What Hardware Effects do you run your Virus through?

[BlakeLight]

hey all, I just found out about this killer stand-alone filter the other day, the Sherman Filterbank (www.sherman.be) and I was blown away by what it could do with the most basic of sounds... and it got me thinking... what other types of effects do other Virus users run their instruments through live?

Currently I use my old guitar pedal delay (a boss dd-3), and though it sounds really sterile through my hamer guitar and genz benz amp, it sounds sick when I use it in conjunction with the Virus (especially with manual portamento! and, after having listened to the filterbank, Im seriously considering picking up one of those... even just to use it as a filter for my guitar (I swear that thing could be the wah pedal from hell).

[jasedee]

I hear good things about these sherman Filter banks.....

Actually, I have never run my Virus through anything other than my Mackie desk......I really should experiment more with playing with the Virus and routing it to different things. Lord knows I have enough junk lying in my rack, running the Virus through something may actually sound pretty cool.

[AlexHall74]

I have an Alesis MidiVerb4 and have run my Virus through it on a number of occasions.

It is a quick way to get a track sounding different and I have ended up with some really wild shite.

The Phaser on the Virus kicks ass on the Alesis Phaser.

What about distortions?

Anyone have one that they think is top shelf?

[Timo]

I'm looking at picking up one of those Boss OD20 units. Looks like it attempts to employ a good few of Boss distortion stomp boxes in one unit. Haven't tried one out so don't know what it sounds like, but am eager to try one all the same.

I'm going to try using ebay to buy second hand distortion pedals (such as the Boss stomp boxes, ProCo Rat, and SansAmp boxes), and if I don't like them, or if they're not suited, I'll just sell them on. Nothing lost other than P&P.

Even 2nd hand stuff like the Rat and the SansAmp pedals aren't uber cheap, though. Looks like they tend to hold their values quite well.

Synths are still Ok to be routed via stompboxes aren't they, even although they're primarily made for guitars? Would they be more suited for use on an insert, or Aux send? I guess the latter might be more helpful for having control over wet/dry ratio, although you could always hi-jack another channel for the effects-return fed from a direct-out.

[Onkel Dunkel]

I have a Sherman Filterbank 2 that i run my Virus though sometimes. The Filterbank is great for drums/percussion, wird sounds, evil leads or simple pure destruction It also produce very nice (ok maybe nice is the wrong word here ) results as a guitar effect. It overdrives very easy (maybe too easy) with distortion going from nice warmth to massive destrution and has great possibilities for external triggering and modulation-sources. Sometimes i find it a bit hard to "tame" and i end up swearing and cursing at it but when i hit the right combination it?s a killer filter. Maybe i just need to improve my sound-designing skills If you are going to use it live then get to know it really good before using it live. One wrong knob-movement and the sound can change to ear-ripping screaming. I?m not kidding, watch your ears 8O

[Hollowcell]

I run the VC through a VF1 which has cool amp sims, distortions, ringmods, slicers ect, it has some mediocre compressors and the like too....The only FX I run off the Virus are the distortions, delays and the phaser.

I sometimes put a valve on an insert and maybe use a touch of verb from my zoom thing too. I like running the Virus bass patches into the CS10 filter as well - although I don't often do bass on the Virus anyways.

Timo, I had a Turbo Rat in Ausi which I loved. It suited the Nord so well. I'll grab another one if I ever see one cheap. Although I did prefer my mates the Mesaboogie Vtwin. Fuck that was cool box - wonder if he still uses that.....

[Timo]

Mesaboogie, yea heard their distortions are pretty legendary! Think I'm turning into a distortion freak. Everything I do has at least a little distortion from somewhere, both hardware or software.

Even pianos sound great with a little distortion. Gives them loads of extra bite and presence if used subtlely.

Don't need to compress everything as much either, as distortion generally controls the dynamics by itself.

I've heard good things about the SansAmps and drums, too. Thing is, even on eBay the better distortion pedals don't go cheap. Looks like no-one wants to get rid of them either, as they're thin on the ground on the 2nd hand market.

[BlakeLight]

Mesa-boogies can get some pretty killer distortion... if yorue in the ballpark for nu-metal over the top distortion sounds... I fooled aroudn with a Triple Rectifier with my guitar and I found its clean channels to be a bit sterile, but I could get heaps and heaps and heaps of distortion... but I had a hard time EQing it to get other tones other than the heavy scooped mid sounding metal distortion sound on it... it could easily sound like over distorted mush to my ears. I prefer my Genz-Benz Diablo, its a killer tube amp head... I love it like I love my Virus, its just as versatile, you should check one out if yorue a guitarist, its got the most phenomenal EQ controls Ive ever foudn on a guitar amp, everythign responds musically on it.

I tried running my Virus into it though and was unable to get any good sounding distortions... whcih made me wonder abougt using guitar distortions on it in general (even though I guess a Nord sounds good through a ProCo rat??? - Id have to hear that one.) Not quite sure why the Virus - Tube amp setup didnt soudn killer, but oh well... it soudns fine through my rather pedestrian Fender solid state amp [save for some clipping on the extreme ends of the frequncy ranges - it IS a guitar amp]

I like the Virus' distortions (notably the Digital and Rectifier settings) and I can get the Shaper to give me some whack filteresque sounding warpings... but I dont find the other distortions to be that dramatic enough for me, I dont see the use of using hard / soft distortion... when I can get the same results with other distortions. Maybe Im just not approaching programming it right, if you guys use the other distortion settings (like high pass distortion) please tell me how you do it... cauze I cant figure out in the slightest how to get it to affect my tone dramatically (I only get it to add little hints of sounds to it, and I prefer in your face distortion as opposed to warming up the sound - and even then, the virus's distortions are NOT warm to my ears (note - I love tube amp distortions) but yah... anyone got tips on using those other distortions effectively? Thx!

-Blakelight

[Hollowcell]

Originally Posted by BlakeLight

I tried running my Virus into it though and was unable to get any good sounding distortions... whcih made me wonder abougt using guitar distortions on it in general (even though I guess a Nord sounds good through a ProCo rat??? - Id have to hear that one.) Not quite sure why the Virus - Tube amp setup didnt soudn killer, but oh well..

I think using synths with guitar stomp boxes needs fine tunning in most cases. Most of the time, plugging straight in doesn't seem to work so well (although on many mid range patches the Nord worked quite well with the Rat directly) - things seem to be much smoother running the Virus (or any other synth) into a desk, then sending the signal out to a stomp box - if you have the return from the FX going into a channel, this lets you control it much more by using EQ and also having control over the wetness helps too. I use the Virus with outboard distortion all of the time.

Maybe Im just not approaching programming it right, if you guys use the other distortion settings (like high pass distortion) please tell me how you do it... cauze I cant figure out in the slightest how to get it to affect my tone dramatically (I only get it to add little hints of sounds to it, and I prefer in your face distortion as opposed to warming up the sound

The Virus distortion is really nice I rekon - specially for LoFi style sounds, but if I want to add a nice tone I always lean towards outboard gear - maybe some plugins too actually.

There are ways to control the sound of the Virus distortion, but it's not as simple as say programming it within a patch. One way you could go is by routing the FX to another output of the Virus, then playing with that signal on a desk - even just having that 2nd output (the FX only) running through a Tube or something. This way you'll have more control over the distortion, and by running the source signal (coming out of output1) into another channel of your desk you'll have control over that more too.

Really though, I prefer using other distortions than the Virus's if I want that sort of "tone". I haven't played around with FX routing since I first bought the VC actually. I use the VC's FX lightly and then for over the top I'll use my VF1.

All good fun though.

[diskonext]

I run my virus through a Zoom 1010 multi guitar effect...

...as an AUX send, and the return signal gets fed into a seperate channel on my mixer, so I have control over the wet/dry ratio and EQ of the wet part.

Works wonders on some stuff!

-diskonext