Access Virus TI2, The Ultimate Setup in Ableton Live 10

[@1samc]

Man that’s siiik! I like how you further broke down the signal path between left and right channels!

[@bipoha]

I finally hooked up my TI2 to my PC, and wasn't having much luck in Ableton Live, but your ALS file was a huge help. After some fooling around, it appears your workflow would be: 1. Get a track finished in MIDI 2. Bounce it to audio 3. Repeat with next track (I tried playing two USB channels simultaneously, and it seems the Virus didn't like that too much. I mean, it makes total sense, but I was getting a bit excited.) Thanks for sharing the project file. I'll have to dig deeper into it and see why there are separate L/R tracks, etc. It seems like a pretty robust setup -- probably set up for more than I know what to do with!

[@weblogik]

Marshal this is excellent after many years using the TI2 this is my new default setup! love all the nested sections, thank you for this!

[@MarshalArnold]

Awesome!! When I sat down and thought about how I'd be using my TI2 when Abletom 10 came out I was like ooh, I have an idea! 💡 Glad it's been useful for others as well!

[@samuelnorris3777]

Its really refreshing how to-the-point you are but still keep it fun. I appreciate not spending half the video hyping yourself up. Definitely subscribing

[@neonvoid]

great video - will the virus plugin work with the new apple silicons?

[@MarshalArnold]

Thnx, unfortunately I do not know if the Access Virus plug-in works on the new Apple chips, am a Windows guy.

[@AdamsOlympia]

Does the audio over USB work bidirectionally so you can process your desktop sounds with Virus effects?

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

Thank you for this since I just bought a new Virus TI2 in 2022 and needed help getting it to work in my DAW. It won't run on most Mac OS versions so went back to Windows PC for DAW production.

[@MarshalArnold]

My pleasure. Yeah, I hope Access pushes some updates to allow continued compatibility with newer OSs, but who knows. I find it odd you can still purchase these brand new, yet the software support seems to have disappeared. Good thing it still works on Windows!

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

@@MarshalArnold agree and in spite of that the synth itself sounds incredible and does way more than even high end new synths! Way ahead of its time.

[@MarshalArnold]

@Guitars and Synths oh yeah, lots of folks think the Virus is a perfect synth. I'd say it's pretty close that's for sure! The pinnacle of DSP powered synthesis!

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

@@MarshalArnold true well Elektron is like modern successor in some ways to the Virus with the DIgitone having 8 voices and newer screens plus a great sequencer! Love my Rytm MK2 as well.

[@genesiskeefer2266]

hey is there an updated version of this template? it doesn't seem to be working for me with ableton live 12. Thanks for this by the way much appreciated!!

[@ZZKJ396]

Nicely done Marshal, thank you!

[@MarshalArnold]

You're very welcome Ian!

[@ZZKJ396]

@@MarshalArnold Marshal, any chance of updating the the project for VST3 please? I'm on Ableton 11 and I can only use VST3, if I replace the VST2 VC plug-in with a 64bit VST3 VC plug-in, all midi, audio IO links are removed, making the project basically empty of all the settings.

[@MarshalArnold]

@@ZZKJ396 I will definitely look into that. Am headed to Chicago this weekend to attend Knobcon number 9 but when I get back I'll take a look.

[@ZZKJ396]

@@MarshalArnold I appreciate you going to the bother Marshal, thank you. Enjoy your trip.

[@SounddubRecords]

Hi Marshall, thanks for the ALS project, that's a great help.

[@MarshalArnold]

My pleasure 😀

[@themotorizer1]

A huge help!!

[@HOLODECK-MUSIC-PROJECT]

Thanks for this, but, what ist the advantage of using this three separate tracks instead of the „external instrument“ feature of AL?

[@MarshalArnold]

Great question! The reason I'm not using the external instrument module is so that the 16 timbers can easily be sequenced. It's absolutely possible to use as many external instrument modules as timbers, but ultimately you have a total of 12 audio outs.. this setup keeps the MIDI vs audio separate and in my usage within Ableton makes the workflow much quicker. That said, this project is designed to my personal taste. Feel free to take it and make changes to fit your work flow :)

[@Spheredj909]

You are an actual legend for putting that together, tons of good karma heading your way man 🤙🏻

[@MarshalArnold]

My pleasure, hope it's helpful 😃

[@lunarize]

Do you also know how to set up the virus with the midi in & out 5pin cables and jack out 1 (L&R) through an interface and record by my pre-amps with the Access Ti software? I do have a Virus C working like that but with Access Virus Editor from Mystery Islands. But I also own the Ti2 and idk how to set that up (i do use FL studio) but it should be +/- the as in Ableton. Let me know:)

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

So if I want to record 6 different parts in multi-timbral mode from the Virus TI2 using Aura Mystery Islands plugin to separate tracks in Ableton Live 11 such as track 1 for drums, track 2 for bass and track 3 for a pad, how would I do this in the DAW over USB? I have the plugin working and visible in Ableton and can record MIDI notes but all tracks as blended as one and not separated.

[@Expectaz]

Great project and setup! I don't see however you can record automation to the different channels. I would like to record the cutoff for channel 1, then 2 etc, is that even possible?

[@MarshalArnold]

Yeah, it's possible. The MIDI section of the project is where you'd enter the automation. You have to enable the envelopes in Ableton, and then select the desired CC value and automate your heart out. Trouble with the TI2 is as far as I know there's not a MIDI implementation chart.. But I'm told it's quite similar to the Virus C, which there is a cart for. The other way to do it would be to record automation into Ableton, then edit the curves. Hope that all makes sense, and my apologies for such a late reply.

[@kevinmelton3515]

Thanks for the free session. What about using this in arrangement view? Is this template more made for drag n drop MIDI files?

[@MarshalArnold]

Oh, yeah this setup will work in arrangement vew also. I just tent to work in clip view and build up scenes, then once the track is compleate I'll drop it over in arrangement view. But, yes you can simply drop this project into the arrangement window and do your thing 🙂

[@nickbaptiste3047]

i have the access virus snow and I'm trying to install the virus ti software but it keeps quitting.how did you get it to work with Live 10?thanks

[@dfectv]

This is awesome, thank you for giving it away. I'm trying to automate turning the arpeggiator on and off and I can't seem to figure out how. Is there a way to do that?

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

I think you need to open the Virus TI plugin VST and go into settings for the arp and configure a user setting but not sure off the top of my head as it is new to me.

[@nofood1]

Still the same setup in 2022 ? looking to get a virus this week 🤩

[@chriscrowder3844]

What a lovely guy thank you buddy x

[@MarshalArnold]

Welcome, happy new year!

[@Jan_Marschall]

Could you Make a Video how you use this setup, maybe axample with filling life in it :-) would be nice

[@eddraper]

super helpful... thanks!

[@MarshalArnold]

My pleasure, Ed 😁

[@denisbrodovskyi7135]

its also nice to use in ableton "external instrument" for 2nd and 3d virus channel, so you dont need to create both midi and audio channel for this two outs

[@MarshalArnold]

This is an option for sure! Feel free to rework the .als file to suit your taste 😀

[@Ast3rixMusic]

Hi are you able to use Ableton’s automation with this setup without it affecting things globally on the access? I realize your essentially using each sound on a separate midi channel, but can you do so and still automate things from Ableton on each channel?

[@MarshalArnold]

Absolutely, the automation is per MIDI channel.

[@FredBloggs919]

Just got it set up after a while away from the Virus, having had setup woes before. That you have managed to set this up is, sir, amazing and has just stopped me from selling my ti2! Question - Is there a way to set it up so that the Virus vst window is always open/on top? Find it is a bit tricky to go through the groups until coming to the right one. Once again - amazing work!

[@MarshalArnold]

My pleasure, thanks for the kudos 😁 To answer your question you can re arrange the order of things in the groups, so if you want to move the input that has the TI plungin simply drag that input to a different spot within the groups or you could even drag it outside of the main Virus group if that simpler for you. Hope that helps!

[@FredBloggs919]

Marshal Arnold that, my good man, will be today’s number one job. Cheers :)

[@harrywilcock2030]

Nice Marshall great effort! Your doing the lords work! I have a similiar setup but its very cluttered!. I will try this tonight thanks.I really want to use the push2 purely for sequencing the 16 channels on the virus...

[@MarshalArnold]

My pleasure Dirty Harry, hope it's helpful for ya!

[@Sonikbytes]

Will Ableton 10 allow me to live downmix Virus ti from midi without this intermediate step involved. If not then that sucks for Ableton!

[@MarshalArnold]

So you can use a single USB or analog audio channel on the virus and assign individual timbers to route to that channel if you'd like, basically having all audio from multiple timbers truncate into a single stereo submix into ableton. But in using multiple outputs on the virus you are able to apply processing to individual channels in ableton which to me is very important . You can then use the power of grouping in ableton to make a submix with individual processing for each channel, that's the idea of this Ableton template I've created. I hope that answers your question.

[@elenadiakova7231]

Marshal Arnold in Sonar X I could use the export function to tenders my Virus mix into a final mix master file in Ableton seems it is not suported and gives me error.

[@MarshalArnold]

That's interesting, I might be able to help out. Feel free to email me directly and send some screenshots of the error I'll see if I can duplicate it on my system. My email address can be found in my about section of my KZbin page.

[@mesaboogie4]

is there any latency with the plugin with midi/audio?

[@EcoAncestralAmorico]

hello bro!! thank you so much, this is so great! just bought the Virus desktop TI 2 and want to try it so much. Still I have a problem to log in in the page since they don't send confirmation e-mail. They don't answer in any platform either. It would mean so much if you can upload the software so the people that like me are unable to access their page, can fully enjoy this piece of equipment!! is so sad that Access have this issue and don't even bother to answer our messages (I'm not the only one having this issue) thanks again!!

[@4711shaun2]

is there a way to configure Virus Control in Ableton so that when you solo a midi channel you hear the audio played back? it looks like you have to also solo the audio return which is a PITA.. any ideas?

[@skoptsy4851]

This will work if I decide to get a Virus TI Polar with the keys right?

[@MarshalArnold]

It will indeed, it will 👍

[@pinocarella_00]

could you please tell me what your keyboard setup is? thank you

[@patroller]

Hi Marshall, I’ve been using the access virus ti with live 9 for a couple of years with no problems but I’ve recently bought live 10 and I’ve found it’s not compatible. I’ve tried everything. Would you help me to set up please? I’ll pay you for your time. Thank you.

[@MarshalArnold]

Could be the version your running. Can you verify the Rev of the TI plug in and the Rev on your Virus? I've been running in Ableton 10 with no issues.

[@geertverstraete718]

I seem to have nothing but trouble with the virus plugin, it generates latency when playing on the keyboard and find it rather unusable. I have a virus TI not a TI2... is that making any difference on that matter? Do i do something wrong? Do you experience the same problems? (latency ,timing probs arpeg)

[@MarshalArnold]

I have ran into these issues also yes.. best advice I can give is to make sure the Virus and the plugin are on the latest versions, and if you are using the USB audio channels it's best practice to have the Virus connected to a dedicated USB hub on your machine. The Virus requires your DAW buffer to be set to 512 or lower as well, if you have a lot of additional plugins and processing in a project this can cause additional latency in your projects depending on how powerful your PC is. In my case I'm using a core i9 7900x CPU, with 16Gb of ram.. with this PC I rarely run into issues, but previous to this PC I usually had to compensate for latency in my projects often, using the TI plugin was a challange some times. If your PC struggles with it you can also use the TI plugin for control and route the audio through the analog outs on the synth, that should also help with the latency. Hope that helps!

[@felixdorn21]

You could try using the Audio-Outputs on the Virus. What Audio-Interface do you use? cheers

[@geertverstraete718]

@@felixdorn21 i've used RME UFX , motu 828MKII. And i used the audio outputs, of course

[@felixdorn21]

@@geertverstraete718 ok, which DAW do you use? Sometimes and extra Latency Compensation Setting could cause this. Happend to me in Ableton. Do you have the latency Problem also with other Plugins/Instruments?

[@geertverstraete718]

@@felixdorn21 Iused ableton, bitwig, cubase but even in a vst host the problem presists

[@substance90]

What are the options without the official Virus plugin which is sadly EOL on macOS? Presumably you’d need the Ableton External device and some Max for Live midi device that maps the Virus knobs?

[@MarshalArnold]

Hi Martin, you can use 5 pin MIDI and use traditional MIDI CC messages to control your virus remotely still. But finding a MIDI implementation chart will be tough, as far as I know Access hasn't released that info, but I think most parameters are very similar to the Virus C wich I think does have a MIDI implementation cart available. You can map to envelopes or building something in Max for Live I think would work as well and is a good idea, I hope someone does that and shares with us Virus users. If dev is EOL for the official Virus TI plugin I'm sure a 3rd party will release something eventually. So many folks still using it, including me! On Windows the plugin still is working, very sad no longer on mac.

[@TAYAMusic-vo6td]

@@MarshalArnold here it is! very handy www.virus.info/forum/index.php?thread/49-access-virus-cc-parameters-list/

[@MarshalArnold]

@@TAYAMusic-vo6td that's it! Thanks for posting!

[@ditaq7847]

Sweet template! Thanks Marshal! Seems to work okay on USB stereo channels 1 + 2 for me, but USB channel 3 is greyed out in the Virus Control>Common>Output section. Any idea why?

[@MarshalArnold]

My pleasure DiTAQ! So only thing I can thing of is check and make sure no other apps in the PC or Mac OS are using those Virus outs as the selected sound source. I'll ck tomorrow, but I think each USB pair is selectable (in windows anyway) as the main audio out source for the whole machine. If some of those are tied up in other apps that might cause them to be unavailable in the TI plugin. Just guessing, but I'll test it with my setup tomorrow to confirm as a possible cause. If that does not work I recommend reaching out to Access for additional assistance.

[@ditaq7847]

@@MarshalArnold Hi Marshal thanks for your reply. I have done some digging, seems to be a bit of confusion, some sources saying that the Ti Keyboard (which I have) has 3 stereo USB channels, but I think that may only apply to Ti 2. The Virus Ti User Manual says on page 71... 'Common Page Main Out Click to select the output channel for the currently selected part -- you can select between the 2 stereo USB outputs, or the 3 stereo analogue outputs of the virus.'

[@MarshalArnold]

Ah, I see.. I haven't owned a TI so I never knew it's limits vs the TI2. Makes sense, thanks for letting me know!

[@stenlyspa1325]

Hey, thanks for this video! it clears up some questions for me! and if i can ask one more - can you draw automation lines on parameters of the virus ti2? like you are doing this on operator for example. like on first timbre to have filter cutoff moving over time, and on second timbre to have another automation curve that you draw in your daw (witch is send to the actual virus patameter). thanks once again!

[@MarshalArnold]

My pleasure, glad it was helpful! Yes, you can draw automation in for the separate timbers. You would simply add the automation to the desired timber's MIDI chnl.

[@stenlyspa1325]

@@MarshalArnold thanks, A LOT!

[@stenlyspa1325]

Hei, sorry for this siriеs of questions :) - i just wondering how you can use all the 16 parts - why they exist if you are have only 3-4outputs?! If i understand correctly - the only way to have all 16 used is to have them send to this 3usb outputs? can you put them - for example - 16parts to be output to usb1? and listen to them all. is this the way or...? - And the other question is - can you have many instances of the virus ti plugin on many chanels? like this you can have the automations on a separate chanels like we use to have them on the vst plugins. Sorry for taking your time, but this is very inportant for me and i did not find any information about this here in youtube. Greetings!!!

[@themotorizer1]

@@MarshalArnoldThank you for this man! It could be super useful to show us how to do the per track automation !

[@signaltouch7413]

you are amazing

[@martinboje5596]

Hy I'd like to auromate the Part Levels of the Virus, can you tell me how I have to assign my external midi controller to di this? In the main view there is shown the main chaninel wich is controlled by Ableton but I would like to control the singular Part level. Is that possible? Thank you

[@MarshalArnold]

Hi Martin! You should be able to automate the volume via the MIDI channel assigned to each part in the envelope section of ableton. If you want to control levels externally via a controller most external controllers have a premapped volume level knob or slider, but you can also use the MIDI map feature in Ableton to assign spesific MIDI CCs to specific controls on your controller. This might require a MIDI implementation chart for the Virus to see what MIDI CC controls each parts level. It might also be necessary to switch your controllers MIDI channel to controls separate parts individually via the MIDI controller. I can look into this more if needed and throw a video up if that would help, but short answer yes this should be possible as far as I know. Let me know if that helps :)

[@martinboje5596]

Hi Marshal, thank you for answering (even so quickly), at first I tried to implementate you Template for the Virus, It opend just an Audio-track followed by the message that no VIRUS TI plug-in were found. What a pitty, cause I'd like to test the version with 16 CHannels. Anyhow, I worked about 20 years with Logic and now changed to ableton because the mor hardware I get Logic worked less. Even with the TI-Plugin it has a lateny I could not tune seperatly - not as ableton. That worked fine. I created a midi track with the TI-Plugin and 2 more ext.Instr.tracks, the first with the TI-Plugin for the Input and in the box at the left bottom corner I choosed channel 2 and for the output :Audio from 3/4-Virus TI. The second ext. track quite the same only channel 3 for the input and Audio out: 5/6-Virus TI. This worked fine. If I try to control levels externally by using the Midi map feature in ableton it shows me only the Volume sliders of ext.Instr. channels a described below to be chosen. (I hope you can imagine what I mean). In other words: I can only have access to the main volume sliders of the ext.Instr. 3/4 ans 5/6 and even not vor the midi-track with the TI-Plugin. What I reallly want to be able to is to have access to the volume sliders in the TI-Plugin Window. So that the Volume Sliders in the tracks can stay where they are and I adjust the sliders in the window directly. Even if I want to control externally other CCs (e.g. cutoff frequ.) with my ext.Midi Controllers (e.g. Arturia BeatStep, Korg nanoKontrol2) I don't know how to determine in ableton. Do you have an idea? Thank you VERY MUCH for your time ! regard-martin

[@MarcoSantosMx3]

wow thank you very much BLESS

[@MarshalArnold]

Welcome!

[@pinocarella_00]

I'm curious to understand that synth is the one behind you, below.

[@MarshalArnold]

Hi Pino, the synth stack behind me from top to bottom are as follows Atruria MatrixBrute, Roland V-Synth GT, Moog One (16 voice). Am working on a studio tour that will be on the channel very soon and will go over everything in my studio :)

[@pinocarella_00]

@@MarshalArnold wow! you have beautiful and expensive tools! I also see a Minimoog ... To get all that stuff, you have to earn a lot with your work! Congratulations.

[@MarshalArnold]

Many thanks, yeah I do Ok with my day job..but I've been building this stack since 2006 so a lot of it is pretty spread out over many years 😁

[@pinocarella_00]

@@MarshalArnold but the moog One has just come out ... and it costs a lot of money. I dream of being able to have a MemoryMoog or a Prophet T8 at night ... Then I wake up in the morning and I'm sad. hahahaha

[@MarshalArnold]

True, and yeah it was a pretty penny. Means it'll prob be a while before I pick up anything in the upper tier cost wise. But I own around 40 synths and drum machines.. and everything in my studio has taken many years to pick up. Trying to hold on to these machines rather then selling to fund future purchases.. will be interesting where I end up in 10 or 15 years gear wise. I dream of owning a Jupiter 8 one day.. but am afraid to pay 10-12k for a synth that old and will likely require maintenance regularly..so that will prob stay a dream unless I become a millionaire or something lol. I just resently learned of the T8! What a fantastic sounding synth! Sequential synths are pretty sweet! The Prophet 5 would be amazing to own as well, but I'll probably snag a Prophet '08 eventually. I think it sounds awesome and prices aren't crazy for them.

[@dpwishy420]

So I get 3 channels of analog output but what happens to channel 4 to 16?

[@MarshalArnold]

You get 3 stereo outs or 6 mono on the 1/4 inch outs, you also have 3 stereo or 6 mono USB outs if you connect the virus to your PC. The synth is 16 part multitimbral, so you are able to use more patches than available outs, if you intended to use all 16 patches some would have to share outputs. I hope that makes sense.

[@dpwishy420]

@MarshalArnold I guess thats where I'm confused. I understand and can route the 3 analog channels but say if I wanna make a full track and use 10 of the channels. I guess I'm confused how they separate and get different midi being sent from the daw. Sorry for my ignorance

[@MarshalArnold]

@dpwishy420 oh yeah, so for the MIDI, each channel patch is pretty assigned if I recall correctly, I tend to use the Access TI plugin, and you can just load patches 1 through 10, and in the DAW just rout output MIDI from each MIDI track to the corresponding channel to the patches in the VIrus and it will trigger each patch. The Ableton project I made for this has all the MIDI channels setup, so you would just fill in the actual patches in the Virus, and select the desired audio output.

[@dpwishy420]

Ur the man. I guess I'm confused what analog output means. I'm embarrassed to say I've owned a ti2 for probably 6 years and thought bc there was 3 inputs and outputs in the back I was pigeon holed to 3 channels in my daw. I thought 4 to 16 had to be used in stand alone. You just opened up 13 new channels to my ignorant skull. Thanks so much

[@MarshalArnold]

No worries! The Virus is a beast! Have fun with it!

[@aquanix33]

Hi Marshal, what would I need to adjust in this project to get it to work for the Virus TI2 Polar please? or anyone?

[@MarshalArnold]

Hey Peter, the TI2 Polar should not need any adjustments, it should have the same capabilities as the TI2 Desktop. If you were using a Snow that would likley need some minor tweaks as it has less DSP power and reduced multitimbrality.

[@0rdinari]

Ultimate virus DAW setup; you are a legend!

[@MarshalArnold]

Lol, thanks 👍😎

[@haxanlord]

Hero

[@aquanix33]

Hi again sent you PM on Facebook to request a lesson if possible :)

[@MarshalArnold]

Hey Peter, I replied to your msg 🙂