Cheers for the input. I'm with you on most of that... and in fact since my first post here, due to the lack of secondhand Virus' up for sale (at reasonable pricing that is -there was a Virus C on ebay this week going for £1000!! crazy...) I have been forced to rethink everything. I decided that while I'm waiting for a Virus, I might as well go back to the drawing board, focus and really try to design the sounds I'm after using the gear I have at hand. As I said before, I have my drums, basses, leads pretty much nailed down, its those big lush plucky type pads that are driving me mad. Every VST I try seems to fall short in the filters department. Automating and really opening up those filters without all of the distorted aliasing artifacts is what I'm talking about. Diva, Strobe and Operator are the only plugs that I find can get in the ballpark of say a Nord or Moog. Yeah, I know, if that is the sound I want, then buy those synths and be done with it. Well, as previously stated, it comes down to money, workflow and space. Why spend £4000. (again) on two of these when a desktop Virus can do all of the above and a hell of a lot more for under £700.? That is my hope anyway. From most of the demo's I have heard online, the Virus seems to excel in this 'filter department, which is why I want one
It seems that by using a Snow or Desktop model, using the ITB editor and minor hands on tweaking, it will be a very quick and smooth workflow. I dunno, maybe I have it all wrong. Like I said, with the VST's mentioned I can get close, with hours of work, loads of stacking and processing plugs, it's passable.. but I do notice the differences. Am I the only one? IMO for these types of sounds VST's just aren't quite there yet. And BTW in terms of sound design, I very rarely if ever use a stock preset. Usually they are just a starting point, inspiration to build upon or I go directly to an init patch and build my own sound from scratch. I do indeed have a few of Szabo's preset packs as well as his JP-8000 VST.. I find some to be quite good, while others complete rubbish, all down to personal tastes I know. And so my quest continues.
Anyway, thanks for all of the feedback, much appreciated and I'm totally open to more suggestions from you guys... think that a VST - a certain patch can do this sound I'm after? I'll give it a go! If you don't mind sharing info, I'm all ears!!