In recent years, the German manufacturer Access Music has become the king of virtual additive synthesis.
In 1997, they released the Virus, which was enthusiastically received by musicians and the press everywhere. Today, it has become an indispensable tool in techno music (and electro in general).
In 1995, one of the company's founders, Christoph Kemper, began experimenting with algorithms for synthesis programmed in DSP, and later in '96, Guido Kirsch, another renowned engineer in the field (Oberheim, Waldorf), joined him.
In 1999, the second version (Virus B) of the keyboard was released, and in the meantime, they also launched the software format in collaboration with Digidesign: Virus TDM. This was a plugin for ProTools systems.
Not long after, the C version appeared, Access's masterpiece up to that point. This includes the Virus Indigo, which has the same "interior," just with a more eccentric design and limited to keys. Superlative polyphony and multitimbrality, unimaginable programming possibilities, unique design: it is a must-have in every studio in Europe.
Recently, the Virus Classic was released, which, however, does not bring anything new. It seems that the goal was not only to create a "low-budget" model but more of a "holding pattern." But what else can be added?
November 8, 2004: ACCESS presents its new family: TI, which stands for Total Integration. The family has 3 models: TI Polar, TI Desktop, TI Keyboard.
These models shed new light on the boundary between professional audio equipment and musical instruments. In fact, the boundary has disappeared in this model. Here’s why:
- The synthesizer connects via USB to the computer, and the VIRUScontrol plugin automatically detects it and connects to the host program (whether this host is a VST: Logic, Cubase, etc.), and the plugin sends all commands to the keyboard using it as a DSP card for generating tones or effects: professional quality, minimal latency, no processing time consumed by the computer. The plugin settings when saving the song from the host save the state of the synthesizer, the automations, so everything is transparent, and we don’t have to focus on technical issues.
- Outputs 24bit/192kHz, S/PDIF, MIDI. What else is missing? Firewire.
- What is said about polyphony: approx. 80.
- HyperSaw(Tm), a term for 8 parallel saw oscillators (+1 optional sub-oscillator), which (according to previous specifications) does not consume from polyphony. Indispensable for a trance sound.
- Modulation matrix with 6 sources and 3 destinations.
- A new type of quantization, the Knob Quantize mode: turning the controls is quantized according to the current tempo.
