Access virus TI or an andromeda

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cortexx

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OK guys what do you think ?

At the moment I am using a roland v-synth , dr-880 and a fostex mr-8hd for mixing and recording and a PC with an fx57 chip, 1 gig ram 200gb hdd , creative sound blaster audigy 4 pro and sonar4.

I`m looking for another keyboard and am looking at both the Access virus TI or the Alesis andromeda.

I am an old school analog guy thats just got back into home production, and the tech is a very steep learning curve for me.

I have a decent grasp of the v-synth (finally) and have my own set of pretty decent patchs , the DR-880 basics have been learnt and the Fostex mixer/recorder is a thing of beauty (used to have a tascam 4 track with reels on it *sniff*).

I like to compose ambient/trance style music , I'm not particulary interested in using traditional instrument patches, i much prefere unique soundscapes.

To be honest i prefere the real deal , not soft synths. I was also looking at a Korg karma and a Fantom but I never was much for having creativity or playing taken out of my own hands.

so is it andromeda or virus TI ? or even both. ;)
 
Well seeing that just about all trance is based on the Virus, it would be the logical choice.

It should be noted that every time I hear a Virus I want to puke (who needs a 1000 OSCs?) so IMHO, the Andy sounds much better and has a bit of character. Unless you are trying to sound like everyone else out there of course.
 
why does the virus want to make you puke ? from what i can gather it has amazing potential for unique soundscape generation. It also has some pretty nice software that lets you tweak it with a custom interface on a PC.

Having said that the Andromeda seems to be the ultimate analogue synth.

It will be a hard choice and i`d appreciate more input from you guys :D
 
I'd suggest you give them both a try. Andromeda is analog yes, but its sounds aren't exactly what you think of when you think of analog synths (like a Moog or a Prophet for example). It's a very deep synth with an impressive mod matrix that makes it perfect for all sorts of deranged sounds.

The Virus is an altogether different beast with its own character. I can understand altitude's attitude, but it's based on the fact that too many people depend on the factory "trancy" presets, which are starting to get way too overdone (when you start hearing the same sounds in pop, then you know its time for them to go :D ) However, if you're willing to put in the time to program your own, it will definitely reward your efforts. The software "plugin" that comes with it would be a great time saver. More hardware synths need to follow the example.

For my purposes (industrial/powernoise/DnB) Andromeda+PolyEvolver+K2600 is the ultimate combination.
 
You say your an old school analog guy, so obviously the Andromeda, is right up your alley, and I thought it was about the best analog synth out there currently, at least until I heard the new Dave Smith Poly Evolver Keyboard. Bar none the Poly Evolver is the best sounding machine out there right know (What would you expect from the man that designed the Prophet, Wavestation, etc.). And of course it's cheaper than the Andromeda. Also, the Minimoog should be a contender on your list. That all said, the Virus Ti is still a worthy machine (especially for its all-in-one factor), which is capable of some extreme sounds.
 
The PEK rocks, I'm still exploring my evolver desktop. So if you have a chace, check out the evolver keyboard. Some other ones worth mentioning: Nord Lead 3 and the Modular G2.

I can't really hate that much on the Virus (Just please dont use the presets) since it is a really nice synth, but the whole lil' john thing... is not good
 
I am used to Analogue synths but the Andromeda uses subtractive synthesis which i`m unfamiliar with. Also it is rumoured that Alesis is in bankruptcy.

The first thing i did on my v-synth was dump the presets to my PC and wipe them all off the onboard memory. All the sounds I have on the V are ow my own patches. As usual with patches they are designed to make the board sound neat but are useless for compositions.

I would do this to the andromeda and the virus too. I`ll check out the poly evolver (thanks for bringing that one to light :) ) .

Another board is the Nord lead3 , although this one has recieved very conflicting reviews. It seems people either hate this board or love it. Any of you guys have this ?

thanks
 
All analog synths are subtractive :)

I have a Nord Modular and I love it. Nords are built like tanks and the G2 programing system is UNREAL. NL3 is an awsome sounding synth (IMHO) but some ppl are put off by the Nord sound (not me :D ). I would go check one out for sure

The Chapter 11 thing was like 3 years ago (Numark ended up buying them)
 
I've only played with the Nord Lead 3 for about 5 minutes, but the Nord Lead 2X kicks ass. It is more or less the same as the NL3, minus some polyphony, and FM synthesis, and a hell of a lot cheaper. I hadn't heard the rumor about Alesis, I'm gonna go check that out. Look what happened to Waldorf. They created some of the best synths around. I was really waiting for the Waldorf Q+ (Probably one of the coolest synths EVER) to go down in price before I bought one, but then they had to go ahead, and go out of business, and it is next to impossible to get one now, without paying as much as they were new or more :(

Anyways, if you ever get a chance to lay your paws on a Novation Supernova II keyboard, you'll be lucky indeed. I kick myself in the ass everytime I think of the time I had a chance to buy one (For dirt cheap none-the-less).
 
anyone have a KORG MS-2000 B? i`d be interested in an opinion on this thing.

Unfortunately here where i live in Ontario there isnt a music store that has all these boards in to try. The shop I go to is great priceing but specialises more in the average rom board more than anything else, synths are not their speciality.

I guess what i`m really looking for is a synth to complement my v-synth that can do some stuff that it cant do or have a very different sound to it. At the same time I dont want factory presets , I want as much flexibility to make unique sounds as possible. Ease of programming to some extent is an attraction and the use of a computer to program parameters is just up my alley these days (i'm a computer tech by profession).

I think maybe my familiarity with analogue tech has led me to believe that this is the road to take , however , reading more, maybe it isn't .......

My creative talent almost always throws me into dance, techno, trance, ambient type music , with this in mind maybe the virus is the way to go. In the late 70's early 80's the type of music that I recorded was pretty much what todays tance sounds like. Except back then everyone that heard what i played thought i was weird :eek: .

My hate for factory patches extends to my drum machine. I have a BOSS Dr 880 that handles my drum and Rhythm parts in midi and I use it to play the purcussion and bass i have programmed into patches on my v-synth. I just found the factory presets too .... realistic :(
 
I have a Nord Modular and I love it. Nords are built like tanks and the G2 programing system is UNREAL.
Click to expand...

I just checked the Nord website for this thing and it looks pretty interesting, from what I understand you pretty much have a set of editable modules availavble to you that you link and patch yourself on the computer then dump it to the Nords patch bank .

How flexible is this thing ?
 
Its actually better than that, you can patch realtime and hear the results as you are making them. Just like a big old modular. It also has inputs so you can route external signals though it
 
So its like the vsynth where i can route microkord sound output through the vsynth and use the vsynth to alter the microkorgs sound and use the vsynths effects?

I wish there was a local place that kept the Nord Modg2x , looks like a nice board.

I`m still interested in the virus too ;)
 
Yup.

You can route stereo or mono through it and use it as an EG, process it with effects, whatever you want
 
Yeah, I'm looking at the Virus Ti too, now that they finally started shipping them, but I'm so torn because of the interface on the Nord Lead 3! It's so pretty...and usable...and intuitive!
 
As far as i can see the Nord lead 3 is nothing like the Nord modular G2x.

The Nord 3 looks like a regular synth and the Modular G2 looks like a virtual modular synth programmed on a PC but much more flexible.

I`m thinking the Nord modular has more in common with a Virus , and the nord lead has more in common with an andromeda
 
Damn talk about too much information :rolleyes: I researched all the others you guys suggested i look at now i'm even more indecisive.

So for now ill leave it till next year and continue to drive my wife crazy with the sounds that come out of my v-synth ( I swear something even more weird comes from its outputs every day ).

Next year I will have a complete set of original patches created from scratch for this instrument. If anyone is interested ill host them somewhere so that they are available for download. The influence from my early synths is very obvious from most of my creations (or so i`m told), im a little weak on the percussion though :cool:
 
cortexx said:
I`m thinking the Nord modular has more in common with a Virus , and the nord lead has more in common with an andromeda
Click to expand...
Nord Modular has nothing in common with the Virus. Next to it the Virus is just one patch of what's possible with the Modular.

The Modular like someone has already stated, is much more like the old analog modulars (at least in concept), like the Moog Modular, the Buchla, or perhaps the more recent Analog Solutions, Doepfer, etc. offerings. Except in the case of the Nord the modules are on the PC screen. There really is no hardware digital equivalent to the Nord Modular.
 
too bad none of these boards are available at a store near here for me to play on first . I'm still leaning towards the Virus but ill probably buy another one after that so its not like any of them will be a bad choice for me.

what are the limitations of the Nord modular ?

for example how many oscillators can it use in one patch ? can you bring up unlimited oscillators on the computer? Is the Nord restricted only by its ability to process a certain amount of mips like a regular computer ?
or does it have restrictions based on its hardware architecture ?

BTW thanks for all the input guys its really opening up my eyes to todays tech ;)
 
The way it works on the modular is that you have X amount of processing power for all of the "modules" whether they be OSCs, envalopes, whatever. There is a bar which shows you how much you are using so you can go pretty crazy with it. I have made patches with a 10 sub osc per voice (they take up less memory) on a poly patch. The older modulars have a 16 bit sound quality while the newer ones (G2) are 24 bit.


If you want to play around on a modular, clavia has a software demo one here

check it out
 
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