PREVIEW: Virtual Analogue Synthesizer
Reviews : Keyboard
It's back! And it's deadlier than ever! SOS get a first look at the next-generation Virus...
The timing couldn't have been better. Paul White's
Leader column last month called on hi-tech musical instrument
manufacturers to work on hardware that integrates better with software.
No sooner had we read that than we received a phone call from Access
enquiring whether we'd like to take a look at some of their new hardware
which, well, integrates better with software.
All pure coincidence, of course — or is it? In fact,
this is a way of working that several manufacturers of hi-tech musical
gear are exploring at the moment. If there could be said to be a trend
in the industry at present, it's that there's currently something of a
reaction to an idea that, broadly speaking, dominated from around 1999
to 2003. The wisdom was that all technology-orientated music-making
could be, and indeed, was best done inside a computer, from sound
generation to mixing and mastering. At around the turn of the
Millennium, computers reached speeds where they could support
software-based sound generation (virtual instruments) instead of merely
managing sounds generated by external hardware. Many hi-tech musicians
then began to ask themselves whether they needed to bother with this
expensive hardware stuff at all, apart from a few bits and pieces like
A-D converters and microphones for those troublesome analogue sound
sources such as the human voice, which hadn't yet worked out how to
evolve compatibility with the VST instrument specification. Whole
companies, such as IK Multimedia and Native Instruments, sprang up to
create software which took advantage of the new way of working.
Musicians everywhere consigned their old-hat 'real' gear to the skip of
history, sales of hardware slumped, and a number of companies dependent
on the old ways of working wobbled (Akai) or fell over completely
(Waldorf). Much of the hi-tech musical instrument industry, already
close to computer manufacturers, got even cosier (like Apple and
Emagic's amazing trick — where did the music software company go?).
The desktop version of the new Virus TI. There's also a 61-note keyboard version featuring the same control panel.
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Of course, this carelessly selective overview only
conveys one side of the story. Not everyone likes mixing 40 tracks of
music with a mouse. Some people actually prefer the sound of
analogue instruments (and not just ones with lots of knobs on — acoustic
guitars and yes, even that human voice thingy can sound pretty good
sometimes, too). And, more prosaically, manufacturers and retailers, the
underlying structure of the musical instrument industry, have found
that software doesn't offer anything like the margin that hardware does,
and is harder to sell and support — if you can sell it at all, that is.
A lot of money that would have been appearing on the positive side of
hi-tech musical instrument manufacturers and retailers' balance sheets a
few years ago seems latterly to have been spent instead on laptops,
cheap keyboard controllers and broadband connections to Kazaa. And so,
as usually happens with any kind of revolution, the pendulum has started
to swing back towards the centre, and the movers and shakers of the
industry have begun to investigate ways of taking the best parts of the
computer-based way of working, and the best aspects of hardware-based
systems, and making them work together in a form that they can sell to
make a decent profit. Yamaha, for example, have been exploring this with
their 01X-based mLAN systems, and also more recently in the form of
their Studio Connections initiative with Steinberg, both of which aim to
create systems comprising hardware integrated with and completely
controllable from software. They call this concept 'total integration'.
All of which brings me to Access' new Virus range,
which also flags itself as a 'totally integrated' set of products (hence
'TI' — although Access's efforts are nothing to do with Yamaha's
separate initiatives). As with the Virus C range, three different
versions will be available: the standard desktop or rackmountable model,
a 61-note keyboard version with the same controls as the module, and
Pølar (right), a striking white 37-key model which replaces the Virus
Indigo but which contains the same synth engine as the others.
This isn't just a Virus C with some extra computer
interfacing built in, though; it's a completely new hardware synth with
plenty of features beyond those concerned with computer integration. But
more on that side of things in a moment. How exactly does a hardware
synth 'totally integrate' itself with your computer?
Essentially, the Virus TI extends the concept of the
version of the Virus which Access created for TC's Powercore DSP
engine. A VST/Audio Units plug-in, Virus Remote, is included in
the package; this runs under your sequencer of choice, and provides a
completely computer-controllable and automatable front end for the
hardware synth. But whereas the Virus plug-in for the Powercore did all
the sound generation using TC's Powercore chips, in a Virus TI system,
the sound is generated by the hardware synth. Communication between Virus Remote
and the hardware Virus TI synth takes place via a USB 1.1 connection,
and all changes made to the plug-in will be reflected in the settings of
the hardware, and vice versa. Thanks to the USB connection,
the audio I/O on the hardware synth will also be switchable to convert
and route audio into and out of your computer system. And of course, the
MIDI sockets on the Virus will act as a one-in, one-out MIDI interface
for your sequencer. Naturally, this means the physical knobs on the
Virus will also be useable as hardware MIDI controllers for
computer-based instruments.
At least, that's the theory. At the time of writing
(mid-October), not all of the TI aspects of the new Virus have been
finalised. At the moment, for example, it's not clear whether you might
be able to mix and match these capabilities in the final release
version, using the synth's audio I/O in the standard way (rather than as
an audio interface) while simultaneously controlling software via the
USB connection, for example. If this turns out not to be the case,
selecting the Virus TI as your MIDI interface or control surface may
also commit you to using it as your audio I/O, although Access say that
the synth's main outputs will remain hardwired to traditional duties
even if the others are being used to send audio to and from your
sequencer.
Beyond the features relating to the TI concept, the
new Virus has undergone many changes in comparison to the Virus C; some
cosmetic, others internal but highly significant, and others in the
synth engine itself. There's even a completely new manual. The front
panel has been reorganised, adding a larger, more user-friendly
128x32-pixel display, handy extras like the dedicated tempo LEDs for
each of the three LFOs, and more dedicated knobs (such as the new one
for the Tap Tempo function, and the three Quick Edit controls for
altering parameters on the display). Further contributing to the light
show is the rear-panel illuminated Access logo, which will eventually be
capable of blinking in sync with MIDI or internal clock rates.
The TI-series replacement for the Virus Indigo, the stunning Pølar.
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Round the back, the I/O is now on balanced +4dBu
jacks, with 24-bit A-D converters, and stereo digital I/O via S/PDIF (at
44.1 or 48kHz) has been added. The circuit board for the inputs and
outputs on the desktop version is separate from the main board, and can
be rotated, Mackie-mixer-style, to provide connections on either the
rear panel, for desktop work, or on the underside for when the Virus is
rackmounted upright. Inside the synth, there are now two main DSPs, the
main effect of which has been to increase total polyphony. Although this
varies depending on what's active at any one time, Access are now
claiming 'average' counts of over 80 stereo voices.
Aside from physical changes, the architecture of the
new Virus's synth engine is very different, too. There's twice the
memory capacity of the older Viruses, so Access have included 2048 ROM
sounds and 512 RAM sounds. The beefed-up DSPs have also allowed them to
offer delay and reverb on a truly multitimbral basis (ie. with one
instance of either or both per synth part). What's more, the
16-part Multi mode memories can now be separate from the single sounds
if you wish — so editing the patch data for one of the parts in a Multi
no longer overwrites that preset in single mode, and vice versa.
If this doesn't take your fancy, however, you can still work with the
new Sequencer mode, which behaves in the same way as the old Multi mode
did, with single sounds sharing their memories with the multitimbral
parts.
The built-in arpeggiator is now user-programmable,
and the modulation matrix has been extended and simplified; there are
now six slots, all offering one source and three destinations, replacing
the differently endowed slots on previous Viruses. But perhaps the
greatest additions to the synth engine are in the oscillator section.
The collapse of Waldorf has had one benefit — Access have been able to
use some of the former company's expertise to create a working wavetable
synthesis implementation, although details are sketchy at present. Last
but not least, there are the Hypersaw oscillators, which offer
something similar to the 'Doublesaw' wave generators on Novation's
synths, or the seven-oscillator 'Supersaw' on Roland's JP8000 — except
that Access's new implementation offers up to nine parallel
sawtooth oscillators per voice (plus nine sub-oscillators per voice,
apparently), all detuneable with respect to each other. Apparently, the
number of oscillators can even be changed smoothly in real time while
playing.
The Virus TI is an excellent concept and a brave
step for Access; it has enough new features to appeal to fans of
hardware while probably also offering enough in the way of integrated
workflow and great sounds to appeal to computer-oriented musicians.
Exactly how well it will appeal to the latter market, though, will
depend on the precise nature of the connectivity between the hardware
and the software in the final version, and the flexibility of this link.
Although such important details still had to be tied down as SOS
was going to press, Access hope to have the Virus TI series out by the
end of the year. International pricing has yet to be fixed, but a
UK-based source close to the company thinks that they'll be able to
bring it to market for less than 10 percent more than the existing Virus
C models. We'll bring you a full review in SOS as soon as we can get our hands on them.
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