TI|2 - Questions, questions

[Timo]

Hoping Marc may perhaps be able to fill us in here when he has time (am sure they're all very busy).

Am just scratching my head a bit, in that the lines between the TI and TI|2 are so blurred, hardware wise, as there's not a great deal (that is immediately obvious) to differentiate between the two.

What is Access' intention with the TI|2? Is it a genuine, logical successor to the TI mk1 that will carry the Virus brand forward for another 4-5 years, or is it merely a small revision to the current TI? Currently the only difference I've gleaned from the promotional material is that it has 1.25x the DSP of the TI mk1? Or is this merely (but by no means a small feat) an optimisation of the TI's code and that the TI mk1 will also benefit?

Is the TI mk1 still not using anywhere near to full capacity, then? I guess if the TI|1 is still using only, perhaps, 70% resources with 30% in reserve, or similar (apologies if I completely underestimate the technicalities of it all and over-simplify things[!]), then the 1.25x difference in power for the TI mk2 wouldn't seem so small (for a five year successor).

On the other hand, due to the seemingly small upgrade in DSP, will the TI|2 be all that much more upgradable than the TI mk1? Or does upgradability depend more on ROM space, regardless of DSP?

I'm wondering if the TI|2 has any other hardware capabilities or advantages that Access perhaps don't want to reveal yet because they haven't added the software functionality for them yet (waveform sampling, etc)?

Will there ever be a markedly different hardware successor to the TI|1 (including expression controllers [ribbon/xy-pad/joystick], EPROM/RAM waveform sampling, faster/higher-bandwidth USB/firewire, etc.)?

I guess the current global economy may also have had a significant factor in not deviating from the TI mk1 hardware and specifications a large amount.

I appreciate the expectancy in seeing huge advancements at NAMM is over-rated, and that Access are actually just a small company working hard and often cannot synchronize major announcements at NAMM all the time, and that NDAs may limit what you can tell us about future plans... and that we're a demanding crowd!

Enjoy the rest of NAMM!

Cheers

Timo

PS > Just want to say the new features in v3 look fantastic, love the look of the new Virus Control GUI too.