Access Virus Indigo/Virus OS v4
Reviews : Keyboard |
Ways not to start the day: 1) Find a leaking radiator flooding the floor behind a large, vintage — and probably irreplaceable — Yamaha synth. 2) Hear a nasty rattle when removing the Access Virus Indigo from its box, and disassemble it to remove the unattached screw lodged among the tracks and exposed connections on the keyboard decoder board. As Arthur Dent said in the original Hitchhikers' Guide To The Galaxy, "It must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays."
Apart from the rattle, the thing I first noticed about the Indigo was its weight. I had no idea that its chassis and chunky aluminium (note to American readers: that's a word with two 'i's) end-cheeks would be quite as substantial as they are. This may only be a three-octave instrument, but it has the weight and presence of many five-octave synths. This is good... flimsy is bad.
Before proceeding any further, I ought to explain that this is essentially two reviews in one: a look at the Indigo itself, and the v4 operating system that drives all the latest models of the Virus. So, for those of you unacquainted with the Virus family, I recommend a quick trip back to Sound On Sound's May 1998 and February 2000 issues (or www.soundonsound.com/sos/may98/articles/access.html and www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb00/articles/accesvirus.htm respectively), in which Paul Nagle reviewed the earlier original Virus (now known as the Virus a) and the later, still current Virus b and kb models. I'm not going to retread old ground here, and will concentrate on the differences between the Indigo and its siblings, and on the enhancements offered by the new operating system.
Beauty Is Skin Deep
Let's start by getting the hype out of the way. Access call the Indigo 'The Virtual Roadster'. I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean, but maybe they think it implies the open road, the sun in your hair, a beautiful woman gazing adoringly into your eyes as you sweep towards a horizon of endless possibilities... Oops, sorry. To me it means comfortable suspension and every mod con imaginable, and, for me, this is something the Indigo does not really deliver — as you will see.
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Nevertheless, it's worth taking a moment to admire the Indigo. In a world of conservative Japanese keyboards, and ghastly German/American synths that try to be stylish, but end up looking cheap and garish, the Indigo is a rarity — something unconventional that looks excellent. It's no bigger than a small '70s monosynth, but shares the clean-cut good looks of the rare and lovely Akai VX600.
Unfortunately, there's a downside to the Indigo's compact design. Unlike on the Virus kb, the performance wheels are above, rather than alongside, the keyboard. I hated this layout on the Moog Rogue and the Crumar Bit One, and I still do. The Indigo's size has also prevented Access from enlarging the LCD. With so many keyboards now offering large, graphic displays, the provision of a 2 x 16-character screen and the inevitable reliance on abbreviated parameter names is most unwelcome. Worse, the three-octave velocity-sensitive (but unweighted) keyboard feels cheap. I liked the keyboard on the Virus kb, so I have to ask why the Indigo's feels like such a step backwards. The Indigo also lacks the ability to generate channel pressure data, although it responds to it well enough. The Virus kb has aftertouch, so what are Access thinking of?
As for the keyboard length... in my opinion, 37 notes aren't enough on a monosynth, let alone a 16-part multitimbral polysynth like the Indigo. On the other hand, a small synth is ideal for chucking into the back of the car to go to a mate's, or for grabbing a pair of headphones and hiding yourself away in the spare bedroom.
The OS v4 Upgrade
If, like most people, your last encounter with a Virus was somewhere in Version 3-land, you'll find that v4 offers many additional benefits. For me, the most important of these are the new reverbs and improved delay effects. Although this isn't so important in the studio, I find keyboards without reverbs a real pain when I play live. This is because, whenever I need to use dedicated outboard effects (as opposed to simple FOH ambience) it doubles the number of cables in my rig, and significantly increases setup times.
The reverbs themselves ('Ambience', 'Small Room', 'Large Room' and 'Hall') are more than acceptable, and you can program each of the algorithms in one of three modes: as a standard digital reverb, 'reverb+feedback1', and 'reverb+feedback2'. The last two of these are the same as having a delay line followed by a reverb; they treat the pre-delay within the reverb algorithm as a repeating delay (which you can sync to the internal clock if desired) and then regenerate the reverberant effect for each of these repeats.
The delay is also great fun. This is not just because it offers numerous patterns, modulation, ping-pong effects, and synchronisation to the master clock. It's because you can tweak the parameters in real-time without generating digital glitching. I did this in the 1970s using a Pearl analogue delay, and it's a potent way to generate weird effects during performance. Set the feedback to maximum, play a few notes, and then sweep the delay time... it's hugely effective, and without artefacts. Oh yes, and while on the subject of effects, v4 offers an additional saturation stage as well as distortion and a range of grungy 'lo-fi' effects. Nice!
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On the other hand, Access claim that the Virus now offers up to 82 simultaneous effects, but this doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Sure, five effects are available on a 'per-part' basis, and with up to 16-part multitimbrality, this suggests that 80 is the correct number. But look at the effects list... 'Ring Modulator', 'Distortion', 'Analogue Boost', 'Phaser', 'Chorus'. When did you last see a ring modulator described as an effect? In my opinion, that's part of the voice structure, as is 'Boost'. That leaves the distortion, phaser, and chorus. Hang on... where is the reverb/delay? Well, this is only available as a master effect applied to an entire Multi. That's right... there's just one of 'em, no matter how multitimbral you are trying to be. This is more Waldorf Q than Novation Supernova, and very disappointing given the quality of the effects. Nonetheless, it's an inevitable consequence of the Virus's single 56303 processor. To paraphrase a cliché: you can't pour a quart from a pint pot.
The arpeggiator in v4 is a huge leap forward from the rather mundane implementation in previous OS versions. There are now 40 rhythmic patterns that you can apply to the six arpeggio modes: 'up', 'down', 'up and down', 'as played', 'random', and 'chord'. There's also a Swing parameter that does as you would expect, with all timings referenced to the synth's master clock. Unfortunately, the Indigo has no front-panel controls for the arpeggiator: no latch switch, no rate knob... nothing! I thought that this was a bit naff on the original Virus a and, with all the additional capabilities of v4, it's doubly so.
Moving on, v4 now lets you process incoming audio through the Indigo's effects section without using up polyphony. This makes the synth a powerful stand-alone audio processor, with up to seven simultaneous effects in series. If you want to mutilate your audio even further, you can pass it down the internal signal chain, through the filters, overdrives, and envelopes, even gating it with the arpeggiator to chop it up into unrecognisable little chunks. Whatever turns you on, I guess.
There are no radical changes in the voicing, but Access have added three more things that make v4 sexier than earlier Viruses. The first of these is a random patch generator. This offers two parameters; one to determine how many parameters will be changed, and another to limit the amount by which the generator is allowed to affect them. Used with restraint, this can create interesting results, but when given free reign... it's fun, but in many hours of pressing the button, I didn't once create a patch that I considered worth saving.
The next upgrade is, for me, more interesting, because it creates genuinely new synthesis possibilities. It's a Surround capability that allows you to position the sound in a quadraphonic space. You can distribute a signal between four of the six outputs, panning it left/right and front/back in real time. You can even modulate this to send the audio swirling around your head in ways that The Moody Blues and Keith Emerson could only dream about in the '70s.
Finally, Access have added sound categories to the Virus. You can allocate two out of 16 such categories to every patch. Then, using the Find command, you can search for patches within these classes. Unfortunately, you can't define your own category names, so the facility is of annoyingly limited use.
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Wish List
I first encountered the original Virus back in 1998, and I was very impressed with its sound. Indeed, my thoughts at the time were that analogue die-hards should be sent to their bedrooms and only allowed out when they had had time to reconsider their anti-DSP prejudices. The Indigo does nothing to change my view, and I would challenge anyone to spot its digital heritage in a mix, unless I was intentionally creating sounds of a digital nature.
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There are also several areas in which the Viruses themselves could be improved. For example, the filters will not self-oscillate without input from the oscillators. Sure, all filters need a small kick to get them going, but it should not be necessary to have a permanent input driving them.
I would also love to see more waveshapes on board. I've long been a fan of the PPG Wave, and sweeping through the Virus's existing 64 waves can be very gratifying. OK, so I'm converting the Virus from a Virtual Analogue to a Virtual Wavetable Synth, but why not? The Waldorf Q does this, albeit in limited fashion.
On the functional side, the Virus could still do with a handful of tweaks. For example, there's still no way to copy effects from one patch to another, and — notwithstanding the limitations of the reverbs/delays — this can be a real pain when trying to recreate a Single within a Multi. Furthermore, it's all very well having 32 modulation sources and 97 destinations, but you need more than three source and six destination slots in the onboard modulation matrix if you're going to take full advantage of this.
I also want another manual. Not to augment this one, but to replace it. It tries to be clear and instructive, but with no index, no block diagrams, and no specifications, it's more trouble than it's worth.
But now for the biggie... Given the number and importance of the software upgrades to the Virus' OS over the past two years, I think that Access should have taken the opportunity to redesign the Indigo's front panel in a much more significant fashion. I'm not complaining about the clearer graphics and the improved panel hardware, but why not find room to give the third oscillator and arpeggiator their own controls (they're still buried in a menu), and bring some of the effects to the front? Sure, you would need a bigger panel, but I'm not a fan of the Indigo's size, anyway. Imagine how much better it would be with a 61-note keyboard, and a comprehensive control panel. Virus Pro, anybody?
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Conclusions
• VIRUS OS v4
This software upgrade incorporates several improvements that have been on owners' wish-lists since the launch of the original Virus in 1998 (and more improvements are on the way — see the 'Software Support & Upgrades' box elsewhere in this article). For me, the reverbs and the enhanced delay algorithms are the most important of these, and they make an already first-class synth sound better than ever. Nevertheless, I can see that random patch-generation, the sound categories, and the improved arpeggiator are going to be just as attractive to many people. Other upgrades such as the lo-fi effects, the improved processing of external signals, and the pattern delays are aimed squarely at modern dance music, and bring the Virus more into line with competitors such as the Supernova II. Some people may bemoan the lack of a step sequencer, but I'm not one of them. I'm pleased that Access have concentrated on producing an excellent OS with so few bugs.
• THE VIRUS INDIGO
Now let's consider the Indigo... That it's super-cute, sexy, and will appeal to players for whom style is a major attraction is without question. That — from a traditional keyboard player's point of view — its cheapo three-octave keyboard is about as useful as a one-string guitar is also without question. So let's accept that you're unlikely to see Vladimir Ashkenazy, Oscar Petersen, or even Tony Banks playing one, and admit that there are many other ways that synths are used in 2001. As a compact sound effects generator on a small stage, as a sound source and signal processor in a tiny studio, or in any other discipline where piano-style playing is not required, the Indigo's amputated design could be a benefit rather than a hindrance.
But despite trying to maintain these positive thoughts, I soon found myself treating the Indigo like the Nord Modular Keyboard. I occasionally used the Clavia's itsy-bitsy keyboard when programming, but always played it via MIDI from a 76-note, pressure-sensitive Roland JV1000 or Trinity Pro. Why? Because the Indigo sounds great, and it deserves to be played across a much wider range than its own hardware permits. Furthermore, the Trinity's ribbon controller offers many possibilities that the Indigo can't provide.
Of course, using the Indigo in this way demotes it to the role of a sound module, so you may be tempted to ignore it altogether and wait for the forthcoming Virus Rack. Unfortunately, it is already clear from Access' advance publicity that the sound engine in the Rack is significantly inferior to that in the Indigo (see the 'Other Modules' box elsewhere in this article). Consequently, pose-value and flashing blue LEDs notwithstanding, I can't help feeling that — provided you have the space — you would be better off with a Virus kb, or a Virus b hooked up to the controller keyboard of your choice.
Now, I wonder where that screw came from?
Published in SOS June 2001
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