Access virus TI USB midi?

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Does anyone with a Virus TI know if it’s still possible to use the USB port on the TI to send midi in/out between the synth and a DAW?

I have the access virus TI polar and I’m finally setting up all my gear again after a bit of a hiatus, I’ve never used USB on my virus so I’m not sure if it’s still functional in a modern DAW environment. I have the virus set to send/receive midi via USB but it’s not showing up in Ableton under midi options at all, is there something else I have to do to get it working?

#2

Are you using Windows? Then get the Virus Software from the access homepage.

With that software you run the TI like a VST, it has total recall, meaning it saves all data within the DAW.

It handles MIDI and you get 3 stereo outputs to which you can route different tracks on the TI to.

You will have to record audio in realtime, bouncing audio like with VST doesn’t work.

#3

There‘s a 3rd party VST from the company Mystery Islands which allows using USB audio on the TI2 on Mac. Didn‘t try it yet, but it‘s supposed to provide up to 6 USB audio channels.

More info here: Virus TI USB Audio with all Mac Operating Systems | Mystery Islands Music Support

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#4

The Virus TI has the ability to function as a MIDI interface over USB.

When used with a DAW you will see two MIDI options, Virus TI MIDI and Virus TI Synth.

The Synth option allows your DAW to control the Virus itself and the MIDI option allows the DAW to receiive and send MIDI data to anything you have connected to the Virus’s MIDI DIN ports.

The Virus may not connect via some USB 3 ports. If possible use a USB 2 port…
Works fine in WIN 10, cannot speak for Mac compatibility.

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#5

I appreciate the replies. I have the mystery island demo and plan on getting into it soon to see if it’s useful to me but in the meantime what I was actually trying to do is just set it up so that I can send Midi note messages and clock to and from the TI polar via USB

Usually with a synth that has USB midi it just shows up in Ableton under midi preferences (like the Moog Grandmother, Korg minilogue, DSI Pro 2 and Elektron boxes) but the Virus doesn’t show up at all.

I wasn’t sure if there was something I needed to do like install specific drivers or something.
I am on Mac btw
I didn’t intend on downloading the Virus TI plugin from Access since its unfortunately no longer compatible so is there something I’m missing in order to send midi note and clock over USB to the virus?

#6

There might be hardware drivers on the Access website. On Windows I’m pretty sure I had to install drivers to have the Virus show up as a USB MIDI interface free from Virus Control…

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#7

Okay thanks I’ll check the Access website when I’m at my computer tomorrow. I checked it today and it wanted me to sign up for a mailing list of some shit in order to download the access control plugin which I didn’t want to do since it doesn’t work anymore but I’ll check it out tomorrow again maybe there’s some where on their site that specifically has drivers. I know the TI is fairly older by today’s standards but I was expecting and hoping it was a plug and play situation for basic midi interfacing with a daw

#8

I’m curious about the Mystery Islands software and why it even exists. I haven’t heard that Access wasn’t providing updates to the software anymore, although it has been over 5 years since the last update. They updated their website recently which falsely has a newer date for the same software. I sent them an email, but they wouldn’t tell me anything. Does anyone have any info on status of future updates?
Also, I noticed that the Mystery Islands website does not specifically mention being compatible with the latest Mac OS.

#9

There‘s a long thread about missing updates on recent Mac OS versions and that Access just doesn‘t announce any status updates.

#10

I don’t know if the Midi driver comes with the beta as well, if it does you should find it in the /Library folder under Audio and then midi I think. Maybe restart the Mac. I bought the mystery islands editor a while ago and it is the closest if not only solution as editor and the audio part is a nice add on. I use audio outs though. And remember that the Virus goes Local Off when usb is connected