Access Music Virus TI Polar

Running 1.62. So the manual is lame but it's not really that complicated once you get over the initial hump. Having the 3 knobs below the LCD to tweak out multiple settings means you do a lot less page flipping. There's some nice presets, but even better there's a metric ton of them. Lots of good starting places.

I wont waist time with specs, but I have to say the builtin effects is what sets this unit off. You can throw in distortion at several places in the signal chain which is nice. The interface for handling effects is actually pretty fast to work with. Some gearheads may criticize a synth for not sounding like their _insert hot outboard fx unit here_, but the entire motif of this unit is taking away all the barriers that slow down your creativity. The virus makes it fast and easy to add tonal quality. The distortion is really hot and the delay can sync right up to a quantize length. If you want to get into the integration side, lets just say the software was a bit young at release, but they're pumping out patches pretty regularly. I'm less concerned about the softare as I am about hardware/design, as software can be fixed after the fact.

If you followed previous virus models you know the sound is why everyone buys these synths. To address what you're probably interested in, yes hypersaw is really sweet. The keyboard on on the polar actually feels very nice. You can feel there's quality in it, much nicer than say your run of the mill oxygen 8. Lastly, the multimode revamp will be the nicest workflow enhancement

The first thing I thought when I picked it up was, what a heavy hunk of metal! Feels very solid, plus I dig the internal powersupply. The knobs have a very nice feel to them. Smooth, but very solid resistance. Alas the most important and overlooked feature is the panic button. Every synth should have one, just stops all midi notes to kill any stuck notes. With how quirky the midi protocul is, Every synth should have one.

Only points off here is that as of 11/22/05 the software integration needs another few months to mature before I would say I'd gig with it relying on the usb. I'd certainly gig with it using the traditional midi/audio out configuration. For now I'll give the devs a chance (they've already fixed a lot since release) and updating the firmware is very very easy.

I would say if you're torn between a virus C and a TI, it all comes down to how important workflow and speed is to you. You can buy a C off ebay for less than half the price and if sound is all you're concerned about then the TI is not worth the extra money. I used to own a virus B, and it's nothing to scoff at sound wise.

I have a recording background, but when I'm making my own music I want to elimenate the engineering so I can focus on being creative. When you're a detail oriented synthesist, the speed in which you can work adds to your creative power. That's why I bought this synth, and I'd buy it again if it were stolen.