Virus TI2 does not work with newer MacBooks

  • Hi, I just lost a week of my life trying to connect the TI2 to my MacBook Pro. Since its an I7 it has two internal usb hubs. The Virus will not share the usb connection. Also when I attach it to a usbhub powered by net electricity.


    It thus is not possible to attach the Virus TI2 to any of the newer MacBook Pro s anymore!


    Which way could there be around it? I know that some pc or mac tower users can use a card slot to create a usb connection.
    However, the Macbook Pro only has a firewire800 socket (that I use with an RME fireface), a thunderbolt (for connecting videobeamers) and sd slot.
    Would both the fireface and the virus work if i used a firewirehub and then connected a firewire to usb adapter to the hub for the virus?
    Or could I use the sd or thunderbolt for this?


    Hard to understand why there is no solution from access that would allow the usage of newer MacBook Pros.


    Thanks for suggestions
    Tom

  • Hallo Marc, habt ihr denn auch komplexere Kompositionen mit anderen Plugins zusammen laufen, hier schmiert das Virus sofort bei mir ab.
    Wenn ich alles frisch installiere und nur das Virus aufmache geht es manchmal kurz.
    Bislang gibt es auch vom product support noch keine Lösung.
    Für mich ist bislang die Virus Control für TI eine grosse Enttäuschung.
    Habt ihr denn bei Eurem MacBook Pro I7 den Virus an einem der beiden USB Ports des Rechners (die ja interne Hubs sind), oder habt ihr ihn an einem speziellen USB Hub (z.B. mit Multi-Translation Chipsatz)?
    Falls ja, was für einen Hub benutzt ihr?
    Gruss!
    Tom

  • Is there anyone out there using the Access Virus with a more recent MacBook Pro (i5, i6, i7) in professional music recording?


    I tried out different USB hubs from sitecom, and now another from Belkin. First they might work in a very simple set, but then I load something more complex with other Plugins (e.g. Kontakt with an X-Sample chamber orchestra library) and it gives me a communication error.
    After this when I open a new empty file, the Virus also has the communication error.


    Its the horror.


    I seriously get the impression that this is an error that you cannot get rid of when using a more recent MacBook Pro.
    No solution yet from product support either.

  • Hi, I seem to have solved the problem for now.


    It has to be exactly the right USB Hub, I now use a Belkin USB 2.0 4-Port Hub (with power supply). A Hub from sitecom with the supposedly same features did not work!


    Also: After installing the software again with the new USB Hub connected, the Virus TI from previous sessions in the sequences (Ableton) had to be deleted, and then the Virus has to be inserted again.
    Else these communication error messages will keep coming up, or the sounds will be totally distorted.


    So far so good.


    All the best
    Tom

  • try a variety of things!..and i really mean a variety of things...i had trouble for a long long time..The Virus likes things just so..my issue was def with usb traffic,i think most of these problems are caused by usb issues..dont give up!..keep adjusting reconnecting rebooting..i know it sounds absurd but mine is now as stable as i think i'm going to get it..i can even use the arpeggiator..and my advice is once you have it stable dont alter a thing!...my issues were solved almost overnight...one minute the Virus wouldnt play ball at all then after what seemed to be endless reboots and reconnects it seems ok...bear in mind it is now 2 weeks of good use and may go tits up yet...but this is stable enough for me to work and i have a Macbook pro i7 connected to a hub with other devices on the hub....i went through different port setups,different operating system versions of the Virus and even a different usb cord...for me there was no magic cure just perseverance.I use the latest version of the Ti with a shorter usb cable than the official Virus cable (for what its worth),anyway i hope this helps :wacko: and good luck...the Virus is worth the effort.

  • the virus sure sounds great once it works. thought i had the problem solved with the different usb hub,
    now nothing works again. so frustrating. so so frustrating.
    I have the impression this machine is just never going to work reliably with TI.
    What a crass waste of time and money, much much much time already.
    Its hard to believe the company just cannot solve these problems.
    Tom

  • try a variety of things!..and i really mean a variety of things...i had trouble for a long long time..The Virus likes things just so..my issue was def with usb traffic,i think most of these problems are caused by usb issues..dont give up!..keep adjusting reconnecting rebooting..i know it sounds absurd but mine is now as stable as i think i'm going to get it..i can even use the arpeggiator..and my advice is once you have it stable dont alter a thing!...my issues were solved almost overnight...one minute the Virus wouldnt play ball at all then after what seemed to be endless reboots and reconnects it seems ok...bear in mind it is now 2 weeks of good use and may go tits up yet...but this is stable enough for me to work and i have a Macbook pro i7 connected to a hub with other devices on the hub....i went through different port setups,different operating system versions of the Virus and even a different usb cord...for me there was no magic cure just perseverance.I use the latest version of the Ti with a shorter usb cable than the official Virus cable (for what its worth),anyway i hope this helps :wacko: and good luck...the Virus is worth the effort.

    which usb port do you use, the one further in front or the one further in the back?
    after painstaking 48 h of trying to get it working still not working. Tried 2 different usb cables, the whole program several times of deinstalling installing repairing rights rebooting.
    Whats going on with this company? Or is my machine simply broken?
    thanks for your suggestions
    tom

  • exact model of hub please? Could help someone in the future if they find your thread with a similar problem.

    It was a Belkin F5U234 Rev.3
    BUT: now it is again NOT WORKING!!!!!!! Its just so unpredictable, had it working fine for a few days, and now again not, and I have tried all I could since.

  • Hi TomFritz,


    I feel your pain. I made the HUGE mistake to trust Access and buy their synth.
    You see, the problem is those guys do not tell you one simple thing. That their synth is not gonna work nicely with the newer macbooks in the plugin mode. I experienced the same problems like you. I contacted the support. They told me to buy the Belkin USB hub. But the problems persisted. The behaviour of the virus plugin was totally random. The majority of the times would not even initialise. Sometimes it would. The support said there is sth wrong with my setup.
    I tried every possible scenario! I wasted almost a month trying to resolve issues and start being productive. NOTHING WORKED. Or if it did then it would only solve the problem for a while and then communication errors would come back again.
    I ended up having a device that costed me the savings of a year that is totally useless.
    It all comes down to the communication of the virus in USB mode with your mac.
    And if you want my opinion, Access has no good solution at the moment for this. It won't work like you expect to work no matter how hard you try.


    My macbook pro i7 was totally new. It came actually after my virus arrived. The only thing installed on the macbook was Logic Studio and the Virus software. After struggling for days and days and days (plus nights), the only thing that actually seemed to work was get rid of the USB hub. If you are using the virus as your sound-card then set the bitrate at 44100 in your logic studio. It is the only bitrate that the virus can support in usb mode fairly decently with the primitive USB 1. But then again I warn you. When you start adding automation to your project or have more than a couple of instruments playing together from Virus then your machine will start producing distortion, glitches, it will not play on time, it will bypass playing some instruments and automations and other nasty things that it would take long to describe.


    I couldn't possibly explain how disatisfied I am with Access. I don't mean to say antyhing bad about the Virus when not used in USB mode. It is a nice synth and you can make really nice sounds with them. But the Total Integration thing is a joke. And Access should have let their customers know about it, because the reason I bought the Virus was to use it in plugin mode.


    I would gladly send my Virus back and ask for my money back. If you are with me then I would call other users that have the same problem to demand from Access to be honest with their potential customers. They also made me buy me buy the usb-hub for nothing. An extra spend to add up to my virus misery.


    I guess that Access knows that newer macs are pretty standard nowadays. Their machine not working nicely with them is a major issue that in my opinion are trying to silence out. I cannot understand why access is not doing something about it. Why they do not ship a usb-hub with your overpriced equipment anyway and guarantee to you that the plug in will work as it should. In anyway, their advertising policy bases on Total Integration! I do not understand also why do they ask for every user with the same problem to email them in person. If you have individual solutions post them somewhere for god's sake! And let the users look through it.


    I am sorry to hear about your problem, and I hope sth is done so people don't fall in the same problem that we did.
    If you are in, I could take action on that!

  • One more thing that I forgot to mention and it is VERY important!


    Do not, and I really mean DO NOT, use the Virus in plugin mode while using headphones!!! NEVER.
    The communication errors might occasionally make the Virus produce noise in such a level that it could blow away your hearing!!! Even when the volume knob is set quite low!


    I have experienced this more than one times and luckily I had the headphones away from my head. I am talking about really loud levels. I am an acoustician and I know when a level is loud enough to cause hearing damage and I can assure you that this was. Virus is not only glitchy in plugin mode. It is also dangerous.


    This needs to be opened on a new thread on that so people will know.

  • dimgrim -
    you're probably already in touch with access support and you probably have tried many things with them. i'll try to have a closer look on what you sent in but unless we can replicate your findings it will be hard to suggest something guaranteed to work. the reason why we suggest e.g. to buy a hub is not so much that we don't want to include one, it is because only in certain situation, a hub will change something. we were using one of the latest iMacs on namm, we have several mac book pros including one from mid 2011 and they both work fine. saying that i don't want to implicate that there is no problem, it rather means: total integration works here and we cannot replicate your issue.
    i'll sit down with our engineers and we'll come up with some follow up questions for you and the others posting here. maybe, that way, we can isolate the issues in a better way. a good starting point would be to have one of the logic projects in question.
    best, marc

  • Is there anyone out there using the Access Virus with a more recent MacBook Pro (i5, i6, i7) in professional music recording?


    I tried out different USB hubs from sitecom, and now another from Belkin. First they might work in a very simple set, but then I load something more complex with other Plugins (e.g. Kontakt with an X-Sample chamber orchestra library) and it gives me a communication error.
    After this when I open a new empty file, the Virus also has the communication error.


    can you send us a project which illustrates the issue?
    thanks, marc

  • It isn't the New Mac books per say, it is the new i7 architecture from Intel and the way they have the USB hubs integrated. I have a PC based on i7 and it is the same. Since last June it barely works and it when it does I have pops and crackles all the time. I haven't touched the Virus in months because of this and have gone solely to samples in Halion 4. I too bought hubs, PCI based USB cards etc. I never had these issues on my 5 year old system, only on the i7. Something changed with the way the hubs are integrated and it isn't for the best for us Virus Ti users.

  • For some reason the TI and USB hubs powered or not don't seem to play along. Try and plugging it directly into one of ports on your MacBook. On my older model MacBook the ports on the right side seemed to do the trick. Hoped that helps.

  • I just wanted to comment that I have the following spec and I have got the Virus working on my new MacBook Pro after patiently working through with tech support:


    - Logic 9.1.5 (think I might have updated it since actually..)
    - TIOS v 4.5.3 release of the VC software
    - Latest 2011 version of the MacBook Pro i7 2.2Ghz with 8gb
    - Snow Leopard, last version before Lion
    - I have only my Virus TI connected to 1 of the 2 USB ports on the MBP (also running the IR Reciever). The connection goes through a Belkin hub.
    - There's an Apple cinema display on the other USB port on the MBP


    If I use one arp on 'hold' then it doesn't keep time reliably and causes all sorts of synch probelms. Using the arp's with the 'hold' button clicked on causes all these timing issues.


    But if I don't use the arp there are no other problems and it's stable.


    I'd love it if the arp's could be sorted out as they sound great. But, again, to reiterate what Marc on here always says: work with Tech support and you'll be rewarded with a great usable tool that does not hinder creativity once you get it set up right. It is frustrating to begin with that it's not just plug and play of course. It's well worth sticking with it.


    I wonder if there's anything to address the arp timings in the forthcoming OS5 Marc? Any idea when it's due for release please?


    cheers, simon