Please Give me some answers on this piece of junk.

  • What is going on, Why is something I've paid £1800 giving so many problems?


    Firstly my Setup


    Access Virus TI2 Polar
    Imac Quad Core i5 Mid 2011 (Current Model)
    Logic Pro 9.1.5 (Latest Version)
    OSX Lion 10.7
    NO ADDITIONAL USB DEVICES


    I have DLINK USB 2.0 POWERED HUB - dedicated to the VIRUS TI2 POLAR


    - I REPEAT NO OTHER USB DEVICES.


    and i STILL get the following.


    Sync issues, up to 5 times an hour.
    Weird sounds all on their own when the virus and logic left idle at least once a session
    Virus doesn't detect - at least once a day
    virus not responding to preset changes. and weird artefact sounds. ..... at least once a house.


    What is wrong here. please give me a straight anwser and fix. if there isn't one. WHY is this product sold promoting features that do not work properly. i seem to be waisting a lot of time and money trying to get this piece of junk to work correctly as it is advertised to do. than making music. please could someone advise exactly what i need to do to get this running 100% Perfect. - if that means downgrading to snow leopard i will do.


    please advise. - thanks all.

  • a5hl3y2k6........


    You are not on your own here as reading around these forums will show, i have a virus Ti desktop running with logic 9.1.4 and snow leopard on a fairly new mac i7 950 quad 8 threads 6 GB mem. So my mac should be up for running it smoothly you would think.


    But i too have run into most of your problems but have managed to get it too work after a lot of time spent trouble shooting, though it can still be a bit flaky.. heres what i can tell you.....


    I don,t think it plays nice with Lion at the moment from what i have read here and i tried logic 9.1.5 update with Snow and and it completely shot my system with hanging notes and logic crashing after 5 mins into anything :cursing: .....so i reverted back to 9.1.4 and its ok again.


    You also have to make shure you the you follow the virus and logic tutorial which will help and it states to not use a usb hub and try to pick a port all for itself....NOW i have spent hours trying to find the best usb port that isn,t sharing it with any thing else by taking all non important things out and trying each port at a time and rebooting and so on....... and so on...But because of the way newer computers seem to hub these ports with in the motherboard itself dose not make it clear cut like in the manual seems to point out.....


    SOooo like i say i seem to have got things running a lot better than at the start but i still feel like i am not getting full usb bandwidth witch i believe is about 73% on chosen usb port....... I WISH Access would just incorporate some sort of reading for USB bandwidth in there VC software seeing that it is such an important issue.....I read that something flags up in red when its seriously out of sync but this is after the horse has bolted imo.....


    There is a few posts on here with guys saying the only way they ever got there virus Ti to run smooth is to get a pci-e to usb card, which i intend to do myself when i know which one to get for my system ........
    Strange though that Access said to these guys that they did not think it was necessary yet to them they have never looked back.......

    Hope this helps.

  • USB on the Virus does seem to be an issue for lots of users on these forums. I must admit, i do tend not to use the VC software unless i am sound designing or moving patches around, it is too unpredictable, however!... i have found the latest update a lot better in the fact that it syncs better with "Reaper" which is the DAW of my choice now.... anyway, I also installed a seperate USB PCIe card, and it definately improved my connection issues, even though Access support say it doesnt or shouldnt make any difference. I beleive there are so many different user setups out there it is impossible to cover everyones scenario and create a stable system for everyone. Afterall... USB is a PC interface and NOT a Virus interface exclusively, and PC technology as well as USB interfaces change almost on a monthly basis!... who should keep up with who??? the mind boggles :huh:


    Each one of us Virus users has a unique set up (or you may get lucky and have exactly the same set up as Access test their software on...) so... find a system that works and stick with it (easily said than done i know) but, the USB side or "TI" total integration side of the Virus has still got a long way to go.... Try using standard Midi ports, i do most of the time and i do have less problems i must admit, but i lose the Editing and library of VC... but i learn to live with it as i love the massive Virus TI sounds!


    I beleive there is a midi stand alone editor/librarian out there somewhere but i have not tried so cannot comment.


    I have started to accept the virus TI as a stand alone hardware synth, and taken the TI aspect as a "bonus" or it will just drive me nuts thinking i paid £1800 for something that doesnt do what it promised... (almost)


    Still love my virus tho... ^^

  • change the buffer size to 256 samples or 128 better 128. in the Virus plugin change
    the USB outputs TO OUT 1 L R . iN THE vIRUS PLUGIN try to press LIVE
    button . In many situations the LIVE button is very important :thumbup: Virus is loosing big time if you use USB outs because is USB 1.0 only 12 mb per second . So is better to use USB only for MIDI connection . In you're PC operating system DEVICE MANAGER set you're USB CONNECTOR to not save energy when is used .Access universal serial bus controllers >properties >powwer management > and do NOT allow computer to turn of this device to save power :thumbup:


    If you still have problems this can be because of you're PC. So download DPC latency checker and monitor you;re latency . You're latency must be between 1us to maximum 80 qs . So if you're DPC latency exceed 80 us, you need big help (by tweaking windows or replacing some internal components like Graphic Card , or other devices).... :thumbup:

  • I have experienced all the problems that the original poster has described with his Virus/Logic setup. I spent over a month (and probably an hour or two each night) troubleshooting these issues. I literally tried every possible solution that was offered on this site and others. Nothing worked.


    So I just gave up and have been using the Virus TI via MIDI ever since. I couldn't handle the daily aggravation any more. I felt as you did that Access sold me a product that doesn't work as promised. But rather than continue to be pissed off and annoyed, I simply moved on. I suspect there is a LARGE contingent of disappointed Virus TI users who have done the same thing.


    Don't get me wrong, it's complete bullshit that Access continues to sell something that is so problematic. On what planet are you supposed to spend months and months trying to get a product that cost over $2,000 to work? People on this forum continue to make excuses like it's just part of owning a Virus TI - something to be expected. Huh? That's insane.


    If Vienna Symphonic Library can get their Ensemble plugin to work flawlessly over Ethernet and stream 32 (!) channels of audio with zero latency (literally ZERO latency,) why can't Access get 2 channels of audio to work?


    There I go, getting riled up again. LOL. Better not to think about it and just stick with MIDI.

    Synths: D-550, EX-8000, Matrix-1000, Microwave, Microwave XT, MKS-50, MKS-80, Nord Rack 2, Nord Rack 3, Pro One, Prophet '08 Rack, Pulse, Pulse 2, Shruthi, TX7, Virus kb, XV-5080, Maschine
    Computer: Core i7-970 3.20 GHz Hexacore, ASUS P6X58-E PRO, ATI FirePro 2460 quad head, RME RayDAT w/4x Alesis AI3, 2x MOTU MIDI Express 128, Cubase 7.5

  • Hi.


    Thanks for the replies


    the only reason i use a dedicated hub is because it was recommend by marc (access) from another forum on i3/i5/i7 iMacs. - i don't know if this has made an improvement i feel it is the same to be honest.


    i have also been using the virus as an audio input which is fine, bit i feel i don't have as much control as i would have wanted. also if i use it to sample i still feel i don't have the control i want from it. i see a lot of people are using it via midi. could someone advise me how to set this up correctly with my current setup - am i going to need an additional interface? or can i do this via usb. to be perfectly honest i don't mind loosing the ti software as i like using the hardware knobs etcs. but i have the following questions if using it via midi


    - how do i get it set up.
    - would i be able to apply logic effects onto the channels automation etc.
    - is it reliable


    if someone has the time to go through this it would be great. and hopefully i will finally be able to use the virus and not have to keep restarting it and rebooting my iMac/logic every half an hour


    Thanks again,

  • Here's what you need to do to set up the Virus TI via USB MIDI and standard audio via the main analog outs on the Virus. (As with all things Logic, there are probably 5 different ways of going about this. But this is probably the easiest).


    You will NOT need a MIDI interface if this is your only MIDI device. You MAY want to get an inexpensive audio interface for your iMac. But you can always use the analog input on the iMac in a pinch. If you use the iMac input, you will just need a Dual RCA to stereo mini jack cable and then a couple of RCA to 1/4" adapters. (I have never seen a quarter inch to 1/8th inch stereo cable but someone probably makes one.) Then connect the main analog outs of the Virus to the iMac's input via the cable (with 1/4" adapters on the RCA ends).


    Once you've done this, now it's time to set up Logic:

    • Set Logic to use the iMac's own Core Audio driver in the Audio Preferences window
    • Create a new MIDI multi device in Logic's Environment
    • Click on each box within the MIDI multi device to enable all 16 MIDI channels
    • Set the Port of this MIDI Multi Device to Virus TI MIDI
    • Now create a new multi-timbral Software Instrument using the "New" track command in the arrange window. (Make sure to check the Multi-timbral box.)
    • Assign the External Instrument "plug-in" type to the channel strip of one of the new tracks. (All tracks will "point to" the same instrument - they just access different MIDI channels of this instrument.)
    • Open the External Instrument settings for this channel strip (just like you would open any other plug-in window)
    • Assign the Virus TI MIDI MIDI multi device to the MIDI input of this External Instrument (in its setting window)
    • Assign the iMac's analog input as the audio input for the External Instrument
    • Now to access each part within a Virus multi, select that track/channel strip in the arrange window

    Hopefully this gives you enough info to go on.


    Regarding your other questions, yes, you will be able to apply Logic's effects to the Virus channel strip just like any other Logic instrument or plug-in. However, you would need to get a multi-input audio interface and connect all of the Virus's analog outputs to this interface if you want to apply effects to more than one mixer channel.


    Although it sounds a bit complicated at first, this setup is 100% rock solid. The Virus will sync flawlessly and there will be no weird audio glitches. :)


    Now if Access would just pull their heads out of the sand and create a MIDI-based standalone editor, you could leave the nightmare of Virus Control behind you. (Don't hold your breath on this one. Access is apparently committed to flogging this dead horse.)

    Synths: D-550, EX-8000, Matrix-1000, Microwave, Microwave XT, MKS-50, MKS-80, Nord Rack 2, Nord Rack 3, Pro One, Prophet '08 Rack, Pulse, Pulse 2, Shruthi, TX7, Virus kb, XV-5080, Maschine
    Computer: Core i7-970 3.20 GHz Hexacore, ASUS P6X58-E PRO, ATI FirePro 2460 quad head, RME RayDAT w/4x Alesis AI3, 2x MOTU MIDI Express 128, Cubase 7.5

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von MusicMaven ()

  • hi thanks.



    i just had a quick look on my macbook (no virus with me at the moment.)
    looks reasonably straight forward.


    would i need to change any settings on the virus. as when u plug the usb cable in and start logic it disables the outputs..... ?



    Thanks

  • i spend nearly two days now trying to figure out what the actual problem is. here's what i've done:
    - playing various test arrangements i have in order to understand when those weirds sounds as described come in. well, they didn't.
    - measuring the arp against logic's metronome and playback midi notes to see, if there is an offset. this includes a tremendous amount of start/stop/continue action. sometimes, the arp was off when i started in at an odd time but was spot on on the next bar again.


    this is with 10.7, logic 9.1.5. and the latest public beta on the virus' side using a mac book pro from mid 2011 with an i7 processor. now, i don't really know how to comment on all above, at least not with something meaningful. can somebody point me into the right direction so i can reproduce you problems? we only can fix what we can reproduce.
    thanks, marc

  • change the buffer size to 256 samples or 128 better 128. in the Virus plugin change
    the USB outputs TO OUT 1 L R . iN THE vIRUS PLUGIN try to press LIVE


    bagpula, can you please stop posting above? first, it is totally fine when you post it once (instead of multiple times as you did). secondly, it is wrong. the buffer size does not have an impact on all that because it does not change anything relevant to this topic. also, the live button will not help as for the problems discussed inside this thread, if so it will make things worse (because it results in a LOOSE timing and what people inhere do want is a TIGHT timing). don't get me wrong, i don't want to come across as a rude person but we need to focus though threads on order to help people with their problems.
    thanks, marc

  • Sorry but my Virus TI plugin integration works correct only in LIVE mode . If i'm not pressing the LIVE button i swear is out of sync . I have changed 3 computers until now and i use Sonar and Cubase . The only viable solution for me is to press Live mode and to use USB only for MIDI data . With this setup Ti works ok for me . So i'm the only one with this setup ?.

  • Sorry but my Virus TI plugin integration works correct only in LIVE mode . If i'm not pressing the LIVE button i swear is out of sync . I have changed 3 computers until now and i use Sonar and Cubase . The only viable solution for me is to press Live mode and to use USB only for MIDI data . With this setup Ti works ok for me . So i'm the only one with this setup ?.


    we are trying to figure out a solution for a mac/logic problem. you are on PC using cubase/sonar. what you're doing is reducing the latency in order to get the analog outs in time. don't you hear that there is still latency and the timing is unstable? don't you realize that if the arp is out of sync, it is because it's being triggered at the wrong point in time and you cannot undo this by using the analog outs? you are trying to cure a problem with the wrong tools. in any case, please do not post in here and open your own thread.


    thanks a lot, marc

  • steps to reproduce.



    basic audi0 drum loop in an audio channel


    open software instrument (not multi timbal) and try and use the virus...


    thats all i am doing


    do i need to change any settings on my virus to use the USB MIDI and the outputs to make it work as an external midi instrument.?


    Thanks.

  • Hi yes all the time


    i could be scrolling through presets or trying out a few notes. i select another channel for example an instance of NI Massive make a change to a pad i have been using. go back to the virus channel. and audition another notes. and i could have a sync issue or the notes wont play. so i play stop try again. still nothing so then i reboot the virus. and it work for a small amount of time, sometimes i have to deselect the plugin and then reload it. and sometimes have to restart logic.


    there is no set of circumstances when it happens. it just does and is upredictable.


    this is no good.


    to be honest it is becoming a joke.


    do i just shut up and put up? or will there is a massive software update to fix all these problems, or is the usb connectivity not good enough? or do i have to use this as a stand alone unit? we need answers should i leave it in standby 24/7 instead of turning it off from the mains when i have finished.? my logic settings are all correct. as per advised in the documentation. surely this is a software or connectivity problem. my mac is brand new.


    Please advise.

  • i read another thread and it advised to use a shorter usb cable than the one provided by access i found one at work measuring just over 30cm.. and i have had two small sync issues all afternoon. that is a major improvement. - i know it sounds strange but it appears to have worked.. for the moment anyway. ill use it some more and see what happens.


    Thanks.

  • Another random thing that clears up some issues in Logic is leaving the first bar of your project empty - if you have any regions in the first bar move the whole project 1 bar along so the first region starts at 2.1.1.1.


    I don't know why this makes a difference it just does :wacko:

  • i spend nearly two days now trying to figure out what the actual problem is. here's what i've done:
    - playing various test arrangements i have in order to understand when those weirds sounds as described come in. well, they didn't.
    - measuring the arp against logic's metronome and playback midi notes to see, if there is an offset. this includes a tremendous amount of start/stop/continue action. sometimes, the arp was off when i started in at an odd time but was spot on on the next bar again.


    this is with 10.7, logic 9.1.5. and the latest public beta on the virus' side using a mac book pro from mid 2011 with an i7 processor. now, i don't really know how to comment on all above, at least not with something meaningful. can somebody point me into the right direction so i can reproduce you problems? we only can fix what we can reproduce.
    thanks, marc

    While these problems are not exclusive to iMac/Logic setups, this configuration seems to be the most problematic. So if you are running Logic on a MacBook, it's entirely possible that it will work just fine.


    But almost everyone who has posted recently about experiencing problems with their Virus and Logic is using an iMac Core i5 or i7. As you may know, there is no way to connect the Virus "directly" to these iMacs. The external USB ports are connected to internal hubs.


    Also, your suggestion to connect a USB hub between the iMac and the Virus DOES NOT WORK. So you should probably stop offering this suggestion without explicitly stating that this "solution" will not work all on systems. Otherwise people like myself will continue to waste money buying external hubs that don't work.


    And by "don't work," I mean the Virus Control software will not even start up when a hub is inserted between the Virus and iMac. A message appears within the VC window instructing the user to remove the hub. There is no way to proceed. How do you not know this?


    Anyway, until you test Virus Control on a newer iMac, you won't be able to provide any meaningful assistance.


    BTW, does anyone at Access actually read these troubleshooting posts? If so, I would expect someone to have tried this out already - especially when the company continues to sell a product that clearly doesn't work for a lot of users. I would think the company might be concerned about its reputation and perhaps have some moral qualms about fleecing users out of their hard earned money with bullshit promises of "total integration."

    Synths: D-550, EX-8000, Matrix-1000, Microwave, Microwave XT, MKS-50, MKS-80, Nord Rack 2, Nord Rack 3, Pro One, Prophet '08 Rack, Pulse, Pulse 2, Shruthi, TX7, Virus kb, XV-5080, Maschine
    Computer: Core i7-970 3.20 GHz Hexacore, ASUS P6X58-E PRO, ATI FirePro 2460 quad head, RME RayDAT w/4x Alesis AI3, 2x MOTU MIDI Express 128, Cubase 7.5

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von MusicMaven ()

  • i read another thread and it advised to use a shorter usb cable than the one provided by access i found one at work measuring just over 30cm.. and i have had two small sync issues all afternoon. that is a major improvement. - i know it sounds strange but it appears to have worked.. for the moment anyway. ill use it some more and see what happens.


    Thanks.

    I really hope this works out for you. But I would wait a bit before celebrating. I also tried a variety of cables of varying lengths. Things would sometimes improve for a little while (usually having nothing to do with any of the changes I had made). But sooner or later I would be plagued with sync issues, garbled audio, random disconnections, constant restarts, etc. It's a complete joke.

    Synths: D-550, EX-8000, Matrix-1000, Microwave, Microwave XT, MKS-50, MKS-80, Nord Rack 2, Nord Rack 3, Pro One, Prophet '08 Rack, Pulse, Pulse 2, Shruthi, TX7, Virus kb, XV-5080, Maschine
    Computer: Core i7-970 3.20 GHz Hexacore, ASUS P6X58-E PRO, ATI FirePro 2460 quad head, RME RayDAT w/4x Alesis AI3, 2x MOTU MIDI Express 128, Cubase 7.5