Access virus c vs

What you see below is test-compile as VST plugin. The emulator is being edited live via VirusHC. The test is running on a Core i7 k CPU. As emulation speed improves daily, this is just a matter of time.

Search for:. The upcoming plugin version 1. What can you do with it? One man's meat is another man's mashed swede, but these tickled my particular fancy Existing Virus fans won't need to be told how good this synth sounds. Those of you who have not yet been exposed to this particular bug will want to know what symptoms to expect actually, I think I did quite well, getting this far before doing The Medical Metaphor Of particular note are the comprehensive modulation routings, which enable almost every variable parameter of the Virus to be modulated.

Even the modulators can themselves be modulated, producing tones of great timbral complexity and animation. I particularly like the dual filters, which can be configured either in series or in parallel, given independent envelopes, and then panned in stereo — giving you two sounds for the price of one. Unison Twin Mode is also host to a very nice stereo layering effect, which is great for making those pad sounds really expansive.

Located curiously in the Effects section, Analogue Boost can be used rather like an 'appendix' [groan! The function is particularly useful for fattening up the bottom end, and can be equally helpful in adding a little sparkle to the upper range, giving a subjectively different result than using the EQ effect. And talking of which The EQ's parameters are among those that can be modulated, thus giving you another way to generate moving, filter-like effects. Finally, Access must be congratulated on the phaser, which is a real corker, and sounds just the way you want a phaser to sound.

Try it — trust me, you'll soon see what I mean. The vocoder section of the Virus has an implementation which deserves a mention, and is worth comparing with the vocoder found on one of the Virus' closest rivals, the Novation Supernova.

When the Virus' vocoder is active on a patch in Single Mode, the entire filter section is disabled, and its controls are used to vary specific vocoder parameters. Here's a quick rundown of the filter controls' altered functions. The Filter Release control sets the number of vocoder bands, from 1 to 32 the more bands, the more 'intelligible' the end result.

Cutoff Frequency controls the vocoder's centre frequency, while the Env Amount knob controls Frequency Spread. This can be set individually for the Carrier Filter 1 and the Modulator Filter 2 and is interactive with the centre frequency.

If this all sounds pretty complicated, you're right — it is. There's nothing for it but to twiddle away and experiment, and fortunately patch bank B has a selection of templates BB to get you going. I soon had a Radio 3 programme transformed into some pretty weird alien soundscapes. However, I wasn't convinced by the C's 'pure' vocoder sound, finding it rather gritty and occasionally lacking in intelligibility, even using all 32 bands. But hey, in this lo-fi, grunge-motivated era, that ain't necessarily an undesirable quality.

In contrast to this, the vocoder found on the Supernova is implemented in an entirely different manner. The vocoder algorithm operates autonomously from the filters — ie. With the exception of Sibilance of which more in a moment , there is no fancy control of the vocoder's parameters per se on the Supernova, so any weirdness is more or less down to the nature of the modulating signal and the complexity of the Carrier patch itself.

The Virus C can also be made to work in a similar way to the Supernova by setting up a Multi, using a vocoder patch on one part, a complex patch on another, then routing that patch through the vocoder using one of the Virus's internal busses.

While it seems that the Virus vocoder scores the higher points for versatility and off-the-wallness, it has to be said that the Supernova ultimately scores Brownie points for the quality of its sound — principally because if you wish it, every vocoded syllable is crystal clear. This could in part be due to the Virus lacking a Sibilance parameter, which in the case of the Supernova greatly aids the identification of consonants, and also perhaps because the Supernova's vocoder has 42 bands as opposed to the Virus' 32, lending it a smoother sound.

Comparisons with the JP are arguably no longer relevant, limited as it is by its eight-voice polyphony and lack of multitimbrality, although its sound-morphing capabilities and Motion Control knob sequencer certainly gave it a leading edge on its first release. The Virus and Supernova are without doubt equally effective at 'being' analogue synthesizers; I was able to set up similar standard polysynth sounds on both machines with relative ease, and there was precious little to tell them apart.

The differences become more apparent at other levels. The Virus C focuses in detail on sound-mangling possibilities; it has more waveforms, more modulation options and numerous ways to distort and warp the waveforms' original shapes.

The Supernova, on the other hand, whilst no slouch in that department, has rather more hands-on hardware on its panel, and much of its design seems to concentrate on providing the maximum flexibility for multitimbral performances. To this end, it has optionally more polyphony, and truly multitimbral delays and reverbs rather than a single global one, as on the Virus.

There are four stereo outputs on the Supernova, so you can make full use of outboard processing, you can program your own arpeggiator patterns, and dedicated multi-tonal drum programs can be assigned to performance parts. Oh — and it's worth noting that the Supernova's vocoder doesn't place any toll on the total polyphony — neither, indeed, does the number of oscillators employed in a patch.

There is simply not room here to draw up a full feature comparison, and indeed this review is not intended to be a head-to-head. The comparisons are merely drawn to point out the apparent design goals of two major players in the analogue modelling market, and to recognise the fact that prospective buyers of this type of instrument will have different priorities according to personal taste.

The Virus C is a gorgeous instrument, equally at home reproducing anything from all-out American polysynth overkill to hardcore trance and ambient textures. As a means for transforming external signals into something weird and wonderful, it's also bags of fun, and once you become familiar with its menu structures, programming can be as easy or as complex as you want to make it.

I would like the vocoder to have been less convoluted to set up and to offer a greater degree of intelligibility, but there are still endless creative possibilities to be uncovered regardless of this. Given the Virus' indisputable talents in the analogue percussion department, the absence of a dedicated drum part is a shame, and somewhat restricts its use as an all-in-one box.

Nevertheless, most musicians interested in that aspect of production will in all likelihood have such percussion duties well covered by other devices, the advantage being that the Virus' polyphony can instead be reserved for making all sorts of other groovy noises.

The Virus has a big sound, a big personality and no shortage of tricks up its virtual sleeve, making it an excellent addition to or centrepiece of any studio setup, and one which is certain to become indispensable within minutes of powering it up.

The only difficulty you might have is deciding which Virus to go for, as OS v5. Ah, choices, choices You need a full retail version of SoundDiver or the SoundDriver Virus version of the program to use the update, but if you have these, you can download it for free from the Access web site. Note that using oscillator three cuts down polyphony by around a third — there aren't many situations where it makes a life-and-death difference to the size of the sound, so for patches you plan to use multitimbrally its use is perhaps best considered an optional extra.

The basic details of the Virus's various filter modes and patches are described comprehensively in the manual, and there's no need to repeat them here. Eliminating Muddiness: Too many patches based on low-pass filters can make the low end of your mix sound muddy. A static high-pass filter in series with a low-pass filter can remove some of the obesity, adding clarity to pads, leads, and even bass lines. Just set filter two to work as a high-pass filter, and put it in series after filter one.

Then move the cutoff of filter two upwards until you get rid of the low-end bloat. Aside from some dance styles and music with ultrasonic effects, most music benefits from having the low end tidied up. This can help preserve detail and avoid synth mush, especially when blending a lot of analogue-like patches. It can even allow you to maximise the apparent level, because faithfully reproducing deep sub-bass frequencies takes a lot of dynamic range for little subjective impact.

It can even be worth tidying up the low end when you don't have the oscillators tuned low. This is because the envelopes on the Virus are fast enough to produce near-DC clicks, pops, and thuds.

Sometimes you want to leave these in because they add extra punch to sounds, but when you don't a high-pass filter is a good way to get rid of them. You can clear up low-end muddiness using a high-pass filter: first set filter two to its HP mode top inset , then select a series routing from the filter section's Edit menu bottom inset , and finally adjust the cutoff by ear right.

Pseudo-phasing: Most synth users understand how a filter's frequency curve changes, but it's not so widely known that a filter produces frequency-dependent phase changes as well. Overlaying two filter curves produces more than the sum of the individual responses, and sweeping either or both can create Jarre-like phasing effects that vary depending on which filter modes you use.

This isn't true phasing, which relies on multiple notches in the frequency response. But it can produce some very fine swishes and washes, and can work particularly well combined with vamped chords from the arpeggiator.

Use the Par 4 mode for this, with one filter set to low pass or band pass and the other as either high pass, band pass, or band stop. You can manually experiment with the effect by using the Cutoff 2 knob which, as the manual explains, controls the offset between the two filter frequencies and is not — as you might think — an independent cutoff setting. Vocal Formant Effects: High-quality vocal formant synthesis needs at least three filters, and for the best possible results five.

But you can still create some interestingly vocal-like effects using just two filters if you set things up very carefully. The first step is to create some speech-like raw materials. Then set both filters to band-pass, mode to Par, resonance to around 90, and filter keytracking to zero percent. You'll get a range of vowel sounds by setting both Cutoff controls between 50 and 70 — experiment for best results.

For an even more expressive effect, patch the mod wheel to the Cutoff 2 control. You can then play the vowels as you play the keyboard. The effect only sounds believable over a low octave range, and works best as a solo voice. If you patch velocity to Cutoff 2, you can control the vowel sounds from a keyboard interesting, but tricky to play Saturation: Although this is controlled with the oscillator Volume knob, the saturation is part of the filter section and you can set its characteristics from the filter section's Edit button.

The Virus offers a range of saturation types, from basic rounding to digital decimation. These are best experienced rather than described. Many add a hint of digital fizz that isn't always welcome — it's a quirk of the Virus that for analogue simulations you'll often get the best and fattest sound by leaving saturation turned off. The home site for the Virus and its many variants.

Includes OS updates for all models, comparison charts, sample MP3s, patch collections, and links to other resources. Plus, you can download the free Sound Diver-based editor from here as well.

It's perhaps because the support network available here is so comprehensive that there's so little other on-line information about such a popular synth.

The Access mailing list on Ampfea. Because it's maintained by fans, there's more general than technical chat about the Virus and how it's being used. Home of Rob Papen, who contributed many of the most popular patches to the factory set, with a link to patches that Rob sells online. Like the other features of the Virus, the LFOs have plenty of hidden subtleties that can baffle the novice and delight the adventurous sound designer. The basics seem straightforward enough — two LFOs with the usual selection of wave shapes and destinations — but the Wave LFO setting is one of the secret weapons in the Virus arsenal.

Pressing the Shape button on the panel shows the wave selector. This might not sound like a big deal, but the Virus really comes alive when these digital waveforms are used as modulation sources.

They're particularly useful for controlling the amplitudes of the oscillators in various combinations, and for complex filter sweeps. The standard sine, triangle, and ramp waveforms sound predictable and uninteresting in comparison. When combined with the arpeggiator, it's easy to use these waves to create complex but solidly rhythmic textures that evolve as notes are held down, these patterns spanning anything from a fraction of a beat to entire bars.

As with the oscillator section, it's well worth taking the time to audition these waves to see what kinds of effects they can create when used as modulation sources.

For example, wave 47 is a double ramp, and is particularly good for rhythmic modulation. Some of the other waves change very quickly, which means they're best used at very slow LFO rates. Unfortunately there are no wave graphs in the manual, and so far as I could find they're not listed anywhere on-line either.

The most interesting LFO effects available on the Virus are to be found by selecting the Wave option, which gives the LFO access to all the main digital oscillator waveforms.

These more complex waveforms work particularly well when you combine them with MIDI sync. The wide range is there to accommodate some of the more frenetic modulation shapes. With a little thought it's easy to create very complex but stable rhythmic effects by locking both LFOs to MIDI clock, setting each one to a different subdivider and waveshape, and then routing them to Wave Sel, filter cutoff frequencies, the levels of each oscillator, the pitch of oscillator two when the Sync button is turned on, and so on.

But how to make these connections? The selection of default assignments available from the panel is more than a touch random. Oscillator pitch is obvious enough, but LFO control of filter resonance isn't quite so useful and, as we've seen, control of oscillator Shape is less useful still. Fortunately, the Assign option provides a much wider range of destinations for both LFOs. Clicking the button repeatedly steps down the list of destinations on the panel.

Now you get a huge range of destinations to choose from, including almost all the programming parameters the Virus has to offer. Aside from conventional patching possibilities pitch, filter cutoff, and so on there are also more adventurous destinations, such as the envelope timing parameters and arpeggiator controls. You can also modulate effects settings, such as delay time and reverb mix. You can even make the LFOs modulate each other, for chaotic and unpredictable effects.

When you combine complex waveforms with MIDI sync and this very rich selection of modulation routings, you can add another level of movement to rhythmic patches, or create very fluid and interesting slowly evolving pads and abstract tones. The patching possibilities rival those of a medium-sized modular, but with the advantages of MIDI sync, polyphony, and patch memories. It's perhaps best to explore these combinations without too much direction from a feature like this one.

The basic principle of using unusual LFO waveforms with MIDI sync and perhaps the arpeggiator gives you plenty of scope for colourful sound creation. As with a real analogue synth, exploring the possibilities makes finding some trademark programming effects and a signature sound more likely. And what about that arpeggiator? By default it has the usual selection of modes: up, down, random, and so on. These aren't very exciting, but using the Pattern parameter brings in a range of rhythmic repeats that spice up the sound and make it much more interesting.

There are 64 of these if you have an older OS you'll find fewer available — you can get the rest by upgrading and they use the same clock divider system as the LFOs, so it's easy to create MIDI sync. If you switch the Arpeggiator to its fastest Clock setting, you can generate whirring, buzzing distortions. The arpeggiator also hides a secret, which is that notes in each pattern include velocity information.