Access Virus

Category: Products / synthesisers / modeling synthesisers

Added: 19-Dec-98 | Author: admin

New price: discontinued (RRP £899) | S/H price: na

Access Virus

Now discontinued and re-released as the 'Virus Classic', this synth is a classic now as the name suggests. A much respected synth for trance and other genres and one of the first mass appeal analog modelling poly synths to gain a cult following. Released around the same time as the Roland JP-8000 & Novation Supernova, the Virus was powered by a Motorola DSP56303 (56k series) processor, the same Motorola series as found in the Atari Falcon & Pro-Tools TDM card to accelerate graphics or audio. This generic DSP chip design allowed the Virus to easily upgrade its OS. It also allowed Access to offer identical Plugin versions of the Virus for Pro-Tools TDM & TC Powercore, both of which of course used the Motorola 56k.

The Virus was 12 note poly & 16 part multi-timbrel, it's oscillators offered not just the usual Virtual Analog fare of Saw & Square/Pule shapes but the Virus also hosts 64 additional digital waveforms to use & with Osc2 offering FM, vastly widening it's palette of synth styles. The Virus filters are well appointed offering plenty of sound sculting options:

Two filters are available, both resonant & both switchable between low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and band-reject. Filter 1 can be either 2 or 4 poles at either 12 or 24dB/Octave. Filter 2 only operates at 12dB/Octave. You can connect the filters in series, parallel or 'Split' mode which sees both filters working at 12dB/Octave with Oscillator 1 and the sub-oscillator routed through Filter-1, while routing Oscillator 2 and the noise source via Filter-2 In every configuration, a Shaper/Distortion process is connected post Filter-1 and this offers six different types of Saturation. In short the filters are very versatile & they can really howl, bark or roar.

Envelopes, LFO's and modulation options are decent fare & the Virus Bus system allows programes to be routed into further programes to process a patch with another patch so to speak. You can also use external inputs as the sound source for Virus's synthesis section.. The Virus also has a reasonably competant Fx section & multiple outputs..

This original Virus is known as the Virus A - it went through various OS software revisions which were easy to implement due to the Motorola DSP chip core.

1999 - The Virus B

The first hardware revision came with the Virus B in 1999 which upgraded the processor to a Motorola DSP 56311 and brought in a new V3.0 OS and a revised look to the tabletop / rackmount unit, as well as for the first time a keyboard version of the Virus was available with quite upmarket semi-weighted keys: this model is known as The Virus Kb.

DANCETECH VIRUS B PAGE

http://www.dancetech.com/dancetech_webflow/item.cfm?itemid=4644

The new Virus B / Virus Kb with OS3.0 increased the Virus specs to a bigger 24 note polyphony, added a 3rd Oscillator & a beefier FX section as well as upgrading audio I/O to 24-bit D-A output converters & 18-Bit A-D inputs which means some people say this Virus B & Kb have a tighter and bassier bottom end... Older Virus A models cannot run this V3.0 Os due to the different DSP

2000 / 2001 - The Virus Rack & Virus Indigo

Access also released the Virus Rack & Virus Indigo in 2000/2001 & both of these were eventually upgraded to the Virus Rack XL & Indigo 2 - at this point the Virus OS was at V4.x

2002 - The Virus C

Next up in 2002 came the Virus C model - and again the Motorola DSP was upgraded - this time to a single Freescale DSP 56362 - (Motorola renamed its chip division to Freescale ) which was the latest iteration of the single core 56k Series Motorola DSP - The Virus OS increased to V5.0.

The Virus C upped the Polyphony again - this time to 32 notes, although this can reduce if using oscillator 3 for sounds - tweaked the panel design & controls a little, added an all black livery scheme & expanded the Mod matrix

The final Access update was to the dual DSP Virus Ti & this ushered in a completely new Access Virus with a vastly more powerful feature set, a much wider set of synthesis types, enormous polyphony & a software / hardware system where the Virus Ti can run on your DAW in Native format with the Virus Ti Hardware becoming a controller

Old Dancetech listings text

Here's another virtual analog synth, coming in to compete in the JP-8000, Clavia Nord-Lead etc race. Designed apparently by the guys who did the programmer units for the Microwave & Matrix 1000, it comes as a tabletop unit, with plans for a rack mount kit up & coming.

The Virus is 12 note poly, 8 part multi, and I think most importantly has 3 stereo polyphonic outputs.

Each voice can be made up of two oscillators, a sub oscillator and a noise generator, you get a choice of Saw or Square waves (square or triangle wave sub' osc'). The VIRUS also does Frequency modulation and and Oscillator sync. Also, outside of the virtual analog, you get a further palette of 64 digital waves, so there's great versatility here well above the competition.

Let's face it, if you want to splash out some money on a good synth for doing your tunes, mostly, it's XX amount for the analog sound synth, then a further outlay for the digital sounds etc... Here you get the lot, albeit with limited polyphony, but it could be a life-saver as you can quickly add extra lusher or weirder sounds to the production, and beautifully, get them to the mixer on separate outs. So, all the usual synth stuff: PWM, 3 LFO's, 2 envelopes etc, plus 2 independent 2-pole filters, each with low pass, high pass, band pass and band reject. Filter 1 can even be made into a 4 pole filter. You can stack 'em as well, either in series or parallel, and filter-1 has shaper/distortion added to get even more overdrive from the resonance. All these combinations allow filters from 12 - 36 dB

So... All-in-all this looks like a killer little box that could grab the lead real fast! Everything's midi by the way control-knob wise & you can upgrade the OS with sysex for future updates. There's even built in FX: Delay, Reverb & Chorus fx to date, with more to come apparently. Plus this unit has some real in-depth & creative routing solutions for the filters, envelopes, LFO's etc.

Definitely a contender!... let's have some comments please.