Oversampling VST FX Host.. is there one out there?

[ingredient t]

I usually work at a quaint 44.1kHz and it seems to work quite well for me. But there are certain effects that sound much, much nicer when I switch to something like 96kHz. You know, filters and some granular stuff. However, I don't really have the CPU horsepower (or the disk space, frankly -- I'm on a laptop) to run at 96kHz all the time.

What would be really great if there was a VST effect host that was capable of running at a higher sampling rate than the host environment (in my case, Cubase SX). Then I would be able to run those select effects at a higher rate without taking too much of a performance hit.

I know that this is possible, since you can run Reaktor at multiples of the host rate. I just need a host or "wrapper" I can load as a VST to use with any effect. Dig?

Is there such a product out there? Help a brother out.

[bleebsen]

Realtime sample-rate conversion is a pretty cpu-heavy task when done properly too, so I'm not too sure you'll save much by doing so. Have you tried working at 96kHz and use CubaseSX's freeze function intensively? Erm, I see, disc space was an issue...

I think the usual suspects for this would be eXT or chainer. Can anyone be more specific about these?

[living sounds]

I asked some developers for a plugin like this years ago, and it still isn't around. It should definetely be possible, and there are a lot of plugins that do oversampling internally as well...

[ingredient t]

I wonder if Pluggo is capable of something like this? Does anyone have some experience with this? I do believe that Pluggo can host VSTs, but I don't have any direct experience with it so what can I say?

[_starcraft_]

same here....i try to work at 96khz although it's really demanding. I use xhip as main synth.....that helps.(as it uses very little cpu even at 96khz)
filters do indeed sound spot on at 96khz.
currently there's no vst host that allows you to use plugs at 96khz within a 44.100 project. the 44100 sample rate you have set for your sequencer applies also to the "chainer" u load into it.

[dhise]

Try the SAW Studio demo. I usually record at 44.1 or 48, then it will let you set the sample rate to whatever you want. If you have enough cpu power it'll convert the individual tracks on the fly with playback (not really practical at 48-96, but 44.1 - 48 works fine in realtime). When you build the final mix you can also set it to downsample the final 96 mix, say to 44.1 for your cd. The original intent of this feature is to be able to import files with different sample rates into your project without having to convert them to a common rate.

This works real well for me, and have to say that there is a very noticable difference in compressor and filter behaviour when doing this. The bottom frequencies get a whole lot smoother for me.

It's a program that will take a little effort to get your way around in, but AFAIK it's the only one that will let you sample rate convert your mixes this easily.

happy recording,
Doug (SAW Studio Basic user)

www.myspace.com/hisesoundlabs

[ericj23]

oddly enough I would want to work at 96Khz but use some things (particulalry the virus poco) at 48 khz

[aciddose]

damn it i should have cashed in on this one by now :P

the solution is extremely simple, its just a matter of using extra resampling/decimation modules at the input and output of sets of other modules which run at a different sampling frequency.

synth[44]->effect[44]->upsamp[96]->effect[96]->deci[44]->output[44]

its actually really simple if you dont mind a large number of upsample/decimation stages. this wouldnt really be possible in realtime though. it is possible to upsample and to decimate maybe one or two streams at 96k on a modern cpu, but this would most likely be limited to use while rendering the track..

it would be most useful i think if a host would allow you to render individual tracks at different rates, and treat things independantly, ignoring the idea of "project rate" and instead letting the sample rate work for individual modules.

you could render the output of your synth at 44k, resample it (using offline processing plugins) to 96k, render the audio part through your effect at 96k, decimate back to 44k (again with offline plugins) and keep that audio part in the project.

most people use features and most hosts have them related to "freeze" audio, so allowing different sampling rates would simply be a minor complication of the mixing/rendering code.

- i attribute the lack of this feature to coders being lazy. i was extremely surprised cubase sx3 lacked this and many other features i wanted and it makes sx3 absolutely useless to me. i wouldnt even spend the bandwidth to warez the stuff, its total junk.

if you want this feature in hosts, stop paying for them until it gets implemented!

[AdmiralQuality]

If the plug wants to oversample beyond the sample rate of the host, it's completely free to do it itself, internally. Mine do.

[ingredient t]

so, what I was hoping for was something like Xlutop Chainer (which is tits) that allows for upsampling of individual effects or instruments. and the consensus seems to be that there is no such thing out there, although I am holding out hope for Pluggo until somebody knowledgable about that product can comment on it.

I would use freeze or try rendering tracks through effects individually, but I like to keep things as liquid as possible so that I can tweak, tweak and tweak some more. I like to apply effects to combined tracks and once I start having to merge them together in order to apply effects a lot of flexibility really goes out the window.

what I have planned on doing but haven't yet started was to get my beats and synth parts down to where I want them, render everything as 24-bit 96kHz audio files and create audio-only projects where I can mess with effects and really just go to town. but that requires more forethought than I am apparently capable of and I prefer to keep on mindlessly tweaking via MIDI and whatnot..

anyway, thanks for your comments and suggestions.