Taje he TI out of the Virus TI/2, and what's it worth?

I have a virus B sitting here, and some money sitting in my pocket.

I have a computer and I would probably use the vst editor, but I'm not streaming/recording/sequencing on my computer. Even if I wanted to, it couldn't handle it.

So, take the whole computer integration part out of the equation, and does the TI or TI2 have a significant advantage over the B? It seems like a much deeper and more versatile synth (which is what I'm going for, really), just not sure if it's a good $1000-$1500 more versatile or deep. I've read about the B sounding warm, which it def does, but I also like cold synths, which is what I hear the TI is.


Any thoughts on the subject?

It depends on your needs and workflow I guess.

The main differences to me are:

Three times more polyphony, much better fx, independent fx chain per part, digital in/out.

So You can use it as stand alone multi fx, resampling sounds trough and from it via jack or spidif and having in real time bass, lead and chords just within the virus.

I guess If you need just basslines and some spare sounds the virus b is gonna be fine, specially if you resample it into the mp a lot.

If you do mainly synthesised electronic music, just with the ti you can generate all your synth parts without using other synths thanks to lot of polyphony and great independent per part effects.
If you need just to lay some basslines under your flips/samples maybe the ti is overkill.

Anyway there much more differences between the 2.

The ti has got more waveforms, wave tables, lfos, envelopes, modulation source/destinations, etc...the upgrades are quite noticeable from the older models.

The virus b still remain IMHO a very valuable synth with that classic access rawness.

Man, you just said everything my wallet didn't want to hear...


It sounds like a deeper and more versatile instrument than the B, which at this point is the name of the game. I'm trying to streamline my workflow/gear, and the thought having one synth that can handle my stuff (I kind of do everything between 60s surf with some friends to dnb and ragga and all that) is the dream. I'm kind of getting over gear and I'm bored with having 482482 synths in my house. Everything you said was what I'd been reading and what had got me wondering...


Is there a huge difference between the TI and the TI2 besides the audio streaming? I know the TI2 has a faster processor, but most the information I have found is about how many USB Outs Virus Control gives you, which I could care less about (right? They just mean virtual outs streaming into your DAW, right?) Do they offer the same waves/wavetables/lfos/modulation sources/destinations/etc etc (see what I did there!? heyo). I guess the TI likes to drop out audio over USB, but that means nothing to me, so I guess what I'm asking is would the TI2 be worth the extra $500 to me, if I don't care about the USB part?


And thanks for such a solid answer, man.

The TI and TI2 are the same machine, same 3 outs over usb (1.1), same 16 multitimbral parts and same number of oscillators, envelopes, etc...infact the o.s. updates which access provides are for TI and TI2 both.

Like you said the only difference is about cpu power, the TI2 got 2 updated Motorola SHARC processor.

It means you have more polyphony and so you can handle more synth parts and/or more complex patch.

It really depends on how you program parts and use effects, eq, analog boots, etc...

I got a TI2 and a couple of time i reached the max polyphony whithin 4 synth parts, but i use heavly unison, FXs and Eq inside the synth.
Once i recorded in the d.a.w. i apply just compression.

If you dont use unison too much and you like to use plug-in effects later in the d.a.w. the TI should be enough.

But really its hard to say whithout knowing your workflow.