by RichardKC6 » Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:47 am
John Bowen wrote:I can't say regarding the Virus B - I only played with the TI - but I would say the Virus has more 'hardness' to it - I don't know how else to describe it in my mind.
-john b.
I moved to a Virus after a Supernova II; I'd been trying to work with a Roland JX10 (the synth that convinced me that really, I don't WANT to own the synths I lusted after as a kid; my old setup was more of a museum than a studio!) and reluctantly decided to give up my JV-50, JD800 and JX10 in favour of an XV3080 and Supernova II.
At first the Supernova seemed pretty impressive, but some big synth pads sounded like my speakers were breaking up. I tried the same sounds on a friend's Virus b desktop after repairing it, and... no breakup. I can only assume it's down to internal clipping/lower resolution DACs.
Some people like that sort of thing.
I can make the Indigo 2 do similar things, but I have to be being really harsh. It's definitely got a very distinctive sound though; I think of it as being a bit like the progression of computer video technology (or, you know, just video media), and the JP8000 was perhaps 256 colour graphics, but they'd figured out dithering well; the Supernova was that weird period of 32,000 colour, and the Virus is 262,000 - for most output situations it's good enough to be true colour.
That's oversimplification in a big way, but I have to keep reminding myself that 10 years ago I wanted a Nord Lead, really quite badly, and now they're cheap... I also have to remind myself that synthesizer technology HAS progressed, that newer is NOT necessarily "worse", despite the obsession with classic synthsizers that people display (myself included).
I even bought the Waldorf Edition (£20... how prices have fallen) for the Wave 2.v plugin to get my PPG fix. You wouldn't have caught me doing that 5 years ago.
[quote="John Bowen"]I can't say regarding the Virus B - I only played with the TI - but I would say the Virus has more 'hardness' to it - I don't know how else to describe it in my mind.
-john b.[/quote]
I moved to a Virus after a Supernova II; I'd been trying to work with a Roland JX10 (the synth that convinced me that really, I don't WANT to own the synths I lusted after as a kid; my old setup was more of a museum than a studio!) and reluctantly decided to give up my JV-50, JD800 and JX10 in favour of an XV3080 and Supernova II.
At first the Supernova seemed pretty impressive, but some big synth pads sounded like my speakers were breaking up. I tried the same sounds on a friend's Virus b desktop after repairing it, and... no breakup. I can only assume it's down to internal clipping/lower resolution DACs.
Some people like that sort of thing.
I can make the Indigo 2 do similar things, but I have to be being really harsh. It's definitely got a very distinctive sound though; I think of it as being a bit like the progression of computer video technology (or, you know, just video media), and the JP8000 was perhaps 256 colour graphics, but they'd figured out dithering well; the Supernova was that weird period of 32,000 colour, and the Virus is 262,000 - for most output situations it's good enough to be true colour.
That's oversimplification in a big way, but I have to keep reminding myself that 10 years ago I wanted a Nord Lead, really quite badly, and now they're cheap... I also have to remind myself that synthesizer technology HAS progressed, that newer is NOT necessarily "worse", despite the obsession with classic synthsizers that people display (myself included).
I even bought the Waldorf Edition (£20... how prices have fallen) for the Wave 2.v plugin to get my PPG fix. You wouldn't have caught me doing that 5 years ago.