Logistics of making a track completely on a Virus

[SamZah]

Hello

I am wondering about the feasibility of creating an entire track on the Virus without any multi-tracking or external editing. This is due to workflow preference. I don't really want to go down the work-station route.

I don't like the sound of most VA synths in comparison with analog, having said that analog does not sound good doing everything, there is the sharpness of VA's that has become so familiar to us.

I really like the sound of the Virus demos that used to be on Access' website. They seemed to be made entirely on the virus.

I have to say, I don't find the virus sound particularly great, but I do think it is very good in its own right. Sound is not the most important thing to me, workflow is. I am sure both horrible sounds/mixes and great ones have been made from such a complex synth.

To give some idea of what I like, the Nord G2 would do everything I need, if you have ever used the demo you will see how great it is for percussion and everything else. However it is only 4 part, although with all the power of the patches, slots and routing I could make do with just 4 parts.

As users, can you tell me how you think the synth would perform in this way? Part of this question is just how well can the Virus produce a Kick sound on its own?

Another contender was the old Novation Supernova, but I am not sure if it would sound as clean and "open" as a virus when you have many parts and effects on.

Sam

[Fordy]

Hi Sam

Welcome to the forums

The Virus sound is (within reason) whaterver you want it to be. With 16 parts just think of each part as one synth in it's own right. It's dead easy to set up in Cubase 3SX which is what I use.

I also have the Supernova II which has 8 parts and if you listen to the demos, they do sound really good even if they are not my particular style of music.

Of the two, the Virus is definatley the more capable synth with wider pallete of sounds than the Supernova but considerably more expensive. One a side note I think the Viris TI 2 KB is a good £400 over priced for what it is.

I'm sure the Virus can make some great Kick sounds but I don't use it for percussion so I couldn't say for sure but I bet somone else will conform that it does.

[feedingear]

go through the perc presets theres a few really decent kick drums. i think the main thing youd experience is note stealing if you were running all 16 parts at once - i cant imagine youd get through an entire track without notes dropping in and out. you could lay down the midi for each track, then once your finished with the tune, solo each one and bounce as audio to avoid the note stealing.

[SamZah]

Thank you both for your replies.

I am slowly becoming convinced of the synths capabilities. I have only used the TI twice and both times I didnt really find it special, but Its obviously something you need to spend time with. Its not like the Moog Voyager or LP which just sounds great immediately and entertained me for a good 30 minutes just messing around. It seems because it is so versatile you need to "customize" the sound of the synth to your tastes.

On demos that I have heard when people make a whole tune on the Virus often certain sounds are a little out of sync. Is this because an insert effect causes a delay? for example if I put the bass through distortion, does this cause a few ms delay?

[feedingear]

id say its people not correctly aligning the bounces properly - you have to watch how they bounce as audio, and make sure you align it perfectly with the midi. I just do a side by side comparison with the midi track and the bounced audio to ensure its both spot in time, plus of course check out where it is the sequencer as well.