Virus Ti owners:

[ze2be]

Im sampling/recording up some of my favorite Virus Ti presets.

Would you sample internally/digitally over USB, or by recording the analog outputs?
The analog outputs are @ 24bit/196khz, and I dont know if its an illusion, but they kind of sound warmer to me then the usb output!

Also, would you sample 24bit 44.1 khz, or higher like 96khz. (96 is max on my Motu Ultralight)

[HiEnergy]

I'd use the Total (or was it "Virtual") Control VST for this task.
Play the sounds you want to sample and record them on an audio track with Live. This way you're going to sample it over USB.

Just keep in mind that "freeze" and "render to disk" won't work.

[Tarekith]

Ditto, I'd use USB or SPDIF for that task. That said, if YOU like the sound of the analog outs better, go for it, there's no right or wrong answer here.

[ze2be]

Ditto, I'd use USB or SPDIF for that task. That said, if YOU like the sound of the analog outs better, go for it, there's no right or wrong answer here.

Hey Tarekith, isnt the usb output of less resolution then the audio outs? seem to remember it was like that, but I cant find the info on their homepage or on the web in general.

[willdahbe]

I would say that the analog outs would be of better quality. Not because it might sound better out of the analog outs. but I would assume that the higher res out's would yield better results when re-pitching, stretching, whatever. Just me two duckets.

edit: maybe not better, but possibly more true to the original sound? Gotta try this out, but not around the virus right now.

[ze2be]

I would say that the analog outs would be of better quality. Not because it might sound better out of the analog outs. but I would assume that the higher res out's would yield better results when re-pitching, stretching, whatever. Just me two duckets.

edit: maybe not better, but possibly more true to the original sound? Gotta try this out, but not around the virus right now.

hmm.. yeah.. I sampled in 24/44.1 and tried to fit some of the recorded tracks together for fun. Some I had to pitch 4 notes using warp, and it sounded really bad.. Maybe I should record a few different notes on each preset.. Would recording in 24/96 make any different?

I was planning to sell the bastard, but it sounds really good doesnt it.. Might consider getting a Snow to keep my presets..

Thing is I can re-create 90% of the sounds on software synths, and a lot faster then the clumsy interface on the Ti.. But I will never be able to recreate my huge preset library from the Ti. Access, they are smart, they really know how to make customers addictive!

thanks for all the answers!

[luddy]

I did a test a few months ago out of curiosity, in which I recorded some TI parts via SP/DIF and ran them through some software that reports the effective bit depth. The effective bit depth is the number of bits that are actually varying in interesting ways, i.e., not stuck at 0 or 1. Long story short, the SP/DIF connection of the Virus TI appears to deliver 24 bit digital audio. I think I repeated this test using the TI plug-in and got the same result, but I'm not completely sure. (Up until very recently I always used my Virus in standalone mode, and I still prefer this when using it with Ableton since the plug-in has such a silly behavior in Ableton, putting all the automation into a single track.)

The analog and digital outs both sound great. As far as I can tell there is no difference in resolution between them. I have however found some cases in which the analog outs distort (at high signal levels) where the digital ones do not. Maybe involving Analog Boost? I'm not sure offhand, but I was surprised to run into that.

-Luddy

[Tarekith]

Yeah, as far as I know there's no difference in the USB and SPDIF, analog outs are a different story since the resolution of the D/A doesn't really equate to a digital signal. I just got my TI2 Polar a few weeks back, and compared the analog outs, SPDIF, and USB audio to see which sounded better. Actually, they all sounded good, but they all sounded different! Small differences, but it was there. So really, just pick the one that you like the best and don't worry about it

[funky shit]

Id say stick to the analogue outs.

[polyslax]

I use the USB until it's time to render audio, at which point I switch over to the analogue outs. To my ears the sound has more drive and more body.

[ze2be]

I use the USB until it's time to render audio, at which point I switch over to the analogue outs. To my ears the sound has more drive and more body.

Same to mine.. OK, ill stick to analog!
Thanks!

[nuxnamon]

I had a TI but sold it a while back.. prior to selling one friend suggested to sample the sounds.. I didn't think much of it and never had the time, but if a person was to do such a thing, how do you go about it..

1. do you sample every note of the sound you like.. or do you just sample middle C and transpose that sample in your sampler..

[Tarekith]

Depends on the sound and what you want. There's programs out there that will do it automatically for you, saves you a lot of time.

[ze2be]

Depends on the sound and what you want. There's programs out there that will do it automatically for you, saves you a lot of time.

Yes and no.. you want get your own filter sweeps, wavetable morphing, pitching etc, unless you use XXXX hours on the XXXX presets, mapping lfos to all the things you like. Theres lots of good presets, but the interesting things usually appear when you jam with them. another problem arise with the presets that have a lot of randomness. For those presets I would need many samples for each note.. It would take forever to sample and arrange, if it would make sense at all.

To my ears there's just a few things I would use the most of sounds for.

nuxnamon, I just record some long takes/jams that sounds good to me. Im considering though to do it in a few different notes, after trying to fit the first recorded clips together. The warping types sounded horrible on the sound. Re-pitch is the only warp that sounds good, if you need to pitch more then a full note. But there's really no point using re-pitch (and sample up again) unless there's no rhythmic content.

[ze2be]

After the Polar is sold, I think id like a Snow at some point just to access my presets. Came to think of: hey, it can actually be used as Surge, my favorite synth, with Max for Live!
Surge becomes magic when you can assign up to 12 lfos with just one click each, because most of the stuff is on the same page. Ti is a nightmare in that regard, but with a M4L midi lfo device, it should be possible to assign lfos quickly to any parameter you like, almost like Surge. When using config mode in live, learn up to 128 parameters and avoid flipping through the Ti's 10 (!) pages when assigning lfos from a Max midi device to lives Ti device. It will be on just one page.

Out of curiosity I just tested to see if all the Ti vst parameters was accessible to Live. Unfortunately no! I only got about 6 parameters: the first filter only, and some basic stuff. Not even the envelopes. It might be Live though, im running 8.0.3. atm. Going to install 8.0.8 soon..