Originally Posted by MBTC
I can only guess here, but regarding it not being possible on the TI hardware -- if we look at the way waveforms are edited and morphed, or also perhaps the way MSEGs are edited (MSEG are sort of the Zebra equivalent of a modulation step sequencer with tweakable curves, lengths etc), and we imagine trying to do that without a mouse+keyboard and a nice screen and using simply synth knobs and display.... well it would not be very productive.
In the late 80s I had a Kawai K5 that attempted to do exactly this. The K5 was an additive synth and the harmonics could be edited similar to what you see in the Zebra demo video. Problem was, that using the hardware controls, this was quite a challenge. The K5 had buttons and a dial.. in general buttons navigated the various parameters, while the dial changed the value for that parameter. The large dial was actually very effective... much more so than knobs... at making very fine adjustments to values. However the reality of sculpting sounds is that while it was okay for making small tweaks to existing sounds, it would take forever to just start with a basic sound and build it up into something usable.
To the rescue of owners of the Atari ST (which was an awesome music production computer back then, it had built in MIDI ports), we had something called "Dr. Ts K5 Editor/Librarian" (they had Dr T editors for many different synths like the DX7). In the case of the K5, this allowed us to draw the harmonics and edit the other parameters using the mouse, which was an enormous productivity boon.
So, you can see where this is headed, there is the hardware limitation -- if only one of many limitations, it is a huge one.
But why not just put the tricky stuff into Virus Control? Anything thats cumbersome with knobs, put it in the plugin.
Well from this point on I can only speculate, but I personally think the whole software movement is seen as a major threat to the product line. If Access were to make critical features of the Virus available only in software, people would start wondering why they need the hardware at all if it's simply a way to play notes and chords and tweak some stuff realtime using cutoff pots or pitch/mod wheel.
Backup to the 80's again for a minute. In those days, CPUs were simply not fast enough to viably take the actual synthesis off the Kawai K5 and put it onto the same computer where the sound editing took place (heh! Imagine all of the timing issues that would solve if we could, since MIDI latency is always a bitch). However, in 2012, not only are the CPUs powerful enough to do this, but a single CPU in a typical teenagers $300 laptop has processing power that exceeds the DSP in the Virus. This was not the case a dozen or so years ago when the Virus was at the peak of earning its reputation.
So, I think software synthesis, that does not rely on an "expensive dongle" (essentially what I felt like my Ti2 was), is really enemy #1 to Access. When they can capitalize on reputation and the visual image of the Virus as an instrument instead of a low powered computer, they will continue to do so until the public catches on. Ride it out until its over, right?
What is baffling to me is why they do not embrace these times of cheap and powerful processing and connectivity options like Thunderbolt and seize the opportunity to take existing momentum with total integration to the next level. The technology is there, yet they seem to be sitting with their thumbs up their arses admiring what they created 15 years ago. I of course could be very wrong about that, but this is how it seems to me on the surface.
It is a somewhat dark view of things, and I realize its only one opinion and perhaps not correct, but it seems to me there is no future roadmap, no exciting plans, just the sit on thumbs and ride it out as long as we can mentality.
On a somewhat more cheerful note, the worst that can happen is that I'm dead wrong and some interesting new iteration of the Virus is announced soon. In that case I will be happy that I made such an idiotic prediction and we will all have something interesting to talk about for a change instead of discussing what's NOT going on at Access.
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