This post is about the Access Virus TI synthesizer – possibly my all-time favourite hardware synthesizer.
The premonition
There was a 2017 blog post speculating about the (lack of a) future for the Access Virus TI at synthmorph.com (archive.org link)- partly, because the mastermind behind that legendary synthesizer, Christoph Kemper had reoriented his company into guitar amplifier modelling, resulting in the remarkable Kemper Profiler series. But an arguably even more compelling reason was that the core DSP chip at the heart of this line of synthesizers was no longer being manufactured and existing stock would run out.
It took another 7 years, but in February 2024, the confirmation came, that the production of the Access Virus TI2 had indeed ended (original article in German – Google Translate version here).
So my Access Virus TI is now officially a vintage synth. But I’ll be forever grateful and amazed about how many free upgrades this legendary hardware synthesizer received over more than a decade after its original release.
But wait …
But by April 2024 I found out about an interesting project that created a software emulation of the discontinued DSP chip on the Access Virus.
I’ve tried the emulator and compared it with my real synthesizer – it really works. Amazing!
It takes quite a bit of CPU power, since the code is running on an emulation and not the real DSP chip. And of course that code is optimized for that DSP chip and not written for a modern general purpose CPU. But my relatively new music computer handles it with ease.
Here’s a very good overview by one of my favourite YT personalities:
… there is more …
I should also mention, that there’s also a “normal” plugin – unfortunately for Windows only – that emulates the Access Virus Ti. From everything I’ve read and the sound examples I’ve listened to, it’s a very good emulation indeed: Viper by Adam Szapo