I will admit that before I updated to the latest versions, it did feel wobbly and not really trustworthy. I cant speak for PC users or Cubase, but in that setup it a pleasure to use and quite an impressive synth

With the added features in 2.7, I'm almost tempted to give it a 6 out of 5 if they can fix the glitches.

Plus points - This machine sounds lovely: Dirty, sweet, gritty, powerfull, complex swirling walls of sound. I dont think Viruses sound analogue, they sound very digital to me (which is a good thing), but it can produce some very nice emulations of analogue instruments if thats what you want. To my ears its a sort of cross between a PPG Wave / D50 / Prophet VS - if you dig past the presets that is - how many German trance or techno sounds does one need????? The wavetables; the reason I bought one - to replace my VFX - are very nice. They are very clear and scan perfectly, and are also very musical. I think the wavetables sound much more like a PPG Wave: Great! The filters are silky smooth and sound beautiful. I like the way a Virus morphs from a saw wave to a pulse wave without sounding inharmonic. The bases on this machine are the best ive ever heard - they will rattle the windows. FM is probably the best implementation ive ever seen. It's very easy to make a sound more gritty or metalic. I wish that manufacturers had steared clear of using the buzz words "Virtual Analogue" - they are digital synths - with very advanced waveform generation, filter and modulation matrix modules. In truth a Virus Ti is a digital wavetable synth with Substractive and FM synthesis. And it's the best. Full stop.

I initially used OS 1.0 on Windows XP & the results were less than desirable, but over time I find myself on OS 2.5.1.02 on a Mac Pro & the integration is not only rock solid but amazing! The ability to reach out & manipulate the main functions via the hardware knobs while having the software interface on screen for easy access to the deeper menu functions makes my work flow a breeze!

We all go patch-hunting from time to time in search of something to inspire us & the Ti makes tracking down what you want very easy. For one, the hardware & plug-in interface lets you effectively browse by category, banks, & user submitted banks a snap. Labeling your own patches by category can be done quickly, too. Another strong aspect of narrowing what you want is the ability to "lock" an aspect of what you like about a certain patch. Say you want the ADSR, delay, filter, & arp settings of a patch but don't really feel the sound... lock what you like! Each setting you lock will be carried over into the next patch you bring up. This may sound like a small feature but you have no idea of how much time it saves until you try it!

All these cool features would be meaningless if the unit didn't sound good & I can honestly say that I love the Virus sound! You can get raped with the filthiest grime or be enlightened by the most heavenly of pads. The range of this unit is incalculable.

I've been through a few synths... Alesis Adromeda A6, Micron, Fusion 6HD; Roland SH-32, V-Synth, JX-3P (w/ PG-200), MS2000B, Microkorg... yeah they were all alright, but my Virus KC & Ti's are the only ones I haven't sold. Am I a bit biased? Perhaps. Now I'm no audiophile, but there's something about the way the C & Ti sound that strikes me to the core. Once you tweak away the showroom aspect of the patches you'll find that the sound is rich, powerful, & has a definite impact. Be careful with this power as the sounds tend to dominate & over-viralification tends to muddy-up the mix fairly quickly despite surgical precision of the filters.

Did I say filters? Yes I did & they are juicy! The broad & narrow lengths really define the feel of each sound... especially when you automate them in your sequencer to create gradual motion. That being said, sometimes additional filters need to be applied in your DAW to tighten up the frequencies.

Fx... oh geez... While I try to keep most of the fx within my DAW for post alteration fine tuning, I can't help but use the Ti's fx because they are so good! Eleven distinctly different types of distortion, great chorus, phaser, delay, & reverbs really add top notch character to any given sound.

In summation: the Virus Ti helps me get exactly what I want to make my tracks sound great. When compared to Native Instruments, Rob Papen, & other top notch software plug-ins, not only myself but others have noticed the quality of the sounds afforded by this unit. Unless my entire body is riddled with a disease that is only curable by selling my Virus KC & Ti, I'll keep them in my arsenal because they complete me.

Things that it would be nice to have but which are missing include wavetable uploads from a computer and an option to use a sample input as the wavform source (such as found on the Radias).

This is a VA and it does its job superbly. It is capable of a very broad range of textures, including some neat wavetable effects.

It has the best non-fully weighted keyboard that I have played, with good velocity response and aftertouch. Surprisingly, quite a few of the built-in patches do not make good use of the keyboard dynamics, though this is easily changed by editing...

The ROM patches are a mixed bunch. Good if you are in to techno/trance music, but otherwise they seem to be more designed to show off the arpeggiator and synth engine rather than producing musically useful sounds.

The effects processing is excellent, with each effect intrinsically part of the individual voice structure.

Using 12Mbit/s USB for the audio data means that many computers struggle to run the integrated audio plug-in functions reliably as the bus is run close to its maximum supported speed.

Helpful and responsive - and a gradual progression of OS updates that both fix bugs and add new synthesis features :-). With OS2.5 we're nearly there folks. Very solid for me.

I love the sound and the keyboard, but would hope for a faster, more reliable USB link and better control panel in future versions...