“Just got word from a reseller that the Access Virus TI has been officially discontinued”
this is a bit of a contradiction in terms.
‘officially discontinued’ generally would mean Access have announced it publicly (which they have not) , whereas unofficial would be something like a reseller being told by a rep or something.
but hey, it doesn’t sounds as dramatic if it was
“Just got word from a reseller that the Access Virus TI has been unofficially discontinued”
I think most of us, have assumed that Access are just shifting remaining stocks, and have been for a while - once done, they close… as Kemper has been the main business for years now.
so no news really…
anyways, TI is still a great synth,
yeah, the Mac support for the plugin is long since gone, which has upset a lot of people. ( * )
but as a Mac user, I didn’t really use anyway, preferred to use it as a standalone synth.
and afaik, its ok for Windows users.
as for new firmwares, everything comes to an end, and Access brought easily enough updates/new features over it lifecycle so no complaints there.
( * ) this was caused by them outsourcing some of the functionality (audio interface) to a third party, and for some reason Access (?) weren’t willing to get them to update it when macOS changed. (perhaps they considered fees being asked were too high? - we’ll never know)
still currently working in Windows 11, but it will break eventually I assume.
I’ve got a Snow, so that will be kinda annoying… but I love it so much will probably get a desktop second hand one day (unless they get stupid expensive)
Still not much to compare it with as far as multi-timbrality and effects.
yeah, the snow is a bit of a special case, as its less hands-on, so more of a ‘external dsp box’.
I suspect windows support will last a while… whilst I dislike windows, its backwards compatibility record is very good.
I sometimes wish Id gone with a desktop rather than 61 keys, just to save a bit of space.
but it is nice to just treat the TI as a standalone synth.
as you say its a very complete multi-timbral package, thats really nicely focused on what it does.
I think thats why the 2nd hand prices seem to be remarkably stable considering its age.
no one doubted the situation… (re-read the rest of my post), we have not seen any software support (and looked like they were clearing remaining stock) for years,
but for me an official announcement is something different, even this is just a comment from the CEO.
what usually happens, and I would like to see is Access to make a proper official announcement for end of life. along with the usual statement about what this means in terms of support etc
(it’s easy to forget, some bought their Virus new not that long ago)
dont get me wrong, its obvious it has reached eol, but we really should get a proper statement.
personally, I don’t mind, my TI is working fine, Ive never really cared about the software, its still a great synth.
I was quite surprised the CEO says they still have an interest in the synth market, since they show no signs of this… and it appears Kemper is where all their focus is, and frankly, I dont expect that to change.
Yeah, i wonder if that’ll ever come. I get a feeling they’re keeping things alive as long as possible to have backups in case things change in the markets. Esp what you noted as well that weird hint of a ti3. If kemper starts dipping maybe we’ll see a new ti product
yeah, Im not sure either…they never really ‘announced’ stopping the software support on macOS, and ‘why’ this was considered reasonable for a product they were still selling.
… they kind of just let it die.
not very professional imho… so perhaps this’ll be the same
I cannot see a TI3 happening, it’d have to be based on a new dsp chip, so that means a lot of new / fresh development - for an IP they have shown little interest in for a long time.
…since when, an official statement of a ceo does not count as an official statement anymore…?
afaik, the only company that still comes up with firmware updates for their products, sometimes even after years of total silence, is indeed, elektron…
can’t think of any other brand, that does not embrace short term product cycles these days…
and in case of access’ virus, gosh, that one saw an even longer fulfilment than the ot…
everybody ready for the day to come, when elektron discontinues their actually oldest product in their catalogue…?
he didn’t make an official statement about end of life. rather in an interview (when asked) he stated / confirmed, that the Virus TI has no longer been in production for the last few months.
(and frankly, most believe that its been much longer than that)
as I said, we all knew this already… so ‘knowing’ this doesn’t change anything,…
frankly, who even cares… beyond its a story for social media to cover
the important part of this, is what it means to existing owners…
and thats where official announcement of end-of-life come in, as they usually make some statement about what this means for support.
as I said, this is not a big deal for many of us, as we have had for years, and are well outside warranty etc… but Access were still selling last year - so buyers of those units deserve clarification on the situation … beyond a comment in an interview, that some may never even see/read.
even on the official virus forum (and website), no mention/statement has been made of this EOL.
so today, someone could potentially buy a TI (from a distributor with existing stock) , and not know that its being EOL’d.
ok, caveat emptor, do you research… but really, its not professional to eol something without announcement via official channels.
Not really sure if this adds anything to this discussion, but FWIW, I recently emailed a question regarding the Virus Ti Snow and compatibility with Apple computers - and got this reply back after a short period:
"In regard to the 2nd question: we’re sorry to say, but we do not have any news in regard to macOS Catalina, macOS Big Sur, macOS Monterey, macOS Ventura and macOS Sonoma compatibility at this point (this also includes new Apple computers with M1, M2 and M3 chips).
We will post news once we have any.
Warranty has nothing to do with product still being sold/manufactured or not. It’s defined by law. If anything goes wrong they are obliged to repair it, if impossible replace it with new device or return the money (unless company goes bust or something, but it seems Kemper is doing just fine). Anyhow, I guess they’re probably keeping a few DSPs and other specific components on stock for such cases. And it’s not like Viruses break a lot.
When it comes to software support, there will almost certainly be no new firmware (no need either, since it’s a mature and “completed” product), Mac support is done (I can’t believe some people are still hoping for a fix almost 5 years after Catalina was introduced) and on Windows it’ll work until Microsoft decides to break something. Fortunately MS cares about backward compatibility, but you never know.
