Amazing classic VA synth

I like to create my own sounds from scratch, or to tweak the factory patches to fit my tracks. That is why I won't give the Access Virus 5 out of 5 stars. Changing the existing sounds is just a bit too cumbersome, because there are quite a few synthesis parameters hiding in menu's. I therefore prefer simpler instruments, like the Korg polysix, the Roland Juno's or the Clavia Nord Lead.

However, I still think it is a great synthesizer, and if the parameters that do have controls on the front panel are enough for you then I can really recommend the Virus!

The Virus B and KB have 24 voices of polyphony, double that of the Virus A. Like the Virus A they offer 16 parts multitimbrality. Every part has it’s own insert effects like chorus/flanger, phaser and distortion. Only Reverb and delay are send effects and are shared between the different parts in a multi. I really love that.

The Virus has two oscillators directly accessible via the controls on the front panel with FM and sync options as well. Hidden in the oscillator edit menu are a simple third oscillator, a sub oscillator and ring-modulation. Unusual, but very nice, for a virtual analog synth is that the wave selection knob gradually fades from one of 64 digital waves, to a saw wave to a pulse wave. Combining sync with different digital waves and pitch modu- lation of osc 2 it is possible to create some very unusual sounds for a VA. There is no way to import your own wavetables though.

There are two filters with low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and band-stop modes and various configurations with 1, 2, and 4 poles in series and in parallel. In the EDIT menu you can choose different types of distortion for the first filter. How much distortion is applied depends on the volume setting in the oscillator-mix sec- tion. The manual states there is no distortion with the volume at 12 o’ clock, but I noticed choosing a distortion type always changes the sound of the filter.

There are 3 LFO’s and 2 envelopes. The LFO and envelope sections have their own destination settings, but there’s also a small modulation matrix in the EDIT menu where you can set up 3 modulation routings. Also in the EDIT menu are the controls for sending velocity to a couple of set parameters like filter cutoff, so you don’t need to configure those in the mod matrix as well. Though this arrangement offers many possibilities, I am bothered by the amount of navigating in the menu’s to set all this up.

The Virus has got two envelopes. These are ADSTR envelopes, where T stands for “Time”. Settings to the left of 12 o’clock make the sustain fade out to zero, settings to the right of 12 o’clock make the sustain gradual- ly louder till it reaches it’s maximum value. Ofcourse, if the sustain level is already set at maximum value, nothing happens. The envelopes are hardwired to the amplifier and the filters, respectively, and that’s the way I like it. Other modulation destinations need to be set up in de modulation matrix.

LFO’s, delay times, and arpeggiator speed can be synced to an internal clock (set per patch), or to external midi clock.

The manual is written in easy to understand language and explains many features of the Virus well. It is, however, not really a reference manual, as it is missing some of the details. A bit lazy and annoying, I think.

Banks C till H are read only, your own patches can only be written to banks A and B. Since OS4.8 it is possible to copy all patches in a RAM bank (A or B) to one of the ROM banks. If you want to restore the original factory sounds into your Virus, power it on while holding the LFO1 and LFO2 “shape” buttons. You will be presented with a little dialog where you can choose to restore the original sounds to Bank A, B, or the Multi’s.

I think the Access Virus and especially the 5 octave KB version is one of the best looking synthesizers I know and it sounds great. It has a very power-full synthesis engine, a great multimode with per part insert effects, and a really nice keyboard to play.

I can barely live without this synth now that its gone...

desert island machine, no clipping using multi midi channels internally mixed through a stereo output, which is in itself miraculous, lots of polyphony, many different types of sound/genre/moods, not too digital or brash sounding, but also fat and warm, def not cheap or squelchy sounding. smooth, deep, sparkling, prickly and bottom heavy with lots of gain and the resonance and filter cutoff wont blow the system while live tweaking like your korg ms10/20 will. ps... tight midi clock to lfo and arps ;)

From Gear Setup