I have always wanted a virus, and I was searching to see if there was a Virus VST today. Turns out there is, and you need a TC Powercore system to run it.
From my limited research, TC Powercore is a piece of hardware with built in DSP’s that will take the processing power off the CPU when running VST’s. I can see a lot of users here could use that (I don’t really use that many VST’s myself).
However, the Virus VST is built to run exclusively on Powercore, and I was wondering 2 things:
Has anyone used Powercore with Renoise? (would it work)
Has anyone used the Virus Powercore VST? If so, how did it sound?
The cost on ebay for a Powercore Compact is about $399 or so, and the virus plug about another $200. With that you also happen to get extremely (extremely!) pristine DSP effects that come with the Powercore system. I believe there is also a Novation Powercore synth. It sounds like a lot of impressive virtual hardware on a reasonably small budget.
I have the Powercore PCI with the Virus B and it’s an amazing, rich sounding synth… just like other Virus implementations. A second hand Powercore with the Virus is probably the cheapest way to buy this synth, also you get the convenience of VSTi and unlimited instances if you buy the upgrade.
On the downside you have to deal with TC’s crappy, sometimes buggy drivers and generally awful tech support. And there is an arpeggiator timing issue that may or not be resolved now. Do a search for “Virus Powercore petition” to get the lowdown.
I’ve been using this in Renoise for some time for pads and strings. With the plugin delay compensation in RNS 2 the timing will be tight enough for sounds with a harder attacks like leads and basses to be in sync. I’m not on RNS 2 yet but I tested with one of the betas.
Btw as this Virus is software, it’s only as good sounding as your sound card. Would suggest Echo audio or Focusrite for high quality output.
also - the Vstation is probably not worth buying on Powercore because the software version runs well enough.
I thought to update my comments on this post since getting the latest Powercore software and Virus installed.
Had to use an uninstall/sanitize procedure from TC to get this working but it’s good now. Lot less buggy than previous versions. And I finally got the tech support I needed to sort this out.
Virus Powercore with Renoise 2.0 is a dream - works flawlessly now with static buffer. Also rediscovering why TC reverbs are considered some of the best out there.
So yeah, its’ worth checking out if you have the $$ to spend.
Hi James, thanks for the info. It does sound good indeed…
While I was doing my research I heard about Rob Pappen predator, which I actually ended up purchasing because it was so cool.
I’m curious - have you tried out predator? How does it compare to the virus? I think in terms of soft synths, it’s one of the harder and thick sounding soft synths. Just wondering how they stack up to your ears (if you have had a chance to play with them both).
I’m having issues with my TC Electronics PCI Powercard (mk1) in Renoise (3).
I can see all my powercard plugins enabled in the control panel but when I open them in Renoise they seem to be disabled and Windows opens up Event Viewer where you can see it gives an error “PowerCore/Classic: I/O ctrl:220000(message) status:c00000b5 in:156 out:20 size:0”.
Funny thing is that one plugin (sidechainer) opens and works. It’s also locate under “TC|Works” tree in plugins list, others are under “TC Electronic A/S”.
I’m stuck here, I’ve tried older versions of Powercore drivers and just can’t get this to work.
My setup is Windows 7 64bit SP1. All my other VST insturements and plugins works just great, no problem there.
I’ve just installed a TC Powercore and was really happy when I saw the sidechainer plugin, but it doesn’t work. I’ve opened the sidechainer on 1 track and a compatible tc compressor on another, but the compressor says “No sidechain available” Any ideas?
Thanks for your reply, but I think these powercore plugins are too old to be VST32. They are 32bit. I think I open a topic in the bugs forum. Sorry for crossposting, didn’t realize I was in the General forum.