@Prints are you a Salesmen from Access, trying to make us buy the last units available, or what should this thread be for?
oh and just to let you know: I sold my Virus TI2 Desktop years ago, because Serum and the like came to the table. This Synth was good at the days where Computers did not have enough power to produce sonic Quality. Where VSTi’s sounded cheap because of that. Today the Virus is just dead. Sound wise - and Support Wise! And the hardware aspect cant help it, because the workflow with this tiny Display and millions of menu’s is everything but intuitive!
Sorry to rant, but - seriously … Access is dead and the Virus died with them. No need to invest in a Dinosaur that did not aged well!
One persons dead unsupported dinosaur synth is quite easily another person’s coveted sonic treasure…
Happens all the time, won’t stop happening either…
There will absolutely always be the people that like the synth, and the people that don’t…
By responding we simply find out what side of the fence someone’s on, it doesn’t do anything to the other peoples informed opinions, unless those peoples opinions are not fully formed from experience or they are easily swayed and therefore not fully valid for that person to begin with…
None of this changes what the synth is either. The synth doesn’t know if it’s good or bad, it’s an object that can have as many opinions about it as the population of the planet…
I beg to disagree (and also don‘t like the sound of your response).
What Access did is what Elektron does now with Overbridge. It was way ahead of time, still works very well, is well supported and the number of users and professional examples of Viruses in use, tells the story.
Even the hardware is still an excellent design that stood the time. Like for the Elektrons, there is a tiny display and submenus but that does not matter because all information is there, it is logically organized and as an extra top bonus, with the Overbridge style total integration of the hardware in a DAW, the Virus is to me appealing for the same reasons that I like the Elektron design.
(In my case, I use the Virus for atmospheric sounds with lots of voices, adding space and grandness to tracks but focus on the Elektrons for everything else that is the core of my music.)
I have not read everything written in this thread but found your comment too harsh and unfriendly to leave it unanswered
I thought the original post that started this thread was succinctly clear. I was just excited about the synth because I’ve long had preconceived notions about it before actually trying it, but was surprised by how much I liked it.
I disagree with your views. Show me another hardware synth that does what the Virus does. I don’t currently use computers at all in my setup.
Specs wise the TI still can’t be beaten in hardware form.
It’s the sad current state of affairs we live in for hardware synths.
It’s just the sound that is sounding average now.
10-15years ago the TI was compulsory in a studio imo.
Times have changed a lot since.
For the record Serum made me sell my TI2 a few years ago.
yer id take a cheapo lenovo with serum vs paying that money for virus ti. Every man and his dog used access years ago times change vst are there now on i5 laptops seems silly to pay more for nothing imho might aswell buy a ipad with granular apps and a cheapo laptop with ableton and some vst you like.
Novation Peak comes to mind. Sure, doesnt have the USB 1.1 Total Integration (which was unstable like hell btw) and doesnt have all these additional Effects the Virus had. But the Raw Oscillators from the Peak alone sound so much better - i would instantly buy one if i had the money
Dont get me wrong, i loved the Virus back at the days. It sounded great in 2005 and it filled the Gap between Hardware and Software; finally making this thing editable and somewhat usable for a whole Production (if you had a good Computer). But it is a digital Synth in the end and can easily be replaced today, because its raw Oscillators simply sound cheap. The Virus was big due to its Effects, but every good Plugin can easily compete with that today. And its Workflow really didnt make it fun to use as a pure Hardware. So …
Have to admit that i was very very pissed by Access as i one day realized that they gave up the Virus. If this thing wouldve been constantly developed further, rebuilt with modern processing power and new Code, it would still be the beast it was once known for. But like i said: Its sound is cheap today (Oscillators) and doesnt justify the insane Price they still call out for it ^^
The Peak although great, is far from perfect and the world is still in need of a groundbreaking hardware synth, ironically what the TI was when it was released all those years ago
Can’t we at least all agree that it’s nice to have a synth with a fully mature OS? This thing is new to me; that’s all that really counts. It’s like finally watching a movie everyone was raving about many years after it was released. Isn’t it still a good movie?
Yep the TI is still great, I guess most seasoned Virus users are pissed that the line was abandoned years ago. So much potential still left, and if anyone was going to blow minds again, our hopes were with Access.
Friggin guitarists killed Access. Rock on
Yeah I remember buying all of those shitty outdated used synths like Junos, vocoders, etc when everyone was buying the hot new Korg M1 for its killer piano. Fun times.
It seems to me that the artists are the only ones picky and opinionated about this stuff, it doesn’t affect the listener what synth/gear is used, they can’t tell the difference anyway…
My point is along the lines of most of us play music for people to listen to as an end goal, and those people will like or not like a track because of its vibes and creativity and emotion and whatever, they won’t know what it was made on. So it’s just up to the artist to use whatever they prefer, easily popular and likable tracks can be made on all manner of cheap or outdated gear even, it’s not the gear that makes the music, it’s the people behind it…
Sure workflows/features/ease of use/sound quality/connection can seem very important to the creator, but the listener at the other end has no idea. If someone is OK with using an old workflow or non modern sound or all manner of “outdated” things, that’s up to them. It doesn’t subtract from the potential to make great music, that part is up to the artist…
In a way it could be almost preferable if other artists hated the gear I use, the listeners won’t care, and it’ll make me sound more unique…
