considering the Ti 2, had some questions

[sklawlor]

Hello.

I am blind and am considering purchasing the Access Virus TI 2. Here are some bits from a post on another forum and as always, I'd also be interested in people's oppinions, particularly near the end of the text as no one has yet ansered my inquiries about automation lanes etc.

I'll also include the link to the whole post so you can read everything in context if you'd like.
If you'd like to email me privately, feel free to do so as it's usually easier for me to reply to people via this method as opposed to a forum.

Here are my replies to the relevant commentary first and then the link.


Hi Chris. I'm quite impressed with what I've read so far about this board. I wrote up a thread a month or so ago that I'd like your thoughts on if you don't
mind. It was titled something like questions about the
virus TI 2
or something like that. Basically, I had questions as a blind person related to the usability of the integration aspect of the board. Thanks for your comments
when you have time.

Hi SK Lawlor. I am sorry about your lack of vision, but so very happy to hear that you've found the creation of music. Music is the universal language of
the soul.
ok

I hope my comprehensive posts weren't too much for your screen reader. I had intended this topic as a detailed review and question/answer opportunity,
but with that comes a lot of text. I hope you at least found it interesting.

So, over to your query, which I will answer as detailed as possible. If you have any more questions just let me know. I looked up and read your previous
topic regarding screen reader accessibility, and I have good and bad news. The bad news is that the virtual interface for the Virus doesn't use any Windows
controls, so the screen reader will not be able to read it for you.

The good news is that the synth is still immensely editable from the front panel. Almost everything has dedicated knobs and buttons. The ONLY major thing
that requires menu editing is the routing matrix.

The front panel gives you dedicated knobs for almost everything:

You will have easy access to editing the five oscillators and their volumes, sweeping the filters and resonances and changing filter types, and shaping
the amplifier and filter envelopes. These are the most important parameters of any synthesizer and affect the sound the most.

Then there is slightly harder access to effects and LFO editing. The effects section has five editing knobs and a button to toggle between which effect
you are editing the parameters for, but you will be able to press that button and raise the effect amount to hear which effect you are applying, and with
practice you will then learn each effect's offset from where you currently are, and know how many presses you need to apply to reach the one you want to
edit. The LFO section is similar but slightly harder, in that you have to press a button to toggle between the 3 LFOs to select the one you are editing,
and then press another button to toggle what you want the LFO to affect, which is something that will take some time to get used to when doing it blind.

The only section that will be really difficult or even impossible is the modulation matrix, which consists entirely of using the LCD. The huge amount of
parameters you can select as sources and destinations mean that you'll be out of luck when it comes to editing the matrix. The good news in that regard
though, is that Matrix editing is not required for sound design. It's just a useful extra that adds some extra movement.

The front panel also gives you complete, easy patch browsing access with bank change and program change buttons. The fact that there are hundreds of banks
with tens of thousands of sounds means that you will find everything you need here, and be able to tweak it with the front panel access available to you.

You'll also have the three soft knobs right on the front panel, which are mapped to useful modulations for pretty much every preset in the entire library.
This means that you will be able to quickly transform presets with just 3 knobs.

There is no shortage of useful sounds and editing ability for you here. You'll be getting sounds that cover the whole range of what you'll need to make
any genre of music, and I am sure you will get great use out of a Virus.

Compared to the other synthesizers you mentioned, the Poly Evolver and Nord Wave, you will get FAR more diverse sounds out of the Virus. The Poly Evolver
and Nord Wave are much more basic synthesizers and don't have anywhere NEAR as many synthesis features, waveforms, routing capabilities and effects. This
means their front panels can afford to have dedicated knobs for every parameter, since there aren't that many. I still would not recommend either of them
though, because the Virus ABSOLUTELY has all the front panel editing capabilities you need, as mentioned above, as well as the tens of thousands of fantastic
presets. You will get MUCH more diversity out of the Virus, and easy control of the majority of parameters, including ALL of the important ones.

Note that the Desktop model is the same as the Keyboard model, just lacking a keyboard. Get whichever one you think you will prefer. It might be easier
to have the keyboard model so that you can play the sound within a very short distance from the knobs, rather than having to spread out your arms to play
a keyboard with one hand and edit with another. I'd say in your situation, a keyboard is going to be greatly beneficial. It doesn't hurt that the Virus
keyboard is a super high quality Fatar keybed with great feel and 61 keys, which is enough range to play everything you need. 88 keys are only really needed
when playing classical piano music. You don't need such a large range for synth sounds, so 61 keys will work excellently.

On to the plugin aspect of the Virus: The Total Integration plugin picks up everything you do on the front panel of the hardware unit, so you will be able
to load in the plugin and then use the hardware unit for patch browsing and editing of all 16 parts. Audio can be routed via the plugin, and will be in
sync with your DAW. I suggest creating a song template in your sequencer, with the Virus plugin pre-loaded, and all 16 parts set up and assigned to the
USB outputs (3 stereo outputs), so that you can just load up that template every time and start focusing on selecting and editing sounds right away, whenever
you get the urge to make music.

Lastly, make sure you get the TI2 model, since it has an improved front panel editing surface compared to the first TI models.

As a small side-note: I read that you use Windows. Did you know that Macintoshes have incredible accessibility features built right into the core of the
operating system, as well as a very high quality screen reader voice? Look up the feature called "Universal Access". It's at the core of Mac OS X, and
will read every dialog and text string for you in a logical way, and allow keyboard access to navigating around windows and menus. In Windows, accessibility
was just tacked on as an afterthought as an external program, separated from the OS itself, and is very, very bad in comparison. Of course, you may already
have solved Windows' shortcomings with third party software. If not, consider a Mac.

I wish you all the best. Please don't hesitate to let me know if there is something else I can help with.

Chris White

Hi Chris. Thanks for your comprehensive post. The DAW I will most likely be using is Sonar though I've thought of giving Reaper a try. I've been told by
some that the integration plugin isn't really necessary for creating music so in that sense, can you explain what the advantages and disadvantages of having
it available would be? As of now, all my recording has been audio with not very much in terms of midi. Is the total integration sort of like a midi interface
on steroids, to oversimplify it or is it much more than that? Unfortunately, I don't have a way to try out this synth first, even
guitar center
doesn't have them available unless you preorder one and my loyalties are with another company actually so I wouldn't feel right asking them to get one
if I know my intentions are to purchase from elsewhere anyway. I've also heard that you can use the virus as an external soundcard. If this is true, how
well does this work out? Someone had also recommended the yamaha xf and since it has accessible editors a lot of blind people use it but when I went to
play the xs a couple of years ago, I didn't have that "I'm in love" response and that's what I want with a keyboard. I use a program called jaws for windows
which was developed by freedom scientific and it works pretty well with most windows applications. I suppose the mac wouldn't make the TI plugin more accessible
either right? Thanks again for your elaborate posts. They're quite educational. Scott

Hi Chris. Thanks for your comprehensive post. The DAW I will most likely be using is Sonar though I've thought of giving Reaper a try. I've been told by
some that the integration plugin isn't really necessary for creating music so in that sense, can you explain what the advantages and disadvantages of having
it available would be? As of now, all my recording has been audio with not very much in terms of midi. Is the total integration sort of like a midi interface
on steroids, to oversimplify it or is it much more than that? Unfortunately, I don't have a way to try out this synth first, even
guitar center
doesn't have them available unless you preorder one and my loyalties are with another company actually so I wouldn't feel right asking them to get one
if I know my intentions are to purchase from elsewhere anyway. I've also heard that you can use the virus as an external soundcard. If this is true, how
well does this work out? Someone had also recommended the yamaha xf and since it has accessible editors a lot of blind people use it but when I went to
play the xs a couple of years ago, I didn't have that "I'm in love" response and that's what I want with a keyboard. I use a program called jaws for windows
which was developed by freedom scientific and it works pretty well with most windows applications. I suppose the mac wouldn't make the TI plugin more accessible
either right? Thanks again for your elaborate posts. They're quite educational. Scott
Hi again Scott, my pleasure to be of assistance. Sonar is actually a competent DAW, and if you're familiar with it now then I suggest sticking with it.
Having to re-learn the location of every menu item and the program workflow just to move to Reaper is not worth it. If you decide to do a move, then I'd
suggest going to a host that is a bigger step-up than Reaper to make the re-learning worth your time. On Windows I heavily recommend Cubase, which is part
of the "industry standard trio" (together with Logic and Pro Tools). Throughout the years I've used every major DAW out there (about 20 of them) as an
exercise in expanding my horizons and being ready for any job that asks for a particular host, and I can tell you that the trio of industry standard DAWs
are at the top because they are incredibly powerful yet well structure; not just because they've been around for a long time - they are all fantastic and
deserve their positions at the top.

Now, over to the plugin. There are three reasons to use it; the first benefit is that it transports all of the sound data digitally over a single USB wire,
which frees up your audio interface and also saves you from invoking an extra step of AD/DA conversion and all the noise and distortion that sampling artifacts
add, since you get the purest signal directly from the source instead of going through lossy conversion and dealing with sampling errors and the like.
Secondly, the plugin will be stored inside your project and will save all of your sounds and all the edits you've made to them, meaning that you do not
have to save your sounds in the synthesizer and later remember which ones you've picked and so on; it's all right there in your project every time you
load it up. This means that you no longer have the problem of loading up an old project and noticing that it no longer sounds the same. The plugin gives
you "total recall" of every parameter. The third and final benefit is that it lets you automate every parameter of all sixteen synth parts using your DAWs
native automation lanes, rather than having to deal with sending MIDI CCs, which are far more bulky and harder to edit.

The benefit of using it as a pure audio source, without the plugin, are pretty much zero. Even though you say you come from an audio input background,
I guarantee that you will get used to the plugin quickly. Just set up a template project where the plugin is already pre-loaded and has sixteen midi tracks
ready for each of the sixteen sounds it can produce at once. Then all you'll have to do is use the Virus TI's front panel to choose between the various
parts, select sounds for them, and record the notes into your sixteen midi tracks. You can record all knob movements and so on as well by simply twisting
them. This will also allow you to erase or edit automation or MIDI notes instead of having to throw away a whole take, as is the case with audio. I recommend
the plugin route, and yes your term "midi on steroids" is accurate. It offers extremely tight integration. The total settings recall with every project
load, the easy automation access, and the sound quality are well worth it.

On to the next question, regarding the sound card: Yes, the Virus actually lets you take its one stereo input, two of its stereo outputs, as well as its
midi input and output ports, allowing you to use them as a sound card and MIDI interface. The sound quality is good, comparable to "professional hobbyist"
sound interfaces for hundreds of dollars. That's because it employs the high quality AD/DA circuits that it uses for its regular audio outputs. It will
definitely give you good results. Note that if you do use the Virus as a sound card, it disables the ability to use the plugin for audio transfer, since
the USB lead's audio transfer capabilities will be used for the sound card features. The plugin will still act as a total recall and automation helper
though.

It's too bad that they don't have any in stock near you. I find that a bit odd though, have you checked every retailer? Even if you can't get to try it
out ahead of time, I gave usability a lot of thought in my previous reply and everything said there still applies. You will definitely be able to understand
its front panel and use it well. Almost everything is within very easy, direct knob access.

Now, on to the Yamaha XF/XS query. Well, those synths are actually mainly ROMplers, meaning sample based workstations. They contain a few gigabytes of
samples. They produce good sounds if you are looking for things like quite realistic drums, guitars and pianos, but they are the wrong choice if you want
powerful synthesis.

Okay, almost done now. Your last point was about the Jaws software. It was as I suspected, you had already solved the problem with third party software
on Windows. That's good, since Windows really requires a third party solution, and Jaws looks like a good one. The Mac won't read the Virus plugin interface
either, since the interface is literally just drawn as a pixel image instead of containing data that the operating system can read aloud. Unfortunately
that is the case with pretty much every software plugin, since manufacturers want them to be dazzling and go for custom created graphics instead of using
operating system widgets.


Hi Chris.

Thanks for more info about the plug-in aspect of the synth.

I want to be sure I understand what you're saying about that so I'm sure I got it right.

It sounds like you're saying that if I create a song template in sonar using 16 midi tracks that I can apply any sound to any of those tracks and as long
as I save the project, the next time I pull up that specific project file, my sounds and parameters will all be in place and if I wanted to create another
project with a whole other set of sounds and parameters, I'd just use that same template, analogous to using saveAs in something like notepad so you don't
overwrite the existing file?

When you say that I need to use the plug-in in the DAW, is that similar to inserting a softsynth into a project and then assigning your midi tracks or
no?

I guess I'm concerned that if the plug-in isn't accessible, I'm wondering how using it in the daw and creating a template will work?

Here's how I did things with midi, the little that I played around with it around 6 months ago.

I'd insert a midi track and then browsing the patches select a sound that I wanted and be sure that this sound was on channel 1 for instance. Then I'd
record my midi events and it took me a long time to use the event editor to fix mistakes but when I'd have the midi track done, I'd create an audio track
and then play the midi track to record it to the audio. This took a lot of time because I was basically playing everything twice and if I had a project
with 16 tracks of midi that I wanted to export to audio, it would be pretty time consuming. That's one of the reasons that I just record to audio in the
first place, or used to until I thought I'd give midi a go.

From what you say about the plug-in, this sounds like it will solve that problem for me right away. Perhaps my methodology was inefficient as I am quite
the beginner at midi anyway but I thought I'd pass on the way I've done things and get your take on that.

I read through the current reply a couple more times and it seems to be a bit clearer but I'm not familiar with the phrase "automation lanes" where a DAW
is concernred. If you'd like, maybe we could talk more directly through email or even by voice if you have the time once I have one of these units in my
hands? I just wanted to try to wrap my mind around the TI part of the interface at least a little so I can try to understand a little more about what I'll
be getting into when I get one of these units.

I hope my thoughts and questions have made some sense anyway.

Thanks very much for your input as always.


http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much- ... d-mp3.html

[nutrinoland]

hey Sklawlor...Howz it going ?

Its really awesome to hear that you make electronic music...

I read your post.
Regarding Automation lanes - I suppose you have used automation before. If you have not, Automation is basically a way to record changes made to parameters on your synth. By doing this, your sounds can have more movement and variation. For example a simple volume fade in, would be recorded by turning the volume knob from low to high and recording this as midi events.
Each time you play back that part, the volume knob will do the same thing, only it will do it automatically.Once you record certain changes as automation data, the DAW will tell the synth to repeat that change each time you playback that part of the track. Automation data for a certain parameter is recorded in the DAW in automation lanes, represented somewhat like a graph. on the X axis is time and on the Y axis in the amount of change to the parameter in 128 increments. Low to high or left to right on the knobs. This automation data can be edited according to your requirements...and changed as many times as you like till you end up with a result that you like. you can also smooth automation to make it more precise .

Anyway. have you thought about getting a hardware controller for your DAW like Maschine . This way you will have real knobs and faders and buttons to tweak instead of a screen. I'm Not sure what other sorts of hardware controllers are available but maybe you would find it easier to use hardware controllers.

regarding the TI . Chris already mentioned that it is a way to integrate your hardware synth with your DAW and offers many advantages. It even makes midi and automation easier than regular only midi synths.
You can also use the Ti as a stand alone and record its audio outputs if that is how you would like to use it.
Overall The TI is a great synth with a lot of flexibility and ease of use.


Hope that helps a bit...
Good Luck..
Do upload some links to you music when you can...

[rdilago@zonnet.nl]

I now use the TI2 with Sonar 8.3 but the plug in doesn't startup like it does in Ableton. In Sonar it says: Starting up but never gets to the stage that it is fully working.
Any one having this problem to? suggestions?

[Hydrophonics]

hey mate, great to hear you're thinking of buying the virus ti.

didnt read your post as it was looong but the ti is the best synth money can buy- guarantee you will not regret getting one, it is a weapon!