pouët.net

I spent a while or three wondering whether to do this post here, but it's not like there are demoscene-related "for sale" classifieds on teh inttarwebs (that I know of, at least). So what the heck.

The story short: I need to finance some of my future musical adventures, and not really a believer in the current "gimme money and I'll see if I can make something" crowdfunding schemes, I'm rather thinking of parting with some of my music gear. Since in this case it's a synthesizer that has a very solid demoscene history, I'd love to see it continue doing so instead of having have to list it up somewhere like Ebay. A good demoscener home is what this baby needs :)

And the synth? I'm talking about no other than my Access Virus B. It's the synth that has contributed sounds to many of the loved, praised and awarded Kewlers and mfx releases during the past ten years. A real cornerstone of my works from that period, really.

Say, perhaps you'd like to give a go for the distorted lead from ASDNTC or just about any synth sound from Variform or 1995? No problem, because this synth did all of those:



As for condition, the synth has spent it's days in a home studio environment excluding the DHBB gigs @ Breakpoint & Assembly 2005. It's not mint but does work fine on all accounts and is running the latest released firmware. There are some signs of wear on the wooden end pieces and the filter env amount knob is slightly shaky (possibly loose nut?). Other than that, this little "B" is in a fine condition.. And like said, it does come with a plenty of familiar sounds stored in its user preset banks, given it's history ;).

So if this raised your interest and you'd like to make an offer for it, drop me some mail at elbowski gmail com. Since the synth is shipping from Finland, postage is going to be increasingly expensive further the direction "my precioussss" ends up heading. Delivery to some upcoming big demoparty (like Revision) might be possible too, this really depends on whether I can convince someone to help.

I'll wait for offers for about two weeks (say, until end of week 10) and then make my decision. It's not necessarily the highest offer that will make it, but moreover anyone who puts forth a reasonable offer and convinces me that this synth will continue to deliver demoscene landmarks ;)

I "just" bought a Virus C, but if I hadn't, I would have jumped on this in a heartbeat. The Virus-series are amazing synths -- so whoever is thinking about getting one, get this.

God damn you, food addiction. GOD DAMN YOU.

Wait.. what?

I sold a musical instrument once, and then regretted it for a decade after. But hey, maybe I'm just too sentimental for this shit.

trc_wm: I think Gargaj is saying that paying for food is, unfortunately, a higher priority. :)

...and that the two are mutually exclusive :(

skrebbel: but ukuleles arent that expensive

Instruments don't come cheap. Even kalimbas are pretty expensive.

Damn kalimbas! They are ridiculously expensive.

AHAHAH :)
ps: on a side note, kalimbas are indeed very expensive... I guess you pay the fact you can't do any out of tune notes using it xD

also, the variform and 3 themes and a masterplan presets are still on it! so you can pretend you're el-bee! ;)

Well, I'm not a musician, however, if I ever lay my hands on such a piece I'll reverse engineer it and contribute the source to the demoscene.

Maali, since when do you know Motorola DSP56k assembly language?

nevermind. PIBKAC

Oh yeah, manual and original box included :)

wow, looks like an awesome piece of equipment. But I'm not worthy of such a thing.
Gargaj: you should start a kickstarter to help you with your food addiction! "Gimme money and I promise I'll use it for food"

BarZoule: actually, that's against Kickstarter policies. Yes, really.

I guess a third virus in the studio would be a bit much, but this B sure has some legacy! :D
Hope she goes to capable hands. :)

Just to get things into perspective.. how much do you want for it?

i don't have capable hands, but i'm still drooling for that

I wouldn't mind taking it off your hands but I feel that it wouldn't be fair to all the PRODUCTIVE musicians on the scene that might be interested :D.

Virus still is top on my todo list. But like trc_wm said, asking price would be ace. Just to know what relatives and/or internal organs to sell.

Seriously, though, Virus B's aren't that expensive nowadays. Not unless good ol' LB here decides to add a little extra on top because this is such a _special_ Virus B ;D. Then again, I guess I should speak for myself rather than assume that everyone can shell out 500 EUR for a shiny new/used toy ;).

Elfan: Indeed they aren't, but I find it funny how much the price range seems to vary. On Ebay, the opening bids have been usually around 200 and then ending up to over +400. 'Buy now' prices have been between 500 - 700, which is somewhat overpriced if you ask me. I guess the prices of current TI-range make some people to overvalue the old ones.

I somehow find instruments that have a story to them appealing. Knowing the history adds 'depth' in some way. Maybe this is part of the reason why I'd like to have some scener continue to use this synth.. Sort of pass on the story and continue adding up to the legacy. Takes one to know one, and I doubt demoscene reputation carries much outside the scene :)

Anyway, if someone here is considering getting a Virus as their first polyphonic hardware synth I can highly recommend it. It's such a versatile all-rounder that you actually don't need much else for "whatever synthetic". Vocoder is a good addition and if your soundcard has multiple ins/outs using the filters/fx for processing tracks is great. For example, the speech bits in Variform is basically AnalogX SayIt sync-edited and routed through the vocoder.

This Virus served me exactly like the above for many years, being the only tool for "anything synthesized" in my setup.. It would probably still continue to serve this way hadn't I decided to venture to the dark side by acquiring some analog synths :D