So although Virus synths have been on the market for quite some time (forever as far as i can remember), i have literary never came across any mentions to it, good or bad, in any forums i’ve browsed. It’s like it doesn’t even exist aha.
The UI seems pretty straightforward, nice processing power up to 20 to 80 voices, 16 part multitimbral, external input, programable arp and even some kind of overbridge etc etc (which funningly makes me realize that they were quite ahead Elektron who kind of took all the glory for it).
Seems great !
But what about the sound? I’ve listened to the various youtube videos but even WC Olo Garb’s demo left me unimpressed.
For those who haven’t came across his channel, i highly recommend browsing his other synth videos. he just nails it 100%
In comparison, since both of them are VAs, i find Diva much more expressive and dynamic ; in the end i feel that the Viruses are like Blofelds with a different UI, which sound like, dare i say, VSTs in a box. Not that it’s a bad thing, just not what i’m after.
I owned the TI2 Snow, had a Ti2 keyboard for a couple of weeks to test with an option to buy.. and I didn't buy it. It depends what you are looking for soundwise. I liked the ambient sounds; some of the bass sounds were excellent. But yeah.. you could do them in Omnisphere too. I didn't like the VA bit, although it was much better VA than on Blofeld. The reverb is on Ti2 was really good.. I couldn't achieve such a reverb on my pc or laptop.
Strangely there's not a lot of videos on youtube, but they are fairly common in music shop, so go and try them or buy online and you can return them within 14 days.
They always seemed to me to be very of a specific time in the '90s, when hardware VAs were like the epitome of advanced synth tech. Essentially dedicated computers running VA software, at a time when basic home computers didn’t have processors that could handle something like Diva. The Virus was very popular (especially trance circles) and considered high-end, along with Nords, etc.
But these days… unless you are getting a super good used deal, that is a very expensive software box. I think money would be much better spent on more modern technology. Christ, you could probably get a new Prophet or something for a better price.
How do they compare to the nords? I’m about to get my second nord this weekend (a NR2 for live gigs; I want to keep my NL1 in the studio) and I can’t think of a synth that is better for what I want to do—I haven’t heard anything else get as digital sounding yet still lush as the nord when using FM and filter at the same time… and the NR2 having 4 outputs/parts works really well with the octatrack’s 4 inputs.
I had a Virus A for a long time, loved it. I got a used TI a few years ago… sadly I don’t use it that much.
My main criticism is the menu-diving; maybe I’m spoiled by OP-1, and I guess so many people use the integrated VST host to control it that maybe they don’t care as much about the physical interface, but I found it really not fun to use.
I agree that it’s more or less akin to a VST like Omnisphere, i.e tons of synthesis, filtering, fx, modulation, etc options. But way more expensive.
I’ve only mucked around with the Indigo (2 maybe? can;t remember) and yeah, the menu’s were a buzzkill. I’m with @pselodux, I have an NL2 and it’s awesome. No VST integration, but has it’s own thing going on. Here’s a big synthjam I did 100% with the nord:
To be fair, Access are a pretty awesome company – after getting my TI I posted in the forums about a couple modulation options that would be nice to have (and easy to implement), and they added both of them in the next OS update!
was exactly what is was