Never heard of this company until today:
I guess the Bass&Beats is their newest offering–wavetable groovebox with PCM percussion. But its only one mono synth track (I guess you can’t turn your nose up at that too much for only $199). The XFM 4 track FM groovebox looks more interesting to me; I was dissapointed that the Model:Cycles is mostly percussion oriented.
Also…shit…looking at the U-he Repro dedicated MIDI controller now has me thinking why not just buy the Behringer Pro-1 : ( : ( : ( the actual synth is cheaper.
I was about to pre-order the xfm then decided against it. But this one seems interesting, ignoring the drums, I wouldn’t mind 1 channel of wavetable and sequencer
The price is in Volca territory so I can’t get to complain-y. I would want to now more about workflow, menu diving, how much control you get over making patches. The promo video is useless (no surprise there I guess). I’m very interested in having a hardware wavetable synth at some point.
@Subtronik I’m sure I’d be happy with the sound, but always good to get a referral from an IDMf gear head. I’ve got both an RD-8 and TD-3 and they both sound great. No complaints. Maybe for Christmas : )
the mk2 is out now, those machines are cheap, me likey, i might pick up one in particular if i get the scratch.
That will be next on my table. Trying to decide between saving up for a Virus TI desktop or an Argon8M.
Ive not used or looked into the Virus series at all. But the Argon is looking pretty sweet for the money.
There’s a reason the Virus has been in production for 25 years. It’s full-featured, easy to use and sounds great. I think the only thing nowadays is that there’s way more feature and price competition in that market segment, but it’s a really, really solid unit. I think of them alongside stuff like the Blofeld…there’s other things out there that are similar, but you’re buying into a known level of quality and resale value because I doubt there’s ever going to be a time when they’re not popular.
I think they’re a bit like Moog in that regard. Like, OK, they release really expensive monosynths, but they are like having a baby grand in your living room or w/e lol
I also have to praise the 1010 Music Bluebox. I’m using it in the most basic way possible right now. But it is hot and slick as the morning after spicy food.
It could be a Pro or a Con, but the Virus series DO have a sound.
I’ve got homies that give me shit about my virus (ok, I have 2, one in a rack and a desktop) until I’m playing them track and they ask where a certain sound came from. (:
I bought the rack for 200US Because it had dodgy encoders I thought I was going to repair. I loved the sound but making edits was a nightmare so I ended up w a used Virus classic. I’ll likely build some multis on the desktop and then dump them to the rack via sysex to have a rack virus for live.
They’re workhorses!
Is the rack a TI? I’m wondering how the sound compares to older units. I’ve owned or used A/B/C but only twiddled the TI at a friend’s place once or twice. He swears it sounds ‘miles better’ (his words) than the older units, but I’ve never had the chance to really compare.
I guess when it comes time I should take a serious look at the Virus series then. I feel like I remember DnB people from Dogs on Acid loving it years ago.
The rack is the old red faced one. Both my units are re-branded Virus B’s.
I’ve heard the A, B, C and TI, but never at the same time in the same room and have heard that the converters in the TI make it sound “better” but that’s not always desirable (?), dunno. I like the ones I’ve got. (:
I have however (since Moog was mentioned above) A/B/C’ed the Moog voyager, the Boog D and the Roland Boutique SE02. They all have nuances but are strikingly similar and would be indistinguishable in a mix. I think my homie w the Voyager was a little put off. XD
I’m thinking the rack unit would be great for “set and forget” type patches, filling sonic space while I get more hands on w my one knob per function things.
Only difference in sound from the A to the B to the C to the TI is what the additional voices / DSP and efx bring. No third OSC on the A either. Other than that the core engine remains unchanged across the entire version set.
Anyone who says the raw sound on any of them is different than the other is drinking snake oil. The TI sounds like an absolute dream but that’s mainly because of the additional effects and synthesis methods provided given the additional DSP. I’ve had a B, 2 TI’s and a Polar at different times (lol I know).
If I had it to do over again I’d go with the TI if money wasn’t an issue but a Virus B or C will get you 80 or 90% of the way.
That last 10% though….
lol I just found the rolling papers my S2400 shipped with XD I had seen the little package and put it aside, thinking it was some basic instructions folded up, or maybe had an SD card in it. Then I opened it and moved the paper and it says “Roll some beats”
