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Access VIRUS C SERIES, User Manual

The Access VIRUS C SERIES Owner's Manual is a comprehensive and essential guide for users of the phenomenal synthesizer. Easily accessible and available for free download at manualshive.com, this manual provides in-depth instructions and insights to unleash the full potential of your VIRUS C SERIES, taking your musical journey to new heights.

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ACCESS VIRUS RACK

39

The MIXER Section

THE MIXER SECTION

You have already come across two 
parameters of the MIXER section: OSC 
BAL determines the mix ratio between 
Oscillators 1 and 2; in the left half of its 
control range, OSC VOL determines the 
master volume of the oscillator mix. In 
the right half of the control range from 
the center position to the far right, OSC 
VOL increases the saturation intensity 
when a SATURATION curve has been acti-
vated. 

Now we’ll take a closer look at the SUB 
OSC parameter: It controls the volume of 
the third oscillator, the so-called 
SubOscillator, which always operates an 
octave below Oscillator 1. 

The SubOscillator is mixed to the Oscilla-
tor 1 and 2 master mix signal as deter-
mined by the OSC BAL parameter. The 
master volume of the composite mix is 
controlled by the OSC VOL parameter. 
The only other parameter available for 
the SubOscillator is accessible via the 
OSCILLATOR EDIT menu where you have 
the option of selecting a triangle or 
pulse waveshape (SUB OSCILLATOR 
WAVE SQUARE/TRIANGLE).

Another voice-internal signal source of 
the Virus is the Noise Generator (NOISE 
Volume). Please keep in mind that the 
level of the Noise Generator is not sub-
ject to the master volume controlled by 

the OSC VOL parameter. In other words, 
it is audible even when OSC VOL is set to 
zero.

The VIRUS’ ring modulator is a new 
sound source. The output of the two 
oscillators is multiplied to create inter-
esting sounds with rich enharmonic over-
tones. These overtones are highly 
dependent on the frequency coherence 
of both oscillators and it’s waveforms. 
The frequency coherence can be 
changed, for instance use the OSC2 
SEMITONE parameter. To blend in the 
ring modulator use EDIT: RINGMODULA-
TOR VOLUME (in OSCILLATOR EDIT 
Menu). If the RINGMODULATOR VOL-
UME is zero, the ring modulator is 
switched off. OSC VOL does not affect 
the ring modulator level (or indeed the 
noise volume). Therefore the original 
oscillator signal can be leveled indepen-
dently of the ring modulator. Be sure to 
check out what the ring modulator does 
when you select a sine wave for Oscilla-
tor 1 and 2.

Now we can go on and solve the myster-
ies of the signal flow as determined by 
the FILTER ROUTING operating mode 
SPLIT: Here Oscillator 1 and the SubOscil-
lator are routed to Filter-1, whereas 
Oscillator 2 and the Noise Generator are 
routed to Filter-2. Although the sound 
sources are split into two signal paths, 

Summary of Contents for VIRUS C SERIES

Page 1: ......

Page 2: ...rty of their respective owners All features and specifications subject to change without notice Written by Christoph Kemper Uwe G Hönig Wiland Samolak Guido Kirsch and Marc Schlaile Translation by Thomas Green Graphic design and DTP by Babylonwaves Media http www access music de info access music de The Virus Resistance is futile ...

Page 3: ...Table Of Contents ...

Page 4: ...on Operating Modes 54 The Multi Single Mode 55 the Edit Buffers 57 Operation Parameter Selection and Data Entry 60 Display of values 64 All About The Memory Store 66 Compare 67 Modmatrix And Definables Creating Modulations via Assign 70 The Definable Knobs 72 Master Clock And Midi Clock Master Clock and MIDI Clock 74 The Effects Section The Effect Section 76 Audio Inputs Audio Inputs 78 OSC Volume...

Page 5: ... 169 Handling MIDI Parameter Control 172 Notes on Adaptive Parameter Smoothing 173 Problems Related to Parameter Control 175 Dump The Sound in the Song 176 Tips Tricks Words Of Wisdom Tips and Tricks 180 Multi Single Mode 180 Value Buttons 180 All abouts Inputs 182 Audio Inputs and Audio Routing 182 OSC Vol Input 182 Input Level Indicator 183 About Effects 184 Delay Reverb Effect Send 184 The Viru...

Page 6: ...erchange 206 Single Dump 207 Multi Dump 207 Single Request 208 Multi Request 208 Single Bank Request 208 Multi Bank Request 209 Arrangement Request 209 Global Request 209 Total Request 209 Controller Dump Request 209 MIDI Implementation Chart 210 FCC Information U S A 212 FCC Information CANADA 214 Other Standards Rest of World 216 Declaration of Conformity 218 Garantie Bestimmung 220 Warranty 222...

Page 7: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 5 ...

Page 8: ... device in enclosed rooms only Never expose the device to a damp environment Never operate or store the device in extremely dusty or dirty environments Assure that air can circulate freely on all sides of the device especially when you mount it to a rack Don t set the device in the immedi ate vicinity of heat sources such as radiators Don t expose the device to direct sunlight Don t expose the dev...

Page 9: ...ays pull the actual plug never the cord when you re unplugging the device Operation Don t set beverages or any other receptacle containing liquids on the device Make sure the device is placed on a solid base Set it on a stable tabletop or mount it to a rack Make sure that no foreign objects fall into or somehow end up inside the device s housing In the event that this should occur switch the devic...

Page 10: ... it to a sequencer via Total Dump Be advised that RAM con tent is lost when the battery is swapped see Midi Dump TX on page 149 Care Do not open the device it is not equipped with any user serviceable parts Repair and maintenance may only be carried out by qualified spe cialists Use only a dry soft cloth or brush to clean the device Do not use alcohol solvents or simi lar chemicals These can damag...

Page 11: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 9 ...

Page 12: ...i Mode these are allo cated dynamically to 16 simultaneously available sounds You have two audio oscillators plus one suboscillator a noise generator a ring modulator two Multi Mode filters two envelopes a stereo VCA three LFOs and a saturation stage SATURATOR for cas cade filtering tube and distortion effects The Virus offers a veritable number of effects You have a powerful Chorus Flanger sectio...

Page 13: ...honic as well as monophonic oscillation In other words if several voices are active the LFOs can run independently or in sync A number of keyboard trigger options enable you start LFO wave shapes with variable phase lengths at the beginning of a note and or to cycle once only like an envelope Next to the numerous hard wired or fixed modulation configurations you can assign three modulation sources...

Page 14: ...om mands immediately in the form of MIDI Controller or Poly Pressure data and of course accepts all of the corresponding Controller and SysEx messages This fea ture lets you dynamically control the Virus and all its functions via computer Although far from complete the fea tures listed above give you some indica tion that you now own an exceptionally versatile high quality musical instru ment that...

Page 15: ...Introduction ...

Page 16: ...his introduction Please keep in mind that within confines of this introduction we are unable to impart all of the knowledge and skills in acoustics sound synthesis and MIDI con trol you might desire or need to acquire If you are keen to learn more about these subjects you should consider becoming a regular reader of one or sev eral of the leading trade publications in your country Your local music...

Page 17: ...e stereo sounds of the Virus Once you have established the desired cable connections make sure the main volume controls of all the connected devices are dialed to the lowest possible setting Switch the devices on in the fol lowing sequence the MIDI send device computer master keyboard etc first then the sound generators Virus and the other signal sources followed by the mixing console and finally ...

Page 18: ...e to hear this sound and a quarter note the round dot at the end of the note staff is solid black should appear in the display every time you press a key and release a key If you do not hear a sound but you see a half note blank note head check to see if you are sending on the wrong MIDI Channel Press the VALUE button to call up the 128 single programs of Bank A in sequence The VALUE encoder is in...

Page 19: ...plit or on top of one another layered on the keyboard In other MULTI PRO GRAMs the sounds are divided up over several MIDI channels to make it easier to work with a sequencer If you activate a MULTI PROGRAM and hear a single sound only then you can control this MULTI PROGRAM via several channels Your First Sound Pro gram If you have never created or changed a sound on a synthesizer we now have the...

Page 20: ...APTER 4 Introduction abruptly This sound is not designed to be especially pleasant it is intended to be as neutral as possible to give you a basis from which you can begin creating or shaping your own sound ...

Page 21: ...section read ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN SUS TIME and RELEASE These controls will help you to dial in volume characteristics called an amplifier envelope and put an end to the nerve racking drone that may remind you of one of those cheesy organs that you hear in 60s B movie sound tracks The section labeled ENV addresses the envelope On a synthesizer an envelope is used to modulate sound over time The Vir...

Page 22: ... levels at which the volume remains constant This level in turn is controlled via the SUS TAIN encoder Whenever the SUSTAIN level is set to maximum the volume cannot drop dur ing the DECAY phase in other words in this situation the DECAY encoder is inef fective The individual functions of a synthe sizer are designed to interact many functions are dependent on other func tions In a number of cases ...

Page 23: ...ginary volume encoder turns it up or down At the beginning of the note ATTACK controls the rise or rate of increase to the maximum level Once the maximum level is achieved DECAY determines the fall or rate of decrease to the SUSTAIN value which is infinitely variable between the minimum and maximum levels The amplifier enve lope may remain at this value until the end of the note fall towards the m...

Page 24: ...ight and note how the sound becomes mud dier and clearer in response to the direc tion in which you turn the encoder To ensure this effect and the following aural experiments are most pro nounced adjust the amplifier envelope so that the Virus generates a constant level while you hold a key down This is how a low pass filter works it sup presses or in technical jargon attenu ates the higher freque...

Page 25: ...l ter It allows all of the frequencies of a signal except for a narrow frequency band around the cutoff to pass The term notch is fairly descriptive you might say this filter chops a notch out of the sound spectrum 01111111111111111112 1 FILTER1 Mode Lowpass 61111111111111111154 Now activate the different operating modes and rotate the CUTOFF encoder to get a feel for the way each filtering option...

Page 26: ...24 CHAPTER 4 Introduction of the notch decreases in other words more frequencies on both sides of the fil ter frequency are allowed to pass ...

Page 27: ...sirable that your box is silent With the filter envelope the sit uation is somewhat different It always starts at the CUTOFF value that you determined manually And it is defi nitely not always desirable that the filter frequency is brought to the maximum level Consequently you need a tool that limits the effective range of the filter This is why we equipped the Virus with a con trol labeled ENV AM...

Page 28: ...ia the pitch of the note i e the note number The degree of influence is determined by the KEY FOLLOW parameter You ll find this parameter in the filter section using the PARAMETER buttons just like you did in FILTER 1 mode earlier on Please note that KEY FOLLOW is a so called bipolar parameter Its control range is not limited to the positive end of the spectrum 0 to a maximum of 127 Bipolar contro...

Page 29: ...on distortion curves At this point we would like to mention the OSC VOL parameter which is next to the SATURATION parameter The portion of the control range from the far left to the center position 0 determines the volume of the filter section s input sig nal The portion of the control range located to the right of the center posi tion does not achieve any increase in vol ume it simply intensifies...

Page 30: ...u choose FILT1 2 the values that you dial in apply by the same mea sure to Filters 1 and 2 In the sound program we are using for our experiments both filters are selected so that all adjustments to the given parameters affect both filters However you have yet to actually hear the effect of Filter 2 on the signal because it is mixed out of the audible signal path of the Virus Before we get started ...

Page 31: ...d relatively to Filter 1 when you turn to encoder to the right the cutoff frequency level is decreased relatively Now when you adjust the CUTOFF you adjust the cutoff frequency of both fil ters by the same measure This feature lets you determine a difference in values in the filter frequencies called an offset via the CUTOFF2 encoder which remains constant whenever you adjust the CUT OFF encoder Y...

Page 32: ...ERS SELECT Please also keep in mind that the chances of chok ing a sound off are substantially greater when you are using both filters For instance if the first filter is used as a low pass with a low cutoff frequency and the second as a high pass with a high cutoff frequency the Virus will not generate an audible signal when you set FILTER BAL ANCE to the center position 12 o clock ...

Page 33: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 31 The Second Filter ...

Page 34: ...filters are switched in series Filter 1 has four poles 24dB Okt Filter 2 has two poles 12dB Okt so the overall slope is equivalent to six poles 36dB Okt PAR 4 The filters are switched in par allel and feature two poles each 12dB Okt SPLIT The filters are switched in par allel and feature two poles each 12dB Okt Additionally they receive inde pendent input signals more on this later Each of the two...

Page 35: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 33 Filter Routing Her is the filter routings capabilities of the Virus ...

Page 36: ...ly from that of a saxophone even though no one would seriously claim that either of the instruments has a muddier tone than the other What you need is a sound shaping option for the portion of a signal that a filter allows to pass And of course you also need a tool for determining the pitch of a signal In synthesizers both of these tasks are executed by oscillators They oscillate at a variable pit...

Page 37: ... scale only the odd numbered tones i e the first the root note that determines the pitch third fifth and so forth By turning the SHAPE encoder from the sawtooth con trol range towards the pulse control range you are actually dialing every other overtone out of the mix which explains why the sound becomes thinner You can continue modifying the sound by reducing the symmetrical width of the pulse wa...

Page 38: ...riangle wave the remainder of the waveshapes are each a unique tonal blend After you have familiarized your self with this raw material experiment with the parameters of the FILTERS and AMPLIFIER sections you have dealt with thus far don t forget about SATURA TION and the corresponding function of the OSC VOL parameter to get a feel for how the diverse waveshapes respond to filtering saturation an...

Page 39: ...lay a note the phase constellation between the two oscilla tors is different For now leave OSC BAL at the center position 12 o clock You are already familiar with Oscillator 1 s SHAPE and WAVE SEL PW parame ters These functions are identical for Oscillator 2 so we won t go into detail on them again Locate the encoder labeled DETUNE and slowly rotate it to the right from the far left position which...

Page 40: ...here too you have a encoder which allows you to control the intensity of FM AMOUNT Basically this effect is similar to a vibrato although here you re dealing with an extremely fast vibrato featuring a frequency within the range of human hearing This signal is not actually audi ble as a vibrato effect Instead you ll hear a sound modulation in some cases a very drastic one at that Choose the pure si...

Page 41: ...ator NOISE Volume Please keep in mind that the level of the Noise Generator is not sub ject to the master volume controlled by the OSC VOL parameter In other words it is audible even when OSC VOL is set to zero The VIRUS ring modulator is a new sound source The output of the two oscillators is multiplied to create inter esting sounds with rich enharmonic over tones These overtones are highly depen...

Page 42: ...40 CHAPTER 4 Introduction you can still control the volume levels of the different elements as well as OSC VOL in the usual manner ...

Page 43: ...ime you want to initiate an envelope During your experi ments you probably came across a func tion or two you would like to be able to control periodically independently of notes Some features that come to mind are traditional techniques such as vibrato periodic pitch control and trem olo periodic volume control Another option you might like to have at your disposal is random parameter control In ...

Page 44: ...or 1 OSCILLATOR2 refers to the frequency of oscillator 2 PULSEWIDTH1 2 means that the pulse widths of both oscillators are controlled in unison RESONANCE1 2 refers to the reso nances of both filters Please keep in mind that although each set of these parameters is assigned a common modulation intensity you can still dial in different sound shaping settings manually In other words the audible resul...

Page 45: ...et parame ter with this waveshape Now activate the other available waveshapes for LFO 1 and try to picture the respective wave shape and associate it with the results of the modulation The third waveshape is a descending sawtooth wave You can convert it into to an ascending sawtooth by simply dial ing in the requisite negative modulation intensities AMOUNT S H Sample and Hold is a struc tured rand...

Page 46: ...ut not the modula tion intensity Here you can still deter mine a value in the entire bipolar range This effect is especially prominent when used in conjunction with the sawtooth wave which enables a fade out type of effect when you dial in a positive AMOUNT value or a volume swell type of effect negative AMOUNT for the available modulation targets Using the LFO Contour encoder in the LFO section y...

Page 47: ...ly the same as the first so we ll spare you the repetition of details SHAPE 1 and 2 are available as a joint modulation target the filter frequencies and the Panorama position can be manipulated individually You may also freely select a parameter for your modulation destina tion ...

Page 48: ...parameter PATCH VOLUME in the COMMON section of the EDIT menu 01111111111111111112 1 COMMON PatchVolume 100 61111111111111111154 Its value is set to 100 so that you have a reserve or headroom of 27 volume incre ments when you are dealing with highly filtered sounds You have already dealt with the Pan orama position as a modulation target of LFO 2 Here you can not only modu late it but also determi...

Page 49: ...locity Locate the VELOCITY section in the EDIT menu 01111111111111111112 1 VELOCITY Osc1Shape 0 61111111111111111154 There you will find the modulation intensities for which you can manipulate indepen dently of one another in the familiar bipolar control range A light key attack generates a low veloc ity value for the given note a heavy touch generates a high velocity value OSC 1 SHAPE OSC 2 SHAPE...

Page 50: ...gnal Locate the parameter group UNISON in the EDIT menu 01111111111111111112 1 UNISON Mode Twin 61111111111111111154 UNISON mode determines how many voices the Virus will use to render a played note In a nutshell it determines how fat the sound will be You can use the UNISON Detune parameter to deter mine to which extent the active voices are detuned UNISON PanSpread distrib utes them uniformly ac...

Page 51: ...gnificant because it generates resonances that can be modulated and is thus yet another source of radical sound effects If you determine high feedback values you can clearly hear how the two sides of the signal are modulated differ ently in reverse phase by the LFO Locate the parameter group CHORUS in the EFFECTS menu 01111111111111111112 1 CHORUS Dir Eff OFF 61111111111111111154 CHORUS DIR EFF de...

Page 52: ...are FEEDBACK with a dedicated LFO and the familiar parameters RATE DEPTH and SHAPE Only two functions in the Delay section are different to the Chorus section For one it features an EFFECT SEND instead of the balance parameter DIR EFF EFFECT SEND is especially significant in MULTI MODE where several PARTs with different levels are patched through the same delay effect For the other LENGTH enables ...

Page 53: ...familiar with your new syn thesizer and gain some confidence in how to handle it As we mentioned ear lier this is just an introduction and does not cover all the functions and features of the Virus only the basic components and how they affect the sound of the Virus You should now be able to come to terms with the in depth look at the Virus in the following section ...

Page 54: ...52 CHAPTER 4 Introduction ...

Page 55: ...Concept and Operation ...

Page 56: ...A and Bank B you have two banks available with a total of 256 fac tory sounds These banks C and D are stored in the FLASH ROM and can not be overwritten via STORE The MIDI receive channel in SINGLE MODE is the Global Channel You can change the Global Channel in the CTRL menu In MULTI MODE the Virus can combine up to sixteen SINGLE sound programs among which the maximum available number of 16 voice...

Page 57: ...uently MULTI SINGLE mode which makes handling so much easier is the ideal choice when you re working with a connected sequencer Please bear in mind that MULTI SINGLE mode is really just another view of the normal MULTI mode MULTI SINGLE mode doesn t offer a unique data type for storing sounds it always works with the MULTI program currently selected in normal MULTI mode All of the normal MULTI mod...

Page 58: ...button while the device is in MULTI mode The LED located over the MULTI button will light up to indicate that the Multi Edit menu is active Press the MULTI button again to return to normal Play mode If the device is in MULTI SIN GLE mode press the MULTI and SINGLE buttons simultaneously to access the Multi Edit menu It suffices to press either the MULTI or SINGLE button to return to normal Play mo...

Page 59: ...o the MULTI edit buffer The MULTI program in turn contains address information for the SINGLEs involved in other words the bank and program numbers These addresses are also copied from the SIN GLE banks into the 16 SINGLE edit buff ers for the PARTs When you store a MULTI program only the addresses of the SINGLE programs original slots are saved but not how ever the sound data in the 16 SINGLE edi...

Page 60: ...58 CHAPTER 5 Concept and Operation ...

Page 61: ...Operation ...

Page 62: ...ct parameter groups by means of the two vertically arrayed UP and DOWN buttons located next to the seven LEDs The function of the knobs corresponds to the respective label on the selected parameter group and or row The left knob is labeled VALUE this is a special feature that requires some explanation OSC The oscillator section FILT The filter section ENV The envelope section LFO The LFO section E...

Page 63: ...n access Filter Cutoff the two Definable knobs and Master Volume directly If you want to return to the previously selected parameter group or to the pre viously edited parameter simply press the UP or DOWN button When you call up a parameter in the dis play menus you will also determining the function of the dedicated knobs those with the fixed labels If for example you select the LFO section then...

Page 64: ...TER button and then press the other PARAMETER button the dis play will scroll through the menu in parameter groups in the direction of the button that you are holding down This handy feature lets you swiftly go from one parameter type to another for instance from all chorus related to all delay related parameters If you also hold the second parameter button down the menus will automatically scroll...

Page 65: ... previously stored parameter value as well as the current value are displayed for parameters that feature a dedicated knob The Virus Rack features numerous parameters Many of these you can occa sionally do without because they are not absolutely essential to basic sound pro gramming and they do tend to make the device a little more challenging to handle EXPERT mode can solve this problem It lets h...

Page 66: ...verwritten by the parameter s value SHORT When you turn a knob the cur rent contents of the lower display line are briefly overwritten by data repre senting the change in parameter value once the action is completed the origi nal contents reappear in the lower dis play line LONG Same as SHORT except that you guessed it the display shows the knob data for a longer period of time ON The contents of ...

Page 67: ...All About The Memory ...

Page 68: ...the upper display line indicates the name of the memory location which you will overwrite when you store the pro gram Once all of the entries correspond to the data you have in mind press STORE again to conclude the process and return to the previously active operating mode of the Virus If for whatever reason you change your mind and want to cancel the operation simply press SINGLE or MULTI to ret...

Page 69: ...that you can sur prise surprise compare the two sounds Use the PARAMETER BANK buttons and the VALUE buttons to step through the bank and program numbers of the Com pare sound This lets you search for a new memory slot for the edited sound and at the same time hear the sound that you will overwrite The edited sound is not modified or overwritten during this process Press STORE to do just that to th...

Page 70: ...68 CHAPTER 7 All About The Memory ...

Page 71: ...Modmatrix And Definables ...

Page 72: ...tion destina tion ASSIGN 2 can control two and ASSIGN 3 can control three modulation destinations each with independent AMOUNTs These ASSIGN options serve several pur poses for one they let you assign an external MIDI controller for example the keyboard s modulation wheel to the desired parameter You can also chose to use the sound generator s internal mod ulators such as LFOs and envelopes as mod...

Page 73: ... This lets you radically reshape sounds and even transform or morph them into entirely different sounds 01111111111111111112 1 ASSIGN Source OFF 61111111111111111154 You ll find a list of available sources and DESTINATIONS in the appendix Appendix on page 203 ...

Page 74: ...NGLE pro gram and called up whenever you select this program If however you have not selected a parameter for this program DEFINABLE Single OFF the setting for DEFINABLE Global is automatically enabled MIDICONTRL Here the controller num ber entered in the DEFINABLE MIDI menu is sent regardless of what the other settings and the selected SINGLE program may be Comparable to a small MIDI fader box th...

Page 75: ...Master Clock And Midi Clock ...

Page 76: ...o forth These val ues may be assigned individually for every section ARPEGGIATOR CLOCK CLOCK LFO 1 CLOCK LFO 2 CLOCK LFO 3 DELAY CLOCK see the respective sec tions In SINGLE MODE CLOCK TEMPO pertains to the current SINGLE PROGRAM and is stored along with it In MULTI MODE the CLOCK TEMPO settings for the involved SINGLE PROGRAMs are ignored Instead all involved SINGLE PROGRAMs are con trolled via t...

Page 77: ...The Effects Section ...

Page 78: ...just once but you can address them individually via the PARTs Effect Send parameter In the sig nal path all effects are connected in series in accordance with their sequence in the Effects menu Each SINGLE program contains its own settings for the delay reverb section In MULTI mode the sound programs involved share the same delay reverb section For this reason the parameter values are determined b...

Page 79: ...Audio Inputs ...

Page 80: ...ing modes DYNAMIC To make external signals audible in this operating mode the vol ume envelope must be triggered via a note This option for example lets you create typical gater effects INPUT Dynamic mode is also polyphonic If you set the KEYFOLLOW value for the filters to 100 the resonant frequencies of the filters and oscillators can be played in a tempered manner via the INPUT signal This lets ...

Page 81: ...INPUT modes is activated the OSC VOL parameter rather than the oscillators controls the level of the INPUT signal in front of the Filter sec tion and of course also the gain of the SATURATION stage In INPUT Dynamic mode the level increases quite rapidly when you play several voices polyphoni cally The reason for this is that in con trast to when you re dealing with several oscillator signals the v...

Page 82: ...s boosted in the digital section of the Virus so the noise level of the ana log digital converters increases automat ically Consequently you should dial in the cleanest loudest possible signals at the external sound generator or use the INPUT Gain switch Since record players have a characteristic frequency response we equipped the Virus Rack with a suitable Phono equal izer It may be activated via...

Page 83: ...Audio Routing ...

Page 84: ... PART using the respec tive Effect Send parameter Consequently the delay reverb section has just one signal output which cannot be distributed to the outputs of the indi vidual PARTs This is why for example the delay effect of a PART that is routed to the pair of outputs labeled OUT 2 will still be audi ble on OUT 1 This can be desirable yet may also lead to confusion To encour age the former and ...

Page 85: ...Categories ...

Page 86: ... These categories may be changed at any time and can be stored along with the sound The factory sounds are assigned default categories Once you ve assigned categories you can search for the sounds within a specific category in SINGLE mode and MULTI SIN GLE mode Press and hold the SINGLE button then use the PARAMETER buttons to select the category in which you want to search for sounds Hold the SIN...

Page 87: ...Random Patch Generator ...

Page 88: ...ivate PLAY mode SIN GLE mode or MULTI SINGLE mode so that the STORE button s original function is restored If you want to restart the process with the original sound settings simply return to PLAY mode back and select the desi red sound again PAR DEPTH This parameter determines the number of sound parameters that are influenced by the RANDOM PATCH GENERATOR If you enter a low value for PAR DEPTH j...

Page 89: ...the sound 01111111111111111112 1 RANDOM STORE Amount 0 61111111111111111154 Be aware that RANDOM PAR DEPTH and RANDOM AMOUNT are not actual sound parameters They merely set the parameters for the RANDOM PATCH GENERATOR and only take effect when the RANDOM PATCH GENERATOR is acti vated Not until then will the sound be changed ...

Page 90: ...88 CHAPTER 14 Random Patch Generator ...

Page 91: ...Additional Functions ...

Page 92: ...ble click on both buttons initiates a controller reset The various voices that are still sounding will be cut off instantly and controllers such as the modulation wheel channel volume and pitch bender are reset to the default settings Audition function On the Virus panel you can trigger notes without using a keyboard When you press the UP and DOWN buttons simulta neously the Virus will play the no...

Page 93: ... the VIRUS is behaving unstable or indeed strange we suggest you perform a system reset Holding the PARAMETER LEFT button while switching the VIRUS on performs a system reset No data will be lost dur ing this procedure although some glo bal system settings as Global Channel will be reset ...

Page 94: ...92 CHAPTER 15 Additional Functions ...

Page 95: ...The Parameters ...

Page 96: ...el will extinguish If no menu is activate none of the seven section LEDs is illuminated then the Encoder assignments are deter mined by the Edit section EXPERT MODE The Virus Rack features numerous parameters Many of these you can occasionally do without because they are not absolutely essential to basic sound programming and they do tend to make the device a little more chal lenging to handle EXP...

Page 97: ...AVE SEL PW lets you select from the 64 spec tral waveshapes available in the ROM of the Virus Waveshape 1 is a sine wave No 2 a triangle the remainder of the waves feature different combinations of frequencies When the SHAPE value is higher than that of the center position then WAVE SEL PW determines the pulse width At the far left position the pulse width is 50 at the far right it is 0 which mean...

Page 98: ...11111111154 XP KEY FOLLOW Determines the inten sity of the pitch control via the keyboard At the value 32 standard setting the oscillator is controlled normally i e the octave you are playing is identical to the oscillator octave at 63 every ascending octave you play transposes the oscillator upwards by two octaves whole note scale 15 transposes the oscillator upwards by one octave for every two a...

Page 99: ...111111111111154 XP FM AMOUNT Controls the fre quency modulation intensity of the sec ond oscillator by the first Depending on the selected FM AMOUNT and the inter val between the oscillators the fre quency modulation generates everything from slightly to radically enriched spectra In the Virus you have the option of combining the two func tions called oscillator synchronization SYNC and frequency ...

Page 100: ...11111111111154 VOLUME This knob has two functions In the left half of its control range up to the center position MIDI value 64 OSC VOL determines the master volume of the three oscillators prior to the filter section input The Noise Generator and the Ringmodulator are not affected by the master volume knob OSC VOL Their level is controlled separately in the OSCILLATOR EDIT menu see appropriate se...

Page 101: ... increasingly at ascending values The Phase position of oscillator 3 is shifted to the opposite direction With this parameter the attack phase of every note is identical which is a handy fea ture for programming drums and percus sive sounds In conjunction with Oscillator 3 and PHASE INIT you can cre ate prominent overtones that are initi ated at the beginning of a note 01111111111111111112 1 OSCIL...

Page 102: ...r is switched off OSC VOL does NOT affect the ring modulator level Therefore the original oscillator signal can be levelled independently of the ring modulator 01111111111111111112 1 RINGMODULATOR Volume 0 61111111111111111154 Noise COLOR Determines the sound of the Noise Positive values emphasis on high frequencies negative values on the bass frequencies 01111111111111111112 1 NOISE Color 0 61111...

Page 103: ...R EDIT Menu you can access CUTOFF LINK ON OFF to sever the link between CUTOFF and CUTOFF 2 In this case the two knobs CUTOFF and CUTOFF 2 are independent cutoff controls for Filters 1 and 2 respectively RESONANCE Controls the resonance also called filter feedback or Q factor Depending on the FILT SELECT setting RESONANCE affects the first filter the second filter or both filters ENV AMOUNT Determ...

Page 104: ...the indicated filter LP The low pass filter suppresses fre quencies higher than the CUTOFF fre quency see appropriate section and allows the lower frequencies through HP The high pass filter works in the opposite manner of the low pass filter It suppresses the lower frequencies in a sig nal and lets the higher frequencies pass BP The band pass filter suppresses both ends of the tonal spectrum and ...

Page 105: ...ate section 01111111111111111112 1 FILTER2 EnvPolarity Pos 61111111111111111154 CUTOFF LINK Switches the knob and the parameter CUTOFF 2 see appropriate section back and forth between two operating modes ON In this mode CUTOFF 2 operates relatively to the CUTOFF knob value rather than absolutely OFFSET The cut off frequency of the second filter is like the first filter determined by the CUT OFF va...

Page 106: ...TING operating modes PAR 4 and SPLIT it controls the balance of volume levels between the two filters or in actuality SATURATION and Filter 2 Technically in the serial FILTER ROUTING operating modes SER 4 and SER 6 the left half and the right half of the control range address different parameters When the knob is set to the far left posi tion you will hear Filter 1 Saturation exclusively whereas F...

Page 107: ...ctive assignments are indicated by the integrated LEDs To con trol both filters simultaneously via the knobs you must first press both buttons simultaneously SELECT pertains to the corresponding knob located on the Virus only but not to the sound parameters it controls These parameters exist sepa rately in both filters regardless of the SELECT setting This is why for instance you should control th...

Page 108: ...cessed LIGHT SOFT MIDDLE HARD Different analog distortion curves with different characteristics and intensities DIGITAL Digital distortion with hard clipping SHAPER Sine characteristic curve with several wave cycles With the Shaper you can drastically warp signals In some cases the results are similar to the spec tra of linear frequency modulations 01111111111111111112 1 SATURATION Curve Off 61111...

Page 109: ... fall from its peak level to the SUSTAIN value SUSTAIN Determines a variable level for the filter envelope at which it remains after the end of the DECAY phase see appropriate section The duration of the SUSTAIN phase depends on the TIME value see appropriate section TIME Sets the bipolar time parameter for the filter envelope It determines the envelope s response once it reaches the SUSTAIN phase...

Page 110: ...el to the SUSTAIN value SUSTAIN Sets a variable level value for the amplifier envelope at which it remains after the end of the DECAY phase see appropriate section The duration of the SUSTAIN phase depends on the TIME value see appropriate sec tion TIME Sets the bipolar time parameter for the amplifier envelope It determines the envelope s response once it reaches the SUSTAIN level see appropriate...

Page 111: ...up to the master clock the desired note value is selected via the RATE knob SHAPE Determines the waveshape of the LFO You can select from a sine triangle sawtooth pulse wave a stepped ran dom modulation S H short for Sample Hold or a smooth random modulation S G short for Sample Glide CONTOUR By LFO Contour you can now bend or morph almost all the LFO waveforms A brief survey of the LFO Contour op...

Page 112: ...y Con tour to the left or to a square Contour to the right SQUARE Contour modulates the pulse width of the square wave KEY FOLLOW Controls the intensity of the KEY FOLLOW function i e the rate at which the LFO follows the pitch of a played note At a value of 0 KEY FOL LOW is deactivated At a value of 127 the rate doubles with each octave 01111111111111111112 1 LFO1 Keyfollow Off 611111111111111111...

Page 113: ...a dedicated LFO The LFOs oscillate in different phase positions for each voice This livens up the LFO modulation MONO In polyphonic mode all voices are assigned the same LFO This accentu ates the LFO modulation making it more pronounced 01111111111111111112 1 LFO1 Mode Poly 61111111111111111154 XP ENV MODE Activates an operating mode in which the LFO oscillates like an envelope The LFO cycles once...

Page 114: ...hus the subsequent saturation level The effect of a FILT GAIN modulation is a periodic change in the saturation level which is linked to a corresponding tremolo peri odic change in volume If the signal is not saturated in any manner then the only audible result is a tremolo effect We purposely placed the modulation point in front of the filter section in the signal chain This means that the distor...

Page 115: ...ter PAN Panorama position AMOUNT FM Amount An additional modulation destination of LFO 2 The intensity of the frequency modulation of Oscillator 2 is modulated LFO 3 DESTINATION Determines the modula tion destination of the LFO You can select from OSC 1 The pitch of Oscillator 1 OSC 1 2 The pitch of both oscillators OSC 2 The pitch of Oscillator 2 PW 1 The pulse width of Oscillator1 PW 1 2 The pul...

Page 116: ...1154 FADE IN This parameter lets you auto matically initiate a delayed fade in the LFO3 modulation that you set up via OSC AMOUNT see the section above FADE IN controls the overall delay and fade in time 01111111111111111112 1 LFO3 FadeIn 0 61111111111111111154 CLOCK Same as LFO 1 see paragraph above XP MODE Same as LFO 1 see para graph above ...

Page 117: ...ts INPUT The following effects are available individually per PART and in stereo The vocoder and the delay reverb sec tion are each available just once but they can be addressed individually by the PARTs In the signal path all effects are connected in series in accordance with sequence in the Effects menu ANALOG BOOST CHORUS ...

Page 118: ...11111111154 DEPTH Controls the intensity of the delay modulation by the LFO The LFO modulates the left and right sides of the Chorus signal antiphase which generates a true stereo effect 01111111111111111112 1 CHORUS Depth 16 61111111111111111154 DELAY Controls the delay time of the Chorus 01111111111111111112 1 CHORUS Delay 127 61111111111111111154 ...

Page 119: ...e way This friction depletes energy and causes the pool ball to slow down The sound s loss of energy is controlled via DECAY TIME When you dial in the mini mum value the decay time is extremely short so you ll hear just the early reflec tions At the peak value no energy is lost so the decay time is infinite which is of course physically impossible in the real world 01111111111111111112 1 REVERB De...

Page 120: ... pure DELAY algorithms you can use it to match the reverb effect to the rhythmic context And like the DELAY parameters pre delay is infinitely vari able it is suitable for generating feed back and it can be synced up to the global clock generator REVERB PREDELAY controls the absolute pre delay time in milliseconds ms The peak value depends on the room size REVERB TYPE see above that you have selec...

Page 121: ...FO 01111111111111111112 1 DELAY Rate 5 61111111111111111154 DELAY DEPTH Controls the intensity of the delay modulation by the LFO Like the Chorus LFO the Delay LFO mod ulates the left and right sides of the sig nal antiphase which generates a true stereo effect Wenn das Delay für rhyth mische Effekte verwendet wird dann sollte die Modulationstiefe möglichst gering eingestellt werden oder auf Null ...

Page 122: ...ntrols the amount of feedback of the Delay 01111111111111111112 1 DELAY Feedback 22 61111111111111111154 Input INPUT DIRECT THRU GLOBAL The ste reo signal patched to the external inputs can be routed to the dual jack Output 1 without being processed in any manner For instance you can blend the output signal of another sound generator with the output signal of the Virus and send the mixed signal to...

Page 123: ...dicator that allows you to monitor the signal level visually see LED MODE in the CTRL menu LED Mode on page 155 You should only turn up the INPUT BOOST when you are unable to dial in a suffi cient signal level prior to the external inputs At a value of 0 the signal level is not boosted at all This is a global parameter i e it affects all involved PARTs and INPUT DIRECT THRU see paragraph below It ...

Page 124: ... PART The filters and the amplifier are switched permanently open the envelopes are deactivated and incoming notes are ignored Consequently you can use the filters and the amplifier as an effects section for the input signal INPUT SELECT Selects the external signal source for the INPUT MODEs The signal source that you select here is used also for the vocoder 01111111111111111112 1 INPUT Select In ...

Page 125: ...frequen cies or even lower the treble frequencies In its mild form ANALOG BOOST is suit able for almost all sounds collaborates well with the distortion section and if necessary can be set to extreme values INTENSITY Controls the amount of ANA LOG BOOST 01111111111111111112 1 ANALOG BOOST Intensity 17 61111111111111111154 TUNE Controls the frequency range of ANALOG BOOST 01111111111111111112 1 ANA...

Page 126: ...ermine the mix of the two signals The pure chorus signal is created by a delay CHORUS delay and a pitch modu lation of the chorus on board LFOs CHORUS Rate and Depth Not until the direct or dry signal CHORUS Dir Eff is mixed to the wet signal is the typical chorus effect generated 01111111111111111112 1 CHORUS Dir Efx 20 61111111111111111154 XP SHAPE Determines the waveshape of the chorus LFO You ...

Page 127: ... and feedback are infinitely variable and may be synced up to the global clock generator This means that you can create REVERB effects that are a perfect match for the rhythmic context In PARAMETER mode you can select var ious DELAY and REVERB algorithms Some of the REVERB algorithms work with parameters that the DELAY algo rithms do not use and vice versa so we ll look at these special parameters...

Page 128: ...ck and REV FEEDB1 Here the REVERB signal is audible immediately after you hear the dry signal rather than after a defined amount of pre delay time has elapsed The rhythmic repeti tions are independently variable depending on the pre delay time and feedback intensity FEEDBACK 01111111111111111112 1 DELAY REVERB MODE REVERB 61111111111111111154 sThe following parameters will only appear in the displ...

Page 129: ...u select from among four different room sizes to create the type of simulation that you want Room size is decisive because it determines the density of room reflections which in turn influ ences the character of the room simula tion In bigger rooms sound travels across greater distances than in a small room which means that the intervals between the reflections bouncing off the virtual walls are a...

Page 130: ...h pass filter within REVERB COLOR s posi tive control range REVERB COLOR is a static filter which means it generates a different effect than that of REVERB DAMPING where the amount of high end damping is a factor of time In the signal path the filter is located at the output of the pre delay This means that the filter also influences pre delay feedback REVERB FEEDBACK see below when you use this p...

Page 131: ...EFINABLE 1 2 MODE Settings can be saved globally as well as individually to SINGLE program slots MASTER VOLUME Controls the overall volume of the Virus This control deter mines the volume of the signal pair piped through Output 1 before it is con verted into an analog signal This means that under normal circumstances you should turn Master Volume all they way up because you of course want the Viru...

Page 132: ...130 CHAPTER 16 The Parameters ...

Page 133: ...rves headroom 01111111111111111112 1 COMMON PatchVolume 100 61111111111111111154 PANORAMA Determines the Panorama position of the SINGLE program Dieser Parameter kann auch über Midi mit dem Controller 10 Panorama gesteuert werden 01111111111111111112 1 COMMON Panorama 0 61111111111111111154 KEY MODE Determines how a sound responds to the notes being played You can chose from POLY The sound is play...

Page 134: ...an be played poly phonically However the played notes are held by a virtual hold pedal even after you release the keys Not until you release all keys and press a new key are the notes that were held up to this point released 01111111111111111112 1 COMMON KeyMode Poly 61111111111111111154 PORTAMENTO Determines the amount of time it takes for the pitch to glide from the current note to the next note...

Page 135: ...er posi tion the pitch is bent ever more radi cally In this mode you can achieve slight fluctuations in pitch for instance a man ual vibrato provided you can maintain a soft touch yet still have the option of generating greater intervals because of the exponential increase in range 01111111111111111112 1 COMMON BendScale Exp 61111111111111111154 XP SMOOTH MODE This is an adaptive parameter smoothi...

Page 136: ...mber of voices you ve dialed in its polyphony will of course be considerably reduced in UNISON mode The most efficient and the standard set ting is UNISON mode Twin where two voices are played for every note In the OFF position one voice per note is played 01111111111111111112 1 UNISON Mode Twin 61111111111111111154 DETUNE Slightly detunes the voices involved in UNISON mode 01111111111111111112 1 ...

Page 137: ...IN MODE voices LFOs rela tively This effect livens up modulations The value range of 64 to 63 is equiva lent to 180 to 180 degrees LFO PHASE pertains to all LFOs and does not impair the phase response of the LFOs within either of the two voices 01111111111111111112 1 COMMON LfoPhase 30 61111111111111111154 Punch PUNCH INTENSITY Here you can influ ence the attack of the amplifier enve lope to enhan...

Page 138: ...compo nent parts of the sound generation system The second type comprises the sound generation system s internal modulators for example LFOs and envelopes These also have fixed modulation assignments LFO AMOUNT ENV AMOUNT but are freely available along with the Modula tion Matrix Let s take a look at the internal modula tion sources AMPENV FILTENV The correspond ing envelope is the modulation sour...

Page 139: ... DESTINATION Selects the mod ulation destination for the first modula tion assignment 01111111111111111112 1 ASSIGN 1 Dest Panorama 61111111111111111154 Controls the intensity of the first modu lation allocation 01111111111111111112 1 ASSIGN 1 Amount 10 61111111111111111154 ASSIGN 2 SOURCE Selects the modula tion source for the second modulation assignment ASSIGN 2 DESTINATION 1 Selects the first ...

Page 140: ... DESTINATION 3 Selects the third modulation destination for the third modulation assignment ASSIGN 3 AMOUNT 3 Controls the inten sity of the third modulation assignment for the third modulation destination Velocity In addition to the following fixed destinations any parameter can be con trolled via velocity by way of the Modu lation Matrix ASSIGN VELOCITY OSC 1 SHAPE Determines the intensity of th...

Page 141: ...111111111111111112 1 VELOCITY Filt1EnvAmt 4 61111111111111111154 VELOCITY FILT 2 ENV AMT Determines the intensity of the VELOCITY control for the modulation of Filter 2 s cutoff fre quency by the filter envelope 01111111111111111112 1 VELOCITY Osc2Shape 20 61111111111111111154 VELOCITY RESONANCE 1 Determines the intensity of the VELOCITY control for the resonance of Filter 1 01111111111111111112 1...

Page 142: ...140 CHAPTER 16 The Parameters VELOCITY PANORAMA Determines the intensity of the VELOCITY control for the Panorama position 01111111111111111112 1 VELOCITY Panorama 30 61111111111111111154 ...

Page 143: ...e arpeggiated alternately in an ascending and descending manner AS PLAYED Sustained notes are arpeg giated in the sequence that they are played It is possible to latch the Arpeggiator with the sustain pedal RANDOM Arpeggiates notes in ran dom sequence CHORD Plays notes as chords rather than arpeggios 01111111111111111112 1 ARPEGGIATOR Mode AsPlayed 61111111111111111154 ARPEGGIATOR OCTAVES Controls...

Page 144: ...R Pattern 2 61111111111111111154 ARPEGGIATOR NOTE LENGTH This para meter changes the lengths of the rhythm patterns notes The center position lea ves the notes at their original length Positive values lengthen the notes nega tive values shorten them relatively to their original lengths 01111111111111111112 1 ARPEGGIATOR NoteLength 10 61111111111111111154 ...

Page 145: ...ually for every section ARPEG GIATOR CLOCK CLOCK LFO 1 CLOCK LFO 2 CLOCK LFO 3 DELAY CLOCK see the respective sections 01111111111111111112 1 CLOCK Tempo bpm 120 61111111111111111154 In SINGLE MODE CLOCK TEMPO pertains to the current SINGLE PROGRAM and is stored along with it In MULTI MODE the CLOCK TEMPO settings for the involved SINGLE PROGRAMs are ignored Instead all involved SINGLE PROGRAMs ar...

Page 146: ...eenths that is every second sixteenth note This lends the rhythm a swing feel When SWING is set to the lowest value 50 the interval between the individ ual sixteenth beats is identical and the length of an eighth note is divided into two identical beats in other words the rhythm is binary At 66 the rhythm is ternary the length of a eighth note is divided by a factor of 2 1 At the highest value 75 ...

Page 147: ... number of sound parameters that are influenced by the RANDOM PATCH GENERATOR If you enter a low value for PAR DEPTH just a few parameters will be modified Beyond that the manner in which the few parameters are edited assures that the sound is manipulated organically This simply means that it isn t bent radically so that for example the given sound can still be played ton ally As you increase the ...

Page 148: ...GORIES chapter Definable 1 2 If none of the seven Edit sections is active Playmode or EDIT is selected two encodres work as definable knobs wich may be assigned to different parameters by you the user This option is quite handy for it lets you control directly the many menu parameters that do not feature a dedicated knob These DEFINABLE knobs operate in three different modes XP DEFINABLE MODES GLO...

Page 149: ...NABLE 1 SIN GLE is set to OFF the Display page set ting DEFINABLE 1 GLOBAL is activated 01111111111111111112 1 DEF 1 SINGLE DelayTime ms 61111111111111111154 XP DEFINABLE 1 GLOBAL This is where you enter the parameter assignment for the DEFINABLE 1 knob The entry remains valid regardless of the currently selected SINGLE PROGRAM The entry is only active when DEFINABLE 1 MODE is set to GLOBAL or SIN...

Page 150: ...148 CHAPTER 16 The Parameters XP DEFINABLE 2 GLOBAL Same as DEFINABLE 1 see paragraph above XP DEFINABLE 2 MIDI Same as DEFIN ABLE 1 see paragraph above ...

Page 151: ...ollers polypressure or SysEx messages depend ing on the setting in CTRL MIDI CON TROL LoPage HiPage This function sends the SINGLE program that you are currently processing the contents of the Edit buffer The Controller Dump is not an alterna tive to a normal Single Dump since it takes so much longer to transmit data However it does allow you to send a complete Single sound to a parameter based ed...

Page 152: ...o log in first The Virus automatically accepts incoming data via its MIDI In port However you can determine where the data of a com plete incoming bank is stored In con trast single sound are always first dumped in the Edit buffer you have to manually store them somewhere else otherwise they are deleted by the next program change DISABLE Incoming data via MIDI IN is ignored ENABLE Bank data is re ...

Page 153: ...s in MULTI MODE or MULTI SINGLE MODE 01111111111111111112 1 MIDI GlobalChan 1 61111111111111111154 MIDI PANEL DESTINATION INTERNAL All types of control opera tions are sent directly to the Virus sound generation components and not to the MIDI Out INT MIDI All types of control opera tions are sent directly to the Virus sound generation components and simulta neously to MIDI Out MIDI All types of co...

Page 154: ... ENA or off DIS 01111111111111111112 1 MIDI MidiVolume Ena 61111111111111111154 PROGRAM CHANGE ENABLE Globally swithes the reception of Program Change Data for SINGLE programs on and off 01111111111111111112 1 MIDI ProgChange Ena 61111111111111111154 MULTI PROGRAM CHANGE ENABLE This function controls if the VIRUS receives program changes of multi setups If enabled the VIRUS switches an entire mult...

Page 155: ... controller data is disabled on the receive side if you set it to Contr both controller and SysEx data are received 01111111111111111112 1 MIDI CONTROL LowPage Contr 61111111111111111154 MIDI CONTROL HIGH PAGE Here you can determine if you want the second 128 Page B parameters to be sent as system exclusive data SysEx or as MIDI Poly Pressure data PolyPrs When you set it to SysEx polypressure data...

Page 156: ...ay to different light conditions and viewing angles 01111111111111111112 1 SYSTEM LCDContrast 64 61111111111111111154 KNOB DISPLAY In an active menu SYS TEM KNOB DISPLAY offers different dis play option for parameters that have knobs assigned to them OFF Knob movements are not dis played the current contents of the dis play remain intact when you turn a knob SHORT When you turn a knob the cur rent...

Page 157: ...tomatically indicate the input level when you switch to a SINGLE or PART that accesses an external audio outputs OUTPUT1 OUTPUT2 Much like when the setting ExtIn is enabled you can have the two LFO Rate LED s indicate the signal levels of two further signal buses This lets you check visually if a signal is being routed via a given bus and spot overloaded circuits When you activate this option the ...

Page 158: ...r MULTI related parameters described in the following are available in MULTI mode only SELECT BANK Activates the bank for a SINGLE PROGRAM for the current PART 01111111111111111112 1 B36 101BASS RP SelectBank B 61111111111111111154 SELECT NUMBER Activates a SINGLE PROGRAM for the current PART 01111111111111111112 1 B36 101BASS RP SelctNumber 36 61111111111111111154 PART ENABLE Switches the MIDI re...

Page 159: ...rtDetune 10 61111111111111111154 PART VOLUME Controls the volume level of the PART In addition to PATCH VOL UME in the EDIT menu see appropriate section Channel Volume Controller 7 and Expression Controller 11 PART VOLUME is the fourth option for deter mining the volume level of a PART within a MULTI program Please keep in mind that PART VOLUME is a bipolar parameter In the negative half of the co...

Page 160: ...LTI This initial value may have been determined by the expression pedal or by the most recently active MULTI patch Note The Channel Volume Control ler never changes when you switch from one SINGLE to another It always retains the most recently set value 01111111111111111112 1 B36 101BASS RP PartDetune 10 61111111111111111154CHA N VOL RX ENABLE Switches a given PART s MIDI receive mode for MIDI Con...

Page 161: ...key board zones to create what are called split sounds If however you adjust the two parame ters so that the value of LowKey lies above that of HighKey the note range between these two high and low limits is disabled and the PART will respond only to notes the lie above and below this zone The two parameters may be entered in the usual way via the VALUE buttons and the VALUE knobs as well as direc...

Page 162: ... the hold pedal MIDI Controller 64 ON and OFF 01111111111111111112 1 B36 101BASS RP HoldPedal Ena 61111111111111111154 PRG CHG ENABLE Switches a given PART s MIDI receive mode for MIDI Pro gram Change messages ON and OFF 01111111111111111112 1 B36 101BASS RP ProgChange Ena 61111111111111111154 ...

Page 163: ...The Vocoder ...

Page 164: ...n dered into the new sound by two cas cades of bandpass filters The modulator signal is being send through several par allel bandpass filters which only pass through a certain part of the whole spec trum Every bandpass filter is followed by an envelope follower which uses the level of the signal to create a control sig nal This part of the vocoder is called a modulator bank The carrier signal is t...

Page 165: ...ach bandbass filter is measured by the modulator bank The resulting control signal can be modified by an ATTACK and DECAY parameter These signals are no audio signals as they contain the envelope of the signal being analysed The Carrier Bank The signal is treated in a similar way to the signal which passes the modulator bank In this case the carrier signal is split by the bandpass filters Each ban...

Page 166: ...ke L R is chosen the left and right sig nal is mixed to create a mono signal OSC VOL in the EFFECTS menu Default 0 middle OSC VOL adjusts the output level of the vocoder This is independent of the signal source which can be assigned using the vocoder mode parameter INPUT SELECT in the EFFECTS menu While INPUT Select regularly assigns the input source for INPUT Mode the modulator bank input is assi...

Page 167: ...ynthesizer pads with VOCODER SOURCE BALANCE Default 0 middle FILTER BALANCE creates a mix ture of the vocoder signal and the modu lator respectively carrier signal Turning FILTER BALANCE to the left adds a cer tain amount of the carrier signal to the vocoder signal A turn to the right adds the modulator signal Turning the FILTER BALANCE hard left or right can be used to monitor the vocoder s input...

Page 168: ...active As mentioned before the whole filter section is exchanged to the vocoder parameters parameters like saturation or the filter routing are not available anymore If you would like to use the vocoder as an external effect device choose one external input in the VOCODER MODE parameter page modulator signal and the carrier signal by the INPUT SELECT page The effect section chorus delay and the ou...

Page 169: ...The Virus and Sequencers ...

Page 170: ...cord these movements to a sequencer You may then route these commands back to the Virus which will respond to these automated instructions automatically MIDI controllers have proven effective for this external control option since these commands in con trast to system exclusive data are trans ported very swiftly Beyond that they re easy to edit graphically in all standard sequencer programs ...

Page 171: ... setting is enabled data generated by knobs and buttons is only acknowledged by the Virus when it is routed back in a round about way via the computer sequencer the Virus must be selected as a track instrument in the sequencer and the Thru function of the sequencer must be activated Now scroll to the two parameters called LoPage and HiPage LoPage should be set to Contr MIDI controller HiPage to Po...

Page 172: ...lers such as the modulation wheel As an alternative to parameter control via controller and polypressure data you have the conventional system exclusive control option available see MIDI Implementation in the appendix The Virus and Sequencers on page 167 This system exclusive control option may be activated independently for the first two Parameter PAGEs under MIDI in the CTRL menu in which case t...

Page 173: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 171 Organizational Information ...

Page 174: ...separating the two tracks makes it easier for you distinguish between the information that they contain Besides you re thus able to edit and copy the recording of t knob and button move ments without affecting the actual notes on the other track If you wanted to take this an extreme you could record the movements of every knob and button to a separate track Although this sounds like a classic case...

Page 175: ...nerated by a step sequencer s controller messages as well as gater effects that you programmed in your sequencer You can adjust Adaptive Parameter Smoothing via a function called Control Smooth mode in the EDIT menu COM MON SmoothMode to accommodate different sonic situations OFF Adaptive Control Smoothing parameter smoothing is disabled Application Parameter jumps are carried out without glitches...

Page 176: ...e same effect on a conventional sequencer To this end all you have to do is program a cutoff controller in the sequencer for every note in the arrange ment However be aware that conven tional sequencers can throw a spanner in the works If the timing of this type of controller coincides precisely with the timing of a note the sequencer will first send the note command so that the overall timing is ...

Page 177: ...irus to do just that If you understand this connection between recorded parameter changes and the current parameter status of the Virus you ll find it easy to come up with solutions for these kinds of problems Sticking with our example you could send a controller value to the Virus that closes the filter again in a suitable posi tion within the song for instance at some point after the filter open...

Page 178: ...ds we recommend that you position stored data prior to the song Move all components of the actual song back so that you re left with enough room to accommodate the dump prior to the song s start position Then when you start the sequencer on the first bar sound related data is sent to the Virus before the actual song begins An individual sound dump is very short a dump comprising a complete memory ...

Page 179: ...make do with the sixteen sounds to which the MULTI refers If you want to or are com pelled to change sounds you should record the entire memory content to the sequencer Sending individual MULTIs for the purpose of archiving sounds is point less because they don t contain the actual sounds Sending individual sounds in turn is only a viable proposi tion if you are operating the Virus in SIN GLE mode...

Page 180: ...178 CHAPTER 18 The Virus and Sequencers ...

Page 181: ...Tips Tricks Words Of Wisdom ...

Page 182: ...ust another view of the normal MULTI mode and that it always works with the MULTI program that is currently selected in normal MULTI mode When you re working with a sequencer start with a MULTI program that features neutral settings for its administrative parameters for example the MULTI pro gram M0 Sequencer Here the PART num bers are identical to the MIDI channels of the PARTs Now when you work ...

Page 183: ...at which parameter values change by pressing and holding one VALUE but ton and simultaneously pressing the other VALUE button If you release the first VALUE button while holding the other down the parameter is set to its maximum or minimum value ...

Page 184: ...trols the level of the input signal patched into the Filter section and of course also the gain of the SATURATION stage In INPUT Dynamic mode the level can increase surprisingly swiftly when you play several voices polyphonically The reason for this is that in contrast to when you re dealing with several oscillator signals the voices are correlated because they are receiving an identical input sig...

Page 185: ...or this is that you want to feed the highest possible clean signal level to the analog to digital con verters of the Virus so that they will deliver the best possible performance You should only turn up INPUT BOOST as a last resort because it is located post A D converters and boost signals digitally which of course doesn t affect the level of the converters Signals within the Virus may also be ov...

Page 186: ...al of a MULTI Part through as you would it you were using a conventional dry wet effect knob 01111111111111111112 1 DELAY EffectSend 73 61111111111111111154 The Virus as an Effect Device You re free to install the Virus into your studio environment and use it as an effect device or signal processor For example simply connect its external inputs to any available aux send bus or effect send on your ...

Page 187: ...dulation is considerably greater with low frequency sounds than it is with higher frequency sounds This is due to the fact that the LFO frequency does not follow the pitch You can compensate for this effect by activating and adjusting the function LFO1 KEYFOLLOW When you set LFO1 KEYFOLLOW to a value of 127 the LFO rate will follow whatever pitch you play precisely in octaves To come up with a fat...

Page 188: ... these options at the same time With frequency modulation you can create extremely complex spec tra whereby inharmonic frequency com ponents are filtered out so to speak in the course of synchronization An infi nite number of new harmonic spectra can be thus generated with the parame ters FM AMOUNT and OSC2 SEMITONE Moreover these spectra can be modu lated continuously via envelopes and LFOs FM an...

Page 189: ...ck and forth between them at will Filter Balance The filter section of the Virus puts slopes of 12 24 and 36 dB oct at your disposal In addition the FILT BALANCE parameter lets you morph smoothly from slope to another which effectively makes it infi nitely variable Set the filter routing option to SER 6 and both filters to low pass LP This gives you a serial setup comprised of a 24 dB and a 12 dB ...

Page 190: ...ignal into one of the two filters Each filtered signal in turn is sent into a separate VCA The two VCAs can be spread in the panorama via the UNISON Pan Spread parameter The dif ference to UNISON mode is that you only have one oscillator and one filter avail able for each side although each with the full complement of voices ...

Page 191: ...SATURATION Curve is even greater The OSC VOL knob retains its function as a volume control in Input mode as well as in Vocoder mode Saturation Curve Shaper The Shaper s saturation response differs from that of the other SATURATION Curves Its characteristic curve is a sine wave with several cycles The Shaper lets you radically bend signals whereby the results are at times reminiscent of the spectra...

Page 192: ...tooth wave to create a ramp the shape of which you can vary from linear to exponential by means of LFO CONTOUR The polarity of the respective AMOUNTs determines if you end up with an ascending or a descending ramp If on the other hand you choose a triangle for your wave form you will end up with an ascending phase attack and a descending phase decay The LFO CONTOUR parameter also lets you determin...

Page 193: ...nger oscillate freely instead it restarts its wave cycle at the beginning of each note Next to the obligatory OFF position this parameter has 127 further increments These let you chose different positions within the wave cycle at which the LFO will start oscillating at the start of each note In contrast to ENV mode which is avail able independently of KEY TRIG PHASE an LFO with KEY TRIG PHASE will...

Page 194: ...lume of a voice You ll find this function under LFO1 Amount FILT GAIN in the LFO 1 menu We deliberately positioned the point of modulation prior to the filter section so that the degree of distortion can be modulated at the same time when you have activated the SATURA TION unit Beyond that you can use fast LFO cycles to elicit brief impulses from the oscillator signal transients in order to excite...

Page 195: ...vel of the MULTI PART Use Part Volume to balance out the different levels within a MULTI program Part Vol ume is stored along with the MULTI pro gram The unit value is zero since Part Volume is a bipolar relative parameter Channel Volume and ExpressionThese two performance controllers Ctr 7 and 11 can be used in order to make temporary changes in signal level via a sequencer or volume pedal Like a...

Page 196: ...n the DEFINABLE knobs and the ASSIGN units since by definition neither the output of the DEFINABLE knobs nor the inputs of the ASSIGN units have a fixed controller number Instead you are free to select one of the possible controllers as an ASSIGN source e g the modulation wheel or Controller 12 All you have to do is enter this con troller as the parameter for the DEFIN ABLE knob This configuration...

Page 197: ...ble to play a pattern in which sev eral notes have the same pitch To do this you would have to release a key before you can play it again and when you release a key the corresponding note is deleted from the Arpeggiator pattern You can circumvent this prob lem by pressing a sustain or hold pedal that is connected to your keyboard while you enter notes to the Arpeggiator These will be held for as l...

Page 198: ...If you set the tempo of the sequencer that is sending sounds to a very slow speed you can load individual sounds and store them to the desired memory slot by pressing the STORE button The two FORCE TO BANK A and Force To Bank B options send an incoming sound dump to the respective bank irre spective of which bank the sounds were originally stored in The VERIFY option compares a MIDI dump to the me...

Page 199: ...be initi ated via a SysEx command These com mands are independent of MIDI channels as well as all other SysEx parameter changes SysEx program changes are always carried out irrespective of whether or not the normal program change is disabled PART BANK SELECT the change is executed only when a program change command is received F0 00 20 33 01 10 72 pp 1F v v F7 PART BANK CHANGE the change is execut...

Page 200: ...ne voice is switched off to accommodate a new voice When you set the Priority of a PART to High the Virus will not steal any notes from the voices of this PART Use this parameter sparingly In other words if you set all Parts to High you re defeating the purpose of this parameter In this case it wouldn t have any effect since the priority of all voices is the same 01111111111111111112 1 A0 Overture...

Page 201: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 199 MIDI ...

Page 202: ...d the entire file again Lower the tempo of your sequencer before upload ing e g 60 bpm To proceed press any key followed by STORE which will again enable the receive mode In case that the load procedure simply stops at a certain position the sequencer you use is not able to playback the file correctly In this case you need to use another sequencer After a successful upload press STORE to burn the ...

Page 203: ...tore buttons in this sequence 4 Ensure that Virus 2 is connected and then press Virus 1 s Value button to launch the operation 5 The operating system will be loaded to Virus 2 You ll see that this is the case by the fact the both devices will indicate high numbers in their displays 6 Once the loading process is com pleted please press Store on Virus 2 the software will now be burned to the Flash R...

Page 204: ...202 CHAPTER 19 Tips Tricks Words Of Wisdom ...

Page 205: ...Appendix ...

Page 206: ...by MIDI CONTROL LowPage CTRL menu When disabled LowPage SysEx the VIRUS only sends and receives SysEx Parameter Change on Page A When enabled Low Page Contr the VIRUS sends MIDI Con trol Change on parameter movement and receives both MIDI Control Change and SysEx Parameterchange on Page A sThe default setting is Low Page Contr The remaining Single parameters in Page B HiPage are additionally contr...

Page 207: ...he Control Change messages are defined as Performance Controller e g Modulation Wheel or Hold Pedal or Sound Parameters e g Cutoff or Patch Volume The Performance Controllers are not stored with a Single Sound If more than one Multi Part is set to the same MIDI channel all Parts on this MIDI channel receive the same Performance Controllers The Sound Parameters are stored with a Single Sound If mor...

Page 208: ...usive SysEx Parameterchange message 7x Parameterchange 70 page A 71 page B 72 page C pp Part number 00 0F Multi part 1 16 40 Single nn Parameter Number 0 127 see parameter list vv Parameter Value0 127 see parameter list F0 00 20 33 01 dd 7x pp nn vv F7 The SysEx Parameterchange affects one of the sixteen single edit buffer in Multi Mode addressed by the part num ber 00 0F or the Single buffer in S...

Page 209: ...e sum DeviceID 10 BankNumber ProgramNumber 256 single bytes AND 7F A dump with a wrong checksum will be received but an error message will appear on the display Multi Dump message 11 Multi Dump bb Bank Number 00 Multi Edit buffer 01 multi bank mm Program Number 0 127 256 multi bytes cs Checksum optional F0 00 20 33 01 dd 11 bb mm 256 multi bytes cs F7 When bank number 00 the dump destination is th...

Page 210: ...ne of the sixteen Single Edit buffer in Multi Mode 00 0F or the Sin gle buffer in Single Mode 40 Multi Request message 31 Multi Request bb Bank Number 00 Multi Edit buffer 01 Multi Bank mm Program Number 0 127 F0 00 20 33 01 dd 31 bb mm F7 When bank number 00 the dump destination is the Multi Edit buffer In this case the program number is ignored Single Bank Request message 32 Single Bank Request ...

Page 211: ...obal Request message 35 Global Request F0 00 20 33 01 dd 35 F7 Total Request message 36 Total Request F0 00 20 33 01 dd 36 F7 Controller Dump Request message 37 Controller Dump Request 00 Bank Number always zero ss Part Number F0 00 20 33 01 dd 37 00 ss F7 The Part number addresses one of the sixteen Single Edit buffer in Multi Mode 00 0F or the Single buffer in Sin gle Mode 40 All bytes are shown...

Page 212: ...ault Channel Changed 1 1 16 1 1 16 Default Mode Messages Altered X X X X X Note Number True Voice X 0 127 0 127 Velocity Note ON Note OFF X X O X After Key s Touch Ch s X X X O Pitch Bender X O 14 Bit 1 2 5 Control Change 7 10 32 64 X X X X X X X O O O O O O O Modwheel Breath Control Portamento Time Volume Panorama Bank Select Sustain Prog True Change O O 0 127 ...

Page 213: ... OMNI OFF POLY Mode 4 OMNI OFF MONO X No System Exclusive O O System Song Pos Song Sel Common Tune O X X X X X System Clock Realtime Commands X X X X Start Stop Continue Aux Local ON OFF Mes All NotesOff Sages ActiveSense Reset X X X X X O O X Note See MIDI Controller Assignments for more Information ...

Page 214: ...armful interference with other electronic devices This equip ment generates uses radio frequencies and if not installed and used according to the instructions found in the user manual may cause interference harmful to the operation of other electronic devices Compliance with FCC regula tions does not guarantee that interfer ence will not occur in all installations If this product is found to be th...

Page 215: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 213 FCC Information U S A ...

Page 216: ...ion of the Canadian Department of Communications Le present appareil numerique n emet pas de bruit radioelectriques depassant les limites applicables aux appareils numerique de la Class B prescrites dans la reglement sur le brouillage radi oelectrique edicte par le Ministre Des Communication du Canada This only applies to products distributed in Canada Ceci ne s applique qu aux produits distri bue...

Page 217: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 215 FCC Information CANADA ...

Page 218: ...adio fre quency interference requirements of the Council Directive 89 336 EC Cet appareil est conforme aux prescrip tions de la directive communautaire 89 336 EC Dette apparat overholder det gaeldenda EF direktiv vedrorendareadiostoj Diese Geräte entsprechen der EG Rich tlinie 89 336 EC ...

Page 219: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 217 Other Standards Rest of World ...

Page 220: ...rdem entspricht es den Vor schriften des Gesetzes über die elektro magnetische Verträglichkeit von Geräten EMVG vom 30 August 1995 Will hereby declared that it conforms to the requirements of the Council Direc tive 89 336 FWG for radio frequency interference It also complies with the regulations about radio interference of electronic devices dated on August 30th 1995 Zur Beurteilung des Erzeugniss...

Page 221: ...den Hersteller abgegeben This declaration has been given responsi bly to the manufacturer Access Music Electronics Trimburgstraße 11 36039 Fulda Fulda 16 12 2000 Guido Kirsch Geschäftsführer Guido Kirsch Managing Director Christoph Kemper Geschäftsführer Christoph Kemper Managing Director ...

Page 222: ...n mächtigen Änderungen am Gerät Voraussetzung für die Garantieleistung ist die Rücksendung der ausgefüllten Garantiekarte mit Serien Nr Verkaufs datum Firmenstempel Unterschrift des authorisierten Fachhändlers Name und Anschrift des Käufers sowie eine Kopie des Kaufbelegs Wenn Defekte innerhalb der Garantie zeit auftreten sollten senden Sie das Gerät nach vorheriger Absprache an TSI GmbH Neustraße...

Page 223: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 221 Garantie Bestimmung ...

Page 224: ...y way To ensure the warranty is valid fill out the warranty card completely including serial no date of sale company stamp signature of the authorized dealer as well as your name an adress and return it to the adress given below If a defect occurs during the warranty period contact the following adress before sending the device sTSI GmbH Neustraße 9 12 D 53498 Waldorf Tel 02636 976464 Fax 02636 97...

Page 225: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 223 Warranty ...

Page 226: ...224 CHAPTER 20 Appendix ...

Page 227: ...ACCESS VIRUS RACK 225 Warranty ...

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