VIRUS OS V 2.52 Dear VIRUS owner REMARK Please additionally load the file 'secon25x.mid' into the Virus, if you are currently working on a version below V 2.01. It includes a large number of singles in bank D, that use the vocoder and the input section in general. The singles and multis included in the 'secon25x.mid' are stored into the flash-rom the same way as the operating system. The Singles are accessable as bank C and D. News and bugfixes see on the bottom _____________________________________________________________________________________________ SYSTEM UPDATE LOAD PROCEDURE The new Virus operating system consists of two MIDI files; "first25x.mid" and "secon25x.mid". The file "first.mid" actually contents the OS, while "second.mid" contents the factory singles and multis. If you already created and stored your own sound programs, you can dump them into any MIDI sequencer with the MIDI Bulk Dump function, because you have the possibility to import new factory sound with the new operating system. This function can be found in the MIDI menu, accessible through the CTRL button. Updating the VIRUS to the new OS: - Switch the VIRUS off. - Load the MIDI file "first25x.mid" into your favourite MIDI sequencer and make sure that the right MIDI output stream is selected. - Make sure that the Midi Clock is switched off of in your sequenzer; some Midi interfaces might not work properly mixing Midi Clock and SysEx data. - Hold down the STORE button while switching the VIRUS on until the display shows "SYSTEM UPDATE Receive". - Press STORE again to activate the receive status. - Now you can start the MIDI file While receiving the file, the VIRUS displays the current block number that was received. If an error occurs, the display shows the message "RECEPTION FAILED". If this message appears, a problem in the MIDI transmission of either your sequencer or your MIDI interface occured. In this case you should repeat the above procedure, maybe with a slower tempo (e.g. 60bpm). Press any key to quit the error message and press STORE to activate reception status again. After transmission you have to press the STORE button to start the burn procedure that writes the operating system into the Flash ROM. Make sure that the VIRUS isn't switched off during this procedure. After the burn procedure, you are asked to switch of the virus. If you have already loaded the file "secon25x.mid" on an earlier system update, it is not necessary to load it again. If the version number of your previous OS was 1.12 or lower, you are asked to load file "second.mid" right after switching on the Virus again. This file contents the factory singles and multis. By loading this file your consisting RAM Singles will NOT be overwritten, because the file is stored in the FLASH ROM. - Load the MIDI file "second.mid" into your MIDI sequencer and make sure that the right MIDI output stream is selected. - Press STORE again to activate the receive status. - Now you can start the MIDI file When the reception fails on this file, the reception of "secon25x.mid" must be repeated. But it is NOT required to load "first25x.mid" again. Press any key to quit the error message and press STORE to activate reception status again. After transmission you have to press the STORE button to start the burn procedure. Make sure again that the VIRUS isn't switched off during this procedure. After this burn procedure, you can finally decide if you want to copy the included factory singles (bank A and B) and multis to the RAM or not. Attention: Sounds that were located on these banks are lost! --------------------------------- System Reset ------------------------------------------- If your VIRUS ever behaves strangely or does unexpected things - try a System Reset! Hold down the LFO 1 SHAPE and LFO 2 SHAPE buttons while switching the VIRUS on. No RAM Data will be overwritten, though several Global Settings (like MIDI Soft Thru) will be set to their defaults. In the following menues you can decide if you want to takeover bank A or B (press SINGLE) or not (press any other key). You can use the System Reset also to restore the factory sounds. Attention: Sounds that were located on these banks are lost! Your ACCESS development team _______________________________________________________________________________ V 2.5 / 2.51 New features and bugfixes - An addendum manual is available as a .pdf-file (Adobe Acrobat Reader) on www.access-music.de. It contains all new features, that are not listed in the regular manual. - If you are currently working with version 2.01, you do not need to load the "Second" file. - New Modulationmatrix: In the ASSIGN section, the Virus now provides you with nine more modulation sources: Env1, Env2, Lfo1, Lfo2, Lfo3: The individual envelopes or LFOs are now modulation sources for the ASSIGNs. VeloOn, VeloOff: The attack velocity (VeloOn) and release velocity (VeloOff) of a note are now modulation sources for the ASSIGNs. When set to VeloOff, the release velocity can only be measured when the key is actually released, thus the attack velocity will be used for modulation when the key is struck. Therefore in this setting (VeloOff), both attack and release velocity are active. Keyflw The notenumer (pitch) of the pressed key is used as a modulation source. (Keyfollow) Random When the key is struck, a random value will be created and used for the duration of the note. These new modulation sources can modulate six out of the 90 possible modulation destinations, just like the 18 controller sources did before. (CTRL: ASSIGN 1/2/3: Source) - Ringmodulator: The ringmodulator is a fifth sound source inside the oscillator section. The ringmodulator multiplies the signals of OSC 1 and OSC 2. Among other things, it can create very interesting harmonic spectrums that vary greatly with the frequency difference of the two oscillators (which can be modified by OSC 2 SEMITONE or LFO 1, for example) and the waveforms of the oscillators (for example a sinewave) The ringmodulator volume can be set using the RINGMODULATOR volume control (one step right from NOISE Volume in the EDIT menu). When the volume is set to zero, the ringmodulator is off. Just like the noise signal, the ringmodulator is not affected by the setting of the OSC VOL knob, so the original signals of the oscillators can be faded in and out of the ringmodulator seperately. parameter: A 38 a Ringmodulator Volume 0..127 - The Virus now has access to 512 single sounds. Besides the 256 sounds in RAM the 256 factory presets are now always available. Previously these had to be copied from the FLASH-ROM into the RAM by the reset procedure. They are now available as bank C and D. These two banks are read only. - Compare-Mode Press STORE followed by EDIT or CTRL to use the compare mode. After editing a single sound you can switch back and forth between the compare sound and the edited version by pressing EDIT or CTRL. The bank- and program number of the compare sound can be changed by the PARAMETER and VALUE buttons. This is usefull for selecting a memory location for the edited sound, while hearing the sound that is currently stored in that location. The edited sound is not affected by that. Pressing STORE saves the sound to the current location, pressing MULTI or SINGLE cancels the store or compare procedure. - UNISON Mode (Off, 2..12), Detune, PanSpread, LfoPhase TWIN mode has been renamed to UNISON mode. Instead of two voices (TWIN Mode on), UNISON mode can use two to twelve voices for one note. The parameters UNISON Detune, UNISON PanSpread and UNISON LfoPhase work the same as they did in TWIN mode. UNISON Detune detunes the voices individually, UNISON PanSpread distributes equally the voices throughout the stereo panorama. The UNISON mode is capable of playing a sound polyphonically, while the overall polyphony will be limited by that. For the classic unison mode, KEYMODE should be set to a mono mode. The setting UNISON Mode = 2 is identical to TWIN Mode = On of previous operating systems. - New Parameter: LFO 3 Clock Since LFO 3 has become a modulation source for the ASSIGN, it can now be synced to the Virus' Master-Clock or to MIDI-Clock just like LFO 1 and LFO 2 could. Parameter: B 21 b Lfo3 Clock 0..19 Off, 1/64..4/1 - New Parameter: MIDI ClockRx (Off, Auto) This parameter activates or deactivates the receiving of MIDI-Clock globally. The Virus automatically detects the presence of MIDI-Clock (Auto). Therefore this parameter is not intended to switch MIDI-Clock on, but to switch it off if you should feel that this is necessary (Off). (CTRL: MIDI ClockRx) Parameter: C106 g Midi Clock Rx 0:Disable 1:Auto - The vocoder is only active when an external signal is detected and switches itself off 10 seconds after the last input signal has ended. This assures that the Virus has all of its polyphony available while the vocoder is switched on but no input signal is applied. - Synchronization of the LFOs to MIDI-Clock has been improved (to keep them synced to the beat of the song). Also a synced LFO can be triggered by an external controller. For this, the controllers LFO1 Mode (Ctr #70) , LFO2 Mode (Ctr #82) and LFO3 Mode (Parameter B 9, see SysEx-documentation) are used. The LFOs are triggered whenever this particular controller is received, regardless of the controller value, since LFO Mode has no function when the LFO is synchronized. - The master volume knob now works fully digital. Zipper noise no longer occurs (this was possible in some situations before) - Controller-Dump You can now dump a single sound as a controller dump to the Virus' MIDI out. All parameters of this single will be transmitted as individual parameter changes, one after the other, and sent as either controllers, poly-pressure or sysex messages - depending on the setting of CTRL: MIDI CONTROL LoPage / HiPage. To dump the controllers, press STORE on the CTRL: MIDI DUMP TX ControllerDump page or use the following SysEx request: Controller Dump Request [message]= 37 :Controller Dump Request bb :Bank Number 00: Single Edit buffer ss :Part Number 0..15 {F0,00,20,33,01,dd,37,00,ss,F7} The controller dump is not intended to replace the single dump, since the controller dump takes much longer. It allows you to send all controller values of a Single sound to a parameter based editor (such as a Logic Environment or a Cubase Mixer) to update the editor. - Bank Select: The Bank Select will always be processed correctly, even if the Bank Select is not sent corresponding to the Midi-Standard. - Bank/Program Change by SysEx A Bank Change or Program Change can now be activated by a SysEx message. These messages are independent from midi channels, as all the other SysEx parameter changes. These SysEx-Program-Changes are always processed, even if the corresponding regular Program Change is disabled. Parameter: C 31 m,bpc Part Bank Select 0..3 Bank A..D C 32 m,bpc Part Bank Change 0..3 Bank A..D C 33 m,bpc Part Program Change 0..127 C105 g Multi Program Change 0..127 bpc: Bank/Program-Change Parameter Bank Select selects the Single bank accessed by a subsequent Program Change, similar to the regular Bank Select. Bank Change directly changes the Single program to the requested bank, without changing the program number. Program Change directly changes the Single program to the requested program number, without changing the bank number; similar to the regular Program Change. Part number $40 will address the Single buffer in Single Mode. V 2.51 - A few little bugs of 2.5 are fixed - The Panic function (press both Transpose buttons simultaneously) additionally executes a controller reset, if you press this key combination another time inbetween a second. The reset affects: - Pitch Bend = 64 (Mitte) - ChannelPressure = 0 (Aftertouch) - Modulation Wheel = 0 (Contr. #1) - Channel Volume = 127 (Contr. #7) - Hold Pedal = 0 (Contr. #64) ___________________________________________________________________________________ V 2.52 - If you are already using version 2.51 of the Virus OS, the update procedure will be a lot easier: The Virus recognizes the OS update being played back to it by the sequencer. You will still have to burn the Flash-ROM manually (by pressing STORE) after the file transfer to the Virus is complete. Simply play back the Standard Midi File into the Virus, then press STORE and wait ... - New Parameter: Control Smooth Mode (COMMON: SmoothMode) Off: Adaptive Control Smoothing (parameter smoothing) is always off. Usage: sudden jumps in parameter values are executed without audible glitches. Thus, this feature can be used for gating signals and step sequencer applications. Side effect: continuous parameter changes will have audible steps (zipper noise). On : Adaptive Control Smoothing is always active. Usage: parameter changes are extremely smooth and unaffected by MIDI resolution. Side effect: sudden jumps in parameter values are also smoothed and can result in unwanted glitches. Auto: the Adaptive Control Smoothing analyses the characteristics of the parameter cahnges and adjusts the smoothing accordingly. Usage: sudden jumps and smooth sweeps can be realised within the same soundpatch. Side effects: the analysis of jumps in parameter changes does not work with very fast changes in the parameter value. Note: Adaptive Control Smoothing is working in continuous mode, but will jump when a new note is played. Usage: sudden jumps and smooth sweeps can be realised within the same soundpatch, jumps are inserted everytime a new note is played. This is a very useful mode when used in combination with a step sequencer. Side effects: when used while playing polyphonic lines, this setting also affects notes that are still sustaining while another note is played. Comments about CONTR SMOOTH mode: Parameter: B 25 b Control Smooth Mode 0..3 0:Off, 1:On, 2:Auto, 3:Note Default: On This parameter is part of a single sound and is saved with it. Earlier versions of the Virus OS had this value preset to "Auto" When sending programmed controller jumps from a sequencer, please note that sequencers always send note data with a higher priority than controllers. This can lead to unwanted artefacts in the attack phase of the note. A workaround is to programm the controller changes to a separate track and give this track a negative track-delay. - LED Mode with added functionality: Output1 Output2 Output3 Aux1 Aux2 Steal Similar to the setting "ExtIn", you can now monitor the signal levels of five more signal paths of the Virus using the LFO-RATE-LEDs. This can be used to test if there is a signal present or to monitor clipping. The LFO1-LED monitors the left channel, the LED2-LED monitors the right channel. When clipping is detected, the LEDs flash rapidly. Note: clipping and distortion can take place inside the Virus' voice architecture. This is a compromise which had to be made because of the wide range of dynamics that the Virus is capable of. Resonating filters and high polyphony can lead to such high levels which could only be avoided by massively reducing the overall volume of the machine in the software, or by limiting the range of certain parameters. The drawbacks of both solutions would be too great, therefore a much better way to avoid these rare occurences of clipping, is to reduce the levels of individual signals (Patch-Volume etc.) Setting LED-Mode to "Steal" lets you monitor when notes are being cut off because the voice limit has been reached. When notes have to be cut off, the Virus takes notes first where the signal level has decayed the most. Since a voice has a dynamic range between 0 dB and -96 dB, but most signals become inaudible in their context somewhere between -32 and -48 dB, almost all note stealings of decaying voices in the Virus are inaudible. This is reflected in the LEDs: The brightness of the LEDs corresponds to the level of the AMP-Envelope of the note which was cut off. - Audition-feature Notes can be triggered from the panel now. To do this, press SYNC and FILT ENV MOD (in the OSC-section) simultaneously. (Virus b: press EDIT and SYNC in the OSC-section simultaneously). The note C3 of the current part will be triggered. If both buttons are held for over a second, the note is held after the buttons are released. - Arpeggiator quantise When it is set to external synchronisation, the arpeggiator will quantise to the nearest 16th note. This way, the arpeggiator can be triggered live in sync with MIDI-Clock, any imperfections and inadequacies in timing will be compensated for. This quantisation is unaffected by the arpeggiator clock setting. - Multi-Program-Change via SysEx You can now execute a Multi-Program-Change via sysex (system-exclusive data). This sysex command is executed even when the regular Multi-Program-Change is disabled. Thus all MIDI channels are available for Single-Program-Changes. Parameter: C105 g Multi Program Change 0..127 Multi-Program-Change to Programm XX: F0,00,20,33,01,10,72,00,69,XX,F7 - The Virus now receives controller #11 (Expression Controller). Expression is a volume controller not unlike channel volume but which can be used independantly for volume control or gating effects. It is affected by "controller reset" (see above, version 2.51). Its default value is 127. - You can now increment/decrement single sounds with the VALUE-knob while holding down the SINGLE-button, then turning the VALUE-knob. - Bugfix: fixed some instabilities of the OS that could lead to clicking when the Virus received parameter changes (controller changes via MIDI, adjustments on the panel) or when the Vocoder was active. Phase drifting of bass drum sounds can now be avoided using the parameter OSCILLATOR PhaseInit. To avoid any instabilities in those sounds, set the parameter to any value between 1-127 (any value other than 'Off'). Arpeggiator Mode: AsPlayed now works across several octaves (Arpeggiator Octaves)