Campaign to Fix Access Virus for TC Powercore

To: Access Music Electronics GmbH & T.C. Electronic Inc 



We, the owners of the Virus|Powercore VST/AU plug-in,developed by Access Music for TC ELectronic's DSP Powercore platform, hereby request that your software engineering teams repair the serious software bugs that prevent us from having total customer satisfaction in our audio productions systems as it is advertised, 5 years already.
The partnership correlation between Access Music and T.C. Electronic for the development of this particular plugin is unclear to us customers and our previous attempts for support from either company have been met with a response that promises no investigation and passes responsibility to the other party or in some cases, back to the user.
We simply demand a product that works as advertised and for both companies to accept their responsibilities to support its users.
It is not important to us exactly where this support comes from, as long as it is thoroughly clear to us who is providing technical assistance for the software and that this demand is met in a timely and satisfactory fashion.


The known issues include:



1.Loss of Synchronization/Bad Timing: Single triggered notes, Arpeggiator, LFO, Effects sync, Oscillator sync and generally all synth components that are supposed to be in sync with each other and ultimately with the sequencer. Whenever we touch a virtual knob to automate or change a parameter ,the synth goes completely out of sync*. Also it is possible to lose sync after some time without even touching it. This makes classic synchronized/ gated or arpeggiated sounds impossible to achieve. This is at least embarrassing for a dance oriented synth. 


2.Hanging notes: During playback, notes triggered by the Virus will hang. Known workarounds include hitting the stuck note or stopping and restarting playback, or in other cases only by engaging the arpeggiator on and off. 



3.PGM (Program change management): T.C. Electronic advertises a sophisticated patch management system that supposedly allows the user to program, via midi data, the Virus|Powercore patches for all parts. Hence by programming the patch selection, the user should be able to completely automate this feature in the DAW sequencer.� The PGM change does not work for user patches. It works for a ghost bank which is inaccessible.


4.Multi-license misbehavior: The multi license plug in cannot run in all dsp chips of an external powercore card (via firewire), due to the limitation of technology (bandwidth problems), but there is no mention in their websites for that.

5.GUI: If parameter values are input with the keyboard, when Enter is pressed the parameter does not register the new value and the GUI refreshes with a disordered condition.



6.Ring Modulator Fx: Acts unpredictably and also does not work at all on page 4, the "FX-1"� page.� For any patch, if the ring modulator is turned it up, it will bring the patch to silence, which is not what a ring modulator does on the hardware Virus TI line. The ring modulator behaves differently on the "Easy"� page compared to the "FX-1"� page. Users note that the ring modulator while using the same patch, if the Virus is closed and then re-opened, it will result with different ring modulator effects.

7.Audio Pops, clicks and glitches. In many circumstances, using more than one patch (and in some cases, more than one virus instance with multi-license) causes playback to glitch out. This happens even when the synth is not being played and sometimes when the sequencer itself is not playing.
It is apparent as soon as the plugin is loaded, whether directly into a project, or as part of a saved project. This is not the case with any other Powercore plugins.

*this is a problem in most major Sequencers packages (Win/Mac)


It is important to emphasize that all these deal-braker problems, exist is the Virus Powercore plug in from the very first day, 5 years already. Time lost and psychological damage due to loss of the peace of mind that music creation needs (and gives) ,for something that it should work simply as advertised, is something that we (customers) cannot expect to take back.




But we expect from you (TC AND ACCESS) to



1. Acknowledge that there are numerous problems with your software

2. Both corporations contact one another to investigate and discuss the Virus|Powercore software bugs/issues. Then collaborate on and implement a solution for fixing the problems with the Virus|Powercore software.

3. Provide us with an ETA for the fixed product and provide us with updates on the progress made.

4. Do something that it will redefine your relation with all the "suffering" customers. Refund - full or partial, whether in direct currency or in voucher form.
If the refund is to take the shape of a voucher, it should be 'instantly redeemable' against your products if desired and not necessarily require additional purchase. (IE - it can be swapped for a plugin with no additional investment necessary, just offering us 10\% off new hardware is not acceptable)
This is something that it will be greatly appreciated and prove that companies big as yours have consciousness and place customers' satisfaction above profit.