Virus Control Center on 64 bit MacOS

  • To whom it may concern,


    I am constantly getting prompted that VCC is not "optimized" for my Mac and that it should be 64 bit and that I notify the developers. Well here I am and I know come September VCC will not work anymore. Is there a workaround? (running an old Host OS is a non-option)


    ---

    A kind Snow manipulator since 2009

  • Virus Control Center will not work in future macOS versions. As it turns out, we will not be able to supply a solution for that. Sorry, I personally wish that I'd have different news for you.


    Wait. Does theat mean in the future macOS versions, we will:

    • not be able to Backup and Restore our Virus TI
    • not be able to Reset our Virus TI to factory settings
    • not be able to Write ROM Banks to our Virus TI
    • not be able to Update our Virus TI

    That's a bummer!

    Bass Player and Synthesist.
    Virus TI2 Darkstar | Virus TI2 Desktop | Sub 37 | Voyager RME | Machinedrum | Analog Four | Digitone | MPC Live | NI Maschine+
    Mac OS 13.5.1 (Ventura) | Cubase Pro 11.0 | Ableton Live 9.6 | Logic 10.4 | MainStage 3.4 | NI Komplete Ultimate 13 | RME Fireface UFX+

  • Maybe it is possible to run the Control Center in a Windows VM on the Mac. If only needed once in a while this would be acceptable.


    Do I understand it right, that the TI plugin (in my case for Logic Pro X) still work in future macOS releases?

  • Virus Control Center will not work in future macOS versions. As it turns out, we will not be able to supply a solution for that. Sorry, I personally wish that I'd have different news for you.


    Virus Control will continue to work of course.

    Virus Control will continue to work? So can you confirm that there is a new 64 bit version of the plug-in about to be released?

  • Does anyone have a recommendation for virtual machine(s)?

    some things work really well in Virtual Box (which is free). Once you have components such as drivers you might find that the learning curve is steeper than what you would get with Parallels or VM Ware. I've bought Parallels in the end, couldn't be bothered to find a solution the issues I had with Virtual Box. That's just my personal opinion, not an official recommendation.

  • I'm still on a Mojave host, but have just tried setting up a Mojave VM under Parallels.

    Seems to work and could be the future solution for me. G2 editor also works.

    Still, it's not heartening to see that support has stopped for this application.

  • Wait. Does theat mean in the future macOS versions, we will:

    • not be able to Backup and Restore our Virus TI
    • not be able to Reset our Virus TI to factory settings
    • not be able to Write ROM Banks to our Virus TI
    • not be able to Update our Virus TI

    That's a bummer!

    Marc, can you please confirm if the above is true ?


    At the very least being able to apply Virus updates seems critical to me (especially as the drivers and Virus firmware versions need to match)

    Is macOS officially not supported anymore for this feature ?

    Could you please come up with a minimal firmware updater maybe ?

    Or even open source VCC and let the community deal with it if you don't have the resources.


    Besides VCC, can you please confirm if Virus Control + audio/midi drivers are all 64 bit and work fine in macOS 10.15 (the final beta of which has been released yesterday) ?

  • @Marc

    Can I ask you then to remove the old 32 bit control center app files from last install file on access website and recompile the installation files?

    To leave only 64 bit drivers and plugins

    I don’t see the point of leaving the old VCC app in the installer - if it still does not work on the new mac os

    it's possible?

    And what about those users who do not install on Catalina?

    Bass Player and Synthesist.
    Virus TI2 Darkstar | Virus TI2 Desktop | Sub 37 | Voyager RME | Machinedrum | Analog Four | Digitone | MPC Live | NI Maschine+
    Mac OS 13.5.1 (Ventura) | Cubase Pro 11.0 | Ableton Live 9.6 | Logic 10.4 | MainStage 3.4 | NI Komplete Ultimate 13 | RME Fireface UFX+

  • here's some info to you:


    the only component which is not 64 bit compatible is Virus Control Center. what we face right now are different issues we need to take a look at and especially the manufacturer of the driver has to take a look at. as for the Virus Control plug-in: midi works, audio doesn't.


    in theory, the firmware can be updated by using the installer, not only Virus Control Center. That doesn't work right now but it is not a problem of 32 bit code. We are looking into this as well and my hope is that we can rather easily solve that part.


    catalina in a problematic update for the entire audio industry. if you can, sit it out - that's what I will do on my music mac.


    i'm writing this on 9/10/19 - i'll keep you posted.


    hth, marc

  • Thank you very much for the info Marc


    in theory, the firmware can be updated by using the installer, not only Virus Control Center. That doesn't work right now but it is not a problem of 32 bit code. We are looking into this as well and my hope is that we can rather easily solve that part.

    I like this thought a lot!

    The VCC also allowed to fully backup and restore the whole Virus and to print Preset banks to the ROM banks, which is a rarely used but very cool feature! It would be nice if that functionality could be ported over.


    PS: now that Kyra is out, and it's still not close to the Virus TI, I'm more than ready to receive the Virus TI 3 with open arms and throw some money towards Access to support new features and software ;)

    Bass Player and Synthesist.
    Virus TI2 Darkstar | Virus TI2 Desktop | Sub 37 | Voyager RME | Machinedrum | Analog Four | Digitone | MPC Live | NI Maschine+
    Mac OS 13.5.1 (Ventura) | Cubase Pro 11.0 | Ableton Live 9.6 | Logic 10.4 | MainStage 3.4 | NI Komplete Ultimate 13 | RME Fireface UFX+

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von ozon ()

  • Hi Marc , It will be great if Access take this opportunity to develop official new UX/UI MIDI only plugin version with file management support 4k monitor. Separate the audio driver for the sound card and firmware updates. Just have users pay for the new plugin in order to support the development process.

  • Unfortunately some of us have no choice when our 7 year old mac dies and the new ones come forced with Catalina. Can I ask why support has been stopped for such an exceptional product? The only thing I can think of is to buy a mac model that originally shipped with an OS prior to Catalina, and that means It should be able to be downgraded. But new mac pro and 16" MacBook, no chance. I just don't understand why there have been no updates in 2 years, and I don't understand for the life of me why an AAX plugin wasn't made..Even small tiny indi developers do it.. I mean if worse came to worse you could have simply wrapped the AU in an AAX shell. I have always had the honest yet disturbing feeling in the last few years that Access couldn't care less about the Virus, yet still sell them happily for very high prices.


    Sometimes I wish I had just bought a second hadn't Virus B cause there are many proper plugin editors for those from third parties that can do much of what VCC does, including total recall. In fact, I might search to see if there is a plugin editor from a third party for the TI, that could solve the issue.. I won't be able to get USB audio but that doesn't matter for me personally, as I use the analog outs going into the UAD anyway so I have nice low latency and can apply gnarly UA effects :) Maybe guys this is the solution, to find a third party plugin editor and encourage them to keep updating it by giving the developers our money. Still, there must be something seriously wrong at Access when Apple has has hinted at the end of 64 bit for years, and flat out warned about it for over a year, and access didn't have a solution ready. It should have been priority one when these machines are still selling all over the place for four thousand Australian dollars.


    I would have to be literally out of my mind to give up OS X and a turnkey computer, to go to a custom windows build just for the virus, especially since I truly hate windows as an OS anyway. I just do not understand why the virus was so brazenly abandoned and why no AAX support came. Catalina is a real problem.. soon ANY mac sold will NOT be able to roll back lower than Catalina, and you guys should be on top of it NOW and get it 100% working. I came to the site today expecting to find a catalina installer and lo one behold, all I got was bad news.


    I tell you, if Access some day gets itself together and releases some new amazing synth product, I will never, ever buy it again.. This is it for me.. I spent a lot of money upon this virus TI2.


    Anyway, no matter what your rebuttal is, the fact of the matter is you had more than a year when you absolutely knew ALL 32 bit apple support was ending, and you didn't bother to provide a solution.