Setup guide for Access virus and Cubase 8.5

Cubase didn’t change too much over the years, but 8.5 is a bit dated indeed. There probably haven’t been a lot of tutorial videos around back when it was released.

However, before we try to dive into that, what version of the MPC software are you running on macOS? Maybe Cubase is not necessary.

AFAIR, there’s a tutorial on how to set up the Virus TI with Cubase published by Access Music. Should be somewhere on Youtube…

…couldn’t find it, unfortunately. But there’s a lot tutorials on all aspects of the Virus TI.

Anyway, before hopping into bed, a short guide:

- open Cubase

- create new Project

- create Instrument track and insert the Access Virus Control plugin

- plugin will load and connect to the Virus (but I don’t know how it selects to which device if several are available)

- set input of Instrument track to Virus synth

- activate MIDI input for the track (small button with speaker icon)

You should now be able to play notes on the TI keyboard which are routed through the VC plugin back to the Virus, and you should be able to hear the sound of the TI through the Cubase master channel.

All OTTOMH sitting on the sofa not in front of my Mac…

PS: the proper way to do it, would be not to use an Instrument track but to add the Virus Control plugin to the Rack and add MIDI tracks which are routed to that Rack instrument.

I just checked: MPC2 allows to use VST and AU plugins.

Unfortunately I can neither test this nor walk you through a MPC2 or Cubase setup, because I'm not on macOS 10.14 Mojave anymore and therefore had to uninstall the Access Virus software. Maybe I can get it running on my old MacBook Pro.

Edit:

I completely erased my old MacBook Pro after moving the the Mac mini. It's currently on macOS 10.15. It would be a couple of hours of work to reinstall 10.14 and get all relevant music software up and running. Sorry, but I can't do that.

Ok, ok, I slowly get the picture. So you're really just using the MPC live, not the MPC2 desktop application at all.

In the mean time, I set up my old MacBook Pro with 10.14.6 Mojave. That has been quite the journey... Apple makes it really not easy to install a deprected macOS on a deprecated machine. After about an hour of digging around on the support pages, I found out that I already had made a bootable stick to install Mojave or Catalina about two years ago. Totally forgotten about that. That made it easier all of a sudden and about 30 Minutes later, my MBP was running on Mojave.

Just finished installing the Virus Software. Also had totally forgotten that the installer requires the Virus to be hooked up to the computer, and that it forces a Virus OS update. Which takes ages. Like another 30 Minutes. And the progress bar didn't move one pixel all that time, so I was a bit worried I had just bricked my Darkstar.

Now all I'm missing is a Cubase installation. Gotta dig around to find that one. Haha.

Ok, even found the 8.5 installer on my NAS! Only problem I had was with the eLicenser that was installed, because it didn't work anymore. Downloading and installing the most current one worked.

In the mean time... I made two videos...

Create a new project in Cubase 8.5 and set up Virus Control plugin... now I have to find a way to upload it...

Providing a video turns out to be a bit more difficult than though. And this nice forum editor does not allow me to remove the wrong attachments...

Gonna try to put them on YT... give me another 15 minutes to figure that one out again...

Here are the videos on YouTube:

Setup Cubase project for Virus TI:

Remove unnecessary Virus TI plugins from Cubase:

BTW, I did literally nothing else than installing the software on a fresh OS and what you see in the video. No other setups were required.

Zitat von rhbmcse

Device Setup first and foremost:

I've renamed the Ports show as names for simplicity and the necessary ports are showing as active.

MIDI ports is a bit strange:

All MIDI INs show as Active, but MIDI OUTs all show as Inactive for some reason ? - Is this normal ?

Also not sure whether I actually need TI2 MIDI and DS MIDI 'Visible' as I think the TI carries itself over the MIDI Synth channel - can you confirm ?

I remember configuring Buses within CB

I've configured Input Buses for my TI2, Darkstar, MiniBrute and Vocals.

Alles anzeigen

Ok, you are a bit further than I though. My initial intent was only to provide you the Virus Editor and Librarian you already have by using the Access Virus Control plugin from any VST host (in your case: Cubase 8.5).

Now we're looking at a full studio setup

If you are working within Cubase and are using the Virus Control plugin to control your Virus synths, then you don't need audio connections since the Virus TI means that the sound is transferred digitally via USB into Cubase and can there be recorded right from the Plugin into an audio track. However, there are different ways to achieve this, and some prefer to just use the VC plugin as editor and use the conventional MIDI and audio to work within Cubase (or other DAW).

Regarding your questions:

- MIDI Ports for the Virus: Synth is the synth itself, MIDI are the DIN MIDI ports at the backside of the synths

- The MIDI outputs are also inactive in my setup (don't know what that means, never thought about it)

- I think the Virus MIDI ports are actually irrelevant when working with the VC plugin which seems to establish a direct connection to the Virus

Zitat von rhbmcse

Thanks again Oli.

I too LOVE my virus' (both) - hence I bought a Darkstar to compliment the TI2 - It's an obsession.

I absolutely HAVE to master this stuff and your assistance has been invaluable.

Not sure how I can pay you back for what you've done for me ?

That aside - I've both connected to the Mac and am only seeing one virus.

Maybe 2 x TI's is too much Cubase to handle ?

P.S. - I got the TI working as a VST - thank you.

Guess there's a long way to go yet...

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Just trying to give the world something back...

Cubase should be able to handle as many Virus as you have. What do you mean by seeing only one Virus, the MIDI connections for both are already showing in your screenshots. But AFAIK, you need a dedicated Virus Control instance for each.

Tip: Maybe try to master this setup with just one Virus first. And then add another level of complexity. Your initial goal of transferring sounds from the Darkstar to the Keyboard should be possible with just connecting one at a time.

For recording the Virus (if you don't want to stress the Render in Place function of Cubase) you need to set up an additional Group Track as follows:

- Virus TI Out 1 send output to Group Track ("Virus Recorder")

- Group Track ("Virus Recorder") send output to main

- Audio Track set input to "Virus Recorder"

One instance of Virus Control connects to one Virus synth hardware. I have never tried that, but I would expect that you have to add another instance of the Virus Control plugin in the Cubase Rack and then there must be some way to distinguish/select the hardware to which it should correspond.