Virus TI2 Desktop : Essential

As a long-time fan of electronic music, this synth was on my wish list for a while. I use it mainly for tracks that need strong characteristic synth lines, as it has such a huge range of possibilities for synth manipulation.

The main pros for me are the comprehensive options for waveforms, voicing, filters, and all types of other effects you might want to put on the signal chain in one quality unit.

On the first day it arrived, I spent the entire afternoon programming perhaps the most disgusting distorted reece bass I've ever heard and I felt like I was 17 again. That is one of the main problems - there's so much you can do on this synth you can easily lose hours just tweaking and tweaking.

Another con is the fact that when you want to save a patch, you have to save it to the software, as the majority of the hardware banks on the synth are used up with presets. You can of course overwrite but they do have some great sounds for inspiration.

Overall though, an undisputed modern champion of the synth world, and well worth the investment.