My TI opinion...

[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

Honestly, one of the single best hardware features Access could/should implement is a simple toggle (on/off) button for the effects section. Dont get me wrong, I think the onbaord effects are excellant and great if your jamming with friends.....but to record with? I prefer to record everything dry then towards the latter stages of production then get funky with effects etc.

There may well be a global effects on/off function within VC....which i havent discovered yet. If there isnt, then perhaps Access could implement such a feature for a future OS update. In the next Virus hardware revision Id expect to see a button on the front panel.

xerxes_ : Dont let my post put you off the TI. I like to tell it as I see things.....and I have no intention of selling my TI. If its good enough for DepecheMode (and Digital Screams!) it'll be good enough for you!!

Enjoy your Ti...and please let me know how you get on with it.

DS

[F5D]

Hi DS. Thanks for your comments about TI. I tested a Virus TI keyboard for 2-3 weeks earlier and I agree with everything you wrote. In fact I would still love to have my KC. It always felt very solid, never crashed and sounded good.

I also prefer real analog synths. Virus really sounds dark and most of the presets are made with built in fx. One thing I didn't like so much about the synth were the flashing lights. I heard that the new software gives the user the ability to switch off also the light on the back panel but the synth would really need an fx on/off -button.

The synth is well built but like you said, the hardware user interface is not very well thought. It seems that Access have put most of their effort into the Virus Control software but not everybody want to use it. We have discussed about the VC and usb transfer problems so much that I won't get into it anymore. Anyway, I like synths as synths and I want to control them directly from the hardware.

Currently I don't feel that I will get a TI. I still use virus powercore but I will probably wait for a new better virus or get a Virus C. I hope that Access forgets the TI and builds good problem free synths like Virus B and C.

[Gopal]

Hey DS, I've only got a virus b but I've always got effect level assigned to one of the two assignable knobs so everytime i call up a patch I can just dial the effects off it with the turn of a single knob, surely this can just as easily be done on the TI?

[xerxes_]

hi DS!

i got my TI polar yesterday.. and well, so far i am baffled and amazed and i can´t stop smiling. i can really care less about syncing it to my sequencer (as i use a rather unusual one that access never will support.. called renoise).. all i want the TI for is sound design and sampling. and oh my god how good it sounds. and how beautiful it is to use.

and my biggest worry was obviously, after reading your post hehe, the effect issue. i remember trying a v-synth.. and turning of the delay and reverb for instance, was just a pain in the royal ass. on the virus, one of the first things i found in the config menu was how to globally turn off delay/reverb. it is GENIOUS!!

so without further ado.. i can proclaim my undying love for the access company and the virus TI. i can not wait to get home from work today and explore it further.

cheers,
.x

[LivePsy]

Hi All,

I've had my TI desktop for 2 months now and the biggest surprise to me was how *musical* it is. Its a real instrument, and I find the edit menus and select buttons don't turn it into an editing chore like say a V-Synth.

Some things I wasn't expecting to like:-

The envelopes are fast! Useful envelopes, not coarse like Roland and Korg synths. Mastering the attack, decay and release curves in the mod matrix gets the sounds just right. I can't imagine working on a synth without adjustable slopes now

The TI is much better than I thought. I wasn't expecting to ignore the VST gui and use the hardware knobs for everything. Very cool.

The filter is deep and complex. Overall quite dark, but I'd call that warm and rich compared to most VA keyboards.

The effects are extremely good, not some stock standard module stuck on the end. If anything, individual reverbs for all 16 parts is going overboard a bit

Modulating with single cycle LFOs or the complex waves is a brilliant idea.

So overall, it exceeds my expectations in most respects. How many keyboards achieve that?

Cheers,
B

[Technophile]

DS, I have also noticed pops and clicks as a result of Delay! Glad I'm not the only one.

[Technophile]

LivePsy - What do you mean by mastering the ADR in the mod matrix?
The effects are good, except for the Vocoder which should be removed entirely. Its like they threw it in just to say they have it.

I think the 16 reverbs/delays is less about having 16 simultaneous reverbs/delays, and more about not having to have all the parts share one set.
I don't think the polyphony can even really back up 16 delayed and reverbed parts.

[LivePsy]

Originally Posted by Technophile

LivePsy - What do you mean by mastering the ADR in the mod matrix?

You can change the envelope slopes between convex, linear and concave. If the MOD source is "Filter Envelope" and the destination is "Filter Env Decay" then a negative amount makes the decay drop quickly and get slower near the end. Whereas a positive amount keeps the decay slow at the beginning and fall faster near the next. End result: negative gets you a better fast analog pluck sound, like a charging and discharging capacitor on an old analog synth would do. I find a linear decay slope now doesn't sound right and I general tweak it in the mod matrix.

To really test it out, make up a template patch with the following mod slots set up:-

Slot 5
Filter Envelope 0 Filter Env Attack
Filter Envelope 0 Filter Env Decay (try -12 for analog pluck)
Filter Envelope 0 Filter Env Release

Slot 6
Amp Envelope 0 Amp Env Attack
Amp Envelope 0 Amp Env Decay
Amp Envelope 0 Amp Env Release

Then change the various amounts, keeping in mind that you will also need to adjust the time of the relevant parameter to get the sound right.

Cheers,
B

[F5D]

Originally Posted by Technophile

I think the 16 reverbs/delays is less about having 16 simultaneous reverbs/delays, and more about not having to have all the parts share one set.
I don't think the polyphony can even really back up 16 delayed and reverbed parts.

Exactly what I've been trying to say since the TI was introduced.

[LivePsy]

Originally Posted by Technophile

I think the 16 reverbs/delays is less about having 16 simultaneous reverbs/delays, and more about not having to have all the parts share one set.
I don't think the polyphony can even really back up 16 delayed and reverbed parts.

Having a simple reverb is far too limiting if you want 4 or so parts. If the only choices are to share one reverb or independent reverb for each part, I'll have a TI thanks.

However, I was thinking you could make a patch which did nothing but feed the audio input through the effects. So if you then cable the Output 3 pair to the Input, you should be able to send from any *other* part through this patch for a comon reverb. For each patch go to the global edit Surround page and set Output to Out3 L+R and Balance to the wetness you want.

Has anyone done this yet?

Cheers,
B