Beiträge von SimonO

Yamaha FC-7 works fine for me.

A Virus TI, especially a Snow judging from what you are saying, is just not the best tool for that particular job. A synth with an architecture like the Virus's is never going to be able to compare with a sample-based synth or tone generator, such as my Yamaha Motif-Rack XS, which can have dozens of different percussion sounds, each on a different key and based on samples of real instruments. I agree though, it would be great if there was a synth that could do all that and could do what the Virus can do!

Simon

I got delay with Pro Tools 9 at first but I fixed it.

The document "Tutorial How to setup the Virus TI with Digidesign Pro Tools 7" is out of date and could do with an update on tuning version 9 of Pro Tools with Virus Control. The new procedure is quite different from what it was for Pro Tools 7, which is what is documented in the tutorial. See thread
"Updated instructions for Pro Tools 9?"
http://virus.info/forum/index.php?page=Thread&postID=11177

Following the instructions in the above thread fixed the problem for me.

Simon

I want to be able to run Virus Control in standalone mode, i.e. without having to use it as a plugin to a sequencer. As there is no direct provision for Virus Control to work this way, I have take the advice given elsewhere in the forum to try a free VST host application. These are supposed to provide a simple, low-overhead wrapper to allow a single VST plugin to be used. I have tried Savihost, Minihost and Cantabile Lite. I have not been able to get any of them to usefully work. Judging from its frequent recommendation and mention on the forum, Savihost is the most popular Windows VST host for the Virus. So I may have the best chance getting some help from the forum to get that particular VST host working.

When Virus Control starts up in Savihost, it shows an error message to the right of the plugin's Virus TI caption below its controls:
"A Sync error occurred. Press Stop and Play to clear."

Despite this message, Virus control does actually communicate with the synth fine. Parameters modified in Virus Control change the synths sound. And parameters changed with knobs on the synth are reflected graphically in Virus Control. To get any sound, I have to have to turn on the Virus Control's Direct button for the part being played. Nothing wrong with that, I would expect to do so.

The problem is that there is a delay of a large fraction of a second between a key being pressed on my Polar and the corresponding note sounding.

This is surely a latency problem. To fix it, I thought the first thing to try would be to set the buffer size for the Virus Asio driver to the minimum of 128. But I cannot see how to do that in Savihost. In Savihost's Engine Configuration dialogue box, there is a Priority page where I tried setting the various priorities to High or Highest. That did not help. I have Virus Control working very well with Pro Tools, with no noticeable note delay, on the same computer. So it ought to be possible with a small VST host like Savihost. I would appreciate any suggestions.

Simon

There are several manuals included in the Virus TI software download that are not listed for individual download on the web site. One of these is Virus Control Tuturial. It was published in 2006, so it is somewhat out of date. But it does contain a long section on the Browser page, which I don't think has changed much since the tutorial was published. To find the tutorial in Windows 7:

Start Menu > All Programs > Access Music > Virus TI > Documentation > Tutorials > Virus Control Plug-In > Vurus Control Tutorial

It would be much the same in earlier versions of Windows and must be something similar on a Mac.

I have found the videos to be very good for more up to date info on Virus Control. But it would be great if Access would find time to update the Virus Control Tuturial into a comprehensive manual. It would be complement the videos. While the videos are ideal for demonstrating interactivity, a manual would be much easier for looking up something specific.

Other documents in the softtware download but not listed onn the web site include:

The tutorials for using Virus Control with specific sequencers
(The one for Pro Tools is out of date and could do with some info on tuning the latest version (9) of Pro Tools with Virus Control. The new procedure is quite different from what it was for Pro Tools 7, which is what is documented in the tutorial. See http://virus.info/forum/index.…light=pro+tools#post11177)

Virus TI Setup Guide
(Very useful, particularly for getting Virus Control to work with sequencers.)

Addendum
(Documents several newer features that are not mentioned in the Reference Manual.)

I also have occasionally had problems with the Browser being unresponsive. I thought it might just be something I was doing wrong. But, on reading these reports from other users, I wonder if maybe there really is a specific bug to be fixed. If there is, I can imagine that it might be tricky to pin down, as it appears to be an intermittent problem.

Simon

Or, to be safe, you could use a passive 75 ohm (S/PDIF) to 110 ohm (AES/EBU) impedance transformer, such as the Neutrik NADITBNC-M:
http://www.neutrik.com/fl/en/a…18/NADITBNC-M_detail.aspx

75 ohm to 110 ohm transformers all seem to have BNC sockets at the S/PDIF end. So you will need to connect the transformer to the synth via a BNC to RCA S/PDIF cable. That kind of cable is rather rare, but it does exist. The transformers have a choice of either female or, like the Neutrik NADITBNC-M, male XLR at the AES/EBU end. Male is better in this case because you can use a standard male to female AES/EBU XLR cable to connect the transformer to the audio interface.

Simon

It would be useful if global default outputs could be set in the configuration parameters. I'm not sure how this would work for "multi" patches. But the output for all "single" patches could be globally routed to Output 2 or Output 3 instead of Output 1. There would also be provision for mono output, where the left and right channels would be mixed together to a single output port such as Output 1 L.

In the absence of this global output routing facility, the outputs have to be changed separately for each single patch and for each part of a multi patch. This clearly is not practical if the requirement is to have the same outputs for all patches while being able to change what the outputs should be.

As an example of how this could be useful, let me describe how my Virus is amplified in my home studio. When I'm working by myself, I like to use a pair of active near-field studio monitors. I connect the Virus to the monitors (via a passive line-level selector that allows a choice of stereo inputs to the monitors) using a pair of balanced cables. When I'm playing with other musicians in the home studio, I usually play the Virus through a mono keyboard amp that has the usual unbalanced instrument input. I connect the Virus to the keyboard amp via an unbalanced passive mono merge adaptor I had made for me and an unbalanced instrument cable.

Currently, every time I want to switch from the stereo monitors to the keyboard amp, I have to unplug the two balanced cables from the Virus's Output 1 L and Output 1 R and plug the two input jacks of the mono merge adaptor into the same two output sockets.

If the Virus provided global output routing, I would be able to have the two balanced cables permanently plugged into Output 1 L and Output 1 R and the unbalanced instrument cable permanently plugged into Output 2 L, dispensing with the need for the mono merge adaptor. When I want to play through the monitors, I would select Output 1 L and Output 1 R as the global stereo outputs. When I want to play through the keyboard amp, I would select Output 2 L as the global mono output.

I have written to Access Music Support about this. They agree that it is a bug with the latest public beta and have just now reported it to the TIOS developers.

Meanwhile, category filtering still works fine in Virus Control. But I often don't have my virus connected to a computer. So it will be good to get the hardware-based category filtering working.

Simon

If the Save button of one of the active patches is clicked in Virus Control, the list of existing patches shown when a RAM bank is selected does not get updated with any patches that have been added to the bank in the current session.

Increasing the knob display time does make the category show for several seconds. But it still does not filter the programs by category, even if I start turning knob 3 with shift down while the category is still showing.

I agree, it looks like a bug. But I cannot be sure, as I still do not know for certain what changing the category is supposed to do or in what context it needs to be changed to have an effect. So I shall email support about this and report back to this thread what I find out.

AtonyB, what version of TIOS do you have installed on your Virus?

That's a reasonable suggestion and one that crossed my mind too. But that is not what happens. While holding down the shift button, as soon as I take my hand off soft knob one and start turning soft knob three to select the program, it is as if I had never touched knob one and there is no filtering of the programs by category. Even if I don't touch any other knobs, the category name vanishes from the display about one second after I stop turning knob 1 if I am still holding the shift button down. Again, the result is as if I had never selected a category.

Under the "Value 1" caption of Soft Knob 1 on the Virus TI2, it says "Category" in smaller letters. That suggests that, while the Shift button is held down, the knob functions to select the category. Sure enough, when I do that, the knob enumerates through a list of all the categories. But, as soon as I release the Shift button, the display reverts to showing the main page of the patch that was already selected. Nothing appears to have changed as a result of me trying to select a category. There has to be a trick to the proper usage of this function. I cannot believe that it is merely supposed to show a list of what all the categories are! I cannot find anything about it in the manuals. I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

Simon

Zitat von Roby31

Once for all That is the DSP use meter, it shows the complexity of a patch. The manual refers to it talking about polyphony consumption

Yes, the symbol is documented in the About Polyphony section of the Quickstart Manual:

Zitat

To help give you a rough idea of how many voices you can expect to achieve with your chosen patch, we have provided a patch complexity meter in the top right hand side of the display.
There are five levels of complexity, with level 1 being the least complex, and hence allowing for the highest voice-counts.

But, although I have read the whole manual cover to cover, I had forgotten that. So I had to find this this thread to tell me what the symbol means. The problem with what appears to be that only reference to the patch complexity meter symbol in either of the main manuals is that it helps if you already have some idea what the symbol might mean when looking it up in the manuals. So may I make a suggestion for future versions of the Quickstart Manual? It would be great if there were to be a section, probably near the beginning of the manual, that provided a guide to the display, or at least to its main page.

In the mean time, here are a couple of other symbols whose meaning I think I know, though I cannot find where they might be documented in the manuals. In thread http://virus.info/forum/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=1495, Marc says

Zitat

the virus shows a little note symbol when it receives a midi note.

Sure enough, when I play a note on a MIDI keyboard that I have plugged into my Virus TI2, a crotchet (quarter-note) symbol appears in the bottom right of the Virus's display. Also, when the Virus receives a control change message via its MIDI In socket, a round symbol, mostly dark but with a light splodge in its top left, appears in the bottom right of the Virus's display. (I have no idea what that symbol is supposed to be a picture of!)

Simon

By default, the hold pedal (foot switch) sends CC#64 Sustain. But it can be configured to send any other MIDI control change number, including CC#66 Sostenuto. When the hold pedal is configured, the display shows "SostPedalS #66" rather than just "#66". That suggests that Sostenuto is or is supposed to be implemented on the Virus. But I have not been able to get it to do anything. (CC#64 Sustain works fine.) Has anyone else got CC#66 Sostenuto working? If so, is there a trick to it?

If you are wondering what Sostenuto is supposed to do, it emulates the behaviour of a grand piano's middle pedal. With Sustain, note release is blocked for all notes played while the hold pedal is on. With Sostenuto, all notes that were already on when the hold pedal is pressed will have their releases blocked while all notes played while the hold pedal is on will release normally. A typical use would be to play a chord and, while the chord is held down, press Sostenuto, then, while Sostenuto is on, take the hands of the chord and play some more notes. This is really good for sustaining a chord without having to hold it down while playing a melodic run over the top of it.

Simon

If you are using the Firefox web browser, you can also use Firefox's DownloadHelper add-on to save the Virus videos to your hard disc.

The video "Classic Oscillators Part 1" is listed on the web site as "Virtual Analogue Oscillators Part 1". Whichever variant of the title you prefer, the title implies that there is or will be a "Part 2" video. And the Part 1 video's narration says that there will be a Part 2, concentrating on oscillators 2 and 3, as Part 1 itself concentrates on oscillator 1.

I cannot find a "Classic Oscillators Part 2" or "Virtual Analogue Oscillators Part 2" video on the web site. Has the video been produced? If so, where may it be found?