r/AccessVirus

https://preview.redd.it/n67skh9wrkkh1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ee3c02606d06dbd4adaa43e7689eab8894137c6

Hi friends, I just bought an Access Virus TI 1 at a good price. Obviously, I don't expect it to be perfect. There are a few small adjustments to make. For example, as you can see in the photo, this happens:

I plug in the power, and the Virus "Turns On" but freezes in the "Welcome" screen.

To fix it, I have to unplug it and then plug it back in after 1 second. Only then do I get to the menu with all the presets I love.

I've already replaced the battery, but the problem persists. Any ideas?

If anyone has any other suggestions, please. The "Value Program +" button, the most used button, sometimes doesn't work; I have to click harder. Perhaps there's something like KONTAKT60 I could use for a simple cleanup?

Not sure where to start, but right now my TI2 will not connect to the VST. It is stuck in the screen below, with no movement.

I started it in USB Update Mode (hold EXIT), and was able to connect to the Control Center. I have re-installed the firmware multiple times, but still no contact with the VST in normal mode in my DAW.

I own a 2nd unit, and this one connects just fine.

I have also uninstalled and re-installed the software multiple times.

Not sure if it's relevant, but back when it was working, the VST scanned ALL the banks installed on the unit every time I started the VST. This was very frustrating and I was not able to remove the patches either. My new unit (bought used a while ago) has none of these problems.

Ideas to what might be wrong? Any fixes? Feel free to ask me questions of course, or instruct me to test stuff as needed.

Any help is appreciated.

https://preview.redd.it/py829qeicxjh1.png?width=911&format=png&auto=webp&s=7d845d6a87f1c379a5430906bce09a09f2a06c2c

yo! have had my access virus ti for almost two months now, it's a treat. But today it has suddenly stopped producing any audio. It has been totally fine up until now, and have honestly spent the best part of the day troubleshooting, I'm really preying that someone may have some advice for me.

Things I've tested

• Cables
• Headphone out (still no sound)
• All 3 Analogue outputs
• The midi connection from Ableton
• The midi connection from a different midi source (Octatrack)
• The ARP EDIT reset
• The output options (Under a sub menu called surround in EDIT.
• The midi settings in CONFIG
• The master volume
• Pretty much every knob and button on the front panel
• The interface inputs
• The inputs on a mixer

I think that's it. It is on the latest firmware and until today has been performing perfectly.

It is entirely likely I'm missing something obvious, but any input / advice would be seriously appreciated as I'm feeling incredibly lost.

Thank you in advance

UPDATE: I started following u/Captain-Corndog_yo's advice and ran the Virus TI with the Virus control centre app, and that has solved my issue. I didn't get so far as to reinstall the OS, it seemed that running the virus control over USB managed to clear whatever bug was blocking up the system.

Thank you everyone for all the advice! Really appreciate it.

Yeah this isn't going to surprise anyone on here. But I just managed to get access to an emulated Access Virus C and the presets are some of the best Ive heard. Im not a preset hater, I love the discovery of sound design, but Ill take whatever the song wants. But ive never heard presets this good. Makes me itch to try more access stuff, and to maybe pick up a hardware unit.

What's your favorite thing about the access line up?

What's your favorite device and why?

For those who are contributing or giving constructive feedback: Thank you! I mean it! It's been a slog.

For those who are nitpicking that the original post was too long AFTER they chose to read all 5 pages: I guess I should start a Patreon so you can help fund the project? I mean, at least then you might be entitled to something. ;)

USB

Both vendor-specific USB interfaces carry standard USB-MIDI packets. The device just never declares the descriptors that would say so. There's no proprietary protocol in there.

That makes a replacement driver userspace work (libusb, WinUSB, IOKit) rather than a kernel driver. No signing, nothing to break on the next Windows update. The shipped VirusUSB.sys is a kernel driver dated 2014, which is why Win11 turns it away, and it's a Ploytec OEM driver rather than Access's own code.

FreeRangeEngineer pointed out in the last thread that the Linux quirk only switches on MIDI, not USB audio. He's right. The rest of it looks like it's controlled by ordinary Global parameters that Access's own plugin writes over plain SysEx at connect. One of them is called "Input and Output Configuration" and it decides whether USB1/2/3 appear as outputs at all. If that holds up it's reachable over MIDI today with no driver involved. I haven't tested it yet and I'm not claiming it until I have.

No promises on a working driver or a date.

What I'm actually asking for: photos of a TI2 board

Nearly everything I know about this hardware physically came from other people's teardown photos, and every one of them is a Virus TI. The host MCU, both DSPs, the SRAM, the codec, the USB controller and a 4MB flash chip were all read off other people's pictures.

I have never found one clear photo of a TI2 board.

If yours is already open for a repair or an LCD swap:

• both sides of the main board, in focus
• close-ups where the chip markings are readable
• the silkscreen text near the top-left corner (that's the board revision)
• any unpopulated header pads, especially near the DSPs

Say which model it is in your own words. A TI2's front panel also just reads "VIRUS TI", and the red-versus-blue display tell fails on any unit with a replacement LCD, which is most of the ones that get photographed. A TI board is still useful. I just need to know which one I'm looking at.

Two quick answers

The supersaw change at OS 3.34. I diffed it. 3.3.302 to 3.3.400 is three bytes: the version string and a build counter. The DSP code is identical. So the version number is off somewhere, not the memory. Name a different one and I'll diff that instead.

Unlocking polyphony. There's no host-side voice limit. No constant, no check, nothing in Access's parameter database. It's a DSP CPU budget, so it's probably a real limit rather than an artificial one. I wouldn't get hopes up.

If you want to check my work rather than take my word for it

The parameter names and indices above come out of REMOTEDEVICE.XML, which is sitting inside the Virus Control installer you already have. Pull it out and read it yourself. The USB findings are checkable against sound/usb/quirks.c and quirks-table.h in any kernel tree. Neither one needs you to trust me, or an LLM.

If you think something in here is wrong, say which part. Vague doubt I can't do anything with; a specific claim I can go and check.

And on opening my own unit: I will if it comes to that. It's last on the list, not off it. If a board that's already apart on someone's bench answers the question this week, that beats dismantling a working synth to find out something another person can already see. Patches get tested in an emulator long before they go anywhere near hardware, which is rather the point of having one.

Is there a common reason my Virus TI keyboard is prone to hanging notes? I know if I'm playing a midi loop I have to make sure the note ends before the end of the loop to make sure the Virus gets the midi note-off message.

Still it hangs up a lot more than my other synths.

Hey everyone, I've been samping my Access Virus into my Digitakt a lot (I play live but prefer a minimal setup). I vibe coded a very simple app: it runs the Ostirius plugin and arranges chord progressions. You can put your chord selection into 4 or 8 slots, play them back in a loop, save and recall them with the patch, and render mono wav files. It also renders all of them into a single wav, so I can use them in the sample slicer.

It works great. What do you think? I have a Mac installer if you want to play with it

https://preview.redd.it/kzspui867mjh1.png?width=3456&format=png&auto=webp&s=b74486a3ad92373eaeaea1fdffd08df401c40912

https://preview.redd.it/wlwpocwb7mjh1.png?width=1312&format=png&auto=webp&s=8a37fba326a25ad63f8bb4967c2a1a0df7ab34f6

Sorry for the clickbait title

But now that NAM A2 has been released, which outperforms the Kempers and Headrushes of the world, at a fraction of the cost on any cheap hardware….

Maybe it’s time for Christoph Kemper to come back and make us a new virus.

A man can dream 🙂

Hi guys! I LOVE my Viruses and got two of them

- TI1 Keyboard 61

- TI2 Desktop

What's the best way to actually use these two? Has anyone been using two machines at the same time? I been using them mostly in single mode via MIDI to a MOTU Midi Express 128 as I have never had the operational Virus Control in Mac. DAW is Logic Pro!

Is there any ways to use pattern 17 and +

Cuz it’s the only limitation that makes me hate this instrument