Virus TI|2 keyboard - intro, 1st impression, and question

[cynep]

Hey everyone, I'm new here - it's my first post. I've lurked around for a while but decided to jump in and participate.

So, I'm on my 10th virus - TI2 keyboard. I've only had it for about a day and so far I got mixed feelings about it. I'll post follow-up impressions later, after I spend more time with it.

First, the good:
It definitely seems more powerfull than previous model. With original TI, I'd get pops, clicks and synth would choke at multis I'd force it to crunch out. TI 2 seems to take it much better - I can throw some pretty complex arrangements without much noticeable artifacts.

I also like the way sides are put together - wood/aluminum - very classy. I do miss the "inspired by Jupiter 8" LCD cover but I think I may be in a minority..... Over all, synth seems built very well and looks rather nice.

What blew me away, as little as it is, the "Laser Harp" patch. As a long-time lover of Elka Synthex, still unable to satisfy my lust with the real deal, I think this is as close as you can get to "that" sound without actually owning that classic. I spent better part of last night playing Randzevous and other Jarre material This alone made subsequent points less disapointing.



Which brings me to the bad...
First - at some point synth just started playing by itself without me even touching it - a problem I've seen with faulty Jupiter 8 and also original TI - I call it "ghost in the machine"

Very close behind - RED LEDs. I was so relieved when I switched from Virus C to TI as my primary synth. Staring at RED had me seeing spots and I thought I was done with it when I racked Virus C out of direct line of my sight. Well, here I am back to red. Thankfully LCD is still nice and crispy white but these red lights are annoying enough to put a dent on a whole experience. This is definitely one of the more disapointing changes.

Third - mushy keybed. Of all Virus keyboard products I owned, this one is my least favorite. I don't know why but it just feels spongy, springy and just... I don't know... CHEAP. I may need to mess around with curve settings but keybed itself fails to inspire and feels like a keyboard you're likely to encounter in a cheaper MIDI gear, not a near $3000 synth.

I've played better keys in cheaper synths (Yamaha AN1x or a still unsurpassed K5000s come to mind). I really enjoy having the extra real estate on the right side of the synth, so I could stick my NL3 within easy reach but key feel is just lousy. Don't get me wrong, the keys are not noisy or rough like DSI Prophet 08 but at the same time not up to par to what I'd expect in a top synth on the market. I may have to go to TI2 polar for those two reasons.

Overall, not as thrilled about it as I used to be.

Lastly - the question...
I'm still trying to figure out what exactly changed in TI2 to warrant trading away from original TI, aside from perhaps getting rid of the buggy hardware. It almost seems like TI was the "Vista" of the Access line and TI2 is supposed to be Windows 7 - e.g. a bug fix for buggy hardware. Does anyone have any insight as to what exactly is the difference between the two? I do see an extra LED on the filter section but that's about it.