Where do I get started?

  • Making a patch on synths before my virus were so simple...and while I understand all of the specific functions of all the knobs, is there a tutorial that someone can provide for building a patch on the Virus TI? I love the synth to death but I've had it since August and I'm such a greenhorn to making an original sound on it.


    Thanks in advance.
    -ted

  • In the plugin itself, click the ? in the lower-right corner, then click Documentation > Tutorials to bring up a list of PDF tutorials on various topics.


    Access also has a number of videos up about using the plugin, designing sounds, and integrating with different DAWs: http://virus.info/page/render/…ontact_and_resources.html


    There's also a 4.5 hour for-pay video tutorial at Dance Music Production that covers pretty much every feature of the plugin: http://www.dancemusicproductio…ssions-05-access-virus-ti

  • Thanks for the informative post. But I failed to mention that I know how to use just about every parameter, I just don't quite understand what combinations of values will get unique sounds. Does it all come down to experimentation? I guess I need to just keep tweaking knobs until it starts becoming second nature. Back to the DAW...


    Thanks
    -ted

  • Thanks for the informative post. But I failed to mention that I know how to use just about every parameter, I just don't quite understand what combinations of values will get unique sounds. Does it all come down to experimentation? I guess I need to just keep tweaking knobs until it starts becoming second nature. Back to the DAW...


    Thanks
    -ted

    Access's "boot camp" videos at the 1st link I posted are exactly that. They assume you know the parameters and show you how to exploit the Virus's unique capabilities for various sounds.


    But really the Virus's synthesis engine is so deep, you could watch videos for days without getting a complete exploration of its capabilities.


    People who say "Why get a Virus when you can get a plugin for less" have never used a Virus.

  • I hate to sound like a jerk, but the Virus, apart from the somehow awkward interface (there are parameters that are not exactly where you would expect them to be) is quite a simple straightforward subtractive synth with some unusual oscillators, a good filter section and a decent amount of modulations possible, Not saying that if you can program a JP8000 you can program a virus seamlessly, it's a bit more complicated and deeper, but deepness and complexity are not its most notable features. for a modern polysynth it's almost basic. Can you name a synth you feel confident programming? (if you reply FS1-R, VL1, K5000, CZ1, Z1 or the evergreen DX7 I'll just shut up).
    Knowing what parameters are for doesn't mean you know your way around the synth, it is down to experimentation and even more about experience. I would seriously raccomend you study Howard Scarr's tutorial that is in the Virus documentation, I think it's one of the most interesting synthesis tutorial I've ever read... might not really be for beginners or for the feint harted, but after 12 years playing many different synths and plugins, I still had plenty to learn from that manual, oh, and I forgot to mention, Howard Scarr is a programming genius, in his patches you can find amazing acoustic like patches made only with simple subtractive synthesis, and most of his patches are of a quality I could not overemphasize, studying them, or btw reverse engineering any patch you like might probably get you some understanding not only of what's what, but also some deterministic understanding of what does what..


    I would suggest you do not go back to the DAW, disconnect the synth from the PC, and start playing with its physical interface, I could never properly program a plugin, I've been playing with Zebra for ages, and I still get more creative sounds out of an Alesis Ion, which is nowhere comparable in terms of flexibility to that monster modular plugin.
    Good luck!

  • ^ I kind of disagree with the above post, the Virus is not straightforward or "simple" at all, lots of very confusing things about it. Some parameters sometimes work differently in different settings, some aren't used at all in some situations, some are hidden very deep... I've watched the Bootcamp videos and I can say that they've made things as difficult for a beginner, and as counter-intuitive as possible...


    The bottom line is pure experimentation. The Virus team even encourages it themselves, they call it "happy accidents" in their video -- you just come across interesting sounds and you save them... Then you analyze why they sound they do.

  • well, as you said, there are some quirkinesses to it, to the way things are called or where they are in the interface (I remember spending half an hour looking for a modsource called "aftertouch" ) but it is basically a simple, mostly subtractive synth with a lot of bells and whistles on top, ever tried programming an old FM synth? an Akai K5000? a Korg Z1?Those are complicated in my book, Also, modern workstations, if you try to actually program them, they are pretty complicated, even just getting through making a sound from scratch on an almost 20years old Korg Trinity is going to be much harder and less intuitive than programming the same patch on the virus (provided it's a synth-non-sample-reasonable patch of course), though they seem to be designed for people that stick to the presets or so. The virus has an oscillator section, a filter section, a modmatrix, some other modulation busses and an effects section, end of the synth, Ok, the oscillators and the effects are pretty deep if you really want to get the best out of them, and the modulations have their aces in the sleeve as well but I'm quite sure if you had some other experience programming a modern VA or something similar, you won't feel that far from home on the Virus, which is, to my view of the world, a simple, yet deep and powerful synth.