Virus TI Polar and Darkstar removed from major music retailer catalogs and Kemper shop.

Maybe the Motorola/Freescale 56k DSPs finally ran out of stock…

Zitat von djantimatter

Production ceased in 2019-20. More than likely they're dedicating their remaining stock to the KPA.......

Right, the KPA also uses these DSPs. Which would mean the end of that production is coming close as well.

Time for that Plan B (aka FPGA).

> Time for that Plan B (aka FPGA).

Would be great if NXP would license out their 56k IP so that companies relying on those ICs have the option to continue using their existing code but it doesn't appear to be something NXP is currently doing: https://www.nxp.com/products/n…ensing:IP-BLOCK-LICENSING

With that, I don't believe FPGAs to be an option. Instead, Access would have to perform a complete rewrite, which no one there has ever confirmed taking place as far as I know. However, considering that they *must* do this for the Kemper Amp as well since they otherwise have nothing to sell at all, I'm sure that they have been working on the Kemper Amp at least. The Virus? Who knows. As much as I love the Virus and what Christoph Kemper and his team have done, his continously abysmal business decisions don't give me much hope.

Well, I didn’t mean the FPGA to work as a direct replacement, but to offer a technology which is proven to work well for this purpose (see Valkyrie aka Waldorf KYRA).

A re-write will be necessary anyway to bring both products to the next level. So better start now, than wait until there’s nothing to sell anymore to carry the development over.

IMNSHO, the KPA is already way more outdated than the Virus will ever be. The KPA is a product which always competes with the original which it tries to emulate, while the Virus is an original in its own league - untouched by competition. The first is a technical utility, the latter a musical instrument with character. Pretty clear which product will stand the test of time.

If the Kemper company wants to achieve some longevity, they should definitely consider evolving the Virus to TI3, using current standards based technology and bring some features which will again blow any competition out of the water for the next two decades.

(it’s not even that hard to think of: All of the TI2 features plus some of the sound design capabilities offered by the Quantum, with a minimum of 1000 voices, possibly with durable and upgradeable hardware, implementing some long standing feature requests from this forum, like custom wavetables, full Digitone style FM, audio range LFOs, and there it is again: One synth to rule them all)

I see, thanks for clarifying.

On the note of Virus TI3:

I have no idea how serious he is. I've been let down by his vague statements and cocky behavior often enough but who knows.

Wow! One can only hope. What he achieved with the Virus was so incredible. And still is. Sound and function wise. An update would be insanely cool. A LOT to compete with nowdays, more than ever before. But that doesn't stop other hardware selling.

Even arturia can sell a hardware synth that also has a 1:1 replica in VST format. Yet people still choose to buy the hardware. A TI3 would sell like hotcakes regardless of if it could keep up with the likes of something like serum/pigments in terms of modulation and graphical interface.

I'd save for one.

Despite our anger about the lack of support for our beloved synth, one must be in awe of the unique music technology engineering prowess of Christoph Kemper. When you consider the Access Virus and Kemper Profiler product series, you must admit that Mr. Kemper’s achievements are unparalleled. Christoph created two of the most impactful musical tools of the last decades.

It is maddening and baffling. Incredible support and continuous upgrades for years, then radio silence.

someone even cleaned up the forum spam :d

vember I’ve been looking for that every time someone messes up the forum. I think that’s a good sign.

Hi all! Long time Virus owner here. As much as I’d like to see a new Virus model I am quite sceptic.

And as a professional musician I must also prepare myself to life after Virus, if it happens. Soundwise is there another synth on the market which can make quite similar stuff? I don’t need 16 ch multitimbrality maybe four independent parts is enough. Waldorf maybe?

yes Waldorf whith the Irridium or the Quantium

The Waldorf KYRA was quite similar to the Virus, but it’s discontinued.

Other Waldorf synths neither do virtual analogue nor hypersaw synthesis. And although the Virus also has wavetables, they sound quite different from the Waldorf/PPG set. The Virus also has unique filters, offers a wide array of wave shaping (distortion) effects and has quite good delays and reverbs. All of which are hard to find on other synths.

Zitat von ozon

Other Waldorf synths neither do virtual analogue

Blofeld?

GESchwalm I owned a Blofeld before I bought my TI2 Desktop.

It’s a very cool synthesizer, and in some ways even more flexible than the Virus (example - the modulation matrix is really “anything modulating anything” in a Blofeld). If you like the sound and can live with the “matrix” control setup, buy it. It’s a great value. I never had a problem navigating the control matrix. It quickly became intuitive to me.

I sold my Blofeld because I found it unreliable for multis, and for the brief period I had the two next to each other, I preferred the sound of the Virus. That’s just me. There’s so much to like about the Blofeld.

What clinched the “deal” for me to sell the Blofeld was the feeling that the Virus was rock solid when I made and used multis. The Blofeld has much more limited polyphony, exhibits much more voice-stealing and has less useful effects. The idea that I had to think through how I would deploy effects in a Blofeld multi felt like a waste of my limited music time. Also, if you’re using a “multi” in a Virus TI, you’ve got 6 independently assigned outputs, with the bonus of 2 inputs that you can apply all of the TI’s vast sound shaping and effects powers to. I have not seen anything else that can do this, let alone a Blofeld. Just the ability to sequence multiple tracks and feed them to separate channels on my mixer made it easier. How do you gain-stage 3 sounds coming out of the same outputs?

Now that I have had the TI2 Desktop for a year, I wouldn’t give it up. As you may have read, I’ve purchased 3 of the Virus TI2 DSP chips as an insurance policy. If I need to get the unit repaired, I’ve got a few extras of the one hard to source part. I hope to keep this synth running for many years!

Even so, the Blofeld is truly a sound-design powerhouse and an incredible value. It’s also so nice that it’s very small, especially for a “bedroom studio” like many of us live with.

If you have unlimited budget and can “live with” 24 voice polyphony and 4-part multitimbrality with 8 assignable outs, there’s the 3rd Wave desktop on its way out in November. The keyboard version is earning rave reviews.

Zitat von GESchwalm

Blofeld?

More virtual than analogue

And isn’t it discontinued as well?

ozon its still in stock at Sweetwater.

When I had my Blofeld Desktop, I did request support on a few issues. It was slow, but I got answers.

Just like Access, they aren’t updating the firmware any more, but other than multi-mode, it’s stable. It seems to be based on a variant of the same Motorola Freescale 56k DSP as the Virus, so at some point production will stop.

As to the analog vs digital question, just like with the Virus, clever sound design can produce pretty convincing “analog” voices with Blofeld. Among others, I had this soundset on my Blofeld, which is quite good:

Soundset Analog Voltage

Encouraged by that, Solaris went one step further, pulling out his old vintage analog synths off the storage area and going for the hard work of measuring the…

waldorfmusic.com