I purchased a second-hand Virus C in impeccable condition (aside from the rubber feet missing) with OS 6.5 installed. I wanted to try the newer OS 6.6 beta but I am having a little trouble installing it.
I downloaded and unzipped "Virus_C_Series_OSC660x367_INT.zip". After preparing the Virus by turning it on while holding STORE to get "Initialize...Edit-Buffers" and "OS UPDATE...[STORE] Receive<" and then pressing STORE again to get "RECEIVING UPDATE....waiting for data", I went through the following steps.
I tried FL Studio 9. FL Studio requires some enormously complex and obtuse process not even fully explained in its help file, to send a MIDI file to a MIDI hardware device. Honestly, it makes me wonder why I spent the money on it if it won't allow a simple send of a MIDI file through MIDI Out with anything less than a Space Shuttle Launch Sequence.
I tried Samplitude SE No. 9 (even though it's giving me some trouble staying registered.) Samplitude is not helping in that it won't load the MIDI file properly. The MIDI track is only a couple of minutes long, while the MIDI file is in reality six minutes twenty-one seconds when streamed properly, which I discovered when using MIDI-OX.
Neither of the sequencers play the MIDI file at anything approaching what appears to be the proper speed for reception by the Virus.
Then, there's MIDI-OX. I love MIDI-OX. At least it tries to do something intelligibly.
When I use MIDI-OX, the only program that makes a nearly full-hearted attempt at streaming the file "first_c_367_OS660.mid" through its MIDIBar player, I can see "Receiving SysEx....0....0" on the Virus display, and the Bank and Program numbers increase through to "Receiving SysEx....7....127". Then the display changes to "Recv. last bank....0" which proceeds to "Recv. last bank....15" at which point the Virus freezes, apparently waiting for something. None of the buttons on the Virus respond. All I can do is shut it off or try to send more data.
I try starting MIDIBar playing the file "virusc_second_1024.mid" but the Virus immediately displays "Block was missed....Please try again". I stop MIDIBar, press STORE, and start MIDIBar playing the second file from the beginning. The Virus displays "Receiving SysEx....8....0" through to "Receiving SysEx....15....127", and then does the "Recv. last bank....0" through to "Recv. last bank....15" again and there it stays. I press STORE but there is no response. There are no more files to send. The buffer is full, but the Virus is not at the point of burning it into ROM. I do not understand what is going on.
I thought perhaps it wants the A and B banks. I load "ABM.MID" into MIDIBar and start it. "Block was missed....Please try again". I stop the play, hit STORE and start the play again. "Checksum Error....Please try again".
I tried sending the original demo song file "second_c_367_OS660.mid" but MIDIBar only produces the error "The specified file cannot be played on the specified MCI device. The file may be corrupt, not in the correct format, or no file handler is available for this format."
I downloaded the file "Virus_C_Series_OSC660x367_INT.zip" again, but bit comparison shows both it and the original download are identical. I also tried the whole process with "Virus_OSC650x352_INT.zip" with exactly the same results as outlined here.
I tried all this with both "1 MIDI....ClockRx Auto<" and "1 MIDI....ClockRx Disable<".
Don't even get me started with the "OS in chunks". Each of them produces the same error as the demo song file.
This is most frustrating. I can only wonder in awe at how this synthesizer was upgraded to OS 6.5 previously. What titanic patience its original owner must have had. And what an astounding intellect. I am no fool, myself, but this is becoming beyond me.
What...am I doing...wrong?