Access Music Virus b

Using the OS 4.9, not a big fan of the presets. Patch editing is a breeze and the manual is a reliable reference.

24 voices is fine for me, and the effects are good, although I prefer to use my daw for that, 16 part multitimbral is fine although I've been battling with the multi mode. I use it mainly to get a specific sound I'm looking for. It seems to work intuitively enough that I can get exactly what I want out of it.

Its a great sound design tool and does what its told. I use a supernova which I know very well for general and clean stuff. But nothing does dirty and filthy like my virus b...

Great man! The thing is 8 years old and it still works perfectly.
On OS 4.9. Access give great after sales service! For this reason, I want to sell this and get the virus ti.

I wanted a button replaced onit and it was no problem thanks to our local agent in SA. Cheers Jay!

I would replace it if I could. This is Africa baby! I'd probably have to buy a TI. Been playing for 2 years. I love the oscillator section! I hate the arpeggiator section. It is the most creative tool I own. I make electronic music.

I didn't hack the manual and I was able to twist knobs and get the sound I want.. call it luck at first use.. NOw, the Sound Editor is good too but I thouhght it's twist and knobs on the machine and not to stare at a computer and make the editing there. The ARpreggio is hidden in a menu which is kinda weird.

12voices, 24 part multitimbral.. I dont need is as I sequence and bounnce right away to wave..

The sounds sounds very German or European.. You can create that SUPer Saw Wave from the Jp8000 if you work with the 2 filters. If you sequence a sixteenth while you twist knobs, that's techno heaven. Good for pads, basses, leads, it can produce bell type sounds too.. Mind you again I havent read the manual. I twist and twist and I get the sounds. It's fat sounds. Erase the bank a sounds and b bank and create from scratch.. Do save the patch called "Vuk" on bank b because it's the sounds of the band LASGO.

It's a weapon.. I can use this as a freezebee and it will knock you head off.

never dealt with CSR

10

Using OS 4.9, it's not nearly as intuitive as my Waldorf Q when it comes to editing patches, but they're not in the same league anyway so I won't complain (nothing compares to the Q except for real analogue stuff). That said, however, the Virus is far from hard to use. The interface has most filter and envelope settings easily accessible with knobs, and most of the basic settings are often just a click away at the most. The mod matrix is an exception though, and it can be tricky to navigate the menus, but it doesn't take many hours of playing around to learn the interface quite well. The manual is very thorough, at almost 300 pages, and covers everything you need to know from the basics of subtractive (analogue modeling) synthesis to the quirks and perks of the Virus. As others have pointed out, the unit could have come with endless rotaries for easy switching between patches; it's a pain trying to edit two sounds in a multi at the same time as you keep forgetting the knob positions and screw things up.

At first glance, the Virus can seem like a synth for making edgy trance basses and not much else (since that's what everyone seems to use it for), but it's really capable of a lot more. It can produce lovely atmospheric evolving pads, as well as cool percussive sounds. Most everything is editable and controllable from within a sequencer or studio app like Cubase or Logic, and there are devices and controls for remote editing within those programs downloadable off of the Access website.
As far as expansion capability goes, there's not much available. However, Access did address the issue in an OS update and the Virus now has room for 1024 patches instead of the original 512; I can't think of another VA synth that can even come close to approaching this number of storable patches! There's no on-board sequencer per se, but there is a very nice little arpeggiator.

The Virus has a very characteristic sound; it's definately a synth that stands out in a crowd, and whether you like the effect or not, it definately can turn heads. It's pretty much a techno/electronica instrument and it works great for related genres. Many EBM bands use/have used this synth as their main tool; Icon of Coil and VNV Nation for instance. It's earned a reputation in the synthesizer world as being an instrument "with an attitude". Although mostly used for upbeat techno:ish stuff, it's not at all limited to this approach. I find it very inspiring to work with, and as stated above, the evolving pads and filter sweeps it can do are great for a more laid-back and ambient sound. As most VA synths, its sound is a bit thin, but backed up with the right production and a pure analogue backbone, it can easily add that final touch that you need to give your piece some extra edge.

At an Icon of Coil-concert, their Virus synth fell a good four to five feet and hit the (stone) stage floor quite hard; one of the keyboardists picked it up, dusted it off, and the band kept playing on. No problems. Also, I've never had it hang on me or freak out or anything. I have no problem using it live, it just works.

I've had no dealings with the company directly, but all the OS updates they've released and the care they're showing for their customers by making tons of free soundsets, updates etc available for free on their website makes me think very highly of them. Definately a top synthesizer maker, and one of my favourites since Waldorf ceased to exist (bless them).

This is one very unique little synth. Basically, it's a question of taste, but considering its' eight-or-so years on the market and the (nowadays) pretty low price you can find it for on eBay etc, it's incredible value for money. If you're looking for something "more", something that can do everything the Virus can and more, then I'd recommend the Waldorf Q over this one, but if you're really interested in the unique qualities of the Virus then I'd say go for it. Unless you find a Q with the 32 voice expansion it's probably not worth the money anyway, and the Virus B is a lot cheaper, generally.
I give this baby a 10 for its uniqueness, because it really does stand out. It's become a legend in its own right, and not many VA synths have come to deserve that level of fame. This one ranks with the top of the crop in my book, together with the Nord Lead and the Waldorf Q.
No synthesizer-based studio should be without a Virus.

OS 4.5.8
the presets sound absolutely awfull, unless youre into cheesey trance.
i make organic trippy deep techno, dancefloor but experimental.
i've never used a single preset, i start from scratch every time.
it's not too difficult to edit, but i dont like menus, and still i find the menu system confusing, even after having the machine for two years.
i find the manual very informative, it's thick !!

the built in effects are ok, not amazing, but i never use then anyway, as i use various lexicon outboard, which make the onboard effects pretty much redundant. Midi implementation is very good, polyphony seems to struggle when you approach 24, with glitches appearing here and there, ( not good)

i dont try to emulate other instruments, i'm strictlty into creating new sounds, and i have to say that the modulation matrix is awesome, it's why i bought this machine in the first place. the big let down is the quality of the sound. It's just so thin and weedy. I have numerous analogue synths in my studio, and i also own a Nord lead, and a Nord 3.
i've been producing electronic music since the mid eighties, and it think i know good sound when i hear it, this is very weak. The Nord lead is seriously fat, but the nord 3 falls into a similar catagory to the Virus b, -features high, sound neglected.
one exception is bass. i can get some awesome bass out of the virus.
In the end, it comes down to the fact that i dont rate virtual analogues or software synths very highly, they are packed full of potential for creativity, but put them next to a moog, and then you can tell why people pay so much money for the real thing. there's really no comparison.
i'm about to buy an Andromeda and sell my virus b for that very reason.

oh dear, i must have bought a lemon. it started to go wrong after about 3 months, the LCD display started jumping about and it became unusable.
i sent it to the Synthesizer Service department in Germany, and they sent it back saying they couldnt find anything wrong with it. Sure enough, it was working fine, the journey must have joggled it back into action. 6 months later, and it packed up again, same fault, so it's been gathering dust in the corner of my studio. i'm about to send it back to be fixed again, beause i'm about to sell it.

see above category for story. i contacted Access, and they werent very simpathetic to the fact that i was in the middle of a big remix job when it went down, and wouldnt send me a replacement to see me through.
they seemed bemused that it had gone wrong in the first place.
but the SS department guy was very helpful.

no i'm afraid i wouldnt buy one again if it was stolen, i'd buy an Alesis Andromeda.
i've been making electronic music since 1983 ( electro ), now i make non-generic abstract music that is probably nearest to deep techno, i own lots of hardware gear, too much to list here.
ok i got a bad one, but overall i'd say the virus b has too much in menus, something i think has been sorted on the newer virus machines, the sound is thin, even when layered up, but the modulation possiblities are unbelievable, so it's a bit of a mixed review i'm afraid

I personally am not new to synthesis per se (I've used quite a few software synths), but quite new to hardware synths.

I found the synth itself pretty intuitive, since the many knobs and buttons give instant feedback of your actions. Quite a few options are within the menus, but the main stuff editable directly via the interface.

If you don't know what an envelope or and LFO is, it'll take you a while, but with minor experience you'll be on top of it in no time.

Great. Simply great. Two oscillators, plus one third (added in an OS update), lots of voices, sixteen parts. Tons of FX. Two LFOs (I think there was a third one added in another update), it has almost everything you could wish for.

I think it sounds very very good. Make sure you got a good setup or at least great headphones to make the most of it.

Evil, scratchy, noisy trance leads....soft, hovering pads. Throbbing, fat, deep basses. Seventh heaven for the electronic music producer.

I use it in homestudio surroundings, but this far I've never had any problem with it.

Never had to deal with them, however, for getting manuals and updates, you need to log in, which I find unnecessary, especially since their homepage will not let me in when using certain proxies.

I got it, unpacked it, loved it. Together 'till the end of time!

prior to aquiring a virus b desktop i was working mainly in reFX vanguard and linplug albino (both software synths). the virus is more complex than both of those, in terms of the number of variables that can be changed, the number of parts that can be modulated and the sometimes abstract way in which features such as unison, the third main oscillator and all the effects are hidden away in the LCD display menus. the manual is gigantic and comprehensive although it does refer to terms without fully introducing or explaining them. there are very few illustrations and when the jargon is flying thick and fast, it can sometimes be overwhelming if you are like me and have only a rudimentary knowledge of subtractive synthesis. some sections, in particular the section about updating the OS, are quite brief and dont explain anything about sysEX midi or the problems that can occur when attempting to update the OS - the virus doesnt seem to like updating from certain sequencers (it works only sometimes in fl studio). sometimes if you force the virus to sync to the clock of your midi interface through your sequencer, it just wont update until this option is disabled. sometimes if you choose to update the OS or load new patches into the virus through windows media player, you have to uncheck the midi box in the file types window exit out, go back in then check it again before it will work. having finally updated the OS to the latest 4.9 (from 4.01) and finally got user patches onto the virus i feel that some of the pitfalls of this operation could be explained in the manual. there are not many open forums or bulletin boards or resources that specifically deal with virus related problems.

aside from that, there are enough patches that are varied enough for most people to just dive right in and start experimenting with sounds, although, without going through the manual page by page, you'll probably find yourself overtweaking every patch into a bassy, sludgy evil mess more often than not. i found the nord lead 2x was more intuitive because the entire control surface is laid out in front of you and the lack of effects on that machine made it easier to recognise in what way you were manipulating the sound. the virus is a synth where its preferable to read the manual and follow it through to the end whilst you are fiddling with it as opposed to ignoring the manual completely and jumping in at the deep end.

most of the features of this unit are well documented and are available from access' website. for the 2nd hand retail value of one of these you would be hard pressed to find a virtual analogue synth in its class taht offers as many features as the virus b. you get a vocoder, multiple effects ranging from various types of distortion to chorus, reverbs, delays and a phaser. you can also run external sound sources through the virus and manipulate them using the filter and effects on the virus. this flexibility was one of the reasons why i picked a virus over a nord lead 2 as my first hardware synth.

its also brilliant how access offers free OS updates (some of which contain really quite major revisions and additions) that can be aquired from access' website and loaded straight into the virus from your sequencer as a midi file. no need to buy extra storage mediums or memory cards.

the virus definitely has a character of its own. the filter is *smooth* and in the right configuration, sweeping the filter cutoffs can make it seem like it screams. i find that i can coax alot of filthy leads and basses out of it and warp them in realtime by fiddling with the semi tone rotary and the filters to create dying/screaming electronic noises. the bass end on it is fat and solid and prominant all the time if you have the sub oscillator turned up. you can also make lush pad sounds with it and ambient sounds that are wildly different from the screaming leads. if you keep twiddling a patch though and dont really know what you are doing it will, more often than not turn to evil sludge, so there is a tendancy for it to sound quite dark although it is capable of doing the polar opposite if you know what you are doing. 'virus' is a pretty appropriate name for this synth - it is particularly suitable for dark drum and bass reeces and hard house leads, although sitting and twiddling opens up a mind boggling variety of sounds that can be created on this machine, i find it is easiest to let it slide into hard, warm and distorted grime. which i personally quite like.

the effects section i didnt particularly find that useful. the reverb and delay werent what i thought they would be and i prefer to use software impulse response reverb instead of the virus reverb. similarly i prefer the much more versatile psp 84 delay to the virus's in built delay. the distortion is more subtle than i thought it would be. alot of the really twisted, bitty fat quality you get from the virus is more from the configuration of the osc/sub osc/filter than from the distortion effect. unison mode does make sounds more...'massive' but i tend to agree that it sounds a little messy sometimes.

despite the flaws, its the only instrument i own that consistantly makes me smile when i switch it on and play with it and i think its a credit to access that they have made an instrument that is fun to play and which has a character of its own.

the wooden panels on either side dent fairly easily but the metal case feels quite solid. it is deceptively light for its size though and i imagine dropping it from a height of 5 feet onto a hard concrete surface would do quite alot of cosmetic damage to the unit although i think it could take a battering and still function as intended. the power supply chord sits loosely in the back of the virus and its possible to quite easily pull it out if another cable snags on it. the rubber rotaries wobble slightly if you rock them left and right. i doubt it could stand up to alot of rotary abuse although the action of the rotaries is smooth and as a general rule the entire synth is well put together. maybe because i want to keep it in perfect condition i am treating it more delicately than it needs to be treated.

access returned all email inquiries the next day or on the same day. all the problems that i have had thus far have been ironed out. they didnt have a problem with the fact that i purchased the virus 2nd hand on ebay.

they support their old products long after they have been discontinued with free OS updates and free patch banks. i recently just installed an update that allowed me to have 8 patch banks instead of the original 4. another 512 presets in total. which was a pleasant surprise to say the least. overall, i wish more companies do what access does with their customer support. double thumbs up.

this is my first hardware synth after a year of working entirely in a software based environment. overall i am glad i purchased this instead of the nord lead 2 rack (although im itching to get one of those too, im glad i got the virus first!). since ive got it, i find the synths i was working on before have in many cases become redundant. these were reFX vanguard, linplug albino and g media impOSCar. virus seems to do everything all of those instruments can do and most of the time i find using the virus is preferable to those instruments for the sound i want to create. i have only had it for a week but it is quickly becoming the centrepeice of my productions and i am beginning to re evaluate a number of the ways i programmed those softsynths and the sounds i found desirable based on my increasing use of the virus. the i spend time with it, discovering new things about it, the sicker this instrument gets. hence the name i suppose. for the price i paid for it on ebay i consider this incredible value for money.

This is an updated review (I posted first in November--go down a review or two).

First off--about evolving pads: Holy shite! The Virus is the total king of that.

It's modulation options are mind-numbing. The control is you exert is unbelievable--the Virus is powerful, but it is *so* easy to program and build sounds from total scratch. If you know how to program a basic synth, you can figure out the rest.

You can get a huge variety of sounds out of this. Whenever I have a problem with a softsynth bass not sitting in a mix well enough, I go to the Virus, and 95% of the time it's worth the effort.

Since November there has been at least one OS update. Note: Access is updating the OS of a synth that's. been. discontinued.

It's fun and inspiring. Since I got it I have owned a Nord2 (sold it) and a Waldorf Q rack (going to sell it.) The Nord2 was hard to use and underfeatured. The Q is a great synth, but is definitely digital in character compared with the Virus. (Spend some quality time with the two running next to each other, and you'll agree.)

I love this thing. Could you tell?

this is a wonderfully laid out synth. one of the aspects that makes this synth so simple is the manual: its laid out like a tutorial, going over every feature, every parameter, and briefly goes into detail of how every parameter shapes the sound. if youre familiar with subtractive synthesis, youll pick up very quickly with the virus. if youre not, this is a great synth to learn on. a good bit of the features are in menus, but thats because they were added as OS updates- after the hardware was designed. keep in mind that i consider myself fairly seasoned when it comes to synth programming, and that is why i rate this category so high... your mileage may vary.

the B model is 24 voice, in OS 4.5 you have ring modulation, distortion, reverb, delay, vocoder, chorus, and phaser as effects (i think thats all of them). I dont really care for the reverb, and the chorus seems to take away a bit of the 'fatness', but i have external effects that im really fond of. osc saturation is a great way to get edgy sounds. the dual filters are great too, and really flexible being that you can route them several ways. the people at access are great- they are (or were, until the c came out)constantly upgrading the OS, with many new and exciting features (ex: 3rd lfo, addition of reverb, etc).wish there was a wet/dry effect knob, but its not too big of a gripe, because i just set one of the assignable knobs to wet/dry in the initial patch. also wish you could overwrite more than just the first 2 sound banks, or at least have a method of storing patches to external memory. and i do really REALLY wish the virus had those endless rotary encoder knobs found on the waldorf Q and nord 3. who knows, mabye access will take this constructive criticism and incorporate it into the virus D....

i think the virus is a godsend. the sound is the reason the virus got the buy. i auditioned the microwave xt and the nord 3 as well as the virus, but i thought the virus just had more than the competition. not that im saying the nords or waldorfs are bad instruments... i still want a microwave, and i used to own the original nord lead, but the virus stood out because it had diversity. while the nord sounded 'hard' more often than not, and the microwave sounded digital, the virus could sound both hard and soft, digital and analog, fat or thin, and everywhere in between, in my humble opinion. and the FILTERS... oh my fucking god... they can scream, gargle, hiss, bubble, and anything else you can think of. some people say the virus sounds too digital or too sterile. to me, theres very little difference between the fat analog sound of this and, say, a mini. again, not bashing moog, but the virus can sound very analog, at least to my ears. Ive been able to make moog and 303 sounds that are very convincing.

all metal casing, knobs are rubber, but feel a little bit wobbly. noticed a loud pop in the output when the unit is turned on, but this is apparently normal virus behavior. the build quality is superior compared to roland, yamaha, korg, etc.

joerg at access should be given a medal. when i have a question, i email him and get a superfast response. access' site even has a live support chat room so if you can catch someone on it, you can get immediate answers. i feel that access and metasonix are tied for best customer support.

if lost, i would just shell out the extra cash for a C model. unfortunately, we're in a digital age where most companies are focusing on soft synths and such... they just lack the excitement and magic of a hardware box. i feel that access has made one of the last great hardware synths of our time. i rate this category, and all the categories prior based on MY experience with this product. you may buy it and hate it, and the only way to judge a piece is to sit down and experiment. this box does what i expected it to do, and does it well, and i have no reservations on rating it a 10. i ahve tried a lot of synths, both analog and digital, and even though ive been doing this for only 6 years, i feel i am fairly experienced. a lot of the new stuff coming out just doesnt impress me, but i feel confident when i say that access has created a classic. if youre new into synths and want to learn subtractive synthesis, but dont want to spend the big bucks for a minimoog or prophet 5, get a virus. you wont regret it.

I *really* wanted to buy a Nord 3. Really. I had the dough. I'd played one a friend had. At music stores I lusted after the totally SEX look and dynamite usability. I actually bought one on ebay, but the deal fell through cause the seller was a cafone. After that I did some research into alternatives after someone tipped me off about the Viruses. Anyhow, I picked up a mint, used Virus B on ebay for $705. More about the change-of-heart reasons as we continue...

Right now I'm using OS 4.5.1., but tonight I'm going to go up to the final version, 4.80. The Virus b is pretty straight-forward, but it's deep. I have been using softsynths for almost 3 years (Reason and some of the scary-deep Reaktor), and several years ago I sold my Moog Opus 3. Knowing what I know I can get around and it's pretty easy for me to tweak a preset into something I like even more, but it's going to take some time to get to the point where I can execute an idea that I have for a sound. Then again that's the fun part; figuring it out!

That being said, it's no Nord Lead/Rack 3 when it comes to ease of use. I would absolutely, definitely, and highly recommend that Access figure out something akin to Clavia's endless rotary LED knobs (which set Clavia back 9 months in their Nord 3 development cycle since they had to design and build those knobs, proprietary-wise). If the Virus C had had that, I would've gladly dropped the extra bux for it.

Since the Virus b has had so many (free!) OS updates, it has a bit of a Frankenstein's monster quality where add-on features (LFO 3, some FX, etc) are only accessible via a menu system. This I can live with, especially since a lot of the extras, like FX, I pretty much don't touch that much. I have set one definable knob to be a global effects send so I can just turn all effects off and add them later in Cubase SL.

The main knobs and buttons (and there are plenty of them) make the Virus b eminently tweakable. The LED display is great and even though it only gives the knobs MIDI values of 0-127 (the Nord 3's give real values in Hz, etc.), it lets you know what the original settings were and what you've changed them to.

The manual is *really* good for an electronics manual. I have almost never seen a more useful contents page in my life: Every time I have a question I can find the relevant section quickly. (For fun sometime, go try figuring out something Roland wrote.)

So, all in all: Not "Nord easy" but pretty good.

This thing is all chocky with features. The updated polyphony is 24, 16 part multi-timbrality. I am not a "power user" who's going to program this thing to do live shows, so the 16 parts is academic; I pretty much record 1 part at a time into Cubase SL which makes everything fast--no hassles about routing MIDI and audio or worrying about polyphony and multi-timb.

The simultaneous 96 effects are ok. I am mainly using sends and inserts in Cubase, but if a patch has good effects, why not use some?

The arpeggiator plain embarrasses the Nords: The Virus is *way* more flexible than the 4-ish patterns of the Nord, even including the Nord's Arp editor thing. I am not a big arpeggiator guy, but used subtly and routed interestingly they can do a lot with the sounds.

The Sub Osc is a dream. Again, the unison (up to 16, detunable and pannable) embarrases the Nord 3's. As a matter of fact, many Nord patches without its weaker Uni sound ultra-cheap.

The increment buttons have a neat feature where you if you hold the "+" button to increment up and then click the "-" buttom it will go superfast--good for workflow.

It has a pretty versatile sounding vocoder and audio input. I haven't used these yet, but I am expecting the best.

Overall, the features *far* outweighed the Nord 3's. For the price (used B or new C) it spanks a new Nord 3. For the price I paid for my used B it is a stone-cold, rockbottom deal that out-values both the Nord and a new Virus C.

The sounds are great. Period. This is where I really started to depart from my Nord ideas. Okay, we all know presets generally suck, and demo songs are written BY dorks FOR dorks. The Virus b presets are actually pretty good: 1024, and a wide variety. In my decision phase (among other things) I d/l'ed all the mp3's (demo songs and preset compiltations) I could off of the Access and Clavia sites. The sound quality and variety of even the B outstripped the Nord 3. The Virus B can sound smooth, wide, nasty, clipped, fat, skinny, pretty, ugly, pretty ugly and above all, mix-useful. The Nord had an inherent cheapness of sound and I was not a fan of its filters which I could hear in everything, naturally. The Virus can get sounds like my old Moog as well as terrific stack basses, TB sounds, pads, etc. One area where the Nord was better was with evolving pad sounds. I think this had to do with its morph feature which is pretty cool. The Nord has more in-depth FM capabilities, but to me, that was a liability; I'm not big into FM.

In general the Virus B can do a lot of things and do them well. I would consider its sounds to be of the scope and quality I want, especially since it's going to be my only VA for a while.

Haven't had it long enough to comment on this. But consider: It's used, built rock-solid and the knobs are very high quality. I don't forsee problems.

Again--too soon to tell, but God bless Access and all of their free OS upgrades and shared user patches, etc.

The Virus B, as I mentioned above, for $700-ish bucks is one of those things I just walk around feeling good about. The value is astounding.

My dream is to have the engine of a Virus in a Nord 3 package. Just thinking about that gives me shivers, but it also makes me want to get on the horn with Access and tell them to get a move on! As an aside, the Virus B (and A and C, for that matter) have a very unispired and pedestrian look. Boring, actually. Have they ever seen a Nord? As well as being a musician I am a painter and a computer graphics designer, so nothing gets a pass from me in the looks department--if you're going to make something...make it look cool for Chrissakes!

Also, I have been pretty hard on the Nord 3--I realize that. But I did huge research after my Nord deal fell through, and part of my getting all fervent now is that my "vision" of the Nord was mostly hype that I'd picked up from being in electronic music circles; I almost made a mistake by buying into that hype. If you like Nords--great. I'm just saying that in my little journey I found them to be WAY overpriced and not as sonically flexible as the Virus B.

Maybe someday after the Nord 4 comes out I'll be able to pick up a used Nord 3 for about 400 bucks, which is about what it'd be worth to me for getting that interface for some eveolving pads and FM stuff.

But back to the Virus B: They're all used now: Go get one, enjoy the huge value to dollar ratio--and enjoy the (crazy many) good sounds.

.nick
millionVALVE
www.ampcast.com/millionvalve

I used 4.0 version. I'm giving the my opinions of Virus B which I have already sold. I'm not going to say it's crap machine because it didn't fit to me. It's great synth and I would everyone go for C who has a bit more money. New 4.0 soundset is great and there is many great arpeggios which you already heard in many tunes. Editing patches is relative easy. I just missed to third osc-knob and third LFO-knob which are now fixed in C. I would use patch editor since I used to edit Wavestation, Korg M3r, Roland D5 and so on times ago without programmer. So I'll tell it's very easy to use who has a bit experience of synths. Very logical VCO -> VCF -> VCA with tons of effects and other goodies.

Polyphony is 24 which cut to 18 using all the features. Sometimes I was able to use only two monophonic (very big sounding) sounds and all the poly was gone. I'll agree when someone mentioned you have to layer the most of oscillators to get a bit like FAT real analog sound. I mean FAT not true analog sound. There is tons of effects and phaser is quite much used in those patches. I don't like heavy effected sounds, they sound too messy in the mix. But that's matter of taste of course. I like all sounds are too effected as in Novation synths. The biggest miss is own delay for every part. I would let other effects go to exchange 'em to delay. Raw VCO's don't sound the best of VA's but filters are so great sounding. Extra env wouldn't be bad either.

Why Virus is so popular now? It has tons of sounds (more free sounds from the net) and they sound good. Effects can make the lame patch sound good. That's not bad since there is no matter how the sound has made if it sounds good, right? I used Virus for arpeggios, synth stabs, some leads and much more. You can make cool trance tune without making own sounds! I make mostly electro-ambient stuff but I was going to make some trance tunes to becoming game and it was just great machine for 'em.

I had some problems using MIDI. Don't know what was going on...

Haven't tried.

So I had three complains:
(1) No knobs for 3rd OSC/LFO (2) Only global delay/reverb (3) Third assignable envelope. Raw OSC's don't sound so great but it sounds great if you have some analog synths etc. That's really matter of taste. I prefer more Waldorf -sound. I was going to buy Q Rack or Virus B and I got quite good offer of B so I got one. My other stuff with Virus B was: Roland Juno 106/Jupiter 6/XV-3080, Yamaha AN1x/FS1r, Elektron Machinedrum/Sidstation, Waldorf Microwave XT/Pulse. Great buy, but think twice if you could get the C instead.