User manual ACCESS VIRUS TI

Virus TI User Manual Copyright 2004-2006 Kemper Digital GmbH. All rights reserved. This manual, as well as the software and hardware described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice and should not construed as a commitment by Kemper Digital GmbH. Kemper Digital GmbH assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book. Except as permitted by such license, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of Kemper Digital GmbH. Virus is a trademark of Kemper Digital GmbH. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. All features and specifications subject to change without notice. For the latest revision of this manual, visit our website: www.access-music.de 2 Table Of Contents Introduction WELCOME THE VARIOUS CHAPTERS SAFETY PRECAUTIONS MAINTENANCE THE REAR PANEL ROTATING THE SOCKETS SETTING UP SWITCHING ON AND OFF SELECTING PROGRAMS ABOUT THE MENUS DIFFERENT WAYS OF WORKING ABOUT USB CONNECTION CREATING NEW SOUNDS ABOUT POLYPHONY 8 8 9 9 10 11 11 12 12 13 14 16 17 17 First Steps CHEESE FOR STARTERS? THE AMPLIFIER ENVELOPE SECTION THE FILTERS SECTION THE FILTER ENVELOPE SECTION THE OSCILLATORS SECTION THE MIX SECTION THE MODULATORS SECTION THE MATRIX SECTION THE ARP SECTION THE EFFECTS SECTION THE MASTER SECTION HYPERSAW AND WAVETABLE 20 21 24 29 30 35 37 39 40 41 44 47 VirusControl INTRODUCTION 50 3 COMPATIBILITY STARTING UP LOADING VIRUSCONTROL EASY PAGE BROWSER PAGE OSC PAGE FILTER PAGE LFO PAGE MATRIX PAGE ARP PAGE FX PAGE COMMON PAGE REMOTE PAGE GENERAL HINTS AND TIPS 52 53 55 57 58 63 65 67 68 69 70 71 72 74 LFO 1 LFO 2 LFO 3 LFO 1 DESTINATIONS LFO 2 DESTINATIONS LFO 3 DESTINATION EFFECTS (UPPER ROW) DELAY REVERB LOW EQ MID EQ HIGH EQ EFFECTS (LOWER ROW) DISTORTION ANALOG BOOST CHORUS PHASER VOCODER VOCODER TABLE INPUT FOLLOWER INPUT RING MODULATOR OSCILLATORS OSCILLATOR 1 ­ CLASSIC OSCILLATOR 1 ­ HYPERSAW OSCILLATOR 1 ­ WAVETABLE OSCILLATOR 2 ­ CLASSIC OSCILLATOR 2 ­ HYPERSAW OSCILLATOR 2 ­ WAVETABLE OSCILLATOR 3 82 84 84 84 86 87 89 90 91 93 94 94 95 95 96 97 98 100 104 105 106 107 110 112 114 115 117 118 120 Sound Parameters Reference ARP ARPEGGIATOR MATRIX SLOT MODULATORS 76 76 79 79 81 4 COMMON SUB OSCILLATOR NOISE RING MODULATOR MASTER COMMON UNISON VELOCITY MAP INPUTS SURROUND CATEGORIES SOFT KNOB STORE STORE MIX FILTERS SATURATION FILTER-1 FILTER-2 COMMON FILTER ENVELOPE AMP ENVELOPE FILTER ENVELOPE AMPLIFIER ENVELOPE 121 123 124 124 125 128 131 132 133 134 134 135 136 136 137 139 140 141 143 144 145 146 148 149 Configuration Reference RANDOM PG MIDI MIDI DUMP RX MIDI DUMP TX KEYBOARD MIDI CONTROL INPUTS AUDIO CLOCK SOFT KNOB (GLOBAL SETTINGS) KNOB BEHAVIOUR GLOBAL TUNING SYSTEM 152 152 154 154 155 157 158 159 159 160 160 161 Multi Mode Reference PATCH 166 Appendix A - Legal Declarations COMPLIANCE DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY WARRANTY REGULATIONS 172 174 175 5 Appendix B - Glossary GLOSSARY 178 Appendix - Patch Names ROM-A 192 Index INDEX OF FUNCTIONS ETC. 210 6 1: Introduction Welcome Dear Virus owner Congratulations on choosing the new Virus TI, the latest generation in a deliberate process of evolution that has kept the Virus name at the forefront of synthesizer technology for many years. TI stands for Total Integration, meaning that the hardware can be fully integrated into a PC or Mac-based studio via the VirusControlTM plug-in (VSTi or Apple Audio Unit). Before switching your Virus TI on, please read this chapter thoroughly! > Sound Parameters Reference: The main body of this manual. Every parameter concerning sound generation and treatment is listed here, with brief explanations and crossreferences. > Configuration Reference: All global settings ­ parameters used to adapt the Virus to suit your way of working. > Multi Mode Reference: A list of the Multi Mode parameters, with brief explanations. > VirusControl: Introduction to the VirusControl application. > Appendices: Legal matters, charts, diagrams, glossary. > Index: Where to look when you are not sure where to look! The Various Chapters This manual is structured as follows: > Introduction: What you are reading now. Fundamental information you should know before trying out your Virus. > First Steps: A practical guide for beginners, intermediates and experts alike. The best starting point before delving into the reference chapters. 8 Safety Precautions Please read the following carefully. Some of this advice concerns your health as well as that of your instrument! Avoid exposing your Virus to moisture, dust or dirt. Do not place open liquids (e.g. coffee cups) anywhere near the unit. If any substances get into the Virus housing, you should switch it off, disconnect the power supply and contact a qualified service techician. Avoid exposing the unit to excessive heat or direct sunlight. Especially when rack-mounting your Virus (desktop version), please ensure that relatively cool air can circulate freely around the unit. Avoid exposing the unit to physical shock or vibrations. Make sure it is placed firmly on a flat surface or properly secured in a rack. If your Virus model requires a 12V DC external power supply, only use the one that was included with the unit. Never connect the Virus to a power outlet that does not fully comply with national safety regulations. Never use an external power supply which wasn't designed to match the local voltage requirements. Disconnect the power whenever you are unlikely to use the Virus for a long period of time. Always pull on the plug itself, not on the cord. Never touch the mains plug with wet hands. The Virus is capable of generating levels that can cause irreversible damage to your ears, either via an external amplifier or 9 when using headphones connected directly to the unit. Please keep levels reasonable at all times! Make sure that the equipment you connect the Virus TI to matches the Virus' requiremtents (+4dB Outputs etc.) Maintenance Updating the OS Access Music is famous for improving their products via free updates to the operating system. We recommend that you visit www.access-music.de regularly and download the latest OS. Cleaning Only use a soft, dry cloth or soft brush to clean the panel ­ do not apply any liquids. Note that industrial or household solvents can cause severe damage to surfaces. Repair Never open the Virus yourself ­ there are no user-servicable parts inside. If your Virus ever needs repairing, please contact a qualified service technician. Replacing the Battery To prevent your sounds from being lost whenever you switch off the power, there is a battery inside your Virus. This may need replacing after 4 or 5 years by a qualified service technician. Remember to backup your data beforehand! The Rear Panel Sockets > USB: Audio and MIDI communication with computers. Disposal Disposal of old Electronical & Electronic equipment (Applicable throughout the European Union and other European countries with seperate collection program). The marking shown on the product indicates that it should not be disposed with other household waste. Please take your Virus TI to an applicable collection point for recycling of electronical and electronic items. For further questions on an ecological friendly disposal of this product, please contact your Access dealer respectively your local government office. > MIDI IN / OUT / THRU: The usual trio > S/PDIF: Digital audio I/O > INPUT: Audio input jacks > OUTPUT 1: Main audio output jacks > OUTPUT 2 / 3: Additional audio output jacks > 12V DC IN (desktop model): Power supply input socket. > HEADPHONES: Stereo audio output jack. 10 Rotating the sockets The sockets on the rear panel of the Virus TI desktop model can be rotated 90° so that the unit can be mounted in a 19" rack without requiring free space above the "back" panel. Many owners will consider themselves skilled enough to attempt the following themselves ­ although this should ideally be done by a professional technician. We recommend to contact your Access dealer for further assistance. Important notice: Kemper Digital GmbH takes no responsibility whatsoever for any damage incurred while attempting to carry out these instructions! Rotating the sockets does not void the warranty of a Virus TI Desktop. What you will need: A flat and soft working surface (e.g. your couch), a bowl or similar for the screws, a suitable crosspoint screwdriver and hexagonal key. Remove any attached cables and turn the unit upside down. Remove the end-cheeks using the hexagonal key. Using a small cross-point screwdriver, remove the 6 screws in the baseplate. Carefully remove the baseplate and set it aside for the moment. Remove the 6 screws between the rear-panel sockets. Pull up the "sockets unit" a little and perch it on the ledge of the back panel. Using both hands, carefully pull the 40-way con- nector from its socket on the motherboard. The sockets unit is now free. Using the latest set of screws (i.e. the ones without pointed ends), attach the sockets unit firmly into the baseplate, which has all the necessary holes. Position the baseplate (with the sockets now firmly in place) so that the 40-way cable can reach the socket on the motherboard. Carefully but firmly plug it all the way in. "Close the lid" and use the remaining 6 small screws to reattach the baseplate. Turn the unit "right side up" and attach the power cable to ensure that the 40-way plug has been properly fitted. Setting Up The following steps include several important precautions. In addition to the simple setup described here, the Virus TI can be connected in a variety of ways to suit virtually any audio environment. Please do not plug the Virus into the mains power yet. First of all, temporarily switch off any devices you will eventually be connecting your Virus to, and turn all main volume controls (mixer, amplifier) down to minimum. If your Virus is a desktop version, connect the MIDI OUT from a keyboard or sequencer to the MIDI IN socket on the Virus. 11 Connect both the OUTPUT 1 sockets (standard mono jacks) to two line inputs on your stereo amplifier or audio mixer. Make sure to only use qualified amplifiers. Check back with your local Access dealer for further details. When using two separate mixer channels, pan them to the extreme left and right respectively. If you prefer to use headphones, use the HEADPHONES socket on the rear panel. Connect your Virus to the mains power. Press both TRANSPOSE buttons at the same time to "wake up" the Virus. Switch the rest of your equipment on in the following order: the MIDI send device (keyboard or sequencer etc.), then the mixer and finally the amplifier. Set up the MIDI send device (keyboard or sequencer) so that it sends on MIDI channel 1 (for now). Turn up the MASTER VOLUME on your Virus to maximum and, while playing some notes, adjust the volume controls on your mixer/amplifier to a reasonable listening level. If you are using a mixer, you might find some useful advice on setting optimum levels in the mixer´s own documentation. Selecting Programs Your Virus TI has 20 banks of memory (RAM-A to RAM-D, ROM-A to ROM-P), each containing 128 SINGLE programs numbered from 0 to 127. A total of 2560 sounds... To try out some sounds, make sure you are in SINGLE mode and that no menu is open ­ you might have to press the SINGLE button (in the Master section to the right of the display) first. There are three basic methods of selection: Sequentially The most obvious way to select programs is by stepping through them using the BANK and PROGRAM buttons to the right of the display. When any menu is open, these buttons are used for PARAMETERS and VALUE instead ­ see "About the Menus" below. To scroll automatically, hold one of them down for a while. A quick method of reaching any program within the current Bank: Hold down SHIFT and turn the VALUE 3 knob. Switching On and Off Virus TI models do not have a physical on/off switch. To put the unit into standby mode, press and hold both TRANSPOSE buttons until the countdown reaches zero. Press the same buttons to "wake up" the Virus again. 12 By Category Because there are so many sounds to choose from, programs can be assigned one or two so-called "Categories". This information is stored within each program. A practical demonstration: Press the SEARCH button to the left of the display and use the VALUE 1 knob to change the category to "Drums". Then use the VALUE +/- buttons to browse through programs ­ in the bar at the top of the screen you will see programs that are in the "Drums" category only. When you have found a suitable program, press the EXIT button. About the Menus How to open menus The main menus are opened via the EDIT buttons you will find in most of the sections. The usual method is to SELECT an element first (e.g. LFO1, OSC 2 or REVERB) then press the EDIT button in that same section. All buttons in the MATRIX section as well as CONFIG in the Master section also open menus. Via MIDI All MIDI sequencers and professional MIDI keyboards are capable of transmitting Bank and Program change messages via MIDI. How to make full use of Edit Buttons If pressed repeatedly, the EDIT buttons in the FILTERS and MASTER sections will step through the menu pages. Those in the OSCILLATORS and lower EFFECTS sections toggle between the selectable (element-specific) pages and additional, non-selectable parameters e.g. the Vocoder. Similarly, the one in the MODULATORS section toggles between the selected LFO's main settings and its Destinations menu. How to navigate within menus Many menus in your Virus require more than one page. These can be found by using the PARAMETERS buttons (in the Master section, to the right of the display). 13 If a menu is already open, selecting a different element within the same section (e.g. LFO3 instead of LFO1, OSC1 instead of OSC2 or LOW EQ instead of REVERB) will jump to the new menu. Different Ways of Working Single mode How to change values within menus Use the VALUE knobs below the display. Whenever you enter a menu page, one of the parameters will already be active (indicated by a triangular cursor). Its value can be decremented/incremented via the VALUE buttons. To move the cursor without changing values, hold down SHIFT and press one of the PARAMETERS buttons. There is actually a system parameter which governs how the PARAMETERS buttons work ­ see "Navigation" on page 163. This is the standard mode for playing just one sound at a time. The next chapter is a simple but detailed tutorial to help you become familiar with Single mode operation. Multi mode Your Virus can play 16 different sounds at the same time: MULTI programs contain 16 PARTS, each equivalent to a SINGLE program plus a few additional parameters such as MIDI channel, fine tuning, key range etc.. Unlike earlier Virus models and many other synthesizers, MULTI programs in the Virus TI do not simply reference individual sounds, but actually contain the data, including all effects. Multi mode is therefore predestined for more complex programs. Whenever the Bank or Patch parameters (see "Patch" on page 166) are changed, the corresponding Single program is copied into the current Part of the Multi program. For details about Multi mode parameters, see the "Multi Mode Reference" on page 165. How to close menus To exit any menu, press the EXIT button to the left of the display. It is not necessary to press EXIT before opening a new menu. Re-selecting the current basic mode (SINGLE, MULTI) will also exit menus. 14 Sequencer mode Whereas Multi mode offers maximum flexibility for layering sounds, defining keyboard splits etc., Sequencer Mode is usually the better choice for multitrack MIDI sequencing purposes. Press the MULTI and SINGLE buttons at the same time (or start the VirusControl application ­ see below). Sequencer Mode accesses an area of memory containing 16 Single programs. It couldn't be simpler: the MIDI channel is always the same as the PART number (1 to 16). timing and delay-compensated audio/MIDI. See "VirusControl" on page 145 for details on setting up, compatibility and how to work with this revolutionary feature. Remote mode The Virus TI can be used as a MIDI controller i.e. the controls can be configured to suit a variety of MIDI devices. There are several Remote setups suitable for popular devices already included in your unit. Remote mode is accessed by holding down SHIFT and pressing the CONFIG button to the left of the display. User-defined remote setups can be created using VirusControl... VirusControl The VirusControl application (for PC or Mac) makes the Virus TI appear to be a multi-channel VST/AU soft-synth within any suitable host program e.g. Logic, Cubase etc.. Virus TI is the world's first hardware synthesizer featuring sample-accurate 15 About USB Connection Don't use a hub! To achieve the level of performance and integration the Virus TI series provides, you must reserve a USB slot exclusively for the Virus TI i.e. this specific port should not be shared with any other USB device. During beta-testing with various PC and Mac setups, we found that using certain USB hubs not only slowed down the connection speed but often made the entire connection unreliable. For this reason, we eventually decided not to support the use of USB hubs at all. Note: Virus Control constantly checks the MIDI and AUDIO connections and displays an alert message if it sees any problems. A Typical Setup Changing knob response A global parameter (see "Response" on page 160) affects how most of the knobs on your Virus react, and the current value of this parameter may not suit your needs... 16 Creating New Sounds The INIT Programs The end of bank ROM-A has been reserved for a few simple templates, which you can use whenever you want to create sounds "from scratch". For instance, the instructions in the next chapter will often ask you to select one of those. Press the CONFIG button to the left of the display and use the PARAMETERS buttons to scroll through the pages until you reach the one shown above. Using the VALUE 1 knob, change Response to "Jump" if this is not already selected. Press the EXIT button to return to normal operation. Later on, you may prefer one of the other options (Snap or Rel) to prevent glitches during live performance. Note that some knobs will have no audible effect because they depend on other parameters e.g. the RATE of an LFO that isn't being used, or the DECAY of an envelope when SUSTAIN is at maximum etc.. About Polyphony The average number of voices the TI series (with its two DSPs) can deliver is quoted at about 80, with a maximum of more than 100. However, to reach such giddy heights, the TI makes very dynamic use of resources i.e. using certain features can lower polyphony to well below these figures. For instance, doubling the number of Unison voices e.g. from 3 to 6 will reduce polyphony by half. If you ever find you need to maximize polyphony (e.g. in Multi mode), try minimizing your use of the following "prime suspects" first: Unison mode, Reverb, Analog Filter models and Oscillator 3. 17 18 2: First Steps This hands-on tutorial introduces every physical control on the panel, as well as a few important parameters in the menus. Cheese for Starters? If your Virus TI is a desktop model, you should have a MIDI keyboard connected... The most effective way of getting to know your Virus is by performing very simple exercises "hands-on", and that's why many of the sounds you will be asked to make are cheesy to say the least! Despite the risk of compromising your aesthetic sensibilities or overstating the obvious, I hope you will appreciate the advantages of this method. Throughout this chapter you will often be asked to "Restore ROM-A126" or "Restore ROM-A127". To do this, press the EXIT button (closes any open menu), then use the VALUE buttons to step to the neighbouring program then back again. Make sure you are in SINGLE mode, then select program ROM-A127 (i.e. Bank ROM-A, program number 127). Play a note on your keyboard. Like an organ, the sound starts abruptly, sustains as long as you hold down the key, then stops abruptly. Unlike an organ, you can change this behaviour by adjusting a few "envelope" parameters... 20 The Amplifier Envelope Section The four knobs at the bottom right of the panel control the amplifier envelope i.e. how volume changes during and immediately after each note you play: > ATTACK: How long it takes for the level to go from silence to maximum. > DECAY: How long it takes from maximum to the SUSTAIN level... > SUSTAIN: The level of sustained notes immediately after DECAY. > RELEASE: How long it takes to fade out after notes are released. Here are a few practical experiments for novices. ATTACK Turn the ATTACK knob down to minimum to reach the value already stored in ROM-A127 (which is 0). Now turn it up slowly while repeatedly playing notes on your keyboard ­ you will hear the start of each note becoming progressively slower. Leave ATTACK at around 40 for now. DECAY Turn the DECAY knob up to maximum. The original value was already 127 ­ you should see the white "original value indicator" LED in the MIX section light up. Slowly turn DECAY down while repeatedly playing a note on your keyboard. You will hear the note getting shorter until it becomes a very short blip when DECAY reaches minimum. Leave DECAY at minimum for now. SUSTAIN Turn the SUSTAIN knob down to minimum (the original value was already 0). Now turn it up again while repeatedly playing a note on your keyboard. The original value indicator should disappear, and you should hear the volume of the sustained note change accordingly. Leave SUSTAIN at 64 and take DECAY back up to around 40. 21 FIRST STEPS RELEASE Turn the RELEASE down to minimum (the original value is 4). Then, while playing notes on your keyboard, gradually turn it up again: The sound fades more slowly after you release keys. Set RELEASE to around 40 ­ the amplifier envelope now looks something like this: PATCH VOLUME Via SHIFT + ATTACK. The overall volume, stored as part of each program. Mainly used for balancing levels between different programs. The best value to start with is 100, leaving you some headroom to make this particular program louder in future. SUSTAIN SLOPE Via SHIFT + SUSTAIN. If SUSTAIN SLOPE is set to any value other than 0, the sustain phase (which is normally flat) turns into a gradient: All the red labelling (blue in the case of the Pølar model) you can see on the panel identifies the SHIFT functions. To access these, hold down the SHIFT button to the left of the display immediately before using the knob or button, then release it afterwards. 22 Take SUSTAIN SLOPE down to -32. Negative values cause the sustain phase to fall (eventually reaching silence ­ you can check this by playing a relatively long note on your keyboard). So what do positive SUSTAIN SLOPE values do to an envelope? The sustain phase rises, eventually reaching maximum if you don't release the note beforehand. Set SUSTAIN SLOPE to +32 and play a long note. TEMPO Via SHIFT + RELEASE (in the AMP ENVELOPE section). The Virus has a master clock to which the arpeggiator is always synchronized. LFOs and delay effects can also be synchronized to this clock. Locate the program ROM-A 26 "Dr.What?HS", switch on arpeggio HOLD (via SHIFT + ARP ON), and play a note on your keyboard. You can see the LFO1 indicator blinking in time with the arpeggio because, in this particular program, it is synchronized to the clock. Now experiment with TEMPO (SHIFT + RELEASE in the AMPLIFIER ENVELOPE section). Did you notice how smoothly the delay effect catches up with any tempo changes you make? TEMPO has a range of 63 to 190 bpm. However, the master clock automatically slaves to any incoming MIDI clock data (including rates which are beyond these limits). In this case, the TEMPO parameter is simply ignored. All these envelope "times" (Attack, Decay and Release), as well as what appears to be a gradient (Sustain Slope), are actually rates. This technicality can be safely ignored in practice. 23 FIRST STEPS The Filters Section In comparison with "Dr.What?", the few sounds you have been asked to create so far have been primitive and harsh. In subtractive synthesizers such as the Virus, the tonal quality of the oscillators can be radically altered by sending them through filters. There are two main filters in your Virus, but before learning how to access them individually, let's start by experimenting with the three parameters you will find on any subtractive synthesizer: CUTOFF, RESONANCE and ENV AMOUNT (as it is called in the Virus): CUTOFF Restore ROM-A127. Vary the CUTOFF while playing notes on your keyboard. At low values, even medium frequencies are filtered out ­ the sound is very mellow. As you turn CUTOFF up, higher frequencies are allowed to pass through the filters, until the sound becomes brightest at maximum CUTOFF. This is typical of lowpass (LP) filters, one of the four basic types available in the Virus. You have actually been using two lowpass filters in series here ­ in ROM-A127 they have been configured to appear as just one "double-strength" filter ­ we will come to the responsible parameter ("Routing") shortly. RESONANCE RESONANCE emphasizes any frequencies close to the cutoff position. Play a note and sweep CUTOFF as you did just now, then turn up RESONANCE and try again. At higher RESONANCE values, the cutoff frequency becomes quite dominant. You should be able to hear individual harmonics being picked out if you turn CUTOFF slowly enough. If you like, go back to program ROM-A 26 and try a lot more RESONANCE. 24 ENV AMOUNT Controls how much the filter envelope affects cutoff ­ like automating the CUTOFF knob with each and every note you play. Here's how to make a very simple analogue bass sound: Restore ROM-A127 and turn CUTOFF down to minimum. Play individual notes while adjusting ENV AMOUNT until you hear a satisfying "plunk" (somewhere around 70), then take the RESONANCE up a little. Locate the TRANSPOSE buttons to the left of the display, and change the setting to -1 or -2. Play your favourite funky bass riff... The FILTER ENVELOPE section has the same structure as the AMPLIFIER ENVELOPE, so you should already know how to use these knobs effectively to modify your bass sound. Don't forget to try SUSTAIN SLOPE (SHIFT + SUSTAIN). You should try adjusting ENV AMOUNT and RESONANCE again ­ filter parameters are highly interactive! SELECT (FILT 1, FILT 2) Use these buttons to select which of the filters you would like the RESONANCE and ENV AMOUNT knobs to control. If you press both buttons at the same time, the knobs will apply to both filters simultaneously (as they already do in ROM-A127). CUTOFF 2 A separate cutoff control for filter 2. This can be either an offset (i.e. a constant amount below or above filter 1) or an independent value, depending on another parameter in the filter's EDIT menu (see "Cutoff Link" on page 145). MODE (FLT1, FLT2) Using the FILT1 and FILT2 buttons, you can set each filter to one of following types: > LP = Low Pass: Allows frequencies below the cutoff point to pass through i.e rejects those above the cutoff point > HP = High Pass: Allows frequencies above the cutoff point to pass through i.e. rejects those below the cutoff point > BP = Band Pass: Allows frequencies close to the cutoff point to pass through i.e. simultaneously rejects those above and below the cutoff point FILTER BALANCE At -64 you can only hear the output of filter 1. In the central position (0), both filters contribute equally. At +63 you can only hear the output of filter 2. 25 FIRST STEPS > BS = Band Stop: Rejects frequencies close to the cutoff point (within a certain "band") i.e. allows frequencies above or below the cutoff point to pass through. Your Virus actually has yet another filter mode which simulates the classic MinimoogTM low pass (including it's typical selfoscillation). This cannot be selected directly from the panel, but only from within the filter EDIT menu. If you simply can't wait to try it out, bookmark this paragraph and see "Mode" on page 142. At this point you should experiment with each filter mode in isolation i.e. listen to only one of the filters at a time: Restore ROM-A127, take FILTER BALANCE down to -64 (this isolates Filter 1), and use the FILT1 button to select another mode. Play your keyboard while adjusting CUTOFF and RESONANCE. Repeat until you have become familiar with all four modes. While experimenting with BS (Band Stop), did you notice how turning the RESONANCE knob up doesn't actually add resonance, but narrows the band instead? Very subtle... SHIFT + RESONANCE for on-the-fly adjustments because you don't have to check the status of the LEDs above the SELECT buttons first. KEY FOLLOW Via SHIFT + ENV AMOUNT. High notes are generally brighter than low notes when played on acoustic instruments. KEY FOLLOW can emulate this effect by making Cutoff follow the notes you play... Restore ROM-A127, take CUTOFF down to around 64 and play the keyboard to get used to the sound of a "flat" filter across the entire keyboard. Then hold down SHIFT and turn KEY FOLLOW (i.e. the ENV AMOUNT knob) up to maximum. Play your keyboard again. > Into the Filter Menu RESONANCE 2 Via SHIFT + RESONANCE. Filter 2 resonance only. Although you can press the SELECT button labelled FILT2, then use the RESONANCE knob (without SHIFT), it is often faster to use There are several important parameters in the filter menu, a few of which have already been mentioned in passing ­ here are the ones you should become familiar with first. Press the EDIT button in the FILTERS section and use the PARAMETER buttons to find the following page: 26 > Split Mode: The filters are also routed in parallel, with two poles each. Unlike the Parallel 4 mode, each filter processes a different set of sources: Oscillator 1 and the sub-oscillator are routed to filter 1, whereas oscillator 2, its FM signal and noise are routed to filter 2. The ring modulator (see "RING MODULATOR" on page 137) is disabled. To step through filter routings without having to open the menu, hold down SHIFT and press the Filter 2 button (labelled FILT2). Routing Here's that "Routing" parameter mentioned earlier ­ twist the VALUE 1 knob to see the various options... So far you have used the filters either in series (the output of filter 1 is sent to the input of filter 2) or in isolation (by setting extreme FILTER BALANCE values). Here is a list of all four routing options ­ you might like to look up the word "Pole" in the glossary: > Serial 4: The filters are routed in series, with two poles each (12dB per octave). This adds up to a total of four poles (i.e. 24dB per octave) if FILTER BALANCE is dead centre (0). > Serial 6: The filters are routed in series. Filter 1 has four poles (24dB per octave) and filter 2 has two poles. This adds up to a total of six poles i.e. 36dB per octave if FILTER BALANCE is dead centre (+0). > Parallel 4: The filters are routed in parallel, with two poles each. Cutoff Link When set to "Off", the CUTOFF knobs are independent of each other. CUTOFF controls filter 1, CUTOFF 2 controls filter 2. When Cutoff Link is set to "On", the CUTOFF knob can control both filters at the same time ­ CUTOFF 2 becomes an offset i.e. it determines how much lower or higher filter 2 is than filter 1. Note that Cutoff Link is normally left on (as it is in most programs, including ROM-A126 and ROM-A127). About Saturation The term "Filter Saturation" was originally coined to describe the effect caused by pushing the input of a filter beyond its natural limits. Jan Hammer's work on "Birds of Fire" (Mahavishnu Orchestra) is a classic example but, depending on your age and/or musical tastes, you might be more familiar with the searing techno "bass lines" and various other distorted synthesizer sounds used in more recent music. 27 FIRST STEPS In the signal flow, the saturation stage comes immediately after Filter 1. Therefore if you have added a lot of overtones, you can still filter them out using filter 2 (assuming the routing is serial see above). Access have kept the term "Saturation", but greatly expanded on the idea ­ several different Saturation types can be selected (via SHIFT + OSC VOLUME). Here are a few experiments to get you started: Hold down the SHIFT button and turn the OSC VOLUME knob to see the various SATURATION TYPEs. Select one of the more drastic types e.g. "Digital", release the SHIFT button and experiment with OSC VOLUME (i.e. without using SHIFT). You might like to filter the results now! Now let's try out some of the other saturation types. Turn the SHAPE knob down to minimum and try out the Wave Shaper and Rectifier types in turn. Again, you should experiment with OSC VOLUME because this parameter affects the tone. The Bit Reducer, Rate Reducer and Rate+Follow types can be used to emulate the tonal characteristics of early digital synthesizers and samplers. You may not like these at first, but they can certainly add "grit" to a sound. Finally, you should try out the four additional saturation types (which are actually additional filters). High+Follow is especially useful for thinning out a sound without using filter 1 for this purpose. 28 The Filter Envelope Section This obviously has the same structure as the amplifier envelope. Using your knowledge from previous experiments, use all the filter knobs and buttons (plus the Routing parameter in the filter EDIT menu) to make a new sound from scratch. If you feel the need to save your work at any point, bookmark this page and read the information about "Store" on page 136. 29 FIRST STEPS The Oscillators Section This is where the raw sound is generated. There are three main oscillators but only one set of knobs in the top row, so we'll start with a very important button ­ the one that selects which particular oscillator you want those knobs to control... SELECT Restore ROM-A127 and take a look at the row of LEDs above the SELECT button. OSC1 is currently active, so whatever you do with the top row of knobs will only affect oscillator 1. There is actually an exception to this rule (DETUNE 2/3), but we'll get to that in due course. SHAPE In your experiments so far you have only used one type of wave ­ a Sawtooth. Now it's time to try out some of the other waveforms: Restore ROM-A127 and play your keyboard while turning the SHAPE knob. At minimum you will hear a pure Sine wave, in the centre a pure Sawtooth, and at maximum a pure Pulse. Listen to those extremes for a while, then try out different mixtures using the SHAPE knob. You will see the percentage mixture of waveforms being updated whenever you turn the knob. Again, the Virus TI has much more under the hood than is immediately apparant: As well as the "Classic" oscillators we have been using so far, the TI offers two other highly interesting types called "HyperSaw" and "WaveTable". Please be patient ­ you will be trying these out soon enough! 30 I only mentioned Sine, Sawtooth and Pulse above. However, the Sine is only one of 64 waves available in Classic mode, and the Pulse can change it's "width". The very clever knob labelled WAVE SELECT/ PW controls both of these parameters, but not at the same time... Now play a low note on your keyboard and move the WAVE SELECT/ PW knob fairly rapidly back and forth ­ this is the typical cyclic "pulse width modulation" effect which you will learn how to automate (using an LFO) later on. SEMITONE WAVE SELECT/ PW Turn SHAPE down to minimum (the display should read "Spectral Wave" for a short while) and play a note on your keyboard while turning the WAVE SELECT/ PW knob. The first two entries in the list of WAVEs are available in many different synthesizer models ­ Sine and Triangle. All the others (3 to 64) are more complex additive waveforms. If you are interested in seeing a graphic image of all these waves, have a look at the Oscillator page of the VirusControl plug-in. If the value of SHAPE is the central "Sawtooth" or above, there is no "WAVE" in the mixture at all. In this case the WAVE SELECT knob is free to change its function entirely ­ it becomes a Pulse Width (PW) control instead... Turn SHAPE up to maximum for a pure Pulse wave i.e. no Sawtooth at all, then try turning WAVE SELECT/ PW up again. The display now reads "Oscillator 1 Pulse Width". As the pulse becomes narrower, the sound becomes progressively thinner ­ it even disappears entirely when you reach 127. Use this knob to adjust the pitch of each oscillator over a range of -48 to +48 semitones: Go to ROM-A126 -START- (we are using a slightly different template this time!) and play your keyboard. You are obviously hearing two oscillators at the same time ­ and they are slightly out of tune with each other. Use the SELECT button to choose oscillator 2 and turn the SEMITONE knob up to +7. The steps are automatically smoothed while you turn the knob, but the pitch will always settle on semitones. This means you don't use SEMITONE for fine tuning... DETUNE 2/3 ...this is the knob you can use for fine-tuning oscillator 2 and/or oscillator 3. Take SEMITONE back to the centre (0) and try out different DETUNE 2/3 values while playing your keyboard. 31 FIRST STEPS At moderate values you can get some pleasant phasing effects. High values can make the oscillators sound completely out of tune with each other ­ also a useful effect when used in the right context! OSC 3 ON Although the third main oscillator may appear to have all the same options as the other two, it is highly dependent upon what is currently happening with oscillator 2: Restore ROM-A126, select oscillator 2 and change SEMITONE to +7. Press the OSC 3 ON button (its status LED will light up) and select oscillator 3 (both LEDs above the OSC3 ON button are lit). If you now try changing SEMITONE, you won't notice any effect. This is because oscillator 3 is currently a slave to oscillator 2. Try changing WAVE SELECT from Slave to Saw, then adjust SEMITONE to +4. Tip: When oscillator 3 is active, you can control oscillator 3 volume from the panel via SHIFT + SUB OSC VOLUME. SYNC When this function is active (while using "Classic" oscillators), oscillator 2 is synchronized to oscillator 1. Look up Sync in the glossary if necessary. One popular use of Sync is to create an effect similar to a bandpass filter with a lot of resonance and some distortion: Restore ROM-A126 and press the SYNC button ­ the rhythmic beating between the two oscillators is eliminated. Select oscillator 2 and play some notes while sweeping the SEMITONE control from slightly below centre to maximum. If you would like to hear oscillator 2 in isolation, turn the OSC BALANCE knob (you will find it in the MIX section) up to maximum. If you leave SEMITONE at certain fixed positions, you can get some interesting static overtones. Tip: If a sound ever gets annoying, filter it! MONO This button selects whether the entire sound is polyphonic or monophonic (there are several mono key modes available). Although your Virus is polyphonic at heart, monophonic sounds can be particularly expressive, especially when portamento (coming shortly) is applied. Tip: To step through all Key Modes, hold down SHIFT before pressing the MONO button. 32 FM AMOUNT FM stands for Frequency Modulation. This means that the frequency of one audio source is modulated by another ­ the FM AMOUNT parameter determines how much. As well as being able to create bell-like tones, FM is often used to add grit to a sound. You should always think of the FM signal as being an integral part of oscillator 2. Restore ROM-A126 and turn oscillator 1 SHAPE down to 0 for a pure sine wave. Select OSC2 and turn its SHAPE all the way down as well. Now find out what the FM AMOUNT knob does to the sound... UNISON DETUNE Via SHIFT + DETUNE 2/3. Unison means several instances of the same note at the same time. For UNISON DETUNE to have any effect, the number of stacked (layered) voices must of course be greater than 1. For this we need to go into one of the EDIT menus... Restore ROM-A126, press the EDIT button to the left of the display and use the PARAMETERS buttons find the UNISON page. Set the Voices parameter to maximum (8) and EXIT the menu. Play your keyboard ­ quite a powerful lead sound already. Now use SHIFT+DETUNE 2/3 to take UNISON DETUNE up to maximum. For much more of a "Hoover" type sound, turn DETUNE 2/3 (without SHIFT this time!) up to around 115, and add some SUB OSC and NOISE (look in the MIX section). Might as well activate Oscillator 3 as well for maximum power: Press the OSC3 ON button... This type of sound is actually much easier to make using the new HyperSaw oscillator mode (see the end of this chapter), but you should learn about the "Classic" oscillator models first. Now add a simple delay effect by turning delay SEND and FEEDBACK up a little (you will find both these knobs in the EFFECTS section). Play your keyboard while tweaking the CUTOFF knob. FM MODE Via SHIFT + FM AMOUNT. Selects one of several different FM modulator sources. If you feel like experimenting with this parameter, start by changing the FM mode from Pos Triangle to Triangle. 33 FIRST STEPS PORTAMENTO Via SHIFT + SEMITONE. Often called glide, portamento means slurring / slowing down the pitch changes between consecutive notes. Take the portamento value up and play your keyboard. Portamento is particularly effective in mono modes (see "Key Mode" on page 122). 34 The Mix Section Most of the knobs here are self-explanatory. They are volume controls for the signal sources: SUB OSC VOLUME The sub-oscillator is always an octave below oscillator 1 ­ restore ROM-A127 and try turning it up. The sub-oscillator is one of several sources whose level is ultimately controlled via OSC VOLUME: OSC BALANCE This knob controls the relative mix of oscillators 1 and 2 while keeping the total level constant. The 12 o'clock position is a 50:50 mix of both these oscillators. Try this: Restore ROM-A127. Play a note and turn SEMITONE down to -5. Keep playing your keyboard while turning OSC BALANCE slowly up to maximum. You can only hear oscillator 2 now. Turn up FM AMOUNT and leave it at a medium level. Now turn OSC BALANCE down again. You can only hear oscillator 1. No oscillator 2 and ­ perhaps surprisingly ­ no FM. That's because FM is really part of oscillator 2, remember? OSC VOLUME This is a group level control for all the following sources: Oscillator 1, oscillator 2 (including FM), oscillator 3 and the sub-oscillator. Noise and Ring Modulator levels are independent of OSC VOLUME ­ that's why the knob for these parameters is located below it. Here's a short practical demonstration: Restore ROM-A126 and change SEMITONE (oscillator 1) to -5. Hold down a note on your keyboard and listen to what happens as you turn up the following: FM AMOUNT (in the OSCILLATORS section) = 20 SUB OSCILLATOR = 80 NOISE VOLUME = 80 RING MODULATOR (SHIFT + NOISE VOLUME) = 80 Now turn OSC VOLUME all the way down. Which sources can you still hear, and why? 35 FIRST STEPS The upper half (at least) of OSC VOLUME also has another important job. It controls the amount of filter saturation, mentioned a few pages earlier. The idea was to make OSC VOLUME similar to the gain control on a guitar amplifier ­ the signal starts distorting when you turn it up "too high". RING MODULATOR Via SHIFT + NOISE VOLUME. Ring modulation means multiplying two signals together. Like FM, the result is highly dependent upon the basic frequencies and complexity of the two sources. For pure bell-like tones, use Sine waves only: Restore ROM-A126, take SHAPE down to minimum. Select oscillator 2 and do the same. Turn OSC VOLUME down to minimum and RING MODULATOR (SHIFT + NOISE VOLUME) up to maximum. Turn amplifier RELEASE up to around 90, select oscillator 2 and experiment with the SEMITONE knob. NOISE VOLUME Simply the volume of the Noise generator. PANORAMA Via SHIFT + OSC BALANCE. Pans the entire program across the stereo outputs. OSC 3 VOLUME Via SHIFT + SUB OSC VOLUME. The volume of oscillator 3 when it is switched on. If you would like all three main oscillators to have the same level, you should set OSC BALANCE to the centre and OSC 3 VOLUME to 64. SATURATION TYPE Via SHIFT + OSC VOLUME. See above. 36 The Modulators Section LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators) are often used to add some cyclic movement to otherwise static sounds. There are three LFOs in your Virus, and each one has a different assortment of preset destinations it can modulate directly. The three SELECT buttons are used to switch between LFOs ­ the upper row of buttons and the RATE knob will only apply to the LFO you select here. Try pressing the LFO2 SELECT button, turn the RATE knob and see which (white) LED changes speed. Here's another experiment... Restore ROM-A126. The row of LEDs to the right of the LFO1 and LFO2 SELECT buttons indicate which parameters you can modulate directly. For LFO1 these are Oscillator 1 pitch (OSC1), Oscillator 2 pitch (OSC2/3), Pulse Width (PW), Resonance (RESO), Filter Gain (FILT GAIN) and another destination called ASSIGN. None of the LEDs are lit up at the moment because you haven't specified any modulation yet: Although it is already active, try pressing LFO1's SELECT button again ­ this opens the LFO1 Destinations menu. Repeatedly press LFO 1 SELECT to switch between the 3 available pages (of course you can use the PARAMETERS buttons instead), then stop at the page containing the Osc1+2 Pitch parameter. Play a note on your keyboard while turning Osc1+2 Pitch (via the VALUE 2 knob) all the way up. Press the SHAPE button once to select a falling Sawtooth instead of Triangle. While playing a note on your keyboard, turn RATE up to 90, then use the VALUE 2 knob to take Osc1+2 Pitch slowly down to minimum. The modulation becomes inverted because this parameter is bipolar (meaning it can have positive or negative values). Now turn Osc2 Pitch (the VALUE 3 knob) up to maximum. The oscillator pitches are now moving in opposite directions. Hold down SHIFT and press the SHAPE button once to return to the Triangle wave. Take Osc1+2 Pitch to +10 (which brutally overrides the other values in this page). You should hear a mild vibrato effect. Try turning CUTOFF down and ENV AMOUNT up ­ it doesn't matter that you haven't closed the LFO Destinations menu yet. Turn the SHAPE knob in the OSCILLATORS section up to maximum. Oscillator 1 is now a Pulse wave. Press the LFO 1 SELECT button once again to open the next page. Take Pulse Width (the VALUE 1 knob) up to maximum and play your keyboard. This is deep cyclic "pulse width modulation" (PWM). The 37 FIRST STEPS top three status LEDs for LFO1 are now lit up because you have now defined some modulation for each of these destinations. Press the LFO1 SELECT button yet again. The value of Assign Target (VALUE 1 knob) is one of many possible destinations that are also available in the MATRIX section... 38 The Matrix Section This is where you can route just about any control source to almost any parameter you like ­ modulation wheel to vibrato, velocity to panorama, filter envelope to phaser frequency, a random offset to delay time etc.. The MATRIX is a playground for anyone who wants to go beyond what the Virus already has to offer in terms of realtime control. Six sources can be routed to three different destinations each, making a total of eighteen connections. Let's make a simple old-style monophonic lead sound: Restore ROM-A126. Turn CUTOFF down to 64, take ENV AMOUNT up to 75 and set DETUNE 2/3 to 64 for a bit more "thickness" than before. To make the program monophonic with a typical "legato" portamento, press EDIT in the OSCILLATORS section twice (!) and locate the first Common page (via the PARAMETERS buttons). Change Key Mode to Mono 4, navigate to the next page and set Portamento to 32. Play your keyboard and listen what you've managed so far. Now to the MATRIX. In ROM-A126, the uppermost LED should already be lit ­ meaning Slot 1 has already been used for something in this program. Press the SELECT button in the MATRIX section to open Slot 1 and see what it is. The modulation source has been set to "Mod Wheel" and the destination is LFO3 Assign Amt i.e. the wheel will control the amount of whatever LFO3 has been assigned to. Try out the left-hand controls on your keyboard. Pushing the mod wheel (or stick) away from you adds vibrato to the entire sound because LFO3 has been set to modulate the pitch of all oscillators ­ press the LFO3 SELECT button (in the MODULATORS section) twice in succession to check this. Go back into the MATRIX by pressing its SELECT button. Press the righthand DESTINATIONS button, change the amount to +5 and the destination to "LFO3 Rate" using the VALUE knobs. Remember that you can nudge values using the VALUE buttons! Exit the menu and play your keyboard, making use of its mod wheel (stick, ribbon or whatever). Vibrato will now get slightly faster as it deepens... If your keyboard also features channel pressure (i.e. aftertouch), you could try this: Press SELECT twice in succession to open Slot 2, set the source to "Chan Pressure", the first amount to +32 and its destination to "Filter1 Cutoff". Exit the menu again and play your keyboard again ­ try pressing harder on the keys this time. 39 FIRST STEPS The Arp Section Arpeggiators are so much fun that I will leave you to experiment on your own ­ the following is just to help you get started: Go to program ROM-A 7 BellBoy BC, take amplifier RELEASE down to 42 and press the ARP ON button. Hold down a note, tap several more notes at random with your other hand, then release the first one. All notes are played back in a regular rhythm, from the lowest upwards. Of course you can change this behaviour: Press EDIT in the ARP section, locate the first page, change the Mode to "As Played", change Octaves to 2 and Pattern to 4. If all those preset patterns are not enough, you can program your own using the VirusControl software (see "VirusControl" on page 145). 40 The Effects Section This section is split into two halves (with separate EDIT buttons). The top half is dedicated to Delay, Reverb and EQ effects, while the lower half features Distortion, Analog Boost, Chorus and Phaser. Any or all of these effects can be applied at the same time ­ just press the SELECT button to choose the required effect (e.g. REVERB), then adjust values using the knobs. The most useful parameters for realtime performance are directly available ­ to reach all the others, open the EDIT menu. DELAY Restore ROM-A127 and select DELAY in the effects section. Set all the following knobs to their central positions: OSC BALANCE, FM AMOUNT (exactly 64), DETUNE 2/3, CUTOFF, ENV AMOUNT and SEND (in the EFFECTS section). Take TRANSPOSE down an octave. Play the keyboard ­ you should be able to hear a single delay. Now experiment with the TIME and FEEDBACK knobs. REVERB Now let's add some reverb to the delay (which, by the way, was not possible with earlier Virus models): Press the upper SELECT button in the EFFECTS section once, and try adjusting the same three knobs (now SEND, TIME and DAMPING)... EQ Although often overlooked, the 3-band equalizer is a very powerful feature of the later Virus models. Of course EQ can be used in a conventional way to manipulate the overall tonal characteristics of a sound, but at least the MID band can be used a little more creatively than that: 41 FIRST STEPS Restore ROM-A127. Transpose down an octave. Select MID EQ in the EFFECTS section. The three knobs now control EQ GAIN, EQ FREQ and EQ Q-FACTOR respectively. Experiment with these knobs to change the character of the raw oscillator sound for a while, then try this: Make sure MID EQ is still selected, press EDIT and set the QFactor to maximum (15.4). Set Gain to maximum (+16) and Frequency to around the centre (747.8). The sound should now be rather nasal. Press LFO1 SELECT repeatedly until you see the page containg the Assign Target parameter. Change this to "EQ Mid Frequency" and Amount to +32. The result is an automatic wah-wah effect which is independant of the filter section ­ try adjusting CUTOFF, RESONANCE and ENV AMOUNT... The following effects are accessed using the lower half of the effects section. Analog Boost Analog Boost is a special type of equalization used to emulate the tonal characteristics of real analogue synthesizers. These tend not to have a flat response. The difference is often subtle, but well worth trying out after you have programmed a basic sound. Chorus Chorus is especially useful to give "pads" more movement. In combination with Feedback, the Chorus in your Virus is also capable of Flanging and other related effects: Restore ROM-A126, select CHORUS and turn the MIX level up to 64 (via the TYPE/MIX knob). Experiment with the INTENSITY knob (controls Feedback). Press the lower EDIT button once and try out all those other parameters... Distortion Especially if you remember your experiments using Saturation, this effect should be fairly obvious ­ the names of the distortion types are the same. The difference between (filter) Saturation and (effect) Distortion is that the former is applied to each individual voice, whereas the latter is applied to the sound as a whole. This means that if you would like e.g. to emulate the sound of an overdriven guitar amplifier, you should use Distortion, not Saturation. 42 Phaser This is a very good emulation of a multi-stage analogue phaser using up to six so-called "All-pass filters". The parameters are similar to those for Chorus, but here you cannot select a Mod Wave (it is always Triangle). The Stages parameter specifies the number of allpass filters used, and the Spread parameter sets how far apart their cutoff frequencies are. Starting from ROM-A126, turn down OSC VOLUME, turn up NOISE VOLUME and try out all the Phaser parameters! 43 FIRST STEPS The Master Section If you have carried out all the little experiments in this chapter so far, you should be quite familiar with how the EXIT, SHIFT, PARAMETERS/BANK and VALUE/PROGRAM buttons work in SINGLE mode. Which leaves us with the following: STORE 1st press: Set the location (Bank, Patch Number) of the program you wish to overwrite. Press UNDO to compare with the original sound at this location. 2nd press: Use the PARAMETERS buttons and any VALUE knob/button to change the name. 3rd press: Finally, store the program. TAP Use this button to change the Clock rate "by ear". Select the program ROM-A9 ("Boingy HS") and activate the HOLD function (SHIFT + ARP ON). Play some notes on your keyboard, then try tapping the TAP button slower than the current BPM ­ the arpeggio will be slowed down. REMOTE Via SHIFT + CONFIG. This instantly turns your unit into a MIDI controller box, including presets for a wide variety of popular devices and the capability of creating your own (see "VirusControl" on page 145). If you only see a message here, your Virus TI has a very early version of the operating sytem. Go to www.access-music.de for operating system updates and additional Remote Templates ­ as well as many other useful downloads! MULTI EDIT Via SHIFT + EDIT. This is only used in Multi mode ­ see "Multi Mode Reference" on page 165. CONFIG Press this button for access to many global parameters which govern how the entire Virus works ­ see the chapter "Configuration Reference" on page 151. RANDOM Via SHIFT + STORE. Randomizes the current program to create a new sound ­ the CONFIG menu contains parameters which determine just how "random" the results will be. Start 44 with any sound you like and use the RANDOM function several times in succession, each time checking how the sound has been affected. VALUE buttons to scroll through programs (the names appear in the upper bar). When you have found a suitable one, press the EXIT button. UNDO Try pressing UNDO after a particularly unsuccessful press of the RANDOM button (see above). UNDO actually has 3 related functions: While a program is being edited, it cancels the most recent parameter change. Immediately after selecting another program, it retrieves the most recently edited program. During STORE, use it to compare your edited program with the one you are about to overwrite. Just press UNDO again to return to your sound. AUDITION Via SHIFT + SEARCH. Plays a note (C3) without you having to connect a keyboard or sequencer. MULTI Switch to Multi Mode ­ see "Multi Mode Reference" on page 165. PART REDO Via SHIFT + UNDO. Restores the current program to its previous state i.e. before you pressed UNDO. These buttons have no function in Single mode ­ see "Multi Mode Reference" on page 165. SINGLE SEARCH Opens a menu in which you can scroll through all programs belonging to the current category (see "Categories" on page 134). Use the VALUE 1 knob to select a category and the Switch to SIngle Mode. Also exits any open menu. 45 FIRST STEPS SEQ MODE Via MULTI + SINGLE. Switch to Sequencer Mode, the mode of choice for multitrack MIDI sequencing (see "Sequencer mode" on page 15 and "VirusControl" on page 145). 46 HyperSaw and WaveTable To supplement their "Classic" Virus oscillators, Access has added two very powerful oscillator modes... WaveTable Restore ROM-A127, open the oscillator 1 EDIT menu and change the Mode to WaveTable. The other two parameters in this page should now read "Index" and "Table". Set the Table to e.g. 10, and play your keyboard while adjusting the Index parameter. Try out other Tables... Index sets a nominal position within the current wavetable Table selects one of the many available wavetables Each Table (except Sine) consists of multiple waveforms. Unlike scrolling through the spectral waves available in Classic mode, the indexed waves are cross-faded for smooth transitions. To make full use of wavetables, the Index should be modulated by using e.g. the LFO2 "Shape 1+2" preset destination (see next paragraph) or using e.g. "Wavetable 1 Index" as destination in the MATRIX. Press LFO2 SELECT a few times until the "Shape 1+2" parameter appears in the menu. Take the amount up to +32. Activate ENV MODE and change SHAPE to the falling sawtooth. Adjust the Index to taste using the oscillator SHAPE knob. Again, try out different wavetables via WAVESELECT/ PW... END OF TUTORIAL ­ HAPPY PROGRAMMING! HyperSaw Restore ROM-A127, open the oscillator 1 EDIT menu and change the Mode to "HyperSaw". The other two parameters in this page should now read "Density" and "Spread". Density (also via SHAPE knob) sets the number of saws. Spread (also via WAVE SELECT) detunes them. Set Density to 9.0 and Spread to about 80. Turn CUTOFF and FILTER BALANCE to minimum and ENV AMOUNT to maximum. Experiment with filter DECAY and RESONANCE... Experiment with SUB OSC VOLUME, then press the SYNC button and try turning the FM AMOUNT amount knob. All three of these controls have different "meanings" in HyperSaw mode: SUB OSC VOLUME determines the balance between HyperSaw and its own integrated sub-oscillators. SYNC activates the integrated synchronization . FM AMOUNT controls sync offset. Note: The preceding paragraph applies to oscillator 1 only 47 FIRST STEPS 48 3: VirusControl Introduction The aim of this section is to help you get the most out of the VirusControl plugin ­ the hub of Access' Total Integration concept. For detailed information on the functionality of all the various parameters within VirusControl, please refer to the Virus TI User Manual. By means of a single USB connection, the TI not only handles communication of all the MIDI data, but also up to 4 stereo audio streams (2 x stereo for the Virus itself, plus 2 x stereo for the soundcard functionality). External audio signals can be processed via the balanced analog inputs or S/PDIF I/O, or routed directly to your sequencer host. The studio-grade audio convertors even allow the Virus TI to be used as your computer's soundcard, meaning your sequencer can send its master output signal to the outputs of the Virus, and the external MIDI ports can be used as a MIDI interface for controlling external hardware. What is VirusControl? VirusControl is a VSTi or AudioUnit plug-in which runs in your sequencer host, and is effectively a software representation of your Virus TI. Audio and MIDI data from all 16 parts of the Virus are streamed directly into your sequencer, making the TI feel just like a native plug-in. The myriad sound-editing parameters available in the Virus are presented in convenient pages, and the extensive librarian functionality allows you to manage not only the patches on your harddrive, but also in the TI itself. Why use VirusControl? Over the last several years, increasing numbers of musicians have been turning to so-called `softsynths' or `virtual instruments', largely due to a number of perceived benefits that they offer over their hardware counterparts, for example: sampleaccurate playback and automation of parameters, total recall of patch data and virtually limitless storage space for patch libraries. The main downsides to softsynths have always been the lack of a dedicated, tangible control-surface and not least the heavy load some of these instruments can place on the host CPU. This is where the combination of the Virus TI synthesizer and the VirusControl plug-in comes into it's own ­ since the heavyduty calculations required to produce the incredible sounds of 50 What is `Total Integration'? `Total Integration' describes the way in which the Virus TI can sync with your computer far more deeply than has previously been possible with hardware synthesizers, thus enabling it to function within a software host as comfortably as any native VST instrument or Audio Unit.