most similar layout to virus on a vsti

[Bryan Jones]

hey I appologize if this has been asked a million times. i searched for it first but didnt find the exact answer. the virus C is the synth im most comfortable with and i dont have it anymore. was wondering if there is a vsti that is basically layed out the same? or what the closest one is

thanks

[Ruari]

There's a few Virus emulations in the Reaktor User Library that have all the knobs in the right places but other than that I don't know.

[MBTC]

I must confess I don't really understand the focus on knob placement (if that's what was meant by layout) with regard to vsts. With something as wide as a hardware board, I think it can matter if one knob is a foot or two away from another, because of the physical layout of the studio. But with plugins, the knobs are never farther away from each other than a 1-2" movement of the mouse (if they are, adjust mouse senstivity), and a lot of people would just bind the VST knobs to their MIDI controller anyway so that cutoff, res, ADSR etc is in the same place for every synth.

But maybe I was misunderstanding the question?

[Ruari]

Maybe it is me that's misunderstood the question, I just assumed that by layout the OP meant is there a soft synth which looks like a Virus.

[nutrinoland]

I guess You mean a synth vst with similar features like a mod matrix and so on..
?
There are a lot of good vst synths out there..try learning a new one maybe..like massive for example...

[MBTC]

Really once you know what all the knobs on a subtractive synth does, its a matter of getting accustomed to that particular synth and its particulars (and none of them are exactly the same), so even if you had a synth with the exact same physical knob placement as the Virus, turning the knobs would not have the exact same effect unless it was the exact same algorithms used internally in the Virus. Its more or less about knowing what each knob does, even if only at a surface level, and tweaking by ear.

But, since you mentioned Virus C, I do remember powercore had a plugin if you wanted to go that route. At least I think they still sell these things? Honestly CPUs have gotten so much more powerful that I'm not sure you need DSPs anymore.

Hope I'm not sounding snarky but if you learn what each knob does, I think you'll find most synth plugins easy to master. Perhaps more so than feeling on top of the game of hardware synth. The concepts are the same and a lot of time the difference in sound comes down to how things are implemented on the synth, hardware or soft, and once you understand what each knob does on any synth you'll be reasonably satisfied with end result.

[FSTZ]

the z3ta+ and the z3ta 2 are similar

the matrix, the userwaves all are similar to the virus

there is even a virus mod for it

http://home.zonnet.nl/jvweeren/z3tavirus.jpg

[MBTC]

Z3TA 2 is a great synth, and in terms of sound could be considered a similar synth to the Virus, but to my eyes the layout is nothing like a Virus C which is more knobs than sliders. The image above appears to be Z3TA+ 1. You can see Z3TA+ 2 here: http://asp-gfx6.com/uploads/posts/d67/d67c2_.jpg

Actually when I think about a soft synth that strips it down to the basic knobs you'd see on the front of a Virus C, Dune comes to mind as a good (very easy to tweak) Virus software substitute that sounds great, although the physical placement of things differs from the Virus (as all of them will).

http://www.synapse-audio.com/dune.html