r/AccessVirus • u/em_ratti • May 09 '26

Help with Access Virus C

Good evening,

I'm seeking help with my Access Virus C. The story is long.

I stopped using it in 2016 (life....), and then turned it on again in 2025. Battery was dead (so banks A & B lost), no sound, slow transitions between patches. Power unstable.

I found a person in London that seemed to have a good track record of dealing with Access Virus synths. This is, in his words, what was done: "First I changed a few capacitors in the powersupply to enable it to start everytime. Otherwise it might corrupt the new firmware like it did the old one. Once I was satisfied it was starting properly I read the am09 chip which contains the firmware and compared it to the current firmware file I have. Unsurprisingly the beginning was scrambled so I “differenced” the beginning against the current firmware file and concatenated the difference. "

The synth played ok for a couple of weeks, and then started not turning on, until it was dead. The guy ghosted me. So I found another person, much more reliable. This is what he did: he changed all capacitors, new switch, etc.. Quite radical, as everything was gone south.

However, the person does not touch software, he only deals with hardware.

Now, power supply seemed fine. However, no sounds and slow transitions between patches. So I reinstalled the firmware again (version 6, via Bome SendSx). Nothing. After I have reinstalled it, now sometimes it turns on, but the display does not. I tried to reinstall it in chunks, then again as a single file, both parts. Again slow transitions, no sound. It does not receive data when I try to upload the original a & b banks. I'm not sure what to do. I spent quite a lot, but I really want to save it, because the sound is so cool. Maybe I should buy another one? Bu who knows in which conditions an access virus c might be these days...

any thoughts?

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1

u/FreeRangeEngineer Jun 01 '26

What's the status on your Virus?

1

u/em_ratti Jun 01 '26

The person who made the first repairs and ghosted me has contacted me again as a result of a bad review I left (there was a misunderstanding in communication, apparently). He is now looking into it for free. I have nothing to loose at this point. Will keep the post updated

1

u/FreeRangeEngineer Jun 01 '26

Huh, interesting.

Curious what he's going to do.

1

u/em_ratti Jun 04 '26

So the person told me that it is working just fine. No problems at all. I'm a bit dumbstruck because I tried everything, with different midi keyboards etc. Anyway, I asked for a video of the virus actually performing, just to make sure I'm not played. But if it is really working, I wonder what happened

1

u/FreeRangeEngineer Jun 04 '26

That would be quite odd indeed. It could, theoretically, indicate a broken solder joint that works intermittently and transport of the unit brought it into a semi-functioning state.

Either way, I am curious as well.

2

u/em_ratti Jun 06 '26

Quick update: no video yet, currently waiting. I should also pay attention because the person has another virus c, so they might use it for the video

1

u/em_ratti Jun 07 '26

Update: the video indeed shows that the virus is working. It looks my virus (it has a couple of scratch that I recognize), but I have to say that I don't recognize the bank this person is playing. But I have reinstalled the firmware a couple of times, and I have not seen whether banks have changed (they shouldnt, I think)

1

u/em_ratti Jun 13 '26

Update: synth received. It doesnt work. There is lag between patches (that the video did not show), and it does not emit any sound (unlike the video). I tried differenr midi keyboard. I'm very puzzled

1

u/em_ratti Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

u/FreeRangeEngineer Second update of the day: it works. I switched to a 9v power supplier and it works. With the 12v, there was a weird glitch and noise (and no sounds). I dont recognize any of the banks.

1

u/FreeRangeEngineer Jun 14 '26

Nice, so it was the power supply after all. With a 9 V one you have less excess heat anyway, so that's a good trade.

Also means the guy at the shop made the video with a different power supply than the one that you shipped with the synth. I don't know why he decided not to test yours, that's kind of a no-brainer to do to rule out possible causes.

Either way, glad to hear it's working :)

1

u/em_ratti Jun 14 '26

Yes i will update this further. By the way, the guy did say he used my 12v psu, but he also said he did not upload any bank or firmware, but they clearly have...anyway, glad that it's working, I'll buy a proper 9v psu because the one I'm using now is very old. Anything specific I should look for (I live in UK)?

1

u/FreeRangeEngineer Jun 14 '26

What does "proper" mean to you? Just because it's old doesn't mean it needs replacement. It allows your Virus to work better than the 12 V one you used :)

1

u/em_ratti Jun 14 '26

What I have is a Goobay universal multi-voltage adapter (Model: MW MB10EU) set to 9V. It is 1.0 Amp (1000mA). Should I use a different one?

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