My Radias vs. Virus (b) comparison...

SynthAntonius · Post by **SynthAntonius** » Sat May 24, 2008 12:57 pm

So, I see you all like to compare these two, and now that I have a Virus, I think it's my duty to tell you what I think.

First of all - okay, it's not a Virus TI... but so what? The actual sound hasn't really changed, and I'm not going to compare their synthesis depths and other technical stuff (well, maybe a little). They both have more than what's needed to create original sounds.
So let's say it's Radias sound vs essential Virus sound.

I was really impressed by the quality of this ol' man (Virus) - some "real" patches sound very realistic, I can't imagine Radias doing the same (though I may be wrong, I'm not a pro sound designer).
+1 for Virus sounds
Basses are just awesome, thanks to a super fat comb filter and filter saturation - lots of low, punchy frequencies - there is no way Radias can do better.
+1 for Virus

Effect section: it's just different.
Virus has dedicated effects for each part
Radias has insert effects.
But I think I prefer Radias on this one, because you can choose your effects, and there are dozens of them.
Virus has only couple of effects. (distortion, phaser, chorus and reverb/delay) per part.
+1 for Radias

Intuitiveness:
Without any doubt, Radias. Every paramater has it's dedicated encoder/button, while on virus there only essential real time knobs - all less essential parameters has to be changes in menus.
Not to mention that Radias is very easy to control in the dark.
+1 for Radias.

Value/use of the sound:
Okay, earlier I said that Virus sounds "better" - well, this is not necessarily true. Yes, I was really impressed by some sounds, but when I started to make my own pads/basses/leads, I felt that they all sound very evil and dark... and all presets sound also very dark.
So my conclusion is: Virus is like a demon, with its black/red design and yellow/green LEDs and screen.
Radias is like an angel, with it's silver design and bright yellow halo LEDs - and it sounds very bright also!

My IMHO - these two sound 100% different, and I can't say that I prefer Virus sound.
For example, I really like warm, smooth, silky, mystical, fairytale pads, but I don't think Virus can sound warm/good, due it's character... even most huge pads I made (or presets), using up to 8 voices unison, sounded just way to dark, evil and heavy.
But for aggressive/acid basses - Virus, no doubt about it... Radias is just too good, and when it tries to behave bad, nobody believes it

Virus also has very fast envelopes, so those "trance attack" sounds, are awesome too.

So - does Virus series sound better than Radias? Certainly not, they sound just different.
As for me, I think Virus b is a perfect addition to my sound pallet.
(I don't really need this Total Integration or more than 24 voices - I just wanted some typical Virus sounds - well now I have them)

And I think Radias would be just as good as Virus in trance context.

LEVEL4 · Post by **LEVEL4** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:14 pm

Different = Good.

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:48 pm

it would be nice to hear examples of attempts to produce the same patch on both synths.

allthough your comparison did temporarily make me think about buying a virus to complememt the radias. very interesting.

SynthAntonius · Post by **SynthAntonius** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:18 am

X-Trade wrote:it would be nice to hear examples of attempts to produce the same patch on both synths.

allthough your comparison did temporarily make me think about buying a virus to complememt the radias. very interesting.

Oh, I will make a demo of them both, that's for sure (just give me a couple of days)

I will also make a comparison between Jp8k supersaw and Radias unison. (virus b has a unison mode also, so maybe I will compare it too)

Btw - I paid 1000 euro for Radias-R, and only 400 for the Virus, which makes it a very good deal!
(small desktop module with KNOBS, 24 voices, 16 parts, 4 oscillators, double filter, 82 simultaneous effects, + ever famous trance sound etc etc) I can't think of anything that comes even close, it the same price range - or even 2 times more expensive. (spec wise, it's more sophisticated than Radias - but I still love my R more... it's by far more attractive and fun - and again, the sound is just different)

LEVEL4 · Post by **LEVEL4** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:28 am

X-Trade wrote:. . . although your comparison did temporarily make me think about buying a virus to complememt the radias. very interesting.

The Virus is sick. It's everything that SynthAntonias described . . . dark, scary, evil. The absolute polar opposite of the bright, sparkly, happy Radias. Together, it's madness! Great sound design is all about "different" and "contrast." And that's exactly what you'd get if you mixed a Virus and a Radias (a . . . "Varias," perhaps?).

fac · Post by **fac** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:25 pm

SynthAntonius wrote: I can't think of anything that comes even close, it the same price range - or even 2 times more expensive.

Well, I just bought a Novation Nova for $320 USD, which is about half what you paid for your virus. It hasn't arrived yet, but I've taken a look a the manual and a couple videos, and it looks like a great deal: 16-voice polyphony, 6-part multitimbral, per-part effects, 3-osc + 3-env + 2-lfo per voice, various filter types, dual-saw oscillators, polyphonic arpeggiators, etc. All that for $320! That's less than what second hand MS2000R's are being sold for. I hope to have it here soon.

SynthAntonius · Post by **SynthAntonius** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:40 pm

Yes... In America!

But in europe, the avarage price of Novation Nova is +- 370 euro.
I'm sure, you could get a Virus b for 400 USD in US.

But I never compare synths just on the specs... it's the actual sound that counts. I paid the same for jp8000, and specwise, it's 10 times weaker than Virus, but still it has very convincing sound. So I'm satisfied with it also.

I bought it not because of it's specs, but because I wanted trancy Virus sound.

It's a shame that Virus is so damn hard to program (in comparison)
My Jp and Radias defenetly beat it in this aspect.

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 11:27 am

there's a shop near where I live that has a Novation Nova for about £120. i've had my eye on it for some time now, just don't have the money!
it did certainly sound impressive...

fac · Post by **fac** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:53 pm

SynthAntonius wrote:Yes... In America!

But in europe, the avarage price of Novation Nova is +- 370 euro.
I'm sure, you could get a Virus b for 400 USD in US.

Actually, I live in Mexico, so I'll have to pay another $90 for importing duties, but still, $410 USD is a decent price for this kind of synth (e.g., much cheaper than a Radias). I could easily resell it if it doesn't meet my needs and make a little profit.

On eBay, Virus b's are going for around $550, from what I've seen.

kvnvk · Post by **kvnvk** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:44 pm

LEVEL4 wrote: The Virus is sick. It's everything that SynthAntonias described . . . dark, scary, evil. The absolute polar opposite of the bright, sparkly, happy Radias.

must be how I program mine, but my Radias R rarely, if ever, sounds "happy".

kvnvk · Post by **kvnvk** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:47 pm

SynthAntonius wrote: It's a shame that Virus is so damn hard to program (in comparison)
My Jp and Radias defenetly beat it in this aspect.

that was the main factor in deciding to sell my Virus B a couple of months ago. I really did like the way it sounded, but something had to go...

fac · Post by **fac** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:37 pm

Well, I just got a Virus A, and they sure do sound good. I'd dare say it's the best sounding hardware VA I've used, and that includes MS2000, JP8000, Nord Micromodular and G2, and Novation Nova. Only my Waldorf XT (which can also do great VA sounds) beats it.

I didn't like the Nova too much. It has a very cumbersome interface where each knob can affect one of many parameters, depending on a combination of button-presses. Plus there are plenty of menus. I'm not all agains menus, actually, the menu system in the Nova is pretty intuitive, but I like having dedicated knobs for the basic parameters.

The Virus is better in this regard; at least, most knobs are dedicated to a single parameter, but there are still too many important parameters hidden in the menus, and the menu navigation is pretty annoying.

So, I'm here with these three VA's (Virus A, Nova, and MS2000R) and I will keep only one of them. The Nova has the best specs (16-voice poly, per-part 7-effect chains, great arpeggiators, great bass sound), but the worst interface, and I didn't like its sound that much, so it definitely has to go. The Virus has good specs (12-voice poly, 16 parts, decent per-part effects) and sounds great, but to get the most out of it, one has to put up with the tedious menu navigation. The MS2000R is dead easy to program, with very little menu navigation required, which is very fast, anwyay. The step sequencers are great, and the sound is good. But it's low on polyphony and the filter resonance sucks. Maybe I should just sell them all and focus on the G2.

SynthAntonius · Post by **SynthAntonius** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:03 pm

Like I said, I have VA Jp8000, Radias, Virus B and real analog Rogue.
But overall, I still prefer Radias sound (it's very personal I guess) - for me, it beats Virus (at least B). (no, actually I prefer the Rogue)
Jp8000 has better leads and EPIC super saw than both of them, IMHO.

Radias is bright, and I like bright - I'm not an evil person

It can do variety of stuff, and most things sound very convincing.
I made a very cool bass on Rogue (kinda trancy/epic, bright) and I wanted to recreate it on my VA. Virus sounded too dark - Radias did it better (because Moog synth have bright sound also). And Jp was just way to flat, completely useless on this one.
And yeah - make a sample on Fantom x, some basic tweaking, and it sounds 100% the same

(but I never make my own patches on Fantom, way to hard - only sampling)

If you want "fat" on Radias, you should turn DRIVE on

it increases its fatness by 200%

Radias is very sophisticated in it's own way (it has everything I need), and yet its programming is piece of cake! VA is all about making your sounds - for me it's a very huge advantage! (programming depth is useless, if you can not reach it)

Again, I don't have a Virus TI, but I still think I'm happier with Radias, than I would be with Virus TI (mainly because of mega EZ interface and bright sound). Virus B doesn't make me want to buy Virus TI at all.
Don't get me wrong - still a badass synth, I will keep it, but not really my type.

I would keep Virus and MS2000R. Don't know much about G2, but it seems like it's even more flexible than Virus.

Btw: I've promised Virus B/Radias show down: coming soon.

fac · Post by **fac** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 7:03 pm

SynthAntonius wrote: I would keep Virus and MS2000R. Don't know much about G2, but it seems like it's even more flexible than Virus.

Well, the G2 is more flexible than almost anything out there. Seriously, it can do anything except sample-based stuff. But you have to program it with a PC and dedicate a lot of time to it, so I also want a complementary synth that is easy to program.

I'd love to keep both the Virus and MS2000R, but I can't afford to keep both, mainly because of space issues. Actually, I'm seriously considering selling all the VA's and buy a prophet 08. Right now I have about 15 synths and I really need to slim it down and focus only on 5 or 6.

Khazul · Post by **Khazul** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:40 am

On the lack of direct knobs on the virus - even the Virus B has way way more parametsr than a radias.

If Access had given every parameter its own knob or switch, then it would probbaly have needed a 8U rack module absolutely covered in knobs... - and thats ignoreing the controls for virus fx params.

As for the TI - that would probbaly need a 12U module...