Check out the evolution of the Virus synth! 🚀
The Virus engine stayed solid from A to C, rocking a single Motorola DSP chip. But it’s the extra features that really make each model shine. And let’s talk TI—double the DSP power, double the fun!
The basic Virus analogue modeled oscillators between the Virus A and TI are identical with the only difference being the number of voices available as well as the additional Hypersaw oscillator and digital wavetable oscillators of the Virus TI. Additionally, the raw Virus oscillators have much less high frequency content than the oscillators found on other subtractive virtual analogues such as the Roland JP-8000.
The Virus has had three major hardware revisions since the original Virus A model as well as having numerous features (both minor and major) added via firmware operating system updates. The Virus engine largely remained the same from the Virus A up until the Virus C. They all utilize a single Motorola DSP56300 chip and the sound is quite distinct between models when not factoring in the additional features provided by each hardware and firmware upgrade. The biggest effect of software optimisation is seen as a third oscillator control in the B-series menus.
Following up on the success of the popular Virus, Access unleashed an upgraded model in 1999, the Virus B. The original Virus A had 12-voice polyphony, but the new OS in the Virus B doubles the polyphony from 12- to 24-voices and the oscillators, from 2 to 3 per voice. The new OS also added an enhanced programmable 32-band vocoder. There are now up to 82 simultaneous effects, a retro-phaser (6-stage stereo phaser with 24 filter-poles), chorus/flanger, ring modulator, multiple forms of distortion, an analog boost algorithm, and an envelope follower. Up to five FM (Frequency Modulation) modes are also on-board now and many new sounds have been created for this bigger and better version of the Virus.
A brand new and ever more powerful strain of the Virus was released in 2002 to replace the entire B Series line-up. First up is the flag-ship desktop module, the Virus C. Polyphony is expanded from 24 to 32 voices! Otherwise the synth engine is virtually the same as the B series. Three oscillators, one sub osc., two independent multi-mode filters, two ADSTR envelopes, three LFOs, 16 arpeggiators, 32-band vocoder, five FM synthesis modes and 16 part multitimbrality. The C series offers an expanded mod matrix with 6 source and 9 destination slots, 98 effects, wood side panels, and more! A new 3-band EQ section is available as well as an Undo/Redo function. The operating systems can be easily upgraded via MIDI and there is a free SoundDiver Virus editor/librarian for Windows and MacOS systems available. It has been used by Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, and Max Graham.
Play and Record?
How to use it within your DAW via the emulator and the original ROMs contained in the actual hardware:
Osirius , DSP56300 Emulator for Access Virus B & C, version 1.2.36
User Interface for Virus B & C
How to Download Osirius , DSP56300 Emulator for Access Virus B & C, version 1.2.36
1 Download and run the test program from one of the following links: https://dsp56300.wordpress.com/osirus/
2 Once you have downloaded the test program run the .bat files (Windows) or .sh files (Mac/Linux)
3 Emulator Downloads Links : https://dsp56300.wordpress.com/osirus/
4 Installing the Emulator
Once you have downloaded the emulator .zip file from one of the links above, place the Emulator VST file contained into the VST folder for your DAW
Next you will need to aquire the ROM file for either a Virus B or Virus C and place the .bin file into your VST folder (where the emulator resides)
If you have multiple ROMs (e.g Virus B & Virus C) the ROM that is chosen is not predictable so put only one ROM into the folder at a time.
5 Download Virus B & C ROMs : https://archive.org/details/access-virus-b-c-roms
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Hello, I am looking for the PALCE16V8 file of the C virus, if someone could provide it to me that would be very cool 😅
Hello! Unfortunately, I don’t have the PALCE16V8 file for the C virus. You might want to try reaching out to specific forums or communities that specialize in this type of information. Good luck!