Iv got other synths including Korg X5 Roland JV1080 fully loaded Roland MC202 and my Virus knocks the hell out of all of them. Iv just started programing my own sounds on the Virus using the Emagic Sound Driver and have got some realy good results from big TB303 Basses to Odd never heard before sounds Any trance producers out there will love this synth the day they get their hand on it, the Virus b musit be fantastic.

Some ov d'basses; dey is well fat, but most ov dem presets is well rubbish! Recommendin u stay indoors, like, at leest a week till u can program it proper like.

Representin virus b-massive meed say dis bitta kit az got a proppa crap hoperating system. Me reccon dat z problem wiv virus is dat it started of all crap n den some bitz got well good - like mental good. So now weez got dis sinnf on d'market dat sounz real flavarus yet dis wicked sound machine is stuck under a rubbishly layed out PCB wiv d'nobs all laid out irish like in d'horiginal virus. Me could believe not - n believe me not I could not believe dat when dey released virus indigo, dat it still ad d same old PCB wiv d knobs n buttonz irish laid like in 1st release in Future Music in 98.

Me rekonz no point now in doin better PCB -its too late!!! Already me az erd loadsa tunes all usin same sounds (presets) me rekognise from virus because soooo many average n below sinnf byers az not lernt 2 program dis cause it irish layout.

Please, my good and humble servants of music in days to come, spend generous time programming this truley ubiquituous synthesizer to unveil its hidden beauty. Come hither friends, for we are about to see a joyful and majestic day when sounds created on virus b will shake nations and all will cry thanks for the Trance and Hardtrance producers that have unearthed the greatness of OS 4.07.

Also may I point out that all sound that comes from a typical synth using subtractive synthesis all begins with the oscillators. It is the frequency and more importantly, the shape of these perodic voltage/time waveforms that provide the basis of the sounds we hear. Although the fundametal frequency heard is the key pressed on the kybd, the tonal qualities of the sound we hear, all depend on the fourier series for the initial oscillator waveform.

One reason I bought a virus was because it provides more oscillator waveforms than possibly any other synth on the market. Other synths such as Z1, JP, An1x, Supernova, Nord, etc all provide us with the plain old sine (no harmonics), triangle (even harmonics), square (odd harmonics), sawtooth (odd and even harmonics) and noise oscillators, plus a few others besides such as JP's 'super saw' and SII's 'double saw', etc. But I ask you how many synths have 62 other oscillator waveforms that on inspection look like they will provide us with an absolute mash-up fourier series with harmonics springing up all over the place. ***THIS IS WHY I BOUGHT VIRUS*** If the oscillators have a generous spec. and are flexible then who cares about filters, fx etc. I'd rather be adding a bit of fx to a well bangin sound source than try and make a crap sound source sound good by shrouding it in fx. Don't waste your time floggin a dead horse. If ur sound ain't good without fx keep programming till it does sound good - or get a new synth!

Anyway, best of luck choosing your sound source and I've never bought a bit of kit without checkin sonicstate reviews first. NEVER NEVER buy something from a good review in future music - they say everthings good. Sound on Sound are more realistic. FMs getting better, but its mainly been crap since about issue 77-78 when that good scottish editor guy left. Fav issues 65 - 76, 77 - 105 pants 106-114 better. Good luck!

The Virus b does sound great. I have the Nova II so that tell you I like it as well.

squidpop's suggestion of one of the Q family is a good idea, best arppegiators I've used, if you get a Q-rack or Q keyboard you also get a nice step sequencer. Check out the board though, it has a distinct sound, so do the other VAs but the Q shines in several areas.

So does the Virus b, lol, it's a great time to by playing synth. :)

The Qrack, which I have, has a highly editable arp. You can control just about every aspect of each note, or use one of the arp presets. The only thing I have to challenge it is Kyma and as you might figure, Kyma can be just about any kind of arp you can imagine. Coming in third is a tie between the E-Mu romplers, some of which you can coax 16 arps out of (Q does four) and AN!X, which is the least editable of the three, but sometimes can produce some excellent arps. Its preset arp patterns are the best of the lot.