VIRUS T1's Ship

[oscillospirem]

YEEE HAAAWW!!! A year after these were made available for pre-order, Access has finally made official the T1's ship date - Oct. 3rd, 2005.

It's a little hard for me to get excited about a VA synth at this point. They pretty much all doing the same thing the varying levels of sophistication.

The software interface, VIRUSControl™, looks to be the most interesting aspect of the T1, allowing control over parameters in a Kaos pad format (X Y) and the ability to draw your own wave shapes.

Access is really excited about the HyperSaw oscillators in the T1, which enable you to add upwards of like 1800 saw-tooth voices to your patches, in order to "fatten them up". This sounds like the most ridiculous and unnecessary feature ever. A VA synth is always going to sound like a VA synth, and more oscillators most certainly does not equate to "fat". On a personal note, using the word "fat" to describe any audio device or sound sounds stupid. It doesn't mean anything. Fat is a soft, solid, or semisolid organic compound consisting the esters of glycerol and fatty acids - if you can find a piece of equipment that contains fat, please post in on this thread, and I'll buy you a thesaurus.

Admittedly, I do like Access, I own a Virus B and I use it all the time. It's a great VA synth I picked it up for $250.00. The architecture if the T1 is most certainly a huge improvement from the B.

The Mulit Mode for example is way cooler. You can edit a part in a multi mode patch and it will not affect the original patch, which may be used in another multi patch. The T1 save each "layer" of a patch enabling you to have a patch with many different complimentary variations that can be used either individually or within a multi. This is a huge improvement from the standard VA format where if you tweaked the sound within a multi it would overwrite the patch, thus effecting the patch and any appearance it might make within other multi mode patches.

The mod matrix was also expanded to 6 slots and the original Virus oscillators are now accompanied by wave table oscillators which within the software enable you to draw your own wave shape.

All of the features within the new T1 sound great, they are refinements to Access's evolving Virus design. But, to me, that's the thing. They are "improvements" - not innovations.

Why don't these huge synthesizer companies team up with software companies like Cycling '74, makers of MAX MSP? I want granular synthesis in my new $3,000 keyboard! - not a million more sawtooth oscillators and more 'control' over my software synths!

Companies like Hartmann Music are making the big boys look a little silly and outdated. Revealing in their own nostalgia over the days when there made actual analog synthesizers. I think it's hilarious that Alesis of all companies (anyone remember ADAT?) is the only major manufacturer of an analog synth.

My advice to a person who wants to plunk down a couple grand on a new generation synth: Buy a Poly-Evolver while you still can.

XO

The kids over at Sonic State has some T1 video from NAMM:

RealPlayer
QuickTime
Windows Media

[Chaorta]

I'll believe it when i see it.

[dolivas]

Virus TI ships... hooray more mindless techno crap they can stuff into generic trance and techno songs..

oscillospirem cheers. you said what I wanted to say. all the cool synths nowadays come from VST companies like OhmForce and Gmedia they should take a cue from them and make synths with more arenas of sound to explore than "fatten a pig" oscillator up. I still long for the days that twiddling a couple of knobs gave you all the great sounds you were thinking in your head you couldn't do. Whatever happened to the modular synth as well? If some of these companies were smart they would try to do some tie ins with some new fangled synth they might invent which actually add something cool to the synth like a new arpeggiator standalone whatever, which you can buy some guitar pedal expansion standalone as well to add to hook up something else... make your dreams of being the next Moroder come true but on a smaller scale without all those damn patch cables everywhere.

[dagosto]

These have still not shipped from what I can see.

[dolivas]

Access Virus TI will soon ship out with the DSP engine from a Duke Nukem 3 program.