been in the back of my mind for some time now, so it's nice to hear someone put it into words. I'm glad I took the time to sit down and play with it today, because I almost went right past it.

One thing to consider, though, is rather than shell-out for a TI... why not just get a Virus B? All you're really missing is the hypersaw and the wavetables. The "total integration" is nice, too, but for me it really kept the instrument from feeling like... an instrument. More just a digital sound source.

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Originally posted by alanzo One thing to consider, though, is rather than shell-out for a TI... why not just get a Virus B? All you're really missing is the hypersaw and the wavetables. The "total integration" is nice, too, but for me it really kept the instrument from feeling like... an instrument. More just a digital sound source.

I had a Virus B for several years, in fact, I bought one new a long time ago. One of the appealing things about the TI is the hypersaw and the increased polyphony. In addition, several things have been improved like the distortion and saturation.

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Originally posted by Eric J I had a Virus B for several years, in fact, I bought one new a long time ago. One of the appealing things about the TI is the hypersaw and the increased polyphony. In addition, several things have been improved like the distortion and saturation.

The actual polyphony you're going to get is no where near what their specs make you believe. Polyphony is dynamically assigned depending on what sort of processing you're using... which there is a lot of on the Virus. But you'll still probably get at least 40 voices which is pretty good.

I also found the extra FX on the Virus to be quite mediocre...

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So after much hang-wringing and waffling over the decision on which to get, i have settled on getting an Andromeda A6, even if that means I have to wait a few months to get it. Basically, besides sounding fantastic and the crazy programmability, I just feel like the A6 is a real modern classic that'll hold its value for years to come. I figure that the TI 2 isn't going to be worth much come 5 or 10 years when the TI 5 is out. I paid $1600 for my virus B back when they first came out, and I sold it for $400 last year. The A6 seems like a truly unique piece of equipment capable of producing sounds that I cannot get anywhere else. I see very few people who don't love it, so since I cannot try it out myself, I'm having to rely on others opinions and my own research. I feel like the Virus will always be there, but I may not get another opportunity to pick up a true analog polysynth.