Here's a strange problem I experience when switching from one beta version of eXT VSTi to another in Cubase SX2.

Setup:
I have 7 beta versions installed concurrently, sharing the same parent directory (each version in its own subdirectory) under my VstPlugins directory.
That way I can compare different behaviours in different eXT versions. It's like:

VstPlugIns\Massiva EnergyXT Beta\may-06\energyXT
VstPlugIns\Massiva EnergyXT Beta\may-06\energyXTE
VstPlugIns\Massiva EnergyXT Beta\may-06\sa
VstPlugIns\Massiva EnergyXT Beta\may-06\sa\driver
VstPlugIns\Massiva EnergyXT Beta\may-06\sa\driver\audio
VstPlugIns\Massiva EnergyXT Beta\may-12\energyXT
VstPlugIns\Massiva EnergyXT Beta\may-12\energyXTE
VstPlugIns\Massiva EnergyXT Beta\may-12\sa
VstPlugIns\Massiva EnergyXT Beta\may-12\sa\driver
VstPlugIns\Massiva EnergyXT Beta\may-12\sa\driver\audio

and so forth...

In order for Cubase to identify the different versions as different plugins (and thus not ignore them as redundant installations of the same plugin), I rename each .DLL file in each installation directory to a different filename in accordance to the version number (e.g, I add "_beta_12may" as a suffix to the filename, resulting in "ENERGYXT_beta_12may.DLL" for the VSTi version).

Problem description:
When I load and unload a number of different beta instances in sequence, some instances eventually become unloadable. When I say unloadable, I mean that Cubase will not respond by showing that the eXT instance has been loaded. The instance is simply not loaded.

Problem reproduction:
Define May 6th beta as Beta_1.
Define May 12th beta as Beta_2.
Define May 24th beta as Beta_3.

- Load Beta_1. Observe how the instance is loaded.
- Unload Beta_1.
- Load Beta_2. Observe how the instance is loaded.
- Unload Beta_2.
- Load Beta_3. Observe how the instance is not loaded, even after several attempts. The instance will not appear in the VSTi window in Cubase.
- Now restart Cubase and try another sequence and observe how other beta versions can become unloadable (I have at least observed the may 12th and may 24th betas becoming unloadable). Sometimes some versions become loadable again, at the expense of that another version becomes unloadable.

Very strange indeed.

Am I the only one who has this problem? Could something be wrong with my setup? Is it ok to have things arranged the way that I have?

Of course, this is a minor problem since I rarely start different versions in sequence, nevertheless it is quite strange .
I haven't tried it in some other VST host, so I don't know if it could be host related. Perhaps someone could test it in some other host?

Best regards,
Tomas

When attempting to reproduce the problem in Logic, the entire host crashes ;D. So obviously, something is wrong somewhere and it looks like Cubase may be innocent. At least not completely guilty.

//Tomas

Could this be due to the fact that all of them share duplicate internal ID's (iTXe)?

Plogue Bidule will not even let me run multi-out versions of XT because they share the same internal ID with each other.

nF

That could be one possibility I guess. At least some conflict of some kind between the different instances I would suspect. Jorgen could check it out if he gets around to it .

//Tomas