OS5.0.2 out now!

[Berni]

Well its been over a year in the making but 5.0.2 is officially out. At last I can mess around with the new features. Gonna load it on tonight, fingers crossed they haven't screwed it up.

[AndrewM]

What's your experience so far Berni? I can't seem to get to Access's website... perhaps down ATM.

[Berni]

Downloaded it & installed with no problem. Had to do some other stuff tonight but will test it out tomorrow with live & pro tools.

[Berni]

So I had a little time this evening to check out the new OS due to the fact the world did not end :) I turned on the virus with the new OS installed & then I booted up Pro tools...no sound out of my DAW, WTF. After messing around for some time I went into my hardware set up & discovered that the virus had now taken over my main outputs for some unknown reason. So I switched them back to the ones I always use & rebooted my system. So now I use a blank session with only the TI on an instrument channel. I insert the plug in & now because it is a new OS it has to sync the synth which took 45 minutes...Already I have spent an hour & a half on this upgrade & I still have not heard a peep out of the synth!
I am usually optimistic when it comes to upgrades but access just seem to be going backwards. It is still as flaky as it ever was if not more so with the usual issues...bad sync, latency, crackles, pops etc... I'm going back to 4.3 which is far from perfect but at least usuable. What a let down after all this time.

[AndrewM]

Hmm... Thanks for the response Berni. Seems that this latest OS is not being talked about as much even on their own forums. I'm gonna hold off till I finish up some of my projects before doing my own tests.

Anyone use it in Cubase 7 PC yet...???

[Berni]

Hmm... Thanks for the response Berni. Seems that this latest OS is not being talked about as much even on their own forums. I'm gonna hold off till I finish up some of my projects before doing my own tests.

Anyone use it in Cubase 7 PC yet...???
I wish I had been that smart. I'm gonna try it out in Live over the weekend to see if the vst is any better. I usually have more luck with that. If not I'm just going to roll back...AGAIN! Whats really annoying is there are loads of new patches available for 5 on access's site & they sound incredible. I'm really hoping the vst version works better.

[namnibor]

I wish I had been that smart. I'm gonna try it out in Live over the weekend to see if the vst is any better. I usually have more luck with that. If not I'm just going to roll back...AGAIN! Whats really annoying is there are loads of new patches available for 5 on access's site & they sound incredible. I'm really hoping the vst version works better.

Perhaps Pro Tools is the fly in your ointment rather than other way around? I have ditched ProTools and happy learning REAPER as it's an DAW that you can tell and make it work way you do. Full-featured and an incredibly supportive and friendly support community, whereas I came across way too many self-righteous elitist among AVID community and AVID itself conveys same unfriendliness. My two cents and Merry Christmas!

[Berni]

Perhaps Pro Tools is the fly in your ointment rather than other way around? I have ditched ProTools and happy learning REAPER as it's an DAW that you can tell and make it work way you do. Full-featured and an incredibly supportive and friendly support community, whereas I came across way too many self-righteous elitist among AVID community and AVID itself conveys same unfriendliness. My two cents and Merry Christmas!
Yeah you are probably right, the DAW that the plug in is supposed to work in is the problem. The fact that every other RTAS plug in I have works with it flawlessly is something of a mystery, Lol. Nothing has changed with OS5 trust me, its still the same piece of crap software that it has always been. Access are just trying to put lip stick on a pig as I said a while back...:p

[MBTC]

What I want to know is what DAW does the Virus software work well in? My limited experience with VC was several years ago, and was limited to VST in FLStudio (I have Logic Pro on Mac now, but didn't at that time). It would be hard to blame FLS when it has such good compatibility with VST plugins in general.

So, does anyone use the software regularly in a DAW where it just works, without lots of bugs, latency and fiddly issues and if so, which one on what platform?

It seems that most of the folks in this forum that are happy with the Virus tend to have models that are before the TI series, or are otherwise not very dependent of the Virus software and DAW for workflow, and everyone who bought the Virus for the USB integration (myself included) make up the disgruntled crowd.

So, my question is more for those using total integration successfully.

[plaid_emu]

So, my question is more for those using total integration successfully.

As of now, I've had good luck with Ableton Live 8 running on a MacMini with OS 10.6.8. That wasn't always the case. A few years back I was having terrible MIDI sync/timing issues and my aprs were all over the place. Then I was on the same computer but I was running Live 7 and maybe TI OS 3? One day it just "fixed itself"? I don't know what happened but I was getting ready to record an example of how sloppy the sync was and it just started working fine. :confused:

Things seem to be working for me with OS 5 (for now).

[namnibor]

Did not know if it would be proper to qoute/copy/paste from AccessMusic Forums, however, I read consistant replies to people having issues with VC and their Ti's and AccessMusic Tech Support repeatedly emphasized that TI and Virus Control required FULL BANDWIDTH of USB connection and does not work well if you are using ANY other USB connections for other devices, to include if a motherboard has firewire connections.
Someone had made a point in response to tell Access that they have NI Maschine and other peripherals running at same time with other audio interfaces with no problems ....so apparently, the Ti is a bandwidth hog with tech support stating 99.9% of problems are user's PC configuration. You Ti owners may already know that about the bandwidth but thought to pass it on. It's kind of akin to the new audio interface am considering buying to utilize my firewire 400 on DAW PC--even PreSonus interfaces can act goofy, pops, clicks, if even using an USB wireless mouse and keyboard.
Tech support recommended Ti owners to do a PC system check to see what ELSE may be in-use in path of USB connection and a "Sandra Report" for AVID DAW users.

[AndrewM]

What I want to know is what DAW does the Virus software work well in? My limited experience with VC was several years ago, and was limited to VST in FLStudio (I have Logic Pro on Mac now, but didn't at that time). It would be hard to blame FLS when it has such good compatibility with VST plugins in general.

So, does anyone use the software regularly in a DAW where it just works, without lots of bugs, latency and fiddly issues and if so, which one on what platform?

It seems that most of the folks in this forum that are happy with the Virus tend to have models that are before the TI series, or are otherwise not very dependent of the Virus software and DAW for workflow, and everyone who bought the Virus for the USB integration (myself included) make up the disgruntled crowd.

So, my question is more for those using total integration successfully.

Seriously... works really well on Windows 7 64-Bit in Cubase 6/.5 & 7. Sure it'll drop out of sync once in a blue moon, but that's it. :confused:

[UltimateOutsider]

What I want to know is what DAW does the Virus software work well in? My limited experience with VC was several years ago, and was limited to VST in FLStudio (I have Logic Pro on Mac now, but didn't at that time). It would be hard to blame FLS when it has such good compatibility with VST plugins in general.

So, does anyone use the software regularly in a DAW where it just works, without lots of bugs, latency and fiddly issues and if so, which one on what platform?
I'm on Win 7 64-bit and it works great with Cubase 6.5, but runs like garbage on Live 8.3. I just read in the OS 5 release notes that there are known timing issues with Virus Control on Live, and that Access believes it's Ableton's problem.

I'm almost 100% on Cubase these days so I guess it doesn't matter much for me. I like having the option of going to Live when I'm in the mood though.

NOTE: Still on 4.x. I am waiting for my PC backup to complete before installing OS 5.

[Berni]

So I had some time to try the vst version of the VC with ableton live this evening. It is certainly a lot more stable than the rtas version, the arp's sync & the latency is negligible. There is still some crackling if I play around with a pot a lot but it is at least useable. I think I will load up my ROM banks with the new patches for 5 but just use it without VC because if it has taken a whole year to produce this then who know's when if ever there will be a stable version.
It seems that if you want to use VC you have to buy a PC & use Cubase :(
anything else is a 50/50 chance of working properly.

[MBTC]

It seems that if you want to use VC you have to buy a PC & use Cubase :(
anything else is a 50/50 chance of working properly.

The "works fine on Cubase" theme is one I've seen many times over. I guess it makes some sense considering Steinberg's impact on electronic music related software (i.e. plug-ins will get most rigoriously tested on the DAW that defines the standard).

I consider myself primarily a PC guy, even though I have a Mac and there are some things I like about it for music making. Since I develop software on the Apple platform, I get a first-hand look at Apple's arrogance with regard to making major, unannounced, backward-compatibility-breaking changes, and when I think of the investment of time I put into something like a DAW, that scares the hell out of me with regard to Logic Pro. It's not far fetched to imagine Apple simply discontinuing the product sometime soon. Look at what they did with Final Cut. On top of that, their success is so heavily dependent on iOS that I sometimes wonder about the future of OS X itself. Then there is the cost and upgradability of Mac hardware vs custom PC options, again pushing me away from Apple here. Because of the Logic Pro issue, I think I want my next DAW to be something that will work on either platform (limiting options to Ableton, Cubase etc).

A friend of mine once said that if I'm concerned about the time investment in the DAW, just go with Cubase for peace of mind and the future. Maybe its time I heed his advice.

[Berni]

The "works fine on Cubase" theme is one I've seen many times over. I guess it makes some sense considering Steinberg's impact on electronic music related software (i.e. plug-ins will get most rigoriously tested on the DAW that defines the standard).

I consider myself primarily a PC guy, even though I have a Mac and there are some things I like about it for music making. Since I develop software on the Apple platform, I get a first-hand look at Apple's arrogance with regard to making major, unannounced, backward-compatibility-breaking changes, and when I think of the investment of time I put into something like a DAW, that scares the hell out of me with regard to Logic Pro. It's not far fetched to imagine Apple simply discontinuing the product sometime soon. Look at what they did with Final Cut. On top of that, their success is so heavily dependent on iOS that I sometimes wonder about the future of OS X itself. Then there is the cost and upgradability of Mac hardware vs custom PC options, again pushing me away from Apple here. Because of the Logic Pro issue, I think I want my next DAW to be something that will work on either platform (limiting options to Ableton, Cubase etc).

A friend of mine once said that if I'm concerned about the time investment in the DAW, just go with Cubase for peace of mind and the future. Maybe its time I heed his advice.

When access released the TI all those years ago it's biggest user base was PC/Cubase user's so VST was the first format to be supported followed by Audio units a little later & finally RTAS much later so obviously the VST format has had a lot more development than the other formats. I'm convinced that they are still developing the RTAS format as it consistently runs like crap no matter what I do & yet the VST on the same set up works far better.
Since then however Cubase is not top dog anymore or PC's for that matter IMHO. Programs like this need constant development & upgrades to keep up with faster computers, new OS's & upgrades to the DAW's it is supposed to work in & lets face it access are simply not doing this. OS5 is still is still a long way off what it should be & it has taken over a year to get this far! Pro tools have adopted a new plugin standard AAX that a lot of my plugin's now use. Try & get an answer out of access when there plugin will be ready, LOl.

[MBTC]

When access released the TI all those years ago it's biggest user base was PC/Cubase user's so VST was the first format to be supported followed by Audio units a little later & finally RTAS much later so obviously the VST format has had a lot more development than the other formats. I'm convinced that they are still developing the RTAS format as it consistently runs like crap no matter what I do & yet the VST on the same set up works far better.
Since then however Cubase is not top dog anymore or PC's for that matter IMHO. Programs like this need constant development & upgrades to keep up with faster computers, new OS's & upgrades to the DAW's it is supposed to work in & lets face it access are simply not doing this. OS5 is still is still a long way off what it should be & it has taken over a year to get this far! Pro tools have adopted a new plugin standard AAX that a lot of my plugin's now use. Try & get an answer out of access when there plugin will be ready, LOl.

Understood what you mean about Cubase not being top dog anymore, but because Steinberg basically standardized technologies like VST plugins, ASIO drivers, etc., my fear is that to some extent the QA process of individual plugins relies on Cubase as a baseline and testing priority compared to other DAWs (i.e. if it works in Cubase, who defines the VST standard, but doesn't work in such-and-such DAW then the problem must be with the DAW and therefore we're not going to spend money shimming and kludging the code to overcome every possible hurdles). It's not necessarily an accurate perspective in all cases, but it is a mentality that software development and QA shops often fall back to because of the exponentially increasing cost of making sure something works on every host all of the time.

The same thing exists for example with Android devices. There are thousands of possible Android devices, and making sure that an app works on all of them would be cost prohibitive. So, you just target the Google Nexus line (the reference model from the company that creates the OS itself), test it on maybe 2 or 3 of the best-selling clones, and call it a day. Otherwise the cost of adding individual code shims to make things perfect on all devices becomes something like X^Y where X is the dollar cost and Y is the number of uniquely behaving devices (the reason for non-linear cost model is a complex discussion in itself). Not only will some of the non-reference models get neglected, but during the products lifecycle, there is a high likelihood that the amount of time given to the best-selling non-reference models will decline (because sales will not justify the ongoing cost to the company, who of course is always in the game for profit rather than goodwill).

I can't say for sure that's how the testing works at Access with regard to VC, but that's how it works at most places I've worked at that deal with the scenario. Even back in the days of mostly fat-client development and Win32 apps, the QA folks can basically test the software on a vanilla Windows install, Windows with all service packs and patches, etc and maybe a few commonly used apps. But inevitably you run into some guy going "hey your shit doesn't work!" and it was often (back then) because he installed some obscure software that screwed up his registry or some file dependencies, or maybe he had malware etc. It's just impossible to test every possible combination, so when you consider the number of different DAWs its a similar scenario.

I once saw a plug-in that worked on most DAWs except FLS, and it froze up in FL because of an oversight with multi-threading by the VST developer. FL was following the rules of Steinberg's VST standard well enough, but because the dev didn't test in the FL environment, he didn't catch the bug until much later. Coding to a standard does not guarantee every environment that adheres to that standard will work in all cases -- they still take extensive testing, which of course costs human time and that can get really expensive really quickly.

So, all of this is not to say that newer and better plugin architectures don't exist. The real question I guess is simply whether Access uses Cubase as a priority test platform for the VST (and if not, why does it seem to work best on it)?

[realtrance]

I think, sadly, it all points to the fact that working in a mixed software/hardware environment, with ever-changing software updates and endless and infinite interactions, is more often than not a night in hell.

I'm perfectly happy with my TI as a stand-alone keyboard; whether or not the new features are worth the effort/risk of updating it with the new software, well, I'll give it maybe another six months post-release to assess.

Increasingly, I find I'm either entirely in-the-box, or on a keyboard with the box at best serving as a recording device for a track. Even the latter gets too complicated most of the time, I just use a MIDI input device with the DAW and save my keyboards for my personal enjoyment.

I bow to anyone who tries to do a live performance with a mixed environment. There are some combinations that work easily (Ultranova, for instance, fits in very simply with any software-based environment), but there are many others that don't.

A belated congratulations to Access for this long-cooked release. I'll take my time considering it this time around.

[MBTC]

There are some combinations that work easily (Ultranova, for instance, fits in very simply with any software-based environment), but there are many others that don't.


I'm not familiar with what Ultranova offers with regard to integration, but if its similar to TI on the Virus, then I would wonder why does integration work so well there (presumably across many DAWs) but not the Virus?

Maschine is a tightly integrated environment, but it's not the same, it uses the CPU to play the instruments rather than on its own DSP and sending across the wire to the DAW.

[mildheadwound]

I think, sadly, it all points to the fact...
I'll take my time considering it this time around.

I'm mainly using it out of the box, and the update is definitely worth it. The new envelopes are a little intermittent, (ie. not always affecting their corresponding matrix location), but they do work fine in many cases. The ability to change three out of 4 envelopes at the same time, on the desktop virus, is pretty sweet. That is also the case with how they integrated the filters into the value knobs. Three filter cutoffs at the same time! The filters sound good, ('been getting some very organic, gritty pads), and allow for some very cool sound sculpting.

A few quirks, mostly with the ti side of things, but i'm on live 7, and rarely use the ti for more then visual reference, when sound designing. I'm not sure if these were addressed in this, or the last update, but i used to not be able to put it through the usb audio, and the main outputs at the same time... now it does. Also, i can add a midi arpeggio out, when in multimode, which is actually a big thing, because now i can reroute the virus' arps out to other synths, and still use the virus' sounds at the same time.

It's another great update that makes me want to go back and update all my old presets.

[feedingear]

As Andrew said, win7 + cubase 6.0 for me is rock solid. Might occasionally get arp sync/clock issues, they tend to be on projects where I am pushing my rig hard (100+ channels with multiple omnisphere instances, plugs on every strip etc). I'm still on 4.5 though and a little nervous to make the switch since I use my TI live but in standalone for my Lilt gigs.

Gotta say, theres nothing more satisfying then hearing your TI at full ball do a rate reduction sweep and hearing the entire PA rumble and groan. And big waves of applause afterwards :D

[TweakHead]

Gotta say, theres nothing more satisfying then hearing your TI at full ball do a rate reduction sweep and hearing the entire PA rumble and groan. And big waves of applause afterwards :D

eheh nice nice!

[Redshift]

Had horrendous trouble installing the last beta version, couldn't use my Desktop for 3 months, absolutely would not install, but when I installed this latest version last week, I got a pop up saying 'Repair' and it went straight in and installed perfectly! NEVER again will I install a beta version!!!! And despite Access Tech support insulting my intelligence and insinuating that I wasn't installing it right (after several successful OS installs over the years!!!), I know for a fact their beta version did not agree with my Win 7 set up! I also think they played down the fact that loads of people had trouble with this beta install!

That said, it works great now with Cubase 6!

[namnibor]

Had horrendous trouble installing the last beta version, couldn't use my Desktop for 3 months, absolutely would not install, but when I installed this latest version last week, I got a pop up saying 'Repair' and it went straight in and installed perfectly! NEVER again will I install a beta version!!!! And despite Access Tech support insulting my intelligence and insinuating that I wasn't installing it right (after several successful OS installs over the years!!!), I know for a fact their beta version did not agree with my Win 7 set up! I also think they played down the fact that loads of people had trouble with this beta install!

That said, it works great now with Cubase 6!

Am with you in not wanting to install anything Beta unless am officially Beta-Testing, in which special support would be gauaranteed! It's the very reason that as much as I love my other German-made synths by Waldorf, I waited to purchase the Blofeld Black Keyboard early Summer 2012, after many O.S. updates fixed the bugs. Most, if not all Beta versions come with that 20/20 hindsight disclaimer: "Use this at your OWN RISK"--uh, er...no thank you!

[Redshift]

Couldn't agree more namnibor, it just seemed too coincedental that it was the very first time i installed a beta version and then wasn't able to use my Desktop for 3 months!

[TheHobbit]

Couldn't agree more namnibor, it just seemed too coincedental that it was the very first time i installed a beta version and then wasn't able to use my Desktop for 3 months!

The beta has been superceeded as I understand to : 5.0.2.01

Rock solid for me on Win7x64/Cubase7.01x64.

Hope you get things sorted