That SynthEdit Problem

[yemski]

Let me just preface these questions by stating that I have no particular axe to grind as far Synthedit is concerned -infact it is rare for me not to utilise at least one Synthedit Plugin in a track (Mettalurgy and Motion being two prime examples).

It has come to my attention recently,after having upgraded to a Dual Core System that plugins created with Synthedit tend to cause problems when more than one instance of a particular plugin is introduced into a project.

It would be safe to say that this applies to all the Synthedit Plugs I have used,with effects ranging from annoying glitching and stuttering to projects simply not opening.Switching off the option to use Multi Threaded processing is the only solution I have been aware of until recently.Obviously this is unsatifactory as far solutions go,since it negates the whole reason for using a multi-processor environment in the first place.

Having waded through the overly heated discussions on this particular subject,
(the main protagonists seemed more interested in insulting each other and protecting their fragile egos),I came across a possible solution.
This involves duplicating all the SynthEdit dll's consecutively for as many as you need for a particular project.

This is a solution that you are all probably well aware of.
My main questions with regard to this are:

A)Does this actually work?

B)Often the dlls have other external files associated with them,will these have to be duplicated also?

Thanks in advance,to who ever can help with this problem.

[John Vulich]

the main protagonists seemed more interested in insulting each other and protecting their fragile egos

Fragile egos???

Here on KVR???

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!

[yemski]

the main protagonists seemed more interested in insulting each other and protecting their fragile egos

Fragile egos???

Here on KVR???

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!

I'm sorry to say that this appears to be the case.

I can also say that I'm no saint when it comes to letting mine get in the way on occasions.

But before we go off into an interesting discussion as to how many self obsessed divas can dance on the head of a Usb Lead,can some one please answer my question?

[nollock]

A)Does this actually work?

My 'guess' would be no. Every plugin has an 4 byte ID that the host uses to identify it. So duplicating the dll will create duplicates with conflicting IDs. The reason this will probably not work is the host cant know which one to load when it reloads an existing project. And in general i think hosts wont load a plugin if it has an Id that is already in use.

I dont know for sure tho.

[hoffy]

This workaround has been mentioned 10,000 times but no one can be bothered.

And again, no one could be bothered telling me if anyone has investigated whether the multi-core bug only affects AMD or Intel processors, or both. Seems like a simple test given not everyone is affected by this bug (apparently).

My guess is no one cares enough about their Synthedit plugs to bother giving this a go.

[Benedict]

Hi

I'd love to be able to give you a definite answer on the duplicating .dll workaround but sadly I don't yet have a multi core machine.

Surely someone has tested this theory tho.

[ugo]

A)Does this actually work?

Seems to work ok here in Cubase SL3.

B)Often the dlls have other external files associated with them,will these have to be duplicated also?

When you first run an SE plugin, it automatically creates a folder with the same name as the VST, which includes things such as 3rd party modules and embedded text files. However, some plugins also require the use of additional files/samples which do not get embedded into the dll, and therefore do not get extracted when the plugin first loads. These will need to be copied as well in order for the plugin to find them because it always looks in the folder that has its name.

My 'guess' would be no. Every plugin has an 4 byte ID that the host uses to identify it. So duplicating the dll will create duplicates with conflicting IDs. The reason this will probably not work is the host cant know which one to load when it reloads an existing project. And in general i think hosts wont load a plugin if it has an Id that is already in use.

I dont know for sure tho.

Not all hosts have a problem with multiple plugins having the same ID. You are correct that some do though. However the last time I ran into this the conflict was resolved by placing the other copy in its own sub folder.

And again, no one could be bothered telling me if anyone has investigated whether the multi-core bug only affects AMD or Intel processors, or both. Seems like a simple test given not everyone is affected by this bug (apparently).

My guess is no one cares enough about their Synthedit plugs to bother giving this a go.

That is a very good question but I do not own both AMD and Intel dual cores, so I cannot test this one myself. I would be interested to know the outcome of that test too though.

By the way yemski, I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying Metallurgy and Motion.

[BFunKu]

A)Does this actually work?

My 'guess' would be no. Every plugin has an 4 byte ID that the host uses to identify it. So duplicating the dll will create duplicates with conflicting IDs. The reason this will probably not work is the host cant know which one to load when it reloads an existing project. And in general i think hosts wont load a plugin if it has an Id that is already in use.

I dont know for sure tho.

It will work in Computer Muzy's!

[Orbit-50]

Does this actually work?

Yes it does! I've thoroughly tested it. All you have to do is copy the .dll file as many times as you think you will need instances. Just rename each .dll file in order. Example: Adventus-1.dll, Adventus-2.dll, Adventus-3.dll, etc. When you open your host for the first time after doing this, the plugin scanning proccess will automatically make copies of the associated files belonging to each .dll copy you've made. The associated files will even have the same name as the .dll copy it belongs to. That's it. I don't use a lot of Synthedit plugins but I have a few that I enjoy using. This work around made me very happy because I was one of those who couldn't use more than one instance of any of my favorite Synthedit plugs because of the dual-core thing. - Orbit-50


.-.

[xoxos]

Does this actually work?

Yes it does! I've thoroughly tested it. All you have to do is copy the .dll file as many times as you think you will need instances.

thank you for your reports!

fwiw i've been using ext 1.4.1 on a dual core with multiple multiple instances (unrenamed/fussed) and no crash. another host doesn't work for me. someone i know is the opposite - their ext doesn't work and the other host does.

jeff mentioned the bulk of the update being complete, only minor problems to fix now.

[Orbit-50]

.-.

- Orbit-50

.-.

[MaxJoy]

Does this actually work?

Yes it does! I've thoroughly tested it. All you have to do is copy the .dll file as many times as you think you will need instances.

thank you for your reports!

fwiw i've been using ext 1.4.1 on a dual core with multiple multiple instances (unrenamed/fussed) and no crash. another host doesn't work for me. someone i know is the opposite - their ext doesn't work and the other host does.

jeff mentioned the bulk of the update being complete, only minor problems to fix now.

Running ext 1.4.1 on a dual-core is quite pointless because it cannot run more than one audio thread in parallel. Therefor you see no differences compared to a single-core machine.

I've had several issues (audio dropouts, crashes etc.) with SE plugs in multi-core enabled hosts (namely Orion Platinum and Live). The copy & rename trick works in both hosts. So it isn't that big problem anymore . The 4-char ID is ignored by most hosts, I guess it was a bad idea from the beginning on ...

[Orbit-50]

So it isn't that big problem anymore

Happy to hear! The other reason that this work around is so great, is the fact that I really don't see every developer of every Synthedit plugin updating their plugins if there is a fix in the future. So, for those that aren't updated, they still can be used on a dual core machine. - Orbit-50

.-.