Now that the Access Virus TI series has been formally discontinued, a group of software developers/music enthousiasts have created an open source emulator of the Virus TI/TI2 “OsTIRus” which they claim sounds the same as the hardware version. They haved Reverse Engineered and Emulated the Motorola DSP563xx chip. This DSP has been used in plenty of virtual analogue synthesizers and other musical gear that was released after around the mid 90s, such as Access Virus A, B, C, TI / Clavia Nord Lead 3 / Waldorf Q, Microwave II / Novation Supernova, Nova and many others.
I thought I can post this now here because it is a public release formally announced on their website.
Apparently it is not illegal to build and share an emulator as long as you don't share the corresponding ROM files of the hardware (which would be illegal).
The emulator is available in a Au/clap/VST2-3 version both for Mac and Windows, and has been released on 22th April 2024 to the public.
It was been developed and tested last year in a small online community with donations, and now is public released. I tried it and it works flawlessly, you can load/tweak any existing virus ti/2 soundbank and you can create your own sounds, just like the hardware version. Either fully in VST mode and/or use your virus TI to control the VST, even in Mac (M1). I can't hear any differences to be honest, but this could be personal taste/opinion. I do own an Access Virus TI2.
It also works with the virus software or Aura plugin to manage your patches.
The latest version of the VST also has a sophisticated patch manager built in, including selections of categories, tags and favourites.
The only requirement is that you have the original ROM file that comes with your Virus hardware synth, together with the VS file.
Please note that the ROM file is copyrighted, so only for rightfully Access Virus owners to use this and should not be obtained in any other way, because that could be considered illegal.
You can read about that here as well in th FAQ: https://dsp56300.wordpress.com…-faq-access-virus-ti-snow
There was already a version of the Virus A/B/C called “Osirus” which needs the rom file of these virus synths A/B/C.
If you want, give it a try, I think it is a tribute to all Access Music and all Access Virus owners to make sure the legend continues.
You can continue to use your Virus TI/2 together with this emulator on a recent Mac (M1), which is a big plus.
Website developers: