For instance, the Wave Select and Shape controls for each oscillator allow you to choose a waveform from a preset list of 64, and then shape it to taste. This feature would be so much more intuitive if you could actually see a visual representation of the waveform change shape as you move the controls; in fact, you can only find out what wave shape any number corresponds to by looking it up in the PDF manual.
How about giving us values in seconds, Hertz and other real-world units? Minor gripes aside, however, Virus Indigo's interface is a model of clarity, and is easy to use. Like any good plug-in, moreover, it allows almost every parameter to be automated with a minimum of fuss.
To my mind, this facility more than makes up for the lack of physical controllers to play with, and I often find myself drawing in automation curves for half-a-dozen Virus parameters or more. Setting Virus up as a vocoder, or using its filters to process another audio track in Pro Tools, is also trivially easy.
The Virus Indigo plug-in is one of those products that does pretty much what it says on the tin. It is an Access Virus synth in software, and its integration into Pro Tools is exemplary, particularly with regard to its handling of DSP resources see 'Voice Management' box below.
In a Add that to the laughably low latency of the Mix or HD hardware, and you get a number small enough for Virus Indigo to be indistinguishable from a hardware synth in terms of its responsiveness to keyboard input.
It feels like the real thing and it sounds like the real thing. Pro Tools TDM and HD users have always been able to call upon a wide range of high-quality plug-in effects that have not been available to users of native systems.
When it comes to synths, however, the situation is reversed, and it would be easy for TDM users to become jealous of what's available on native platforms. For anyone in this position, I recommend a course of Virus Indigo. The Access Virus is perhaps the most popular analogue-modelling synth around, and Virus Indigo TDM is a worthwhile update to the already excellent software implementation.
Voice Management One aspect of the Virus plug-in that can be confusing at first is the design's way of maximising DSP resources. Pros It doesn't just sound like a Virus. It is one.
Earn Alto Bucks. What's in the Box? Please note that this box is banged up as it is new old software. Virus Indigo Following in the footsteps of its wildly popular Virus predecessor, the Access Virus Indigo plug-in takes full advantage of Pro Tools technology to give you an endless palette of tasty sonic possibilities. With mounds of world-class sounds instantly at your disposal and support for the higher sample rates of Pro Tools HD, you have everything you need to create complex, rich tones with no audible latency.
Since it uses the same DSP algorithms as the original Access Virus synths, the Virus Indigo plug-in sounds exactly like its hardware counterpart. Truly a knob-tweaker's playground, the plug-in features a huge selection of parameters — over 30 more than the original Virus — for building dense, layered textures with that distinctive Virus "virtual analog" sound.
For immediate access to the most important and frequently used parameters, Virus Indigo now includes an all-new "Easy" page to get your sound design efforts off the ground in a hurry. Intricately detailed patches are readily achievable by simply manipulating the numerous oscillators, filters, envelopes, LFOs, amplifiers and effects controls populating the Indigo's blue interface. You can also take advantage of the "Easy" page for immediate access to the most important and frequently used parameters.
Like the hardware unit, the Virus Indigo plug-in uses intelligent smoothing algorithms to eliminate disturbing artifacts while editing, which makes it the perfect choice for both live and studio applications. Users can also conveniently page through different views of the plug-in for quick and easy patch editing.
And since it is a TDM plug-in, all Virus Indigo parameters are fully automatable, with the smoothest automation resolution in the industry. In addition to its near-zero latency,TDM is not prone to CPU bottlenecks and reduced voice count typical of many software synthesizers. TDM also allows far more visible controls and features than the Virus Indigo hardware synthesizer. The flagship was the Virus Keyboard, accompanied by its desktop equivalent, the Virus B, the obsolete Virus A, the Indigo itself, and the then soon-to-arrive Virus Rack.
At first sight, this appeared to be an inclusive range that allowed you to choose the machine format most suitable for your needs, but things were not as simple as they seemed. The number of oscillators, the polyphony, the multitimbrality and the effects structure changed from model to model, as did the latest useable OS revision. This meant that you could not simply decide which physical format was most suitable; you also had to ask yourself whether the synthesis engine in that model was appropriate for you.
If the answer is 'argent and shiny', read on. One of the nice things about the standardisation of the Virus range is that in principle if you know one Virus C, you know them all. This means that I can direct you to Nick Magnus's review of the desktop Virus C in SOS August , and this will tell you what you need to know about the guts of the machine. I happen to agree with almost everything that Nick wrote, so rather than regurgitate the bulk of his article, I thought that it would be more informative to refer back to my comments about the original Indigo, to see how the new model improves upon its predecessor.
If I remember correctly which I do, because I checked , I made several criticisms regarding the Indigo. Some of its deficiencies were relatively inconsequential, but I felt that some spoilt what would otherwise have been an excellent synth. Of the relatively inconsequential criticisms, one was physical: I disliked the position of the modulation and pitch-bend wheels. I still do. Given Access's desire to make the Indigo as compact as possible, I understand the need for this; I just don't like it.
More significantly, I complained about the lack of quality of the keyboard, particularly when compared with the far superior Virus Keyboard. I have bad news and good news here. Firstly, the Indigo 2's keyboard still feels cheap to me. However, it now responds to aftertouch as well as velocity. I'm a devoted advocate of aftertouch, partly because I find it far more expressive than any other modulation controller, and partly because my 'other' hand is always occupied with other tasks.
So, although the keyboard on the Indigo 2 remains rather lightweight for my tastes, I am delighted by the addition of channel pressure and its associated parameters. This makes the Indigo 2 expressive in exactly the way that the Indigo wasn't, removing it from the 'very nice, but no thanks' category and placing it within the far superior 'very nice; how much does it cost? I had further criticisms regarding the original Indigo's effects section.
Ever since Access launched the original Virus in , they have rather unnecessarily inflated its specification by calling voicing parameters 'effects'. In their marketing for the Indigo, they claimed that the model offered 82 simultaneous effects, but I stick by my assertion that the ring modulators and 'boost' parameters have been included in the list as a marketing ploy, adopted to make the spec look more impressive than it would otherwise be.
The situation is now even worse in this respect, with Access claiming that the Indigo 2 offers no fewer than 98 simultaneous effects! However, the additional 16 really are welcome; they're three-band EQs, one for each of the Indigo 2's 16 multitimbral parts. I've long been a fan of dedicated EQs on synths.
This is because they allow you to shape patches in ways that conventional filters cannot. Shaping can be subtle helping a sound to sit in a mix, for example , or it can be radical, completely changing the character of the sound.
Each of the Indigo 2's EQs offers a low-shelf, a high-shelf, and a parametric mid-band that allows you to select centre frequency, gain, and Q. The low-shelf offers up to 16dB of boost or cut though I suspect the cut won't see much action in these bass-crazy times , and an oddly chosen lowest shelf frequency of The mid-band boasts an extravagant range of This allows you to sculpt sounds radically.
I like it. I've said this before, and I'll continue to do so until all synth manufacturers take note Ever since Korg paved the way with the Trinity in , a synthesizer can no longer be considered truly multitimbral unless it offers a multitimbral effects section.
If they did, the Indigo 2 could compete head-to-head with the various flavours of Novation Supernova II, and would certainly rank as one of the best multitimbral synths yet developed. On another positive note, the changes to the control panel — while minor in appearance — make a huge difference.
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