Namm 2013

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by TweakHead

Also bear in mind that as far as the Batman movie OST is concerned, the actual synth used was a specially made version of Zebra combined with Diva's (another u-he synth) filters and some specially designed, for the occasion, modules. Let me remind you that even though that special package sounds great, no doubt about that, it comes with the cost of eating so much of one's cpu that it hardly stands a chance of becoming a go to synth for practical music making.

Yes, the synth was tweaked to accomodate Hans Zimmer's project according to his own liking (it doesn't mean it made it a better synth), but you can grab the tweaked version and all patches for a reasonable cost. It seems odd to say it can't be used for practical music making after it was used in such a prominent soundtrack. It might be a better choice for atmospheric film score type tracks than other musical genres, but regardless, if CPU usage is an issue simply bounce down the audio. This was the solution everyone suggested to me back when I owned a Ti2 and found that the polyphony barely kept up with a single instance of a VST, which my particular CPU can usually easily handle dozens of at a time, to simply bounce down to overcome inadequate processing power. I also own Diva (which has the more CPU intensive filters) and I find that my CPU handles it well enough for music making. I can never forget the Ti2 desktop choking on a factory Roland D10 bells patch, robbing notes after a few simple chords, because it was considered a complex patch.

[TweakHead]

Yes, of course. And I was actually refering more to the Diva. I'm not sad about it, though, It clearly shows that we're in for having some super sounding synths coming in, on the software domaing, as cpu power is increasing. I think this whole thing is really just starting to take off. I mean, Albino used to be the thing not so long ago, and if you put it against one of those it's another story entirely. Not that Albino is a bad one. But Diva really is a cpu hitting monster if you ask me, more so then anything I've come across to this day. Have you guys seen the Lush 101 synth by d16? It seems to be another beast out there, which also has superb quality at the cost of a big cpu hit, the demos are really impressive - on their website. Check it out.

yeah, I can't really comment on the ti line, as I only have a virus C. would defenitelly love to have the extra features that have been added since, though. so what you're saying is that it's dsp power isn't enough still, right? but doesn't the synth engine make up for it?

[MBTC]

I have not yet checked out Lush 101, but I've noticed it making a standing in the KVR rankings lately. I saw some bugginess being reported and wanted to give them some time to work that out before I evaluate...audio demos sound good though.

About CPU hit -- sometimes big performance gains come from optimizations after the plugin has been on the market for a while. u-He updated Diva and when they added multicore support, it did have a huge impact. They recently optimized Zebra farther as well. I think that ongoing committment to optimization is harder to achieve (or less likely to be achieved) in the hardware space, where a good portion of the profit is on hardware sales (thus more motivation to leave incremental power increases for the next generation of hardware gear).

I did feel the Ti2 desktop I had was extremely underpowered considering the cost. The other problem was with latency over USB, and just getting the thing to function reasonably in a DAW environment without nuking my workflow and requiring me to spend more time fidgeting with a single synth in order to make music. It was a nice enough sounding synth, but not really more so than some of my better softsynths.

Most of the cons I've described in these forums about the Virus would not apply to the Virus C at all; I've never even used one. My beef is mostly about the half-hearted commitment to total integration, the fact that it seems that folks who use the integration and VC successfully are rare, and the overall cost of the Virus line when compared against what's available in modern soft synths these days.

[TweakHead]

Yes, I can totally relate to that. Getting a ti2 first hand is a big buck if it fails to deliver what's advertised. There's some people saying it's working better with the latest beta version of the software. I'm actually interested in that kind of feedback, as I wouldn't really like to go through the same kind of story you just described. Which reminds me, does the new oscilators work in stand alone version? The hypersaw, wavetables, granular, so forth and so on? And what about the fx? 'Cause it's got plenty more then on my C. I think I wouldn't mind to have on of the new ones if only I could manage to at least use the new features with the hardware. So are they only accessible from the software?

[namnibor]

Originally Posted by MBTC

I have not yet checked out Lush 101, but I've noticed it making a standing in the KVR rankings lately. I saw some bugginess being reported and wanted to give them some time to work that out before I evaluate...audio demos sound good though.

About CPU hit -- sometimes big performance gains come from optimizations after the plugin has been on the market for a while. u-He updated Diva and when they added multicore support, it did have a huge impact. They recently optimized Zebra farther as well. I think that ongoing committment to optimization is harder to achieve (or less likely to be achieved) in the hardware space, where a good portion of the profit is on hardware sales (thus more motivation to leave incremental power increases for the next generation of hardware gear).

I did feel the Ti2 desktop I had was extremely underpowered considering the cost. The other problem was with latency over USB, and just getting the thing to function reasonably in a DAW environment without nuking my workflow and requiring me to spend more time fidgeting with a single synth in order to make music. It was a nice enough sounding synth, but not really more so than some of my better softsynths.

Most of the cons I've described in these forums about the Virus would not apply to the Virus C at all; I've never even used one. My beef is mostly about the half-hearted commitment to total integration, the fact that it seems that folks who use the integration and VC successfully are rare, and the overall cost of the Virus line when compared against what's available in modern soft synths these days.

That's also another reason I waited almost two years to buy my Waldorf Blofeld Black Keyboard because I have enough to digest in catching-up and learning and did not want to "play BETA-tester" for a buggy O.S.but it is completely or at least 99.6% stable IMO now. I have heard great things from people that own the Ti series but not one of them found any form of total stability or at least reliability to even dare want to use it live in any other form than stand alone. Each also stated the USB bandwidth issues and the price factored against DSP vastly underpowered.
Absolutely love the KC and KB though and know will be always discovering new sonic territories for a very long time. Perhaps Access needs to go to the next level alphabetically with Virus D with firewire and beefed up DSP power to have the option to use VC? Just speculating as anyone's "wish list" would be here.
The demo of Alchemy Player and the various soundsets they offer is alot of various synthesis methods to include additive, which is why am leaning that direction.

[namnibor]

Originally Posted by TweakHead

Yes, I can totally relate to that. Getting a ti2 first hand is a big buck if it fails to deliver what's advertised. There's some people saying it's working better with the latest beta version of the software. I'm actually interested in that kind of feedback, as I wouldn't really like to go through the same kind of story you just described. Which reminds me, does the new oscilators work in stand alone version? The hypersaw, wavetables, granular, so forth and so on? And what about the fx? 'Cause it's got plenty more then on my C. I think I wouldn't mind to have on of the new ones if only I could manage to at least use the new features with the hardware. So are they only accessible from the software?

Those were EXACTLY my next questions to post here!! We DO think alike...YIKES! Ditto...?

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by TweakHead

Yes, I can totally relate to that. Getting a ti2 first hand is a big buck if it fails to deliver what's advertised. There's some people saying it's working better with the latest beta version of the software. I'm actually interested in that kind of feedback, as I wouldn't really like to go through the same kind of story you just described. Which reminds me, does the new oscilators work in stand alone version? The hypersaw, wavetables, granular, so forth and so on? And what about the fx? 'Cause it's got plenty more then on my C. I think I wouldn't mind to have on of the new ones if only I could manage to at least use the new features with the hardware. So are they only accessible from the software?

Hopefully someone else can chime in on the answers to these. Its been several years since I bought the Ti2 (then returned it within my 30 day window), and some of these features I believe may have been added after that fact. Actually some of the reasons I returned it may have been addressed, but I have not seen enough evidence of that to be inspired to risk another purchase -- I keep waiting for the next model to be announced, or maybe at some point I will just get a snow so that at least I don't feel like I'm missing out.

[Berni]

Originally Posted by namnibor

Those were EXACTLY my next questions to post here!! We DO think alike...YIKES! Ditto...?

Hey why dont you guys go buy one...you might have a better perspective on what you are talking about. Only around $1300 for the 'NEW dark star' version. Let me know how you get on ; )

And while I'm at it, this thread is about NAMM2013 & I have put my 2 large up there so what about the rest you. Predictions please...put up or shut up its getting boring

[namnibor]

Originally Posted by Berni

Hey why dont you guys go buy one...you might have a better perspective on what you are talking about. Only around $1300 for the 'NEW dark star' version. Let me know how you get on ; )

And while I'm at it, this thread is about NAMM2013 & I have put my 2 large up there so what about the rest you. Predictions please...put up or shut up its getting boring

Okay, I will bite...I ALSO predict that EVEN if Access releases a new, revolutionary product, BERNI will not be happy with it one way or another!! I already have a few thousand invested with Access and being a rather "old school" hardware kind of guy, the Ti function is not something I would utilize and I have all the wavetable areas covered with my Waldorf Microwave and XT and Blofeld. My next purchase will either be Waldorf's Pulse 2 now-slated for Spring '13 release or a pet unicorn--whichever comes firstly! HA!

[Timo]

Great to see the discussion has turned a little more cheerful and spirited.

My 2¢. Designable and morphable waveforms for both oscillators and LFOs along with designable multi-stage EGs like Zebra2, which looks incredible, but with the sound of the Virus, would definately have me selling a good few things in order to grab one.

I remember Marc once stating that editable waveforms/wavetables was one of the top feature requests after the TI was originally launched, but that it would never happen on the TI|1 or 2 due to limitations of the hardware. Whether he was referring to the need for additional dedicated memory to be able to store such waveform data or similar I'm not sure.

Maybe even longer PCM waveforms.

Would love to see an additional dedicated modulation (step) sequencer or two, with selectable curves for each 'step', akin to NI Massive's "perf" performance editor. Would be amazing if you could also 'morph' from one sequence to another.

Some more filter emulations maybe.

Hardware wise I would love to see more hands-on performance modulation controls like an XY pad for scratching, tapping/gating, sweeping, etc.

And of course USB2 HighSpeed, or USB3.

I think these would be a genuine step up from the TI|2.

'Dear Santa...'