Occasionally, a new update can be so radical as to almost completely redesign the synth - not just fixing operational bugs, but adding whole new feature-sets the instrument didn't previously possess. In most cases, all it takes is a visit to the company web site to obtain a free download of the latest software version.

Photo: Mark EwingOne advantage enjoyed by the current generation of synth technology is that instruments can be upgraded very easily by the user. Despite the popularity of the 'computer-plus-software' approach, hardware units such as those I've just mentioned remain very much in demand, and thus the competition continues to rage amongst virtual-analogue aficionados over who has the most oscillators, polyphony, filters, effects, knobs, or other unique tricks up their virtual sleeves.

Not forgetting, of course, the plethora of software plug-in equivalents that seems to grow by the minute (in an interesting reversal of the trend from hardware to plug-ins, Creamware recently announced their new Noah keyboard and expander module - the first such hardware instruments from a company known to date for its software). Korg's Z1and MS2000, Roland's JP8000, 8080 and SH32, Novation's Nova and Supernova, Clavia's Nord Leads, Yamaha's AN-series, Waldorf's Q, Oberheim's OB12, and of course, the Access Virus have all jostled for supremacy at the top of a growing mountain of digitally simulated oscillators, filters and ADSRs. Does the new Virus C do enough to keep up with the virtual-analogue crowd?įrom as far back as the ill-fated PPG Realizer in 1986 to the present day, everyone, it seems, has had their own take on analogue synth modelling.

Access have managed to add some excellent features to their Virus synth in the past simply by upgrading its OS, but the march of progress means that a hardware revision is eventually necessary.

Access virus patches