Access VIRUS C SERIES User manual

©2000 Access Music GmbH, Ger-
many. Virus™ is a trademark of
Access Music GmbH. All other
trademarks contained herein are
the ro erty of their res ective
owners. All features and s ecifica-
tions subject to change without
notice.
Written by Christo h Kem er, Uwe
G. Hönig, Wiland Samolak and
Marc Schlaile.
Translation by Thomas Green.
Gra hic Design and DTP by
Babylonwaves Media.
http://www.access-music.de
[email protected]

CONTENT
INTRODUCTION - 1
The Virus ..................................................16
The Am lifier Envelo e .......................20
The First Filter .........................................23
Filter Modulation ...................................25
The Saturation Stage ............................27
The Second Filter................................... 28
Filter Routing ..........................................32
The First Oscillator................................ 34
The Second Oscillator ...........................37
The MIXER Section................................ 39
The LFOs ...................................................41
LFO 2 .........................................................46
Velocity....................................................48
Unison Mode..........................................49
The Chorus/Flanger Effect.................. 50
The Delay Effect...................................... 51
More to Come .........................................52
CONCEPT AND OPERATION - 3
O erating Modes.................................. 54
The Multi-Single Mode.........................55
Edit Buffers ..............................................57
HANDLING - 9
Parameter Selection and
Data Entry...............................................60
Knob Modes ........................................... 63
Dis lay of values ................................... 64
ALL ABOUT THE MEMORY - 67
Store ......................................................... 68
Com are..................................................69
MASTER CLOCK & MIDI-CLOCK - 71
Master Clock and Midi-Clock ..............72
THE MODULATION MATRIX AND
DEFINABLE KNOB - 7
Creating Modulation Configurations
via Assign................................................ 76
The Definable Knobs.............................78
THE EFFECTS SECTION - 81
The Effect Section ................................. 82

AUDIO INPUTS - 83
Audio In uts........................................... 84
OSC Volume / In ut.............................. 85
In ut Level Indicator ............................86
INTERNAL AUDIO ROUTING - 87
Aux Buses................................................ 88
The Audio Out uts ...............................89
ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS - 91
Panic Function ....................................... 92
Audition function.................................. 92
Reset Function ....................................... 92
THE PARAMETERS - 93
Sound Parameters with a Dedicated
Control Element ....................................94
LFO 1 – Panel ........................................... 95
LFO 1 – EDIT Menu................................. 97
LFO 2 - Panel .........................................100
LFO 2 Edit-Menu ................................... 101
LFO 3 ........................................................102
OSCILLATOR 1- Front Panel................ 104
Oscillator 2 – front Panel....................105
OSCILLATOR – EDIT-Menu................ 106
Menu arameters for Oscillator-2...107
Menu-Parameter for Oscillator-3... 109
Menu-Parameters of the
Suboscillator ...........................................111
Mixer-Parameters within then
Oscillator-edit-Menu ...........................112
Mixer........................................................113
Filters – Panel.........................................114
Filter-Edit-Menu....................................118
Am lifier ................................................ 122
Main Edit Menu (Common)............... 123
Assign......................................................129
Velocity................................................... 133
WITHIN THE CTRL-MENU - 13
COMMON ..............................................136
ARPEGGIATOR....................................... 137
DEFINABLE 1 / DEFINABLE 2 .............. 140
MULTI MODE arameters..................142
PARAMETER OF THE FX-MENU- 149
The internal Effects .............................150
In ut........................................................150
Follower (Envelo e-Follower)...........154
Ringmodulator ..................................... 155
Vocoder ..................................................156
Distortion............................................... 157

Analog Boost.........................................158
Phaser .....................................................159
Chorus..................................................... 161
Delay/Reverb.........................................162
GLOBAL-, MIDI- AND SYSTEM
PARAMETERS - 173
Global Parameters...............................174
System ................................................... 180
RANDOM PATCH GENERATOR - 183
Random Patches...................................184
CATEGORIES - 187
Sound Categories.................................188
THE KEYBOARD VERSIONS OF
THE VIRUS - 189
The Virus kb and the Virus Indigo... 190
Local off and “Three in One”............ 190
Keyboard & Com any.........................192
The Keyboard-Modes..........................195
THE VOCODER OF THE VIRUS - 201
Vocoder .................................................202
The arameters of the vocoder.......204
Notes about the vocoder ...................210
THE VIRUS AND SEQUENCERS - 213
Parameter Control via MIDI ..............214
Organizational Information..............214
Handling MIDI Parameter Control ..216
Notes on Ada tive Parameter
Smoothing............................................. 217
Problems Related to Parameter
Control.................................................... 221
DUMP: The Sound in the Song .........222
TIPS, TRICKS AND OTHER WORDS
OF WISDOM - 227
MULTI SINGLE Mode .......................... 228
Value Buttons ...................................... 229
All abouts In uts................................. 229
About the Delay/Reverb..................... 231
The Virus as an Effect Device............232
Envelo e Follower ...............................233
Oscillators ............................................. 234
Filters.......................................................237
SATURATION for Added Dirt ............ 239

LFOs ........................................................240
Volume Control ................................... 242
ASSIGN and the DEFINABLE Knobs. 243
ARPEGGIATOR......................................244
MIDI........................................................ 245
PRIORITY................................................ 247
Installing an o erating system
u date.................................................... 247
Loading the O erating System from
One Virus to Another .........................249
Software U dates...............................250
APPENDIX - 2 1
System Exclusive Data........................252
Parameters Describtion..................... 258
Multi Dum Table................................273
Classes ................................................... 276
Mod Matrix Sources ..........................280
Mod Matrix Destinations...................281
Definable Knobs Destinations ........ 282
MIDI Im lementation Chart.............284
FCC Information (U.S.A).....................286
FCC Information (CANADA)..............288
Other Standards (Rest of World).....289
Declaration of Conformity................290
Garantie Bestimmung.......................292
Warranty ............................................... 293

6

ACCESS VIRUS OS4
7
Important Safety Remarks
Please read and heed the follow-
ing safety guidelines!
A few fundamental rules on han-
dling electrical devices follow.
Please read all notes carefully
before you ower the device u .
Set-up

O erate and store the device in
enclosed rooms only.
 Never ex ose the device to a
dam environment.

Never o erate or store the device
in extremely dusty or dirty envi-
ronments.

Assure that air can circulate
freely on all sides of the device,
es ecially when you mount it to a
rack.

Don’t set the device in the imme-
diate vicinity of heat sources such
as radiators.

Don’t ex ose the device to direct
sunlight.

Don’t ex ose the device to
strong vibrations and mechanical
shocks.
Connections

Be sure to use exclusively the
included mains ower su ly
ada ter.

Plug the device only into mains
sockets that are ro erly grounded
in com liance with statutory regu-
lations.
 Never modify the included
ower cord. If its lug does not fit
the sockets you have available,
take it to a qualified electrician.

Always ull the ower lug out
of the mains socket when you
won’t be using the device for ro-
longed eriods.

Never touch the mains lug with
wet hands.

8
CHAPTER 2
Safety Remarks
 Always ull the actual lug,
never the cord, when you’re
un lugging the device.
Operation

Don’t set beverages or any other
rece tacle containing liquids on
the device.

Make sure the device is laced
on a solid base. Set it on a stable
tableto or mount it to a rack.

Make sure that no foreign
objects fall into or somehow end
u inside the device’s housing. In
the event that this should occur,
switch the device off and ull the
ower lug. Then get in touch with
an authorized dealer.

Used on its own and in conjunc-
tion with am s, louds eakers or
head hones, this device is able to
generate levels that can lead to
irreversible hearing damage. For
this reason, always o erate it at a
reasonable volume level.
Memory battery change
The Virus stores its sound ro-
grams in a battery-buffered RAM.
This battery (general ty e designa-
tion: CR2032) should be re laced
every three to four years. The hous-
ing has to be o ened to change the
battery, so take the device to a
qualified service technician. Do
your art in rotecting our envi-
ronment and take it to a sho that
dis oses of batteries ro erly.
Before you have the battery
changed, save the entire memory
content of the RAM by loading it to
a sequencer via "Total Dum ". Be
advised that RAM content is lost
when the battery is swa ed (see
“Midi Dum TX” on age 174).
Care

Do not o en the device, it is not
equi ed with any user-service-
able arts. Re air and mainte-
nance may only be carried out by
qualified s ecialists.

Use only a dry, soft cloth or brush
to clean the device.

ACCESS VIRUS OS4
9
 Do not use alcohol, solvents or
similar chemicals. These can dam-
age the surface of the housing.
Fitness for Purpose
This device is designed exclusively
to generate low-frequency audio
signals for sound engineering-
related ur oses. Any other use is
not ermitted and automatically
invalidates the warranty extended
by Access Music Electronics GmbH.

10
CHAPTER 2
Safety Remarks

ACCESS VIRUS OS4
11
Prologue
Dear Virus Owner,
Congratulations on your choice,
the new Virus. You have urchased
a cutting-edge synthesizer that
comes fully loaded with several
revolutionary features. Here are
just a few of the highlights:
The Virus delivers the sound char-
acteristics and tone of traditional
analog synthesizers - for instance
the Pro het 5 or Memorymoog to
name just two o ular exam les
of the s ecies - in a reviously
un aralleled level of quality and
handling ease. We’re not kidding,
the Virus actual delivers the
authentic res onse of an analog
synth via a digital signal rocessor
chi , although the sound sha ing
and voicing o tions out- erform
those of it historical redecessors
by a considerable margin.
The Virus comes with 512 slots for
storing SINGLE sounds. These are
organized in four banks. The first
two banks (A and B) are located in
the RAM, so you can overwrite
them with new sounds. The other
two banks are ”hard-wired”, i.e.
they’re rogrammed into the
FLASH ROM.
The Virus offers a maximum of 24
voices. In Multi Mode, these are
allocated dynamically to sixteen
simultaneously available sounds.
You have no less than three audio
oscillators lus one suboscillator, a
noise generator, a ring modulator,
two Multi Mode filters, two enve-
lo es, a stereo VCA, three LFOs and
a saturation stage (SATURATOR) for
cascade filtering, tube and distor-
tion effects.
The Virus offers a veritable arsenal
of effects. You have seven owerful
sound-scul ting functions, includ-
ing chorus, haser and distortion,
at your dis osal, with each effect
available se arately for every
sound. Thus, in 16-way MULTI
mode, the Virus offers 80 effects,
no less!. You also get a global
reverb/delay unit that lets you cre-
ate high-quality reverb effects and
rhythmic delay ta s. Delay time
can be synced u to MIDI clock.

12
CHAPTER 3
Prologue
With the benefit of two external
audio in uts, the Virus may also
serve as an FX device and signal
rocessor that you can use cre-
atively to come u with all kinds of
effects. External signals can be
rocessed with filter, gate and lo-fi
effects, routed to the Virus effects
section and serve as a modulation
source for frequency and ring mod-
ulation.
Beyond that, you can use internal
or external signals as sources for
the Virus’ on-board vocoder serve.
The vocoder works with u to 32
filter bands and offers diverse
mani ulation and modulation
o tions.
The three main oscillators roduce
66 wavesha es, three of which are
dynamically mixable so that s ec-
tral effects are ossible within the
confines of a single oscillator. In
conventional synthesizers, this
ty e of effect requires several oscil-
lators. Synchronization, frequency
modulation and ring modulation
between the audio oscillators
delivers additional com lex s ec-
tral effects that you can use for all
kinds of sound sha ing ur oses.
The filters can be switched in
series or in arallel within the
voices via several o tions. When
you switch the filters in series, the
saturation stage is embedded
between the filters. Consequently,
an overdriven filter resonance can
be re-filtered within the same
voice! A maximum of six filter
oles (36 dB slo e!) enables radical
tonal mani ulations.
The LFOs feature 68 continuous
variable wavesha es each, includ-
ing a triangle with variable sym-
metry and infinitely variable
a eriodic oscillations for random
variation of the controlled arame-
ters. The LFOs are ca able of oly-
honic as well as mono honic
oscillation. In other words, if sev-
eral voices are active, the LFOs can
run inde endently or in sync. A
number of keyboard trigger
o tions enable you start LFO wave-
sha es with variable hase lengths
at the beginning of a note and/or
to cycle once only, like an envelo e.
Next to the numerous ”hard-
wired” or fixed modulation config-
urations, you can assign three
modulation sources to u to six
different modulation destinations

ACCESS VIRUS OS4
13
via the Modulation Matrix. For
your modulation sources, you have
LFOs, velocity, the itch bender,
aftertouch, the modulation wheel,
numerous MIDI controllers and
other sources to chose from. For
your modulation destinations, you
can select any sound arameter of
the Virus that is conducive to being
remote controlled.
U to 16 ar eggiators are available
in MULTI mode. These give you
countless o tions for creating
ar eggios, which can also be
synced u to MIDI clock.
Sounds and effects are atched
out via six audio out uts which of
course can also be used to route
three stereo signals out.
In additional to its killer sounds
and tone, the Virus was designed
to deliver ultimate handling and
control comfort. It is equi ed
with dedicated knobs and buttons
for the crucial synthesizer func-
tions, further arameters are
accessible via data entry roce-
dures. We distinguished between
these two levels of ex ertise to
enable you to create com lex
sounds while kee ing the user
interface as clear and uncluttered
as ossible.
In all modesty, we are es ecially
roud of a feature we develo ed
called Ada tive Parameter
Smoothing. For the first time in
the history of synthesizers
equi ed with memories, you can
mani ulate a knob or control fea-
ture without an audible ste or
increment. In other words, the
sound does not change abru tly
but SEAMLESSLY. No more zi er
noises! The Virus res onds just as
smoothly as analog synthesizers
did rior to the introduction of dig-
ital sound storage
And users of contem orary soft-
ware sequencers will a reciate
the fact that the Virus sends all
sound sha ing commands imme-
diately in the form of MIDI Control-
ler or Poly Pressure data (and of
course acce ts all of the corre-
s onding Controller and SysEx
messages). This feature lets you
dynamically control the Virus and
all its functions via com uter.

14
CHAPTER 3
Prologue
Although far from com lete, the
features listed above give you
some indication that you now own
an exce tionally versatile, high-
quality musical instrument that
will give you lenty of joy for years
to come. We certainly ho e you
can fully ex loit the enormous
otential of this fine instrument.
Have fun and enjoy!
Your Virus Develo ment Team
By the way: a rack mounting kit is
o tionally available for the Virus b.
Feel free to get in touch with your
local authorized dealer for more
info.
Many thanks to:
Ben Crosland, Thomas Green, Axel
Hartmann, Uwe G. Hönig, Jörg
Hüttner, Oliver Käser, Andrea
Mason, Thorsten Matuschowski,
Paul Nagle, Kai Niggemann, Rob
Pa en, Wieland Samolak, Howard
Scarr, Hans-Jörg Scheffler, Jenny
Simon, Matt Skags, Joeri Vankeirs-
bilck, Jay Vaughan, Jens Wegerhoff
and Daniel Wewer.

Introduction

16
CHAPTER 4
Introduction
THE VIRUS
This section rovides deliberate,
ste -by-ste guidelines on o erat-
ing and handling the Virus for
those of you who are new to the
world of synthesizers and MIDI.
The following covers basics such as
how to connect the Virus to an AC
ower su ly, your MIDI system
and your audio system. Then we
will guide you through a series of
ex eriments designed to demon-
strate the different functional
grou s, their control features and
the tasks they execute.
After you have finished reading
this section, you will be able to
handle virtually all of the sound
generating and sound sha ing
functions of the Virus. All of these
are described in context, along
with their control features. Even
the majority of less significant
functions, accessible via menus,
are discussed here. You will find a
detailed, com rehensive descri -
tion of all functions of your new
synthesizer in the section follow-
ing this introduction.
Please kee in mind that within
confines of this introduction, we
are unable to im art all of the
knowledge and skills in acoustics,
sound synthesis and MIDI control
you might desire or need to
acquire. If you are keen to learn
more about these subjects, you
should consider becoming a regu-
lar reader of one or several of the
leading trade ublications in your
country. Your local musical instru-
ments dealer or more ex erienced
musicians will be able to recom-
mend the best magazines to you.
And of course there is a wide range
of books available on these sub-
jects.
If you decide to read this section,
we recommend you read it in its
entirety from the start - rather
than begin with a subsection that
is of articular interest to you. A
fitting meta hor for the basics dis-
cussed in this section might be a
house where each bit of informa-
tion in a subsection is a brick that
builds on a receding brick and
interlocks with those next to it.
You want your knowledge base to
be a sound structure so you won’t
run into roblems when you find
one of the “bricks” is missing.

ACCESS VIRUS OS4
17
The Virus
Cable Connections
Before you connect the Virus to an
AC outlet and the rest of your
equi ment, ensure that all of the
devices are switched OFF. If your
Virus does not have a build-in key-
board, then connect the MIDI OUT
of the desired MIDI send device
(keyboard, com uter, hardware
sequencer, etc.) with the MIDI IN
of the Virus.
Connect the audio out uts of the
Virus with the signal in uts of your
audio system. In order to receive a
signal, as a minimum you must
connect the out ut OUT 1 R/
MONO. However, we recommend
you also connect the out ut OUT 1
L so you are able to enjoy the ste-
reo sounds of the Virus.
Once you have established the
desired cable connections, make
sure the main volume controls of
all the connected devices (Virus:
MASTER VOLUME, located at the
u er left hand of the control
anel) are dialed to the lowest os-
sible setting. Switch the devices on
in the following sequence: the
MIDI send device (com uter, mas-
ter keyboard, etc.) first, then the
sound generators (Virus and the
other signal sources), followed by
the mixing console and finally the
am lifier.
Now while you are sending notes
on MIDI Channel 1 of the Virus,
turn the master volumes of the
connected devices u in the same
order that you switched the
devices on. Be sure to kee on eye
on the signal level indicators of
your mixing console.
Listening to the Factory
Sounds
The rogram memory of the Virus
was loaded with sound rograms
(SINGLE PROGRAMs) and sound
combinations (MULTI PROGRAMs)
before it left the factory. To hear
the SINGLE PROGRAMs (and gain
an initial im ression of the ossi-
bilities your new instrument has to
offer in terms of sounds), first
make sure your MIDI source is
sending on MIDI Channel 1.
Press the SINGLE button. A num-
ber, a letter, number and name
a ear in the dis lay. These indi-

18
CHAPTER 4
Introduction
cate the the MIDI Channel, the cur-
rent Program Bank (A to D) as well
as the number and name of the
current sound rogram. Now if you
lay notes you should be able to
hear this sound and a ≤ note (the
round dot at the end of the note
staff is solid black) should a ear
in the dis lay every time you ress
a key and release a key. If you do
not hear a sound but you see a half
note (blank note head) check to
see if you are sending on the
wrong MIDI Channel.
Press the VALUE button to call u
the 128 single rograms of Bank A
in sequence. (The VALUE ot is
inactive in this o erating mode.) In
order to hear the sound rograms
in banks B, C and D, sim ly use the
PARAMETER/BANK buttons to ste
from one rogram bank to
another.
You’ll find that some sound ro-
grams are labeled with the abbre-
viations ”INP” or ”VOC”. These use
the external audio in ut as a signal
source for the filter section (INP) or
vocoder (VOC). This means that
you won’t hear anything until you
route an audio signal into the
external audio in uts.
Listening to the Multi Pro-
grams
The Virus not only has the ca abil-
ity of laying SINGLE PROGAMs,
but also combinations consisting
of more than one sound simulta-
neously (MIDI Multi Mode). To call
u the MULTI PROGRAMs, ress
the MULTI button and select these
combination rograms via the
VALUE button. The Virus features
“only” 128 MULTI PROGRAMs, so
you don’t have to switch back and
forth between banks they way you
just did while activating single ro-
grams.
The majority of available MULTI
PROGRAMs contain sound combi-
nations that are controlled via a
single MIDI channel. In these
MULTI PROGRAMs, the sounds
involved are allocated side-by-side
(s lit) or on to of one another