I've asked this before but don't think I got a really satisfactory answer.
Just wondering what the performance of running Windows VST's on Linux is compared to running them natively?
Performance of VST's under Linux
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- KVRian
- 1258 posts since 25 Nov, 2003 from London
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- KVRian
- 762 posts since 2 Sep, 2004 from Poland
I didn't make any measurements but it looks performance is similar. Both DSSI-VST and FST wrappers don't add that much of an overhead. However there is also wine and some plugins can behave differently (slower GUIs, need to make an additional click to refresh parameters, lag in controls, slightly moved widgets, etc.)speccyteccy wrote:I've asked this before but don't think I got a really satisfactory answer.
Just wondering what the performance of running Windows VST's on Linux is compared to running them natively?
So it's best to check any given plugin first as there isn't a simple rule to predict if it will work or not.
For an example Wusikstation3 works under both DSSI-VST and FST. In former it perfectly stable but has a problem with refreshing a browser window (needs a click). In latter it it's perfect GUI wise but there is a crash when attempting to open configuration panel.
For an other example Sylenth1 has a lag for its gui and when it's refreshing anything in a screen a CPU get spikes.
What is EXT2 doing with VST it's using natively compiled ones for Linux. So such ones should perform better (and without any issues) than those running via wrappers and wine.
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- KVRian
- 1262 posts since 15 Feb, 2003 from Up the Pennine way
Same as what Radek said.
Do a kvr search for an instrument and check if it runs on receptor, if it does then it should work ok.
The only problem, as I see it, is saving and using pre-sets as fst and dssi-vst on their own don't allow that.
Native vst support in XT2 would mean saving so I'm looking forward to that. Rosegarden, om-modular and LMMS allow them to be saved and there is also "lash" to help overcome that problem.
Erm, a quick screenshot from last night. 5.8ms, 32bit @ 44100 with 28% cpu hit and only 1 Xrun, caused by opening iceweasel and browsing the web while playing

Comprising: Alsa modular with Om modular hosting the vst's and patchage for linking them all up. Oh yeah, Ardour was doing the recording but that's on another screen.
fake
Do a kvr search for an instrument and check if it runs on receptor, if it does then it should work ok.
The only problem, as I see it, is saving and using pre-sets as fst and dssi-vst on their own don't allow that.
Native vst support in XT2 would mean saving so I'm looking forward to that. Rosegarden, om-modular and LMMS allow them to be saved and there is also "lash" to help overcome that problem.
Erm, a quick screenshot from last night. 5.8ms, 32bit @ 44100 with 28% cpu hit and only 1 Xrun, caused by opening iceweasel and browsing the web while playing

Comprising: Alsa modular with Om modular hosting the vst's and patchage for linking them all up. Oh yeah, Ardour was doing the recording but that's on another screen.
fake
You cant beat people up then have them say "I love you"
- KVRist
- 286 posts since 19 Jun, 2004
did they save the whole arrangement with all presets? in my experience I allways have to recall the presets by hand in this apps (lash, ingen, rosegarden)Rosegarden, om-modular and LMMS allow them to be saved and there is also "lash" to help overcome that problem.
I gived up frustrated and decided, if I want to use vst, I use it on Windows.
Too much crashes and freezes, no easy-going, complicated licence conditions, no total recall: wrapping VST on Linux is experimental, not for productive use.
It is a problem of wine... native apps are allways more stable.
But the new ardour2 with vstfx support seemed to be ok with a few plugins, also the saving of presets. I just testing a beta cvs build and maybe this will enrich my studio setup dramaticly.
But I believe that eXT2 will be the absolute stable killerapp with this native VST... and midi !
[del]AudioLinux sucks.[/del]
