First post to this forum and my first virus. I've been reading from the sidelines and sharing in everyone's anguish these past months, waiting and waiting and... err, waiting! My TI keyboard surprisingly arrived bang on the 3rd (thank you Turnkey - London) and... wow, what a synth this is.
First up, my existing master keyboard was crapping out big time, so I'm just glad to have the E flat 1 key back again! But this is the nicest feel keyboard I've played of late - not too light and plasticky like some cheapy synths, but not too weighted and sluggish either. I'm not a trained piano player, so don't get the 'weighted keys' bit, and I like my keys to 'bounce' a little for triggering drum samples etc. It's a sexy keyboard, no doubt. And aftertouch... oooh!!! a nice extra I've never had before. Great for those Roland Rompler Rhodes patches (three Rs?), and loads more no doubt.
But nothing, nothing could have prepared me for the synth engine itself. It has completely blown me away. I've hardly explored any of the thousand-odd presets - I just dial up one at random that sounds nice, and then just twiddle away for hours. Twiddle, twiddle, twiddle on a satisfyingly endless journey of sonic evolution. The ten-month wait (I put my deposit down last November) was totally worth it. Since this is my first Virus, anyone who already owns one will probably know all this already, but for a first timer - this is synth heaven.
It sounds like a gritty old analogue synth engine that has been multiplied, mutated, expanded and lovingly nurtured into the twenty-first century, with all the mod-cons that we now take for granted (FX, layering, polyphony, midi, memory etc) but without losing the character of an analogue synth. I couldn't begin to quibble over whether it sounds like a 'real' analogue or not - it just sounds great. But you know that already!
The arp is a joy. What funky sequences! That's not an arpeggio surely? Well, it'll do nicely. Oh, and it says you can program your own... Really? Some time later maybe!
The TI bit? I would if only I could stop playing the damn thing! First up though, could someone explain what's wrong with a good old midi lead? ?1.99 from Maplins... plug it in and away you go. How much more integrated you wanna get?
Not sure if I ought to, but... by way of comparison, I used to own a Juno 60 and others, still have a 101 and a clutch of other newby analogue modules, but they always sound like... well, themselves! The Juno only sounds good to me when it sounds like a Juno (yet it's all too easy to make it sound plain rough). The 101 will always be a 101. That's cool, but this Virus is like a chameleon. It can be silky, dirty, raw, deep, bright, gritty, lush, smooth, hollow, earthy, rich, grungy, phat... whatever.
Interestingly, I haven't managed to produce what I consider a bad sound out of it yet (that's 'bad' as in 'not good' by the way). Much more importantly however, I haven't managed to produce a 'boring' sound! Believe me, after decades of being subjected to Japanese obsession with shakuhachis, bagpipes, accordions and flaccid, slap-bass samples, as well as a load of not-very-good analogue modellers, the Access Virus doesn't even come close to understanding the word 'boring'...
My only complaint so far is the manual! What the... who wrote... err??? I wonder if it's a secret ploy to encourage us all to have fun experimenting, cos it sure don't offer up many secrets! Even Roland's manuals are better than this. (Is that the ultimate manual put-down I wonder? Sorry guys.)
I'm sure there will be loads of discussion in time about how well the TI bit integrates into whatever blah, blah, blah. But the bottom line for me is that I have finally, after years of searching, found a real gutsy synth that is modern, sophisticated, sounds good, feels good and is immediately accessible (no pun intended) with all that twiddly, widdly, front panel control. Thank you Access!
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