Virus Ti SNOW integration and stability issues Mac

    Hello This is the start of week 2 with my Virus Snow. I've read the quick start manual. Watched many tutorials and I've jammed with it enough to grasp the basics of it.


    I have a 13" aluminum Macbook( from the limited edition series) that was released late 2009(i think)...2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor/4 GB 1067 Mhz DDR3 Memory. Currently I am using the 10.6.8 Os.


    I only have 2 USB connections hence i am using a hub. It's fairly new but it'S been working great so far. It's has 7 extra ports and an external power supply. I purchased it at an Apple store the make is Newertechnology. My Virus is connected directly into my laptop and the hub has an M-AUDIO Axiom 61 midi keyboard, A GLYPH hardrive, APOGEE DUET 2 SOundcard and a Steinberg security dongle which are all essential for me to make music on my set up.. I also have a MOOG Slim Phatty/Korg R3 and an AKAI MPD32 which i do not connect while I'm using Virus Control to save bandwith(this is somewhat of a drawback for me; they do not all have to be connected via USB but I'd like to use at least one of those 3 synced while I'm using the Virus)


    I produce music using Ableton Live 8. I just upgraded from 8.2 to 8.3 hoping it could help with Virus Control's stability. From the get go Virus snow has been operating on the 4.5.3.00 os.


    So far my experience with the baby Virus is it has a very big appealing sound, love the OSC, filters and effects but the VST/AU integration is insanely buggy on so many levels on my set up.


    After spending all of yesterday on a music project based around the Virus here are some of the problems i had.


    •Constantly get the "red alert" out of sync warnings which i expect because of the busy hub and i can deal with that to a certain degree because it doesn't slow down my work flow to much. A little space bar action usually does the trick
    •Had one instance where notes where constantly hanging then a sharp glitchy noise came from the virus channel. Only way to resolve was to delete the sotware instance and reloading it.
    •Virus Software can't detect Hardware out of the blue!? Only way to resolve was to restart my computer (tried unplugging USB and power chord several times but it did not work)
    •I've had to click "add" then "remove" automation up to 7 times on filter ADSR nobs and Oscillator level nobs for them to show up in ableton's automation lane.
    •Live Crashing now and again but more frquently the what i consider acceptable considering CPU use is under 10%


    Most of these issues seem USB related. DO i need to buy a better quality hub? If so which do you recommend? What else can I do to better integrate the Virus into my workflow? Is it just uncompatible with my present set up? I feel like it is very unsmooth user wise for the amount of money i spent. :cursing:

    My setup is somewhat similar to yours. 10.6.8 Mac Pro, using Ableton, Virus direct into the computer. I *always* restart my computer before I load up Ableton, because I know that I'm going to have issues with the Virus not being found otherwise. Once loaded, it's fine, unless I leave it in sequencer mode for a *really* long time-- then strange things start to happen. All in all, not too hard to deal with. (Of course, I don't play gigs.)

    It is very probably a USB bandwidth issue. You can bring up the system profiler to see if any onboard USB device uses the same USB controller as the Virus, which you can then try to disable, or try to overcome with another hub for the second USB port. Make sure you buy a hub that is based on a multi-TT chipset, as it is best for compatibility with the Virus which is a USB1.1 device. If your macbook has an express-card slot, you can consider getting a USB2.0 express-card instead, which you can dedicate to the Virus.

    I very much agree with you Alex. Excellent synth, very buggy integration. Even considering potential USB / bandwidth problems it's still a very difficult problem to get a smooth workflow with. My initial use for the Virus was as a performance tool, a use which I am sadly having to rethink.

    So to follow up on yesterday"s post. Here are some steps i took which helped a little. I switched track/sync & remote to off In ABleton's preferences under the midi tab, For a while i thought it did the trick everything ran relatively smoothly for hours...then it happened again. Giant Nuclear Glitch FART from Virus...and my mouth was open...no joke it's the kind of noise that could very easily damage my monitors. Not only iwas it harsh but it felt like the levels from the Virus Channels all shot up 8 or 10 dBs!!!???.


    ...I'm hoping this is part of the"getting to know your gear" phase. Hoping i can find more solutions to get this thing running proper.


    Other tips i can offer up to New Virus users with integration issues is...ALways save your patches in personolized libraries using the save Tab under the presets menu. WHen using the VST version in ABleton you can also save the instance of Virus you are using as an fxb bank using the folder icon underneath the "configure arrow" on the VST insert itself. You can then reload the fxb from the icon on the left of the little folder. Once you reinitialize the vst. You will find your Virus in the exact state it was in when you saved it(which is practical when you have multiple patches loaded). Another thing is force quit your project(after saving your Virus as an fxb) if you've had a Virus crash...when you reopen Ableton your project will reload with all your extra midi & audio channel routing as you had it before force quitting. If you close the project cleanly chances are you will have to reconfigure all your Virus midi and audio channels in Ableton ....

    2 more things I tried today which have seemed to help was to use a shorter USB cable(which is suggested all over this board) and I plugged the virus in the front USB port instead of the back one(which would be the one closer to the power supply). I jammed a little last night with only the virus and my headphones plugged into my computer and i still got the occasional start/stop sync warning but Virus control ran smoothly otherwise. ...NO SOnic Virus Farts today! :rolleyes:

    It's strange how these glitches seem to occur with some people and not others. I got my Virus Snow 2 days ago and loaded and used it in the latest version of Live, running on a Core Duo Mac Mini with Snow Leopard, and it works absolutely fine. I was fully expecting it to be as buggy as hell but the only thing I've come across is a little message saying the snow has gone out of sync when I'm auditioning patches during playback. Live has crashed a couple of times but it tends to do that anyway ( it's Live after all). Im even using the long USB cable that it came with.


    I don't know if it helps, but I followed the setup guide to the letter. The snow has its own dedicated USB port and bus, that it doesn't share with any of the other ports, and is the same one plugged it into during the software installation, and I've configured Live as tells you to in the tutorial, including recommended buffer size. Like I say, not sure that helps, but it seems to have worked for me.

    Sup Puzzle. It's great you haven't had any major glitches. I see some possible differences between our set ups and these may be the key to getting to the bottom of the glitches I'm having on mine... Are you on Snow Leopard 10.5? I'm on Version 10.6.8. What version of Live are you using? I was on 8.2 when i first got the Snow then i upgraded to 8.3...I also have the Virus connected to it's own USB port...busses might be the issue on the macbook as it seems busses are internally shared with Internal Keyboard/trackpad,IR receiver, Bluetooth USB Host Controller(front port) and Built in i-Sight(back port). Got my macbook in 2009 so it might be time for an Ugrade maybe a 15" macbook pro. Last are you using a powered Hub on another port? If so which model and how many extra ports does it give you and also what do you have connected to it?


    Thanks for your input

    Puzzle: Yes i get those clicks too, usually if I leave my Snow open in a Live Set for an extended time(like, a day or two). Usually when this happens I get the Sysex indicator popping up too, for no particular reason that I can tell.

    I've noticed a couple of other little "quirks". Sometimes when i quit my project and then reopen it, the USB outs are all jumbled and i have to reset them. Also you have to watch the "Ring Modulation" slider. On some patches i made if you turn it up to high you get this weird, random, thundery rumble in the low end (that might not be anything to do with the synth and just what happens with synthesis. I don't know, i'm not a synth master). I have also had a sound randomly change in character for no particular reason (all the settings were the same), but luckily i had already saved the patch and so just reloaded it, still quite disturbing.


    p.s i.m on Snow Leopard. Is that 1.5? or 1.6? i can't keep up. ;)