Virus TI2 100% compatible to Virus KB? - The Unofficial Access Virus & Virus TI Forum

Barely · #1 28.04.2011, 10:31 AM

Hi there

I know, technically they are compatible...
I got a KB right now and want to buy a TI2 in the near future,
the only thing that bothers me now is: Will it sound the same?
I have programmed some patches on the KB that are essential to some of my songs, and I fear they will sound different when imported to the TI.
I read a lot about how the TI sounds thinner than the KB. Is this true or is it maybe only judged by comparing preset sounds?
Is there an audible difference between the viruses?
Your help is much appreciated.

Ruari · #2 28.04.2011, 05:04 PM

As far as I know they will sound exactly the same

Barely · #3 28.04.2011, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruari

As far as I know they will sound exactly the same

That's nice to hear

Have you moved from an older Virus to a TI?
I have no problem with the TI being not as loud as the KB, as loudness is relative

Well I guess I'll make my Synth dealer happy anyway, then

Cheers,
Barely

Barely · #4 29.04.2011, 03:31 PM

I've just ordered a TI2 KB. Man, do I feel guilty

Okay, here's the first hand answer:

YES, the patches sound different. They lack a little punch and a little crispiness when compared 1:1 to the same patches on a KB.

BUT: The KB has no equalizer, the TI2 has.

So I gave the patches on the TI2 a little bottom and high boost, and ... WOOM!!! they sounded as they were on the KB.
It's a lot of work if you will have to edit EQs on all your patches (provided you program yourself, teehee)
But the TI2 can deliver any brutalness and earbleeding you might ever want. It does not sound thinner, more plasticy, digitally or whatever. It sounds as PHAT as you want.
So yes it's 100% compatible, only with the EQ toned down.
Cheers,
Barely

Ruari · #5 05.05.2011, 10:16 AM

Thats interesting, I thought they would be identical sounding.

Enjoy your Virus

Barely · #6 05.05.2011, 07:12 PM

.... and what came out is quite interesting:

I played a short sequence on the KB (very badly, and while I was on the phone, so no technique show-off here hehe), recorded the audio through my audio interface, and midi through my midi interface.
Then I hooked up my TI2, played the midi sequence with exactly the same patch and was surprised that an oscillator octave seems to have been missing. Where has it gone? Fishing?

left channel: original KB sound (- some db)
right channel: Ti2 sound (+ some db)

( EDIT: I removed the sound file url, because it was messing with my sondcloud stats. Any Ideas where I can host this file?
The Forum itself only allows smaller files. )

funny, eh?

I was searching for the lost oscillator and didn't find it. Until I realized that the sub osc knob gave me back my lost octave

So, as you can hear it, it is very similar, but not the same.
I thought I remebered that the sound was a little bit muffled (and blamed the EQ), but what really happened was that the sub osc took away my octave.
After some knob twiddling I could reproduce my KB sound 1:1, of course.
I hope I could clear this up a little. I only did this because I wished I had an audio comparison before I bought the TI2.
In conclusion, you can say that the TI2 sounds exactly like the KB, but has to be convinced a little *whip whip*

Timo · #7 05.05.2011, 09:29 PM

Interesting.

Yes, the KB definately is an octave higher. I can see this in the waveforms too (after dragging them into Wavelab). Sub-osc aside, might you have the KB increased by +12 semitones in the Global Transpose settings (in the Ctrl menu), or vice versa on the TI2? These settings would bypass any patch data and could cause the effect heard.

On a separate issue, it's always going to be slightly difficult comparing some patches on both keyboards at once due to the free-running, time variant nature of the oscillators, LFOs etc, on either, and the different levels coming from each synth (VirusTi +4dBu [balanced] vs. VirusB -10dBV [unbalanced]), as you noted and compensated for.

Barely · #8 06.05.2011, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timo

Interesting.

Yes, the KB definately is an octave higher. I can see this in the waveforms too (after dragging them into Wavelab). Sub-osc aside, might you have the KB increased by +12 semitones in the Global Transpose settings (in the Ctrl menu), or vice versa on the TI2? These settings would bypass any patch data and could cause the effect heard.

On a separate issue, it's always going to be slightly difficult comparing some patches on both keyboards at once due to the free-running, time variant nature of the oscillators, LFOs etc, on either, and the different levels coming from each synth (VirusTi +4dBu [balanced] vs. VirusB -10dBV [unbalanced]), as you noted and compensated for.

Oops, you were right

I was just expecting them to sound differently, so I didn't notice first. So they're even closer...
As I said, it is only a little difference, and nothing that should prevent you from buying a TI2. All over the internet are posts that say that the KB sounds somewhat "warmer" than other Viruses. I really can't say that. It's a little "louder", but that's relative, as we know

klawiszowiec67 · #9 16.05.2011, 03:45 PM

Virus KB - Virus TI2 KB identical keyboards Fatar TP8 SK ?

Barely · #10 16.05.2011, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klawiszowiec67

Virus KB - Virus TI2 KB identical keyboards Fatar TP8 SK ?

As far as I can see, they feel and look identical. It's 100% Fatar, but I don't know if it's exactly the same model. It's great
Cheers,
barely.