ACCESS VIRUS TI

Rounding the synth is a studio-spec effects section, with delays (including tape delays – clocked and free running with modulation and bandwidth options), a great sounding reverb (which is used in perhaps a little too many of the 4,000 – yes 4,000 – factory presets) and EQ options with Q control. There’s a distortion mode which can spit your sound out for breakfast, and phaser/chorus/unison effects for thick washes of sounds. You can play a 4-minute pad that never sounds the same twice on this synth; a great drone machine. Analog EQ emulations were added recently, and subtly tweak your sound in all the good ways.

There’s also the small matter of the after-sales service from Access, which is second to none; email support, even for secondhand purchasers, and free lifetime updates (sometimes even after the synth has been replaced in the lineup by something newer). Unless you’ve been on Mir or Mars for 10 years, you’ve heard of the Virus. The TI model is the best Virus to date. Even if you have an irrational hatred of digital synthesis, you have to admit that this is the top-of-the-digital-tree at the moment.