Music Production for 6 years.

Uplifting Trance Music

The virus has been claimed by critics to "do everything and excell at nothing". But sound quality is a subjective feature of any synth, as any artist can favor a certain style of sound and simply not prefer another. The saying "one mans trash is another mans treasure" would be appropriate. I know the virus can reproduce sounds vsts can't. This I know from my own "research". When you submit specific sounds to dozens of artists to reproduce on software alone, and noone can do it, you learn the virus has a capability that is not typical of other software based synths. The virus is raw, it can also be delicate, it can be pristine, it can be lush and fat, it can be thin and abrasive, it can be whatever you make of it, that is ALL you really need to know. It is inspiring, it is motivational, and it is stimulating. It is also its own synth with its own sonic style, if you want phat moog basses, and only moog basses, go with a moog. If you want lush pads and leads, and virus basses, go with a virus, it really isn't difficult. =]

Anyone knows a virus if anything has more features then most people need. And many will admit this who own it. The most useful feature of and TI alone is the "total integration" itself, and virus control. That is ultimately a massive feature for a synth like this, and the integration serves excellent for those who are comfortable working with both hardware and software. I do believe you get the best of both worlds with the virus.

Comeon there are other synths that are easier to use (eg. Nord) but if you're buying a synth like this you are going to learn how to use it. Its not rocket science with the virus. Everything is clearly laid out in virus contol, its right in front of your face, how much "intuition" do you really need. =] I believe the virus is easy to use for anyone who has any sort of experience programming synths.

This is hard to do but you need to understand the logic as of why I give its quality a four. The truth is the virus is quite a gamble with certain programs (I'll say mainly Ableton and FLS here but others as well). Do a lot of people get the TI integration flawlessly? Yes. Do a lot of people have problems with the integration? Yes. Do some people own a virus for 3 years and NEVER gain full use of the integration? Yes. TI integration is far from flawless. Simply look at all the complaints that exist on this. This is why I say DO NOT get too excited when you get your Virus. If it doesn't work, return it asap. But don't find out your product doesnt work then bash Access. TI's are obviously in demand, look how many people own them (compared to other synths), but this causes certain deficits as well. A company forces itself to excell past the competition, but perhaps release some software before its completely bug free. Still I believe the gamble is worth a shot at least.

The only reason TIs are so expensive is because people demand them. Economics 101. Don't fall into the hype, just know what you are getting into and you'll be fine. Can a Virus be made and sold for half its value? Perhaps? Does Access need to do that? Absolutely not, they'll wind up overproducing a product. Sometimes you pay an extra penny for a sound that becomes "commericalized", whether or not you like that sound, its commercial for a reason, but its hard to say its worth it because of that reason. Think about that. =]

Lets face it when you have a somewhat buggy product (or track record of integration issues) its hard for support to really do that much for you. A bug can't be fixed on request so if you have one, rather then get mad at support for not fixing it, return your virus. However, for what support CAN DO, they do a very decent job.

Haha everyone wants a virus. Ok almost everyone. Comeon the snow is sexy as hell. Well not the synth I mean the sound. The virus can def "make your bedrock" like Fred Flinstone. I do think overall the virus is better then the critics would say. The synth is really great. Yeh its not capable of every single sound in the world, but its capable of a lot more then most synths in general, and the virus does it the virus way, which you will come to respect and adore almost like a pet. Your virus also doesn't mind if you pet it and whisper sweet nothings into its analog ins..

Indie Producer for 6 years

Trance