[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

I would not go as far as to say '$*%& you Access'....they make lovely sounding synths....however...

I have experienced the following in all the Virus's I've owned (KC, TI & TI2):

1) Play the internal (TIiiiiiiiii) demo song via the front panel on the synth and compare it to the MP3 on the access website. You will notice that not all the sounds get played....as if there are parts missing - let the demo song loop a few times and it almost becomes unrecogniseable. The polyphony voice allocation has always been bad on the Virus. Even with the 100 voices of the TI2 some patches cannot be played polyphonically (yep, they're not in mono mode....I did check 100 times). It just baffles the mind that this has not been addressed after 11 years.

2) With all versions of the virus - I get intermittent LOUD pops, snaps and SPARKS when cycling through random patches. Sometimes I can go for a few hours with no problems at all....then I will stop playing, select a new patch...and then hit a key....and get a wonderful LOUD shitty blast through the speakers for a split second. This sound can either resemble a massive pop/spark or split second detune or some wierd artifact in the delay effect parameter. I swear one day it will give me a heart attack.

This occurs in standalone mode...even when the synth is not hooked up to the computer. I'm convinced its the effects section of the virus which is causing this. Maybe a conflict between delay parameters between differing patches?

I have to admit...I really hoped this would have been rectified in the TI2 but it is not. All of the above have been observed in the TI2 with the same frequency as earlier versions. This particular problem is the most problematic for me - occasional midi timing/syncing issues (god knows why this happens?) do not bother me so much....its the LOUD, random weirdness that spews from my speakers from time to time that deminishes my confidence. I like to play my gear loud to get into the vibe - the Virus puts lovely sounds....but is ruined by this random weirdness. I have to resort to auditioning the virus on VERY low volume settings for fear of damaging my speakers/health. I can only comfortably play it back loud when the Virus channel is muted on my mixer and I am playing back recorded audio via cubase.

On a positive note - I can confirm that the TI2 keyboard is a beautiful looking synth with gorgeous build quality. The quality of sounds is world class. It is ultimately let down by the persistent uncontrollable/random loud shittyness.

Just as a side note - I have never experienced these pop/sparks/spits from other VA synths. I am CONVINCED it is related to the effects section on the Virus. I would be very grateful if Access could release a beta OS which turns off ALL internal effects so that we could cycle through random factory presets to determin whether the problems persists. This would once and for all help us to identify what is causing it.....

I still rate the TI2 9/10 - I want to rate it 10/10....which is what I feel it deserves. Keep up the good work Access.....we'll get there in the end im sure.

Cheers

DS