Virus|HC Editor & Librarian Plugin for MAC & PC out now!

[Jani K]

https://www.producerslunchbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/virus_hc_oscillator_filter_envelopes_edit.jpg

Phew! So... It's been a long ride and after 8 months of c++, I have some results for you guys!
Virus|HC plugin is now released for MAC audiounit & vsti format to use with ANY Access Virus synths :-)

View details here: https://www.producerslunchbox.com/shop/au-vsti-plug-ins/virushc-audiounit-vsti-editor-librarian-plug/

Of course, this is release candidate, so we take in reports and make it even better along the way!

Let us know what you think and I'll do the PC release in the meanwhile ;)

:rolleyes:

[LFO8]

I must say, I was hugely looking forward to this one. But I am sad to see that it is still unfinished. A lot of the modules are greyed out and state that they are "Under Development"

I understand that this is a big task to fulfil.

- The patch browser does not get the right data when requesting the active part.

- When activating the arpeggiator section on the plugin, the hardware arp on light does not light up.

I am using it with a Virus C.

I would not pay 65,- Euro's for it as it is now.

[Jani K]

I must say, I was hugely looking forward to this one. But I am sad to see that it is still unfinished. A lot of the modules are greyed out and state that they are "Under Development"

I understand that this is a big task to fulfil.

- The patch browser does not get the right data when requesting the active part.

- When activating the arpeggiator section on the plugin, the hardware arp on light does not light up.

I am using it with a Virus C.

I would not pay 65,- Euro's for it as it is now.

If you go to multimode mixer -> settings -> model and pick up virus c from there, the modules are visible for u that are usable in virus c :) check your device id too, as my virus c works flawless.

Request active part only fetches data to ui on selecetd active part, not in librarian. If you wish to use librarian, you have to click edit bank.

[LFO8]

Yes, I have now set the model to Virus C and the correct device ID. I have the Virus C midi mode as Internal because Int+Midi was giving mayor lag in adjusting parameters.

But either way, the plugin does not update when tweaking parameters and it does not give you a read-out of the settings of the current patch in filter controls, envelope controls and oscillator controls.

[Jani K]

Yes, I have now set the model to Virus C and the correct device ID. I have the Virus C midi mode as Internal because Int+Midi was giving mayor lag in adjusting parameters.

But either way, the plugin does not update when tweaking parameters and it does not give you a read-out of the settings of the current patch in filter controls, envelope controls and oscillator controls.

If the mode is internal, no data will be sent out.

[LFO8]

But when I do Int+Midi the panel in the plugin GUI is still not responding and there is a major lag in adjusting the parameters.

I don't get it.

[Jani K]

But when I do Int+Midi the panel in the plugin GUI is still not responding and there is a major lag in adjusting the parameters.

I don't get it.

Are you using Mac or Pc? Do you have MIDI monitor in use to run a few tests during early next week? :)

[LFO8]

I'm on a Mac Pro Early 2008 running Mavericks and Ableton 9. I do have Midi Monitor.

Also, when selecting the midi ports the virus is connected to in the plugin interface, the hardware switches to multi-single mode an defaults to a0 --INIT--

Is that normal behaviour?

Also massive huge CPU spikes (over 200%) in Ableton when tweaking hardware parameters with the plugin connected and the virus in Int+Midi mode.


Also, this makes for a nicer GUI imo:

http://www.thisisasylum.nl/wp-content/uploads/forumstuff/VirusHC.Asylum.png

Finishes it of nicely without the need for those rack ears.

[Jani K]

Cpu peak confirmed at Live on both au & vst. Will investigate & fix on monday :)

[Jani K]

Plugin is now available for MAC and PC and it got updated to v1.0.1.
CPU usage from host reduced by 5000% thanks to my little bug in the code hahahah. :D

Download here: http://www.mysteryislands-music.com/product/access-virushc-audiounit-vsti-editor-librarian-plug-in/

[LFO8]

Thank you. That seemed to fix the parameter control bug.

There is still these couple of things though:

-when selecting the midi ports the virus is connected to in the plugin interface, the hardware switches to multi-single mode and it can only receive/load patch info from the plugin while the hardware is in Multi-Single mode. Why is that?

-requesting the active part does not update the controls panel on the Virus HC editor

-the communication between the plugin arp on/off and the hardware does not seem to work properly; when activating the arpeggiator section on the plugin, the hardware arp on light does not light up and vice versa when you activate the arp on the hardware. The arp works, but the communication of the on of state from the plugin to the device does not seem to work.

-tweaking oscillator 3 semitones crashes Ableton Live 9.

-also, is it possible for the value at the bottom to display actual values of the parameter that is being tweaked (for instance dB's for the Eq's, Hz for the filters etc) instead of standard midi values?

-Also, is it possible to make the patch handling/loading behaviour similar to th Virus TI Virus Control plugin? I think that plugin reads the patch banks from your Virus hardware as soon as you load the plugin (someone correct me if I'm wrong)

[Jani K]

-when selecting the midi ports the virus is connected to in the plugin interface, the hardware switches to multi-single mode and it can only receive/load patch info from the plugin while the hardware is in Multi-Single mode. Why is that?
Because I usually run my virus in multimode, to be able to add more layers from virus to my track. No other reasons. Why should there be option to use it in single mode, any differences there?

-requesting the active part does not update the controls panel on the Virus HC editor
Which virus do you have in use? Are you sure your deviceID's matches?

-the communication between the plugin arp on/off and the hardware does not seem to work properly; when activating the arpeggiator section on the plugin, the hardware arp on light does not light up and vice versa when you activate the arp on the hardware. The arp works, but the communication of the on of state from the plugin to the device does not seem to work.
Ah! That is something I will have a look tonight / next monday.

-tweaking oscillator 3 semitones crashes Ableton Live 9.
Will investigate, thanks!

-also, is it possible for the value at the bottom to display actual values of the parameter that is being tweaked (for instance dB's for the Eq's, Hz for the filters etc) instead of standard midi values?
Yes this is something we're working on already. Since the plugin was written from scratch rather than copy paste from JP-80x0 plugin, it functions different on the display thingy :)

-Also, is it possible to make the patch handling/loading behaviour similar to th Virus TI Virus Control plugin? I think that plugin reads the patch banks from your Virus hardware as soon as you load the plugin (someone correct me if I'm wrong)
It loads the hardware memory only when you first time install your Virus TI to your daw the first time. After that, you can find, add and remove patch data from /user/documents/access music/virus ti/patches

going to make some updates :arrow:

[LFO8]

Because I usually run my virus in multimode, to be able to add more layers from virus to my track. No other reasons. Why should there be option to use it in single mode, any differences there?

Ah ok. I guess it makes sense as on a TI it would load in Sequencer mode as soon as you load the plugin.


Which virus do you have in use? Are you sure your deviceID's matches?

I have a Virus C. I have selcted Virus C in the plugin and the deviceID's match up (both set to 1)


Thanks for your responses. I am very much looking forward to the further development/additions. Like I said before; this will be the best offering in the market of editor/control/plugin for Virus (for anyone who does not have a TI)

Cheers.

[LFO8]

One more thing I noticed:

- The Global FX (Reverb/Delay) do not get updated from one multi slot to the other on the plugin when you change the FX in one of the multi slots.

- Linking Filter 1 and Filter 2 only works for filter 2. Meaning that after you link them parameters that are tweaked for filter 2 will also move for filter one, but not the other way around. Or is that the way it works on the hardware as well? (not sure about that to be honest)

- two things I still miss in the knob panel department is the two softknobs of the Virus. It would be excellent to be able to (at least) assign them from the Virus|HC Editor.

[LFO8]

- Would also be great to have a Next - Previous Patch browse option somewhere in the Patch Browser

http://clipart.me/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/twitter.jpg


-AND (i know i know, i'm so demanding ;) ) The plugin now loads as an instrument. Which means I have to use two tracks in Ableton to get it to work; 1 where the plugin resides and 1 where I have to get the audio signal from the Virus into Ableton and midi from Ableton to the Virus.

Whereas if the plugin could load as an AU or VST FX it could be done all on one channel in my DAW (and any DAW for that matter).

Just a suggestion.

[Jani K]

One more thing I noticed:

- The Global FX (Reverb/Delay) do not get updated from one multi slot to the other on the plugin when you change the FX in one of the multi slots.

- Linking Filter 1 and Filter 2 only works for filter 2. Meaning that after you link them parameters that are tweaked for filter 2 will also move for filter one, but not the other way around. Or is that the way it works on the hardware as well? (not sure about that to be honest)

- two things I still miss in the knob panel department is the two softknobs of the Virus. It would be excellent to be able to (at least) assign them from the Virus|HC Editor.

Thanks, will see whats gone wrong in the cutoff knobs :) Softknobs will be there, but as for it's functionality, not a priority task at the moment 8)

[LFO8]

Great. Good to see you further develop this. I love the way it opens up my Virus C. As much as I like the interface on the C, for some good, deep patch programming I would have to menu-dive quite a bit.

This plugin totally takes care of that and allows for quicker workflow. And of course the big upside of faster patch management, global settings, multi editing etc.

[LFO8]

I went ahead and purchased this today as the further development looks promising.

I'd like to be able to set the midi settings, Virus model and patch banks loaded and save the AU as a preset in my DAW. I can do that already now, but it won't remember the settings. I have to apply them all over again after loading the AU preset.

- Is it possible to make it remember all the settings as an AU preset?

- Loading the plugin switches the Arpeggiator off in the System settings of my Virus C. It also switches the ledmode to LFO in the System settings and it sets Random to the amount of 40 in System settings.

[TweakHead]

Nice! Think I'm going to grab this real soon... Good work

[TweakHead]

So, I tried the demo first and one thing I've noticed almost immediately was that I wasn't pleased with the numbers displayed when tweaking semitone values. Makes more sense if it displays the same number the Virus would. Is this just for the demo? Perhaps something to be reviewed latter on?

Otherwise it works flawlessly and I really dig that the interface is much similar to that in the Virus itself.

Another thing that just happened here:

tried to make a simple "filter env>osc pitch" connection on the mod matrix, so as to design a kick and noticed it didn't behave as expected, but does so for most parameters. Is that something particular to the demo as well? Or perhaps some bad configuration I have? Using mac OS 10.10, Ableton Live Suite 9, think the midi configuration is as it should, feeding midi back and forth from SL MK2 (novation). Using Virus C here.

Don't take this the wrong way as I'm really digging this product and thinking of getting it real soon. Hope to ear from you soon. Cheers.

[TweakHead]

Another thing: please find a place for the random knob as that's also a part of the Virus ;)

[Jani K]

Another thing: please find a place for the random knob as that's also a part of the Virus ;)

Will try to add it later on and noticed your previous post as well. Have you tried our latest version which I released on friday?

[Jani K]

https://www.mysteryislands-music.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/virushc-osc-env-filter.jpg

Virus|HC AU / VSTi plug-in v1.1
Fully integrated!

Since December 2014, we have come a long way with our Virus|HC plugin and its updates. This new update is a major release, which you should download and update as soon as possible!

Whats new?
Well the biggest addition could be that we added "VirusTI" functions to our plugin. Saying that, VirusTI user arp editor can't be added, because it is impossible for us to debug the USB data flow.
If someone knows how we / or someone else could investigate USB cable data flow between the Virus and computer, let us know!

Additions and fixes since v1.0.6


[New] Manual has been completely re-written and it can be view from either product page, plug-in updates page or you can find it from your HDD where you installed it.
[New] Modulation Matrix and LFO slots updated if model selection is VirusTI.
[New] Rest of the known VirusTI controls added and data being parsed to the UI when changing patches.
[New] Value display now shows knob, menu, button "value" in screen based on the controller AND current #cc value inside -characters.
[Fixed] Filter link switch didn't work as supposed under certain Virus models.
[Fixed] Patch names can be only 10 characters long in the displays.
[Fixed] Removed "Select MIDI Ports" notification popup due to the fact that it was annoying :D
[Fixed] Under some conditions, processing data window did not appear.
[Fixed] Reduced graphics cpu load.
[Fixed] Incoming multi data was skipped after parts data was processed prior to last update.
[New] Updated librarian graphics to meet the patch numbering from hardware. Now counts from 0 to 127.
[New] Added Virus|TI Oscillators 1 & 2 with their knobs, menus etc.
[New] Added Virus|TI Reverb functions to the plugin.
[New] Graphics updated to included buttons, menus and switches for new features.
[New] Added Virus|TI Mod Matrix destinations for all slots that were missing.
[New] Added Virus|TI Envelope 3 & Envelope 4 knobs to the user interface. They can be viewed by selecting different envelope from menu.
[Fixed] Improved incoming MIDI data transmission over the plugin to the hardware.
[Fixed] Some controls (amp release, lfo1 rate, lfo2 rate) didn’t respond to incoming midi messages.
[Fixed] Delay / Reverb settings and knobs didn’t work as supposed, when adjusting knob from hardware.
[Fixed] When Lfo 1 osc 1 & 2 link was on, link didn’t work when osc 2 knob was moved.
[Fixed] When Lfo 2 filter 1 & 2 link was on, link didn’t work when filter 2 knob was moved.
[Fixed] Oscillator 1 & 2 Semitone values displayed wrong value on plugin interface when knob was moved from hardware.
[New] Override Patch Tempo button in settings #2 tab now fetches tempo information from your host and overrides the current tempo of the hardware. If tempo is changed after setting MIDI I/O from the plugin, original tempo data is intact. Reload either MIDI in or MIDI out port from plugin interface to update Virus tempo info.
[New] User can now scroll thru hardware memory per part from the previous / next buttons. Current bank selection from plugin selects same bank from hardware. User can also scroll thru the library when “control library from midi / hw” is enabled as announced in v1.0.5 update.
[Note] In Apple Logic, program change commands that come in from channel 1 won’t be sent towards any plugins. This means that you have to use your master keyboard on a different channel in order to manage librarian / hardware memory with it :)


Update history Log (https://www.mysteryislands-music.com/forum/topic/virushc-audiounitvsti-editor-update-log/)
Virus|HC product page (https://www.mysteryislands-music.com/product/access-virushc-audiounit-vsti-editor-librarian-plug-in/)

Let me know your thoughts! :rolleyes:

[TweakHead]

Thanks for taking the time to reply and for the heads up!

Will try the new version tonight! Keep up the good work! Cheers ;)

[dest4b]

Hi! :)

i have 3 questions about that.

1. Does this solve my timing problems ? *1
2. Does this work with USB and or Midi ?
3. What do i need in Windows and ableton? do i need a third party Midi loopback ?


*1 - I bought my Ti in 2005 as it was brandnew. i was in contact with access since the first day with the Virus. Also with ableton...
I was totaly frustrated by the Ti software and so i doesent use the virus with my DAW for long time.

The Virus is the Only Device on the USB Roothub.
Some month ago i updated the software and tested it again.. same procedure as every year ;)
And i emailed ableton again my problem and that i am unhappy with the situation since 2005 they send me a Test file with 10 Virus patches in the Ti software. And this works without a timing problem.
This is driving me crazy ..

i wont give it up. I love the Virus but i hate the Ti software...

Yesterday i made a Latency test with an external Midi synth (BS2) and ableton. The External Synth was 100% in sync with 1.5ms latency on my RME.

After adding the Ti Software in ableton the external synth was nearly a 16th delayed.
I deleted The TI plugin .. and the External synth was now delayed about 32th :D
i am so sick of it !! :)

Hardware
AMD A8 @ 4200Ghz
16Gig RAM
SSD
RME HDSPe 32Ch Adat.
3 Digital Adat Mixers ( Latency compensation for i/o in ableton 1,5ms )
WIN8

[Jani K]

Hi,

1. Direct connection with MIDI is better, but if the sync issues are coming from hardware, we can't fix that. Try the demo and see how it runs :)
2. Plugin only works via MIDI so you need a midi device for it to work.
3. Just the plugin and the app (daw) where you run it.

Read the manual before installing so you have it all configured as it should be :)

[dest4b]

1. I have only problems if i use the Virus Controll software ..
Without The Virus Software all is tight. Also if i use the max4live Virus device. But the Original Virus Controll Software kills that all. even if it is removed from the project. Dont know why.

2. Midi is ok i have enough midi ports .. but. The Virus is Hardwired with other Hardware ( Spectralis, LexiconFx, Akai Filter... ect ) Normaly i dont want to change the configuration.. but if it only works with midi .. and if my timing issue would be solved, then i will think about that.
3. yo. :)

ok i will check the testversion.. i hope after 10 years the total integration will be functional even if it is a Half integration :D

[dest4b]

UH !

it is tight!!! And it doesent affect the timing and latency in ableton. :)
I think the Pitchbend is disabled in the demo because there is no automation?
And i dont get any Patches that are stored on my Ti .. also demo ?

thank you ! :)

[Jani K]

Did you read the documentation in full to get the idea how to get patches in plugin browser etc? :)

Plugin works as a "own application" so it won't have any effect on the latency.
You can always add midi tracks to your live and play parts over midi tracks + handle pitchbend from there.
You can use the plugin as a librarian / automation helper / total recaller for project settings :)

[dest4b]

yes it is "like" the original Ti software.. but without timing problems :) and some goodies.

it seems that i waited 10 years for that.

Also the Mixer is a superb function !!

I tested it with 7 Patches on 7 midi chanels without problems.
In sync with an external synth and internal ableton drums.

as you can see in the screenshot :)

[Jani K]

Don't forget to share your love in medias ;)

[dest4b]

:)))))))))))))))))))

A big thank mysteryisland crew !!

my Ti is in sync (!!!!!) and half/full integrated.. :D
And it is usefull .. not like this CTRLR or Max4live things with external midi patchbay software for sending sysex.
Only drag it in a free midi track and rock.

im happy now :)
maybe it would be a cool option that the HC plugin would copy the complete Virus Memory in all banks at first start.
And i am thinking what would be the easiest way to automate chanel 2-16 in ableton.
Using CC's ?

[Jani K]

You can automate more and more channels through the plugin channel itself, just pick a different controller from the list, ie: part 1 cutoff 1 or part 2 cutoff 1 and so on :)

You can also request banks from your Virus at the librarian view and then save them to your hdd.