Virus TI - early puzzlements

[suzzymackenzie]

I have had my TI for a few weeks now and really enjoying the discovery. Still excited about the pulsing logo :)

Just a few initial queries, if I may:

ARP patterns - it seems the 64 presets are not visible in the VirusControl grid in the same way that User patterns are. Seems a shame you can't take them and edit them. Are they in fact non-editable?

Spare ROM banks - can't write to them by normal means, so this seems to mean that saving new patches onto the Virus has to be in the few remaining RAM patches at the end of the preset list, and after that it's hack away unwanted presets and replace them with my own. Am I missing something here?

In the display, each patch has a little symbol like [||| ] or [|||||]. Wazzat?

Suzzy;)

[Timo]

Hey Suz! =]

Unsure about some queries as I currently only have an older Virus, but!

In the display, each patch has a little symbol like [||| ] or [|||||]. Wazzat?

It's a meter that roughly indicates how DSP intensive (complex) the overall patch is, as some oscillator models (complex Graintable and Formant oscillators for example) and other synthesis features require more DSP than others. The higher the complexity, the fewer the voices you will be able to play (polyphony) as it takes more computing to generate those types of sounds.

[suzzymackenzie]

Thank you for clearing up the complexity meter, Timo. :-)

Anyone have a comment on the arp pattern editor or patch-management issues?

Suzzy

[mitchiemasha]

I noticed that on the arp pattern. something for them to think abt on the next upgrade. unless they have already changed it. havent looked since I upgraded.

I am pursuming you mean to see how the arp pattern is set when using a preset then have the option to edit it. just been able to see it would be good cos then you could just recreate it in the custom pattern with the slight changes you want.

would be nice to have some 1 describe the patch thing to cos I have quite a few patches of my own now I want to put in all those empty banks. I havent got round to sussing it out yet though.

[suzzymackenzie]

hi mitchiemasha :)

Yep, there it is in the manual after all: the arp patterns can only be edited for 'user' pattern. It would be a useful upgrade to be able to see and edit the presets. Already I've found one or two of the presets just right for one of my songs *except* for the odd beat I just want to delete or add in by editing what's already there and programmed. Shame.

It does look like the 512 RAM programs are the place to do your patch saving, so perhaps i will go through ditching all the patches I don't want e.g. daft sound effects and clear some banks for saving my own. After all, 512 patches ought to be more than enough. But - continuing mystery - what are all those empty ROM banks for?

So much to discover, although some of the discovering is bound to be the discovery of limitations. This is the natural way of things with music tech, I guess. The early phases are (a) honeymoon period , (b) dip as you discover limitations, then come (c) the joy of workarounds, (d) steady state production, (e) eager anticipation of the next model tinged with regret at the obsolescence of your present one..!

:mrgreen:

[suzzymackenzie]

I found a micro-niggle in VirusControl - if you use a virtual knob to detune an oscillator, it's impossible to return it to zero position: instead you have to go back to the physical control surface (Virus TI KB in my case) to tweak it back to 0. An elaborate plot to keep synths hardware?... :rolleyes:

[fuirippu]

if you use a virtual knob to detune an oscillator, it's impossible to return it to zero position

Many virtual synths allow you to Ctrl+Click a control to set it to a zero-position (or 12 o'clock position for things like detune and balance). I'm using a Snow with Cubase on WindowsXP and the interface seems to accept it.

[mitchiemasha]

liking that.

[Crossfire]

Yep, there it is in the manual after all: the arp patterns can only be edited for 'user' pattern. It would be a useful upgrade to be able to see and edit the presets. Already I've found one or two of the presets just right for one of my songs *except* for the odd beat I just want to delete or add in by editing what's already there and programmed. Shame.



Yes, would be cool to be able to customise the arp presets. I want to do this all the time!

Guess it forces you to create an original pattern every time. ;)

Hopefully they include this in an updrade very soon in the future.



It does look like the 512 RAM programs are the place to do your patch saving, so perhaps i will go through ditching all the patches I don't want e.g. daft sound effects and clear some banks for saving my own. After all, 512 patches ought to be more than enough. But - continuing mystery - what are all those empty ROM banks for?



Not sure you need to go deleting existing patches - you have access using and saving infinite presets and banks through Virus Control.

[suzzymackenzie]

Not sure you need to go deleting existing patches - you have access using and saving infinite presets and banks through Virus Control.

Crossfire, not sure I understand that. In VirusControl I thought I just had easy visual access to the existing (finite number of) banks and program slots on the hardware. Am I missing something? :)

[fuirippu]

Virus Control can directly read from "banks" that exist on your hard drive as MIDI files (each "bank" contains 128 patches, so that's a pair of physical banks for the Snow eg. RAM 1+2). Check out the User Manual, pages 58-9, and 61.

"If you wish, you could easily download every Virus Patch ever
published on the Access site, drop them into the Patches folder,
and have instant access to them all via the Browser."


I can't seem to find bank files for the patches as listed in the manual's appendix though :(

[suzzymackenzie]

Virus Control can directly read from "banks" that exist on your hard drive as MIDI files (each "bank" contains 128 patches, so that's a pair of physical banks for the Snow eg. RAM 1+2). Check out the User Manual, pages 58-9, and 61.

"If you wish, you could easily download every Virus Patch ever
published on the Access site, drop them into the Patches folder,
and have instant access to them all via the Browser."


I can't seem to find bank files for the patches as listed in the manual's appendix though :(

Thanks Fuirippu. I've checked out all this and downloaded several banks of patches from the Access site. Thanks for gentle reference to the manual too! - I am going to sit down for an hour or so and go through the suggested 'library management' techniques. Being methodical is not my strong point when it comes to music gear - usually I put my head down and charge in a creative and playful splurge, then later wonder why I can never find anything or remember what I did!

[suzzymackenzie]

Hmmm. Vocoder floats onto the horizon. I had a first and second unsuccessful go at trying to modulate an oscillator carrier with a mic signal from the audio input, but no joy yet beyond just causing the oscillator sound to stop temporarily when it meets an incoming voice signal.

Any easy ways into vocoding, anyone? (The manual teasingly gives me an idea of what it's supposed to do, but I can't yet actually get the machine to do it)

[spindlenine]

Suzzy,

When tweaking controls, there are a few tips I found while obsessing over the manual that you might find useful:

- Ctrl-clicking a parameter sets it to the default value.
- Option-clicking jumps the control to the location that you click on the control (good for fast-switching rotary controller values).
- Holding Shift while tweaking a parameter in the software gives you finer resolution control.

Hope this helps you zero out those controls!

- max

[suzzymackenzie]

Thank you Max. I didn't know about the Shift+Click. I don't have Option as I'm a PC user :( but myabe another key does that - I'll have a look. Ta!

[spindlenine]

Option is actually the same as the Alt key on a PC, so that should work for you. Give it a try! :)

- max