Posts by Delsys

Hi, Will! Greetings from Ottawa! Not as picturesque as Nelson, for sure.

I'm just discovering your Virus-related videos. Haven't worked through all the comments posted on Youtube, but in this one you don't mention that Kemper, who makes the Virus, is refusing to update the TI software, so that feature is pretty much useless now for Mac users on the latest OS, and definitely for anyone who acquires a Mac with the new chip.

My guess is that for somebody with your amazing background and depth of professional experience, the need to use the Virus basically as an un-integrated hardware synth is not a big issue. But, for any new purchasers, and for those of us to relied on the integration of audio via midi, not on the analog outputs. it's a major annoyance, to say the least.

That said, this video was so very informative. I had no knowledge of the previous models and the all details you had at your fingertips, was simply amazing. So, "Grandpa", thanks for this excellent video. Made me want to roll up my sleeves, and spend some quality time exploring the amazing instrument that I own.

As small business owner, I'm actually shocked by Kemper's lack of concern for the many, many, Virus owners throughout the world. Generally, abandoning loyal customers and ignoring their expressed concerns is NOT a good business strategy. I keep fantasizing that they are actually secretly working on updating the Virus Control Centre software for the now, not so new, Mac OS and the Apple silicon computers. But, realistically, I have to accept that it's just wishful thinking. I just really can't understand the indifference that's being shown to us.

I relied entirely on the Control Centre software for all the projects I did with Logic Pro X. Didn't routinely name the patches for the Virus tracks in Logic because they were recalled correctly when I loaded the project into Logic. Recently, I've had to go back to audition and potentially re-work some of those quite old tracks and, of course, I can't load Control Centre. I know the tracks were Virus, I have the midi data for the sequence, but I have no idea what the sounds were that I used.

Got the Mystery Islands Virus TI editor plugin working (easier than it first seemed, but I had to dig out and study both the Virus manual and the online Mystery Islands manual) and am outputting Virus analog outputs to my Apollo. Works quite well, although I'm not able to have Logic save the various settings in the Mystery Islands plugin so need to re-do basic settings including midi in, midi out, type of Virus, loading banks, and loading programs to a Part every time I open a project that uses the plugin. That's all supposed to be saveable in Logic Pro X as channel strip setting, but doesn't work for me, at least now yet. BUT, at least I have the Virus functional in my setup.

Frankly, I'd gladly pay to get an updated version of Control Centre. And, if Kemper isn't interested in doing it, then perhaps they should sell the damn application to a developer (for 1$, which is more than it's worth right now) who might be willing to put in the effort. That's the least they could do to demonstrate a little respect, and consideration, for Virus owners.

Just discovered that activating Live mode fixes the problem of the lag with the Virus responding to Midi when using Catalina and Logic Pro X. I confirmed that the timing of the recorded midi data is good. Virus is now usable for me again using audio outs instead of usb audio. Would still really, really appreciate getting updated software from Access that is compatible with Catalina.

I don't normally post in forums, but would like to voice my support for Access (as soon as possible) developing and releasing an update to the software to provide compatibility with OSX Catalina. I would happily pay for a software update that allowed me to use my Virus again. Right now my Polar, which is really the most important instrument I have in my studio, is basically unusable because of timing lags.

I've read all the threads on this issue here in the Access forums. I've switched outputs from USB to audio, but that hasn't helped. I can select patches in my Polar via the software, but it is impossible to use the Polar keyboard to input midi tracks because there is a significant delay in the Polar responding to real-time midi input routed through Logic. There is also a lag if I use another controller keyboard with the midi routed to the Polar, so that work-around wasn't successful. Interestingly, though, there isn't a problem using the Polar as a controller keyboard for software instruments or for my Minitaur.

Anyway, I'm a patient person and I really do appreciate the amazing quality of the Polar. Have never regretted purchasing it. But, would really, really, like to be able to get it functional again.

Flabberbob: Thanks again for the advice on disabling plugins and also the designer who uses non-alphanumeric characters. I hadn't picked up on that. I hadn't thought of disabling the plugins, although perhaps I should have after last night. I spent about 2 hours struggling to install plugins from Waldorf. Became intimately re-acquainted with the vagaries of getting 32 bit plugins to be recognized in Logic under 64 bit mode. Some very strange behaviour from Logic, claiming that it had quit unexpectedly during the AU scan, but it hadn't really quit.

Last night I decided that one way to make it easier to shift from the Polar in my home studio setup to the Snow in my daytime setup was to duplicate each of the Polar tracks in Logic, but re-assign the I/O to a channel in the Snow and then find and load the same patch. I figured that when I was working with the Snow, I'd simply mute the Polar tracks and when working with the Polar, I'd mute the Snow tracks. Thought this might work because I know other forum members use a TI and Snow simultaneously.

Didn't work for me and I am wondering if it is because when I load the project on one computer, Logic wants to see both of Access instruments, not just one of them?

What I got on my Polar setup was just a constant kind of buzzing noise being output from the Polar track. And, of course, nothing at all from the Snow track because there was no Snow attached.

Any suggestions? I've tried relaunching Logic, rebooting the Polar and the Snow. Could try reinstalling the TI software, but I just did that last week to fix another problem with the display of patch names.

OK. That's what I figured. Yes, you are right, I am aware of MIDI sysEx messages, although I really haven't done a great deal with them, at least not knowingly. Am currently implementing your suggestions about keeping the midi and the bounced audio tracks next to each other in the arrange page.

Patch name display on my Polar has gotten a bit screwed up for some reason. A number of the patches in in RAM bank display as a series of symbols, (parentheses, colons, etc.) instead of real names. I am pretty sure they weren't this way originally. I just noticed it last night late, so haven't had time to explore. I hope the work-around is simply to restore the patches from ROM, but haven't checked to see if they are messed up as well. I assume they should be good because I haven't burned anything to ROM and therefore the data for each patch, including patch name should remain unchanged.

Thanks for the advice and explanations, Flapperbob. Good point about the benefits of listening to the track as it is being bounced in realtime. I rarely listen to a track solo after I lay down what I think is a good take and it is probably a bad habit, because I know that I can't always pick out subtle mistakes when listening to the full mix. And, even if the original take is OK, I can (and do) create errors if I shift or edit MIDI regions and get them even slightly out of sync.

I didn't appreciate the distinction between midi automation and plugin automation, so that was really very helpful.

Regarding your suggestion of using a MIDI program/bank change command, could you elaborate a bit on your suggestion? I am embarrassed to admit that I really have never thought about how a patch file for any instrument is actually structured. I always assumed they were proprietary to the particular instrument.

I understand how a MIDI command for a patch/bank change works. It just points to a particular location and whatever patch is there, gets called up. But the patch information itself is, I assume, a different kind of file and assume that it is really just a particular combination of parameters relating to the oscillators, filters, envelopes, effects, etc.? So, this could be proprietary to the instrument (so patch files for massive would be different from those for Virus), or are they called up via MIDI parameters (i.e., a ".mid" file)?

I have checked some of the other threads on the forum to get a handle on this, and saw some of your previous posts relating to .mid files, but am still not clear on the distinctions. Also tried a web search but didn't find a clear explanation.

I can't believe I really don't understand so fundamental a concept, after all these years of working with MIDI, but I guess getting a Virus is opening entirely new vistas for me, both sonically and otherwise!

I am a new Virus owner. I have encountered a few challenges in getting it integrated into my setup, but I think I've figured out workable solutions. I'm posting this to the forum in case more experienced owners have developed more elegant methods of dealing with the same issues. This is a bit long-winded, but I've found its better to provide precise information when asking for help. I have searched the Access Forum and did find some threads discussing compatibility issues of Snow vs. TI. They did focus on a situation where the user was "upgrading" from a Snow to a Virus TI. My situation is similar, but not identical.

I work in two locations. At night, I work in my home studio with an iMac and a Polar. I use Logic as the DAW. All instruments other than the Polar are virtual. During the day, I work in a different location using a MacBook Pro and a Snow. The two Macs are set up so that they have identical software configurations (Logic and the various VI plugins) and all project files are saved to a Dropbox folder that is accessible from either location. When I was relying solely on virtual instruments, the transition from one location to the other was seamless. I could stop work on a project at home, and pick up exactly where I left off at the other location without having to change any settings in the software, and vice versa.

To give me the same ability with the Access units, I have landed on the following approach. First, I need to keep the number of Access-related tracks in a project to a maximum of 4, which is the limit of the number of Parts that can be output from the Snow. I could add more Access tracks but would need to bounce any tracks in excess of 4 to audio. I am used to shifting midi regions and modifying the length of projects right up to the last minute, so bouncing down a track to audio doesn't fit too well with my work process. I realize that I could chop up the audio tracks, effectively turning them into loops that I could arrange. I also realize that tracks need to be bounced in realtime. Not a problem but I haven't discovered how to bounce multiple tracks to separate audio files, so it can take quite a while to real time bounce tracks one after another for a project that is, say, 10 minutes long.

The Access Control plugins for the Virus TI and the Snow are different (i.e., there are two of them). So, when I open a project that was last worked on in my Polar setup, I need to switch the channel strip input setting for all Access tracks in Logic to the Snow plugin. Same process is required when I switch back from the Snow to the Polar. That's not a problem. Just takes a couple of seconds to change the instrument settings on a few tracks. The previous forum postings suggest that in making the change, I will lose automation data for the Access tracks. I'm not sure if that applies to Volume automation as well. I can see why it might apply to filters, effects, or other parameters where things would be mapped differently in the TI vs. the Snow. Haven't experimented yet to see.

Getting the patches to sync up when switching instruments was a bit more of a puzzle to me, but I think the following method will work. I do know that I can load the same patches in both the Polar and the Snow. I also know how to shift patches to slots in the RAM banks and (although I haven't tried it yet), how to burn a patch to one of the empty ROM slots. So, I am thinking that I need to load the patches that I'm using on the four tracks to the same four slot locations either in RAM or in unused ROM banks on both the Polar and the Snow. They won't load automatically when I switch the track input from one instrument to the other, but they will at least be in a consistent location in both instruments, which will make it easier to find, especially if they come from, or are based on presets from, different libraries. The Access control library search feature does not search across multiple libraries from what I can tell, which makes sense.

That's what I've figured out from reading tutorials, various forum postings, watching Access videos, and Youtube videos. Does anybody out there have a better approach for shifting back and forth between Virus TI and Snow on a continuous basis? And "no", buying another Virus TI is not a viable option!