Korg Forums

[soulidstate]

Hi everyone,

I'm contemplating on gettting my next gear. I saw what a TI can do in onebluemonkey.com demo and its really fascinating.A very yummy gear it is.Should I go for it I'll sell my Classic...but it crossed my mind to consider a Radias.

Any piece of advice?I'm into House,progressive and ambient type of music.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Em

[OliverM]

Hi,

that's a really good question. Both Synths has their own cool concept.
No one can make a desicion what Synth you have to buy.
I'm into House Music, too! And i will never miss the Radias - beast.
You should go to your local Dealer check both great synths and choose.

Cheers,
Oliver
オリバー ムン薬

[Morten'J]

I agree with Oliver it is best to try both and then choose for you self.
_________________
Korg Kronos 61(soon)
Access Virus TI KB
Roland Gaia and SonicCell with SRX 07

[OliverM]

Hi Morten,

i saw Modern Talking at your signature! Pooohhh..... really weird.... are you crazy or is it your fav band!

Cheers,
Oliver
オリバー ムン薬

[Morten'J]

[OliverM]

[Morten'J]

[softroom]

I have a Korg Radias and an Access Virus Polar and like them both very much. The Radias I use mainly to sequence from my P3; its excellent bass end plus PCM sounds and smooth, sugary filters and effects add a lovely sheen to everything. The Virus scores because it has a sound that is more middly - it slots into a mix without ever getting in the way. Its modulation matrix is versatile (unlike the Radias's), its filters sublime, its white flashing logo rocks <g> and as I've had a Virus since the Virus A, it's something I'd hate to be without.
I find real world polyphony to be about the same for both synths, the Radias possibly coming out on top: I can rarely run 4 multitimbral parts on the Virus without running into some kind of difficulty although things are getting better as Access work more and more on improving the OS (I don't think Korg do much in this respect, probably because their synths tend to be pretty stable on release; still, a few upgrades would be lovely).

Ultimately they are quite different - enough to justify (if you need to) having both.

Paul

[Timo]

[softroom]

I don't use unison much.

Paul

[master logic]

If you read all the problems regarding the Virus at the moment i think you'd be happy with 24 note poly (as long as they don't drop out like the Virus) I think the Virus is a much nicer sounding synth but it seem like a lot of bother at the moment.

[softroom]

I'm well aware of the Virus Ti series' problems having experienced them first hand for longer than I care to admit. I don't necessarily agree the Virus sounds better though because there are sounds the Radias can do that the Virus will never approach. Similarly, the Virus has a particular tone that I love and it's a synth I would never want to be without; I use mine purely as a hardware synth with no need for Total Integration, or any kind of integration as I don't use a DAW.

Paul

[Khazul]

[Daz]

Aha, that Paul ... welcome to the forum !

Daz.

[virus_x]

Hello, guys

I’ve had the VIRUS TI for 1 year now (still having it, never gonna give it up) and the RADIAS for 6 months (first I got the VIRUS TI and after some time the RADIAS). After all that time using both the VIRUS TI and the RADIAS, I can say the following:
- it depends on what you’re after and what you wanna do – kind of sounds, music, etc.;
- as far as sound / effects programming, the VIRUS TI is much, much more powerful than the RADIAS, the 2 of them cannot be compared, it would be unfair, the RADIAS would lose by all means – the VIRUS TI is much more complex, it’s depth and the freedom it gives you in programming clearly stands out in the crowd – I think only Clavia Nord Modular G2X would be more powerful than the TI - Clavia Nord Lead 3, Waldorf Q / Q+ are definitely “under” the VIRUS TI (still, bear in mind that the Nord Modular G2X is a different type of synthesizer, it’s made of several different modules put together and assembled in one piece);
- in what Modulators, Oscillators, Filters (the VIRUS TI has copied the Moog filters) and LFOs concern, again, the VIRUS TI wins the game;
- one of RADIAS’ advantages is its PCM sounds and drums;
- another one would be that the RADIAS is much easier to learn, to use and to program – it’s more appropriate for a beginner;
- forget about the presets – it’s true, the VIRUS TI has a lot more ( I downloaded and installed their latest OS – 2.5.1, and now I have something like 2432 presets (banks A – S x 128 presets / bank – I don’t know if there is another hardware synthesizer in the world that actually has more presets than the VIRUS TI) – the RADIAS has much less, and that the VIRUS TI presets sound much better than the RADIAS ones,
BUT:
when you buy such a synth (either VIRUS TI and / or RADIAS), you’re not supposed to stay with the presets more than a couple of weeks – if you just want to entertain yourself or someone else, you can get an arranger – but even in that case you can do a lot of tweaks and combinaTIons between waves, effects, parameters, patterns, drums, functions and so on…);
- presets, in both cases, do not represent more than a starting point – for that matter the VIRUS TI has much more starting points than the RADIAS – but, as time goes by, you’re gonna learn what sound programming / routing, parameters, frequency savvy tweaking really are, and you’re gonna make that big step and start making your own sounds – obviously, not from scratch, but, again, you cannot buy either a VIRUS TI and / or RADIAS just for their presets;
- I cannot say that these are synths just for pros (at least not in the RADIAS case), but you’re gonna do a lot, lot more with both of them than just play the presets and adding some effects;
- I use my VIRUS TI kbd as my main keyboard, as the center / brain of everything and the RADIAS more like a background orchestrator / arranger, even if there are times when I tweak some synth sounds on the RADIAS;
- as far as I’m concerned (and I’m trying to be as objective as one could be), after using both of them for some time, I think that one couldn’t call the RADIAS a synth on its own, it’s more like an extremely powerful groovebox, maybe the most powerful ever – still, the 2 of them perfectly complement each other (where 75% is the VIRUS TI and 25% is the RADIAS);
- on the other hand, the RADIAS is perfect if you want some immediate music available, with all its components – pattern (drum beat), bass line, pad and lead. Moreover, in the case of a party, house, dance, trance music that has to be available in no time, the RADIAS wins the game – it’s much better for commercial music and, again, it’s easier to learn and use;
- if you want to let your creativity, imagination and even fantasy fly up in the skies or if you’re in for some kind of movie music, ambience or whatever, then the VIRUS TI is the solution – in fact, I guess you’re never gonna get bored with it, not in 15 years time – there’s always something new to do with the TI;
- it’s true, it doesn’t have drums / drum beats and you’ll never get your song immediately available like in the RADIAS case, but in all the rest (including design and keyboard feel – here I mean the 61-key version, because the VIRUS Polar keyboard is a little bit lower than its bigger brother), the VIRUS rulz;

My advice is:

- if you have the money, get the VIRUS;
- if you don’t have enough money, borrow some and get the VIRUS;
- if you have money for both of them, get the VIRUS Ti keyboard (either the 61 version or the Polar) and the RADIAS rack (don’t get the RADIAS full package with its keyboard included, ‘cause it sucks) – and then route the VIRUS Ti into the RADIAS by means of MIDI control (I forgot to tell you that the RADIAS vocoder is much, much better than the VIRUS one)
_________________
Access Virus TI kbd
Korg Radias
Intel-based iMac
M-Audio FireWire Audiophile soundcard
Peavey KB3 keyboard amplifier