KVR Audio

learjeff · Post by **learjeff** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:24 pm

Does anyone know of a VST that acts as a media player?

Yeah, that seems like a strange request, but when I have my DAW or VST host running I can't play a media file, e.g., a tune I'm learning or something. Of course, from my DAW, I could import it and solo it. But say at band practice if I'd just like to play the original we're covering, I have to close my VST host and use WiMP or whatever to play the original. And meanwhile, no NIB4.

The only media types I'm interested in are mp3 and wma. Even just MP3 would be good enough; I can always crosscode my WMA files as needed.

Thanks,
Jeff

politcat · Post by **politcat** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:00 pm

mp3play

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/604.html

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:01 pm

What's your soundcard? Interested in one with multi-client drivers?

juha_p · Post by **juha_p** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:01 am

Is it because of locked samplerate you can't play from two sources simultaenously (different samplerates)?

There are players w/ samplerate setting
- NI TRAKTOR BeatPort Player (free)
- Winamp, Foobar, MediaMonkey, etc. (w/ resampling plug-in enabled)

Have you tried w/ those?

Juha

learjeff · Post by **learjeff** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:21 pm

Is there a multi-client low-latency ASIO driver?

I'm currently using ASIO4ALL with a built-in, for live playing and also while waiting (interminably) for support from MOTU.

Thanks, politcat, mp3play will be a big help!

No, sample rate shouldn't be the problem, just multi-client. And low latency is critical for VST host (playing softsynths live using my MIDI keyboard). Not ridiculously low; under 10 msec is fine.

eidenk · Post by **eidenk** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:50 pm

Me too I want a media player plug. But a real one, with the standard functions you find in a media player.

For doing DJ stuff if anyone wonders why.

learjeff · Post by **learjeff** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 9:46 pm

Well, first trial of mp3play failed, crashed my DAW. It's more important for the VST host, though, so I'll try that later.

eidenk, you might want to indicate what kind of features you're talking about. Why would a media player plug help. I don't know much about DJ'ing, so please fill me in.

BTW, mp3play supports WAV files too, which is nice. If I can get it to work, that is.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:05 am

learjeff wrote:Is there a multi-client low-latency ASIO driver?

Your soundcard drivers have several parts: MME, WME, Asio, etc. Asio is never multi-client. But the good news is that Windows Media Player and the likes don't access the Asio driver. They use WME or MME and these drivers are often multi-client nowadays.

I've just tested this with my AudioTrak card, and I can indeed play a file with WMP while my Asio host is also playing on the same channel.

learjeff wrote:I'm currently using ASIO4ALL with a built-in, for live playing and also while waiting (interminably) for support from MOTU.

Now that explains it

marce · Post by **marce** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:35 pm

learjeff wrote:Well, first trial of mp3play failed, crashed my DAW. It's more important for the VST host, though, so I'll try that later.

eidenk, you might want to indicate what kind of features you're talking about. Why would a media player plug help. I don't know much about DJ'ing, so please fill me in.

BTW, mp3play supports WAV files too, which is nice. If I can get it to work, that is.

Hi Jeff. Reaper import mp3 files, flac, ogg, wav, and others, it has a "media explorer" inside with a preview feature, play-stop only, that can be routed to any output supported by reaper. Can help.

Edit: sorry, you ask for a VST fx, i understood host.

learjeff · Post by **learjeff** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:43 pm

I don't think I want to use a DAW for live performance, and that's the main issue here. Plus if I change DAWs, it'll be for a bigger reason than this issue. That's a nice feature, though, and thanks!

Bert, I find that with either ASIO4ALL or MOTU, when any app has the ASIO driver open, no other app can open the corresponding MME or WDM device. So, apparently this behavior differs among soundcards, probably due to driver design.

Plus, I use ASIO4ALL live to avoid having to rip the MOTU from my studio every time I want to play. I'm thinking of getting an M-Aduio Transit. That would sound better than the built-in, but it would be 2 more items to set up & tear down (the unit and USB cable).

Cheers
Jeff

politcat · Post by **politcat** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 2:40 pm

try xtal

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/829.html

mp3play works better for me, but this might for you. it's more fun for DJing, if you're into that.

MrM · Post by **MrM** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:43 pm

Perhaps a strange question, but is it possible to load Winamp inside a VST host?
Or rather, using the Winamp-effects inside a VST host?

eidenk · Post by **eidenk** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:50 pm

learjeff wrote:eidenk, you might want to indicate what kind of features you're talking about. Why would a media player plug help. I don't know much about DJ'ing, so please fill me in.

I don't know much about DJing either but I thought it'd be very cool if I could use a standard media player in Cantabile.

Anyway I'll try this xtal now. It has playlist support it seems but no oggvorbis.

eidenk · Post by **eidenk** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 9:37 pm

Bummer I can't run xtal here as it has such a bad resource leak.

learjeff · Post by **learjeff** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 6:20 pm

mp3play crashes my DAW and freezes my whole computer when run in my VST host for live playing.

However, xtal rocks! Not only does it just work (and obvious how to use), but it has pitch shift. This is great for band practice, for tunes where we're changing the key. (It would be nice if we could enter the pitch shift in semitones, but I can always just tweak it to be in tune with the keyboard.)

Big thanks for pointing out xtal.

VST that acts like media player?