Everything you need to know about our product install, setup steps, configuration and usage of various features
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v3.0.0 - 2022-Sep-30
Model and Device ID
Before we kick off with MIDI setup, choose your Model [1] from the plug-in display and set the plug-in Device ID [2] to reflect your hardware Device ID value.
Virus Editor User Manual – Select Model and Set Device ID
Selecting MIDI In and MIDI Out
Application MIDI I/O
Click Access Virus Editor [1] Menu title and choose Preferences [2]. New dialog will open. Set MIDI Input and MIDI Output [3] from the dropdown list and click OK to close.
MIDI IN [4] in the main interface is only visible in Standalone App. Select MIDI Input here IF you use external Keyboard to play notes.
Virus Editor User Manual – Setting MIDI Ports
Note #1: Audio Device Settings in the preferences dialog does not have capability to transmit audio in this stage. Choose Audio Drivers, but keep in mind that audio has to go through Audio Jacks to console or sound card inputs.
Plug-in MIDI I/O
First choose MIDI IN [1], where your Virus MIDI Out is connected in at. Then choose MIDI OUT [2] which will send data to your Virus MIDI Input.
Virus Editor User Manual – Plug-in MIDI Ports
After setting MIDI OUT, plug-in will scan for the hardware and auto-detect the OS version. Plug-in Control Display will say “Plug-in is ready to go!”, if SysEx data is valid and ports are configured properly.
SYNCHRONIZE DATA FROM HARDWARE TO PLUG-IN / APPLICATION
There are two ways of fetching DATA from the Virus to the plug-in / application user interface.
Method #1: Click button “SYNC DATA FROM HW [1]” from the main user interface.
Virus Editor User Manual – Sync Data From HW
Method #2: Open PATCH LIBRARIAN [1] view and click “SYNC DATA FROM HW [2]”.
Virus Editor User Manual – Sync Data From HW
This command will request Multi data, which includes individual parts, and it will also request global data from the Virus to the user interface.
Once the request command is completed, plug-in / application control display will indicate “Data request completed!”.
TIP #1: Be patient and do not disturb the data flow with any knob movements or so. This will ensure the data packages are being sent and received as expected and you are not going to receive any SysEx error messages!
Playing Parts individually (Multiple Viruses in 1 huh!?)
In case you did not know, Virus TI Snow has 4 individual layers and other Virus models have 16 individual layers (also referred to as “Parts”), which can be triggered separately. This is quite easy thing to setup, and we’ve got this covered in the manual too.
Playing it multitimbral
- Set each of the parts MIDI channel to different value;
Virus Editor User Manual – Part MIDI Channels
Part 1 = Channel 1.
Part 2 = Channel 2.
Part 3 = Channel 3.
…
Part 16 = Channel 16
- See further instructions below for each OS…
[mac]: … Add 16 empty MIDI tracks to your DAW and point the MIDI output directly to your Virus MIDI port, each with corresponding channel mentioned above!
NOTE: If you play notes / sequence blocks directly through the plug-in, there is no delay compensation applied.
[pc]: … Add 16 empty MIDI tracks to your DAW and point them to virtual out port i.e. Virus vMIDI Out, each with corresponding channel mentioned above!
Now if you choose MIDI track 1 (Virus channel 1) from your DAW and play some notes, you will hear the patch from Part 1 being played.
Now choose MIDI track 2 (Virus channel 2) from your DAW and when you play it, you will hear the patch from Part 2 being played! You get the idea.
DAW Config Scenario
Below you can see how Virus Editor Plug-in is on Instrument Track [1] and how MIDI tracks 1-16 [2] are routed in Cubase Pro to play each part separately directly to hardware MIDI out ports. MIDI track 1 points to Virus part 1, etc.
Audio from Virus is routed to my Apollo Quad inputs [3] and monitoring is active on Cubase to hear the synth when played!
Virus Editor User Manual – Cubase 12 Setup
Taking things even further
Most synths with Multitimbral functions come with individual outputs. On Virus Editor Multimode mixer view you can choose outputs per part. If you have Virus TI like in the example below, you can assign upto 12 mono or 6 stereo outputs to your input device, if you want to fine tune your mix outside the hardware.
Virus has 6 analog outputs, but if you use USB connection on macOS, you can achieve upto 12 outputs at the same time!
Virus Editor User Manual – Routing Outputs
ADVANCED MIDI SETTINGS
You can control which messages gets processed and which do not. Open Advanced MIDI Settings window by clicking ADVANCED MIDI SETTINGS [1] button (bottom left corner) in the plug-in user interface.
Virus Editor User Manual – Open Advanced MIDI Settings from bottom left corner
You can block messages being processed from DAW or from the Synthesizer itself. Settings seen in the image below are default values.
Virus Editor User Manual – Advanced MIDI Settings view
Advanced Incoming MIDI settings
Allow certain MIDI messages to pass into plug-in / application processor within Incoming MIDI setting section. Green check mark means it will be processed and when there is no check mark, it will be bypassed. Process DAW messages [1] and Process Hardware messages [2] has their own set of data “filters” [3-9] available as follows:
- [3] Control Changes
- [4] Program Changes
- [5] Note Messages
- [6] Pitch Bend
- [7] Poly Aftertouch
- [8] Channel Aftertouch
- [9] System Exclusive
- [10] Part LEDs tracks incoming MIDI and SysEx messages
When green check mark is on, incoming data from DAW and Hardware ports is monitored and LED indicator will flash when data is coming in. When check mark is off, outgoing data is being monitored.
Check LEDs Off function to disable.
Virus Editor User Manual – Advanced Incoming MIDI Settings
Note #1: If you disable Control Changes and System Exclusive messages from Hardware port, your plug-in / application might stop responding to hardware knob movements completely.
Note #2: In Standalone Application use, Remote Keyboard MIDI Input data is handled in Process DAW messages section.
Advanced Outgoing MIDI settings
In Outgoing MIDI settings section, you can adjust few options to fine tune the plug-in / application behavior.
Send all MIDI data from Plug-in ( / Application):
- Directly to Hardware [1] = Send all MIDI related command directly to hardware from the MIDI output port.
- With attempt to match DAW buffer setting [2] = experimental attempt to sync with DAW time.
- Manual Buffer [3] = Displays the DAW buffer size – Use the -/+ knob [4] to fine tune.
- Disable Total Recall [manual data sync] [5] = If you don’t want the plug-in / application to push the data to your Virus up on launch, then Check this option.
Virus Editor User Manual – Advanced Outgoing MIDI Settings
Randomizer Trigger and amount functions are handled later in the manual.
MIDI Clock (experimental)
We are experimenting to add general MIDI clock to the plug-in / applications by standard feature. This might crash on some systems on a specific setups, so be cautious when using it.
Check Send Sequencer Start / Stop Commands [1] if you want to send MTC start and stop commands.
Check Send Continuous MIDI Clock information [2] if you want to sync MIDI clocked Effects and Arpeggiator to plug-in / application tempo information.
Virus Editor User Manual – Experimental MIDI Clock
Note #1: The clock with the plug-in / application might be inaccurate, so if you have another solution to sync clock information from your DAW to the hardware, use that instead.