Access - Virus Ti (Words by Tarkith)

The Virus TI is Access’s latest synth in the Virus line, and picks up where the Virus C left off.  This synth has almost all of the goodies of the previous Virus synths, and quite a few new features as well.  The front panel is largely unchanged from before, if you’ve used a Virus in the past, you’ll know your way around right away when using the TI.  It does come with a much needed larger display, one that is now white instead of the eerie red of the C series.  Access has done a good job making use of the new screen space, especially when combined with the third soft knob they added below it on the TI.  Overall this means many less pages in the edit menus.  
Other new panel features include a revised LFO and Mod Matrix section, an “original value” LED, a dedicated Shift button, and a neat looking pulsating Access logo which can be synced to MIDI Clock on the back (Keyboard and Polar models only).

I/O has also been expanded, with stereo SPDIF in and out connectors, 3 pairs of stereo ¼” outputs, 1 pair of stereo ¼” inputs, MIDI In/Out/Thru, headphone jack, and a USB port now as standard.  The USB port is compatible with the USB 2.0 Specification and works with USB and Hi-Speed USB systems with a 12Mbit data transfer rate.

The unit I have for this review is the 61-key version, the Virus TI-K.  Access gets the highest marks for build quality on this unit, it’s a very solid feeling keyboard.  Key action is the best I’ve ever felt on a synth, aftertouch is very controllable, and the knobs are buttery smooth to turn.  There’s also a dedicated Tap Tempo button now, though to be honest I wish this was softer and had less engagement “click” when you pressed it.

The synth engine gets a number of key improvements in the latest build, not the least of which is two new oscillator types.  Hypersaw is Access’s take on the famous Roland Supersaw of the JP8000 series.  It allows you to stack and detune up to 8 sawtooth waves in one oscillator, and as you can imagine is very fat sounding.  A neat trick is that you can turn the Sub OSC control all the way up to slowly turn this into a HyperSquare sound, which uses (obviously) square waves instead of sawtooth’s.  The Hyper OSC is a great tool for really thick basslines, the sort of thing that can take the typical “Hoover” sound into new directions.

The other new oscillator type is the inclusion of sweepable wavetables.  The Virus TI has approximately 70 wavetables that can be assigned to either OSC1 or OSC2, and the user has free control over where in the wavetable playback begins.  This hugely expands the type of sounds the TI is capable of making, from long morphing pads to glass like bell timbres, to tempo synced evolving loops.  What’s especially cool is that all OSC types can be mixed and matched in a patch, so you could have a hypersaw on one OSC, and a wavetable on the other, or two wavetables, two hypersaws, a wavetable and a classic Virus OSC, etc! 

As the Virus TI now uses two processors in it’s synth engine, it’s possible to stack up many layers for some truly huge sounds.  Actual polyphony is quoted by Access as up to 80 voices, though this is largely dependant on the complexity of the patch you are playing.  In everyday use I think it’s more realistic to expect around 30-40 voices, though the most complex patches may only yield 10 voices or so. Which is still quite a lot given how much there is to offer here.  One of my few gripes with the TI is that it doesn’t display how much of the processors are being used, or how many voices you have left, either of which would be very useful when working on multi-patch sequencing.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the other new TI enhancements:-

• The first 16 Multi’s now embed the patch data in them, instead of merely referencing single patches.  This makes it easier to avoid accidentally changing the sound of a multi by modifying it’s source patches.  The remaining Multi’s work via referencing if you prefer to work this way however.
• You can now use both delay and reverb for each patch, over all 16 parts in a Multi as well.
• It’s possible to quantize all knob movements to the global tempo divisor.  IE, you can set the divisor to 1/8th notes, and turning a knob only changes the sound every 1/8 note.  Very neat for tempo synced effects, especially in dance music.
• The Mod matrix has 6 slots, and each now has 1 source and 3 destinations.
• More onboard memory, there’s now 512 RAM Preset locations, and 2048 ROM Preset locations.  Note that currently there is no way to write presets to ROM locations as on the previous Virus C.
• The TI now has a programmable Arpeggiator, though you can only program it via Virus Control (more on this shortly) and there is no note offset parameter, so user arps will always play only the notes you hold.
• The TI comes with new D/A convertors, and compared to the earlier synths, the Virus has a much more open and clear sound to my ears.  It still sounds like a Virus, but the top end is much more transparent now, for lack of a better word.

Like the rack mount above's panel layout, the synth engine should be instantly familiar to anyone who‘s used a Virus before.  The bigger display shows more parameters, so there are less edit menus now which is always nice when you need to dive in deep to program.  For those new to the Virus synth, I highly recommend reading the manual, as there’s many shortcuts and controls that may not be instantly obvious, yet are very powerful timesavers. IE, the OSC Volume knob controls not only how loud the OSC section is, but also how much saturation is applied at the filter.  Without a doubt the TI sounds fabulous, which is what most people want to know.  It’s capable of all manner of sounds, while still sticking to the tried and true subtractive synth methodology.  And this includes the way wavetable synthesis and FM synthesis are implemented on the synth as well.  It won’t take long for beginners to grasp the structure of the synth, and seasoned users will have enough features at their disposal to give them ideas for years to come.  This is the only synth in my studio for instance, and I rarely, if ever, find myself wishing I had more synth features at hand.

The real news with the TI range though, is the inclusion of the Virus Control plug in.  Access have enabled the TI to communicate with your DAW on a PC or Mac via a single USB cable.  As such, the TI can now act as a 2 in/4 out soundcard and 1x1 midi interface, complete with ASIO drivers.  This also allows the TI to function as a remote control surface for your software apps.  Templates are included for DAW functions and some popular Virtual Software Instruments, and users can make their own as well.  Up to 30 can be stored on the TI at once, though it’s easy enough to swap these out for new ones via Virus Control if you need to.

However the application that most users will be interested in, is the ability to stream audio and midi and save all Virus Preset parameters directly into your DAW via the Virus Control plug in.  Access have come up with a unique way to allow audio to be transferred digitally over the USB cable, in real-time, while still allowing you to use your soundcard of choice.  This means that once you have launched the Virus Control plug in, audio from the TI will be routed directly to the plug in, where it can be recorded and effected like any other VSTi.  It is important to remember that it is the synth itself generating the sound, not the plug in.  Thus, the synth always needs to be connected to your computer to use Virus Control.

The plug in also mimics all controllers and parameters of the hardware synth, so you can use your mouse to adjust the Virus if you prefer working like that.  Regardless of if you use the physical knobs or your mouse, communication is two-way and changes are reflected in both the plug in and hardware simultaneously.

Up to 16 parts (presets) can be accessed at once on 16 midi channels via Virus Control, though it should be noted that currently each part is fixed to it’s like numbered midi channel.  IE, Part 1 will always be on MIDI Channel 1, Part 3 on MIDI channel 3, etc.  This feature allows you to save 16 patches used in your song as part of the DAW project, so Virus TI patches will always be recalled correctly the next time you open your song.  There are also built in librarian and patch saving functions built into Virus Control, handy if you like programming the synth via the hardware, but want an easy way to organize and save your creations later on.
 

• I do miss the internal buss routing options from the previous Virus synths, something that is strangely missing on the TI. 
• Multi’s are currently not supported or accesible by Virus Control (it uses a new “Sequencer” mode), which is a shame as they would benefit the most from it’s librarian and organizational functions.  There’s also no way to store a Sequencer mode set up as a Multi preset or vice versa either, which would come in handy when prepping for live use for instance.
• When using the Virus Control plug in, the MIDI in ports on the hardware stop working.  So you can’t sequence the TI from a hardware sequencer while still using Virus Control to program the synth engine.  Most DAWs have decent enough midi routing that you can create a work around, but it’s still a pain at times.
• I wish there was a way to create your own arps without using Virus Control, as well as the ability to use arps as mod sources in the mod matrix. A Note Offset parameter would be nice as well, which would effectively turn the arp into a mini 32 step sequencer.
• It would be nice if the buttons were assignable in Remote Mode, currently only the knobs are.  I also wish the Remote editor used standard MIDI CC’s for assigning parameters, instead of the proprietary data strings currently in place.  These aren’t too confusing for those experienced with MIDI, but I can see a lot of beginning users scratching their head at this.  There’s definitely room for improvement here.