Does the Virus TI have a "dark" sound to it like everyone says?

[elloway]

i'm enticed by the possibilities of the TI and by the number of presets (aren't there over 6,000?) but i am worried that everyone says it naturally sounds dark. I want a really bright synth...is the TI the wrong way to go? or can someone recommend something bright? or can the TI be as bright as anything? Thank you!!

[Timo]

'ello elloway

I think the Virus does sound a touch dark. But it's a character that has won itself many favours. I think the Virus' strength is the middle frequencies of the filters (and their envelopes), they really punch through.

That said, Ben (Crosland) has mentioned that the TI's Hypersaw uses a new and totally different algorithm to the classic saw wave of the Virus, with greater anti-aliasing properties at the high end, so if you use just one saw wave of the Hypersaw instead of the classic saw waveform it should sound considerably brighter.

A lot of people say how bright the Roland JP80x0 is, but I think this is also to do with the filters.

The Korg Radias is extremely bright, but it has a tendency to sound very digital and light-weight as a consequence.

[elloway]

thanks for the response! anymore thoughts on this? is it impossible to get this thing to sound really bright?

[marc]

Originally Posted by elloway

thanks for the response! anymore thoughts on this? is it impossible to get this thing to sound really bright?

i have a nordlead and jp8000. while mixing i find myself pushing the virus around 8k because those synths can make it sound not as bright when above are in the same mix. the virus' frequency response seems duller thank those bight synth but it's not like those frequencies are not there. you just have to lift them on the same level.

hth, marc

[LivePsy]

I agree that most patches could do with boosting the high end if running along side more digital sounding synths, but to me the dark quality comes from the low pass filter. Its more 'brick wall' than other filters so filtering a saw at the same cutoff frequency as some other filter will have less high frequences. This is the dark sound which makes the Virus special. I love the virus filters so to me the dark character is something desirable.

B

[MusicForAirheads]

The Virus is evil. It only creates satanic sounds. It is impossible to create positive/happy sounds on a Virus TI.

[TechnoMusic]

Originally Posted by Timo

The Korg Radias is extremely bright, but it has a tendency to sound very digital and light-weight as a consequence.

From the reviews I've been reading, a lot of people who are long time Radias users recommend using one of the filters to take off the top end before sending bass patches to compressor on the Radias for more depth and punch as the bright top end makes some people think it lacks low end power (which it doesn't apparently but the headroom gets used up by the highs instead.)

[Celestry]

GODDAMNIT! I LOVE THIS THREAD!! Hmmm, DARK VIRUS ACTION!! (^_^)
I LOVE MY VIRUS! <3

[TheHobbit]

For really dark sounds I like the DSI Prophet 08 for that analogue edge that really roots into a track at the low end and with the right tweaking and effects it's darkness can shadow the Virus, saying that the Virus does some nasty stuff that you could only compare to certain streets in Amsterdam, Berlin or Prague...Nasty!