Can the Virus VSTi plug-in be used with REAPER?

    I'm not seeing any obvious way of using my shiny new Virus TI2 keyboard with REAPER. I saw some threads that appeared to imply that it isn't supported in REAPER. If not, please advise, and if so, could someone point me to a tutorial or readme? I'd really rather not pay as much as I would have to for the ostensibly supported hosts as the licenses for REAPER are $60 individual/$225 professional. If I have to bite the bullet, so be it, but I was hoping I could get a definitive answer up here.


    TIA,


    Daniel
    Seattle, WA

    From my experience, it works in Reaper. The only serious problem is huge latency, ~5000 samples, making it unusable for any kind of live playing. I work around it by drawing notes with the mouse, luckily I make electronic music :P
    Switching Virus Control to LIVE mode brings latency down to acceptable level, but the timing of sequenced parts starts to drift - so you can use it for playing, but not for sequencing.


    Why don't you try it yourself and let us know how it works for you?


    I can upload a sample Reaper project with Virus Control plugin, but in fact it's really straightforward.
    Right-click on the track control panel, choose "Insert virtual instrument on new track..." and select the "Virus TI" plugin.
    You'll be offered to add 16 tracks for 16 MIDI channels, I suggest you accept this option.
    (note though that I have a TI Desktop and a separate controller keyboard... not sure how it is with a keyboard Virus).


    hope this helps

    Thank you very much for your reply! The problem I'm hitting my head up against is that as soon as I load the VSTi plugin, they keyboard goes mute. It appears to be communicating with the computer, as it changes patches when I use the Virus Control browser to find patches and double-click on them. I just can't get it to make a sound after the plugin loads and I can't switch to Single or Multi mode with the keyboard buttons unless and until I exit REAPER. When I try to record, selecting either MIDI or Out 1 / Out 2, nothing happens. I've hunted around for monitoring buttons, tried several different channels, arming them with record mode, clicked on every stinking button I can find in the REAPER interface, hunted through Preferences for anything relevant, nothing. Nada y pues nada y pues nada. It is driving me totally crazy. There is no headphone output once the plugin loads. If I crank the volume on a channel I can hear a slight amount of static, but not a peep from the keyboard. Any ideas?

    Once the VST is running, the Virus is in a different mode (the funny thing is, when you unload the VST it goes back to exactly where it was before you started the VST...). All the sound goes straight to the host using the USB connection and nothing goes out to the Virus physical audio outputs unless you specifically say so in the VST's common screen. Regarding the keyboard, please check that the Virus MIDI interface is enabled as input, and for whatever track you're arming, just tell it to grab data from all MIDI inputs.
    Good luck.

    When I add the Virus Control as a virtual instrument in the channel strip on the left, it offers to create 4 channels, one MIDI channel and 3 stereo channels for 1/2, 3/4, and 5/6, I assume corresponding to the outputs of the TI. I armed all of the channels and tried to record and I get nothing, no MIDI and no audio. I also don't see any channel activity either before or during recording. I would expect the meters to register something even if there is nothing audible, but that is not the case.


    I tried copying every DLL I could find from the installation of the Virus Control software into the plugins/FX folder of REAPER but that didn't have any effect. (I had to copy the "Virus TI.dll" file into that folder in order for the Virus to even appear as a virtual instrument.)


    Is THIS why Access doesn't support REAPER? How is it possible that other people are getting it to work? I've been working at this non-stop for 5 days. Granted, I'm not very bright, but it just CAN'T be this hard, can it? Should I just hang it up and use one of the supported sequencers? I'm about ready to throw my laptop out the window.

    I have to apologize first off for how slow and ignorant I am. I can sort of follow your conversations, but I am still completely in the dark as far as audio goes. When I open a new Reaper project and add the TI as a virtual instrument, it gives me the option of creating 4 tracks, the first one apparently a MIDI track and 3 more of what are apparently audio tracks.It also tells me that if I don't add the extra 3 tracks, then only only the stereo 1/2 outputs will be audible without further routing. Whaa??!! When I load a patch for the MIDI track (track 1) and play the keyboard, the sound level meters show levels for tracks 1 and 2. So, expecting to get audio on track 2, I arm both it and track one and record. I get MIDI events on track 1 but on track 2, nothing but a flat, silent waveform. Isn't there a way to record the USB 1/2 audio coming from the TI? I am so bloody confused. Is there a tutorial anywhere on how the routing is laid out on the TI and how it interacts with sequencers? I've tried tweaking the routing every which way from Sunday and nothing works.


    I'm really sorry for asking so much, but it just seems like one should be able to make the connections and start recording without the necessity of acquiring so much occult knowledge.

    It would seem that the thread to which you pointed me (thanks, btw) is only having to do with MIDI. I am JUST not getting how to record audio in Reaper. I can record MIDI just fine, but am totally clueless about recording audio. I get the options of In 1 / In 2 as well as ReaRoute 1 / ReaRoute 2 (3, 4, etc.) for inputs and have tried both the In and ReaRoute options, but I get nothing. Just a flatline audio recording. Any idea how my poor, tiny little brain might be able grasp what's going on?

    I am >< this close to throwing Reaper in the bit bucket and throwing down for Cubase or SONAR, but aren't I just going to have the same problems with those? The Access tutorial for Cubase is 3 versions out of date, so I can see myself ending up in the same boat as an unsupported sequencer. Can you tell I'm just a tiny bit frustrated?

    The bottom line appears to be Reaper's inability to render/bounce to audio files using the Virus' hardware/software. Tried it's "Render" function and all I got was something like the sound of aliens landing (not the intended sounds). I'm throwing in the towel and just going with Cubase. I was considering SONAR but it really looks like it's tailored to rap and similar forms of primal noise, and the interface looks like a busy collage of unnecessary eye candy.


    Thanks to all for your help and patience.

    flabberbob's suggestion regarding Online Rendering is likely the key to your problem; I had the same issue (took me forever to figure that one out). When I did offline rendering, I ended up with extremely quiet tracks and when I boosted the volume, it sounded, as you said, like aliens. Switched it to Online Rendering, and everything was great.


    What I do, is create a new project, add the Virus as a virtual instrument.
    After adding it, rightclick in the section of the Fx window left of the Virus Control, and select Build 16 channels of MIDI.
    Then, I add some MIDI to the track labeled Virus TI MIDI 1; I Insert a midi track there, then right click on it and use the built in midi editor.
    After that, I make sure I'm at the start of the track and hit play. There should be sound at that point.
    If there is sound, rendering should work. So I select the render option, and in that menu, like flabberbob said, make sure it uses Online Rendering instead of using Offline Rendering or Full Speed Rendering or anything like that.

    Okay, you might be in some luck, if you haven't jumped ship from Reaper yet. :D Lucky for you, I switched to Reaper a week back, coming from Logic + Ableton!


    So first things first, with the Virus plugin inserted on a track as a new virtual instrument in Reaper, the keyboard wasn't working. I could still trigger the sound from my MIDI controller or the Virtual Keyboard. Not sure why this happens, since it works perfectly fine in Ableton and Logic.


    To rectify this, Goto the CONFIG menu on your Virus synth. A couple of menus later (3 or 4 clicks) you'll see an option for 'LOCAL'. I had to turn this ON. (Although an error pops up saying it's not recommended while using it as a plugin, but meh, it works) Not sure, why this has to be done only in Reaper, but does the trick for me now.




    I do not use any of the audio outputs of the Virus. I merely use it with USB. So when I initiate the plugin, I choose 'NO' for the stereo output options.
    Next, I double click to add 3 more tracks (you can do it for all 16 if you want).


    Now, assuming we are working with 'Track 2' corresponding with the 2nd patch on the Virus, click on the 'I/O' tab on the Track, which will pop up a routing option for sends and receives.


    Add a new SEND, going to your plugin track.


    It should then show you the send settings.


    In the SEND (going to the Virus) settings, at the bottom you will find a Audio and MIDI routing tab.


    In the MIDI routing tab, set the first one to ALL and the next one to the channel on the Virus you want it routed to, in this case 2.


    There, any MIDI on track 2 should now correspond to patch 2 and you could do the same with the following channels.



    Once setup up, group them into a folder and save as a template. Next time you open up, just load from template and you'll have your Virus ready to go within seconds.



    I hope this helps, I just figured it out a couple of minutes ago and was scouting for alternative options when I saw this thread.


    Similar to other DAW's, all your audio will be coming from the track with the plugin instance. You can mute/unmute and record your parts out or leave them as MIDI and finally render. Not sure if Reaper supports offline rendering for the Virus, Ableton didn't.


    Good Luck! :thumbup:

    Wow! Thanks for all of your help. I have pretty much jumped overboard on the Reaper, but I might just go back and give it a try. I really appreciate the detailed help! Meanwhile...


    I'm afraid I'm facing a MUCH LARGER PROBLEM: The USB ports on my Asus G73JW are not dedicated ports. They're ALL HUBS. You may remember the dire warning in the manual about NOT USING USB HUBS (and apologizing for shouting - well-mannered folk, these Access people). So as far as using Total Integration with this laptop, it looks like I'm a fupped duck. It has one USB 3.0 port, which I suspect is also a hub, but that one doesn't work with the TI. Windows tries to load the driver with the TI plugged in to that port and fails dismally.


    So here's another question: Does anyone know about USB 3.0 support from Access? Is there a version of the OS that supports it? Is that another wild goose chase?

    All is not lost. If the other devices on the shared USB hub are all USB2.0 devices (none is USB1.1 or less - use the profiler in mac and device manager in "devices by connection" mode in windows to find out), you are still good to go. If not, a USB2.0 hub dedicated to the Virus will work, probably with increased latency. A better solution will be to get an express card of USB ports that will be dedicated to the virus. Also, a few users have reported success with USB3 - try to search the forum.