Will Richard Devine unleash his blazing fury once again at NAMM this year as he did with the Neko keyboard, or will he physically keep his cool but unveil his own brand of auditory destruction instead?

Come to the CDM Unofficial Afterparty in Los Angeles and find out! Show up at 8pm to Bassworks and witness a DIY, technological show and tell and then stick around to check out live musicians and visualists along with our pal Rich. Fire may or may not make an appearance, but we in CDM HQ personally hope for the metaphorical sort.

And you are all on the guestlist (meaning it’s a free party). You’d be ragingly insane to miss it if you’re local on Friday.

And lastly, the Virus TI (that’s Total Integration, not T1, for the record):

Where can you find this kind of hot synth action? Why at the NAMM show in Anaheim, CA, this January 19-22. I’m working on making it out; watch this space for details. Anyone else planning on going?

The line between hardware and software is still, let’s face it, confusing and inconvenient.

On one hand, you’ve got your hardware control surface keyboards that work well with software, but without booting your software they don’t make any sound. Worse, you often have to manually assign knobs and faders to your software synth.

On the other, you’ve got your hardware synth. Plugging that in requires an audio and MIDI connection, each of which may require separate configuration and cabling. Doing anything with the hardware synth requires lots of shuffling between your synth’s front panel and your computer.

Little wonder, then, that people found the announcement of Access’ Virus “TI” line exciting when we first heard about it a year ago. And now it’s shipping:

Access Virus TI Synth [Access Music]

The “TI” stands for Total Integration, and it’s intended to solve these problems. First off, it’s a true, standalone hardware synth, and a sweet one at that. The Virus is already a well-loved virtual analog synth with cool rhythmic features like “knob quantization,” which sort of lets it behave like it’s got a step sequencer, and the addition of a new arpeggiator.

It’s when you plug the Virus into your USB port that the fun begins. A VST/AU software plug-in lets the Virus TI behave like a soft synth. Not only does that automatically route audio and MIDI, but you can easily handle switching, editing, storing, and recalling sounds from your computer screen. (And I mean really editing; see the screenshot.) Like Novation’s X-Station synths, the Virus TI synths double as an audio/MIDI interface for other gear. (It’s no slouch, either: 24-bit 192KHz balanced analog, S/PDIF I/O and MIDI I/O.) And lastly, it has a control surface mode; many templates included. (Sadly, no Reason ReMote support yet.)

So let’s get this straight:

And most importantly, it’s shipping — October 3, says Access. Pricing starting at EUR 1800. A small price to pay for this integration, but they throw in stained-wood side panels, too, just in case you were on the fence. More on these when we get to actually try them out.