Individual polyphony is limited to 20 voices, but with an appropriate license it's possible to run multiple copies for a maximum polyphony of voices in a Pro Tools system. Architecturally these variants are very similar to the hardware models. The virtual control panels are rather plainer, but this doesn't affect the sound. Oscillator two is just like oscillator one, but with extra Semitone and Detune settings. Also available are FM and Sync options.
Sync works as you'd expect. One handy tip is that oscillator one has its own Semitone setting buried inside the oscillator Edit menus. Using this, you can tune it down a couple of octaves. Now when you select Sync, oscillator two can provide some very rich and broad static timbres depending on the relative pitch offset. Mix in the output of the sub-oscillator, and you have a very impressive sub-bass.
You can create all the usual ripping sync effects by modulating the frequency of oscillator two with either an LFO or one of the envelopes. Generating clearly-pitched FM tones using the Virus's FM Amount control can be tricky, as it sometimes lacks adequate resolution, so you sometimes also need to use the Detune control to find the sweet spot. The FM feature is more complex than Sync, with more sources to choose from.
As with Sync, the destination is always oscillator two, but the source can be oscillator one's wave, noise, or an external input. Oscillator one's Tri, Pos Tri, and Shape which uses the digital output controlled by Wave Sel options speak for themselves, and the best way to hear the differences between them is to try them. Each has a different sweet spot, where the FM Amount setting aligns all the overtones in a way that eliminates beating and produces rich and reedy timbres instead of clangy ones.
Sometimes the FM Amount resolution is too coarse to find this sweet spot exactly, and when that happens you can use oscillator two's Detune control to compensate. If you want clangy effects or ones with lots of beating, you can create them using the Semitone, Detune, or FM Amount knobs in any combination. Note that you can also control FM Amount using the envelopes. This can sound a tad too abstract, in a Dr Who kind of a way, for pads, but it can add a hint of extra punch and slap to bass sounds and leads.
An unusually interesting source for FM is the noise setting. This adds a kind of filtered noise effect around the pitch of oscillator two, and is good for grungy, dirty, quasi-distorted noises.
Small FM Amount settings add an interesting hint of this. At large settings the sound falls apart into something that sounds like distortion of extreme nastiness. The sound responds to the Noise Color setting also in the oscillator Edit menu , and negative settings have much more low-end rumble. If you detune oscillators one and two as low as they go, you get stepped transients which can trigger classic random analogue blips if fed to the filters with the Resonance knob turned up.
Turning on Sync and dialling in extreme modulation of oscillator one with plenty of noise on oscillator two creates huge sheet-like ripping sounds. In between there's a range of timbral possibilities which is ideal for grungified distorted solo sounds. The FM section also includes two external stereo inputs.
You can mix either of the two stereo inputs to mono sums, or select any of the four inputs separately, and then feed them into this section. Vocals work surprisingly well here, assuming you like industrial music — delicate processing for ballads is not this feature's strong point! Hiding out of sight in the oscillator section are oscillator three and the sub-oscillator.
The latter is a very simple low-end fattener, one octave down from oscillator one, with either square or triangle waveforms. A panel knob in the oscillator mixer section lets you set the level. Oscillator three will either follow oscillator two's settings if Slave is selected, or can be used as a spare extra waveform. FM and Sync don't affect oscillator three, so you can use oscillator two for richness and distortion while filling out the body of the sound with oscillators one and three.
Note that using oscillator three cuts down polyphony by around a third — there aren't many situations where it makes a life-and-death difference to the size of the sound, so for patches you plan to use multitimbrally its use is perhaps best considered an optional extra.
The basic details of the Virus's various filter modes and patches are described comprehensively in the manual, and there's no need to repeat them here.
Eliminating Muddiness: Too many patches based on low-pass filters can make the low end of your mix sound muddy. A static high-pass filter in series with a low-pass filter can remove some of the obesity, adding clarity to pads, leads, and even bass lines.
Just set filter two to work as a high-pass filter, and put it in series after filter one. Then move the cutoff of filter two upwards until you get rid of the low-end bloat. Aside from some dance styles and music with ultrasonic effects, most music benefits from having the low end tidied up. This can help preserve detail and avoid synth mush, especially when blending a lot of analogue-like patches.
It can even allow you to maximise the apparent level, because faithfully reproducing deep sub-bass frequencies takes a lot of dynamic range for little subjective impact. It can even be worth tidying up the low end when you don't have the oscillators tuned low. This is because the envelopes on the Virus are fast enough to produce near-DC clicks, pops, and thuds.
Sometimes you want to leave these in because they add extra punch to sounds, but when you don't a high-pass filter is a good way to get rid of them. You can clear up low-end muddiness using a high-pass filter: first set filter two to its HP mode top inset , then select a series routing from the filter section's Edit menu bottom inset , and finally adjust the cutoff by ear right. Pseudo-phasing: Most synth users understand how a filter's frequency curve changes, but it's not so widely known that a filter produces frequency-dependent phase changes as well.
Overlaying two filter curves produces more than the sum of the individual responses, and sweeping either or both can create Jarre-like phasing effects that vary depending on which filter modes you use. This isn't true phasing, which relies on multiple notches in the frequency response. But it can produce some very fine swishes and washes, and can work particularly well combined with vamped chords from the arpeggiator. Use the Par 4 mode for this, with one filter set to low pass or band pass and the other as either high pass, band pass, or band stop.
You can manually experiment with the effect by using the Cutoff 2 knob which, as the manual explains, controls the offset between the two filter frequencies and is not — as you might think — an independent cutoff setting. Vocal Formant Effects: High-quality vocal formant synthesis needs at least three filters, and for the best possible results five.
But you can still create some interestingly vocal-like effects using just two filters if you set things up very carefully. The first step is to create some speech-like raw materials. Then set both filters to band-pass, mode to Par, resonance to around 90, and filter keytracking to zero percent.
You'll get a range of vowel sounds by setting both Cutoff controls between 50 and 70 — experiment for best results. For an even more expressive effect, patch the mod wheel to the Cutoff 2 control.
You can then play the vowels as you play the keyboard. The effect only sounds believable over a low octave range, and works best as a solo voice.
If you patch velocity to Cutoff 2, you can control the vowel sounds from a keyboard interesting, but tricky to play Saturation: Although this is controlled with the oscillator Volume knob, the saturation is part of the filter section and you can set its characteristics from the filter section's Edit button.
The Virus offers a range of saturation types, from basic rounding to digital decimation. These are best experienced rather than described. Many add a hint of digital fizz that isn't always welcome — it's a quirk of the Virus that for analogue simulations you'll often get the best and fattest sound by leaving saturation turned off.
The home site for the Virus and its many variants. Includes OS updates for all models, comparison charts, sample MP3s, patch collections, and links to other resources. Plus, you can download the free Sound Diver-based editor from here as well. It's perhaps because the support network available here is so comprehensive that there's so little other on-line information about such a popular synth.
The Access mailing list on Ampfea. Because it's maintained by fans, there's more general than technical chat about the Virus and how it's being used. If an auction link is gone, it is gone. They are from others in the synth community. The original manufacturer's description and specs: "Introducing the Virus Classic, a legend in it's own time. This red-hot synth advances the Virus Classic Line to the full specs of the award winning Virus b, packed with power, polyphony, fx, output and of course, knobs!
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