VstBoard experimental opensource vst host

[CtrlBrk]

That's my luck... I tried it with Reaper, Live and VstHost. And, of course, it crashes with everything else

@Cyrosis : yes, the signal is clipped. I was wondering if a plugin was supposed to handle a signal above 0db, in doubt I just clipped it and didn't took the time to check that afterward. maybe someone can enlighten me ?

thanks for the feedback, and sorry for all the noobish/unfinished/badly designed stuffs...

[Cyrosis]

That's my luck... I tried it with Reaper, Live and VstHost. And, of course, it crashes with everything else

@Cyrosis : yes, the signal is clipped. I was wondering if a plugin was supposed to handle a signal above 0db, in doubt I just clipped it and didn't took the time to check that afterward. maybe someone can enlighten me ?

thanks for the feedback, and sorry for all the noobish/unfinished/badly designed stuffs...

Most plugins process above zero these days as it's commonplace for gain to be modified down the line somewhere with a compressor, limiter or EQ, etc. In the particular situation I discovered the clipping, I was using VstBoard to split a stereo signal to multiple channels for later decoding, and the gain is lost during the decoding process, so it's loud signal going in.

Either way, I could see myself getting extensive use out of VstBoard, make a bunch of my favorite templates and save a ton of time dropping them into new projects. I'll be following the updates, that's for sure.

[hcv242]

some more feedback.

using the mouse wheel to change parameter values is very dificult and unprecise. (and it is also very incoherent since all vsts guis use left click + mouse movement to change the knob values)

maybe you could follow the "current" trend in modulars and use left click + mouse movement to change the parameter values and for the cable connections, use shift + left click.

another thing that would be nice would be the possibility to scale the values of the parameters. ie to set min and max values for each parameter \ midi cc. setting min to 127 and max to 0 would invert the knob movement.

ive tested only for a while in ableton live... i dont feel much at ease in live. i'll report more stuff when it will run in renoise - which is where i feel at home

[CtrlBrk]

I fixed some issues in the 0.4.8 (but I still don't know what Toby bear is trying to do with my Dlls ^^)
The mouse wheel is not ideal, I agree, I might change that sooner or later. You can also use the arrow keys and Ctrl as a workaround.
You can scale the CC values with the cursors (the black triangles at the corners of each pin) as shown here :

(zoom-in with ctrl+mousewheel and ctrl+middleclick)

[Cyrosis]

An interface quirk I found. When you open VstBoard with it's full range of windows open (browser, undo history, etc) and than close those windows, the outer GUI size remains the same, giving you a large panel area. However if you later open the VST with those windows already closed, the outer GUI is now smaller, about the same of the default panel size. Of course than if u open the browser or undo history, your panel size is super small.

:Edit: I just tried installing the latest .48 version and both the 32 and 64bit downloads give me an NSIS error, saying the installer is corrupt. Is it working for anyone else?

...Ok, got it downloaded, think it was on my end.

[CtrlBrk]

The plugin window is now re-sizable, your problem should be fixed.
The NSIS error is due to an incomplete file. Sometime the download fails silently, maybe when the sourceforge mirrors are not up to date, I don't know exactly...

[Cyrosis]

The plugin window is now re-sizable, your problem should be fixed.

Trying out v 0.5, the re sizable GUI works great, thanks.

It appears I can no longer add multiple VST audio outs or ins however, like I could in previous versions. :Edit: Seems to be happening in Reaper 4, but works fine in FL.

[hcv242]

i have tried the vst instrument version v0.5 in renoise and it loads ok!!!

i have some issues with vstboard:

- I've made a very simple setup in the vsti version. A vstmidi in module connected to a vsti sampler plugin (discodsp highlife), connected to a vstaudio out module. renoise reports that this setup uses 4% of my 3.2Ghz Quadcore. That is way too much. the very same setup in energyxt \ plogue bidule (wich are other modular vstis that can host other vsts) only uses 1%. Highlife vsti is super stable and has no issues with denormals or whatsoever, so i can only assume that this is vstboard's fault.

- in vstboad vsti, i place highlife vsti ui window in my second video monitor, but when i reload the project in renoise the vst window always reappears in the first monitor. it seems that vstboard is not saving the vst ui window position.


- thanks for the parameter scaling tip. i have found the way it works a little odd. i dont know if i didnt understand the way it worked or if it is working incorrectly (havent watched the video, youtube is blocked here at work). it seems to me that currently it is limiting the values instead of scaling them.


and some suggestions:

- vsts should have two aditional parameters: bypass and mute.
bypass would stop vst processing, saving cpu cycles.

- preset management in the vst ui window. load\save fxp\fxb and a drop down menu to choose the current preset. maybe also some buttons to select next and previous preset.

- audio cables and midi cables should have different colours. and maybe an option to show only audio or show only midi cables.

this is all i can remember now. hope it helps.

[CtrlBrk]

The upper cursors limit the input value, this value is scaled by the lower cursors range.
There's a diagonal showing the input value on top and what is sent to the plugin at the bottom. but I think the diagonal is not always updated correctly

@Cyrosis : I know what's wrong with reaper, I'll fix that on the next update.

Thanks guys for all the help

btw, aren't we polluting the forum ? I don't know,... well, just let me know !

[hcv242]

The upper cursors limit the input value, this value is scaled by the lower cursors range.
There's a diagonal showing the input value on top and what is sent to the plugin at the bottom. but I think the diagonal is not always updated correctly
!

thanks... i'll check this tonight

[hcv242]

thanks for the 0.5.1 update

will check it for sure!

[Bramban]

AUTO-ADMIN: Non-MP3, WAV, OGG, SoundCloud, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and Facebook links in this post have been protected automatically. Once the member reaches 5 posts the links will function as normal.

Hello, the host is really nice. I try to myself to create one very simple and basic Host, it is a university project. But the problem is that when I am in the plugin factory, I cannot create object instance:

Code: Select all (#)

TArray<IPtr<PlugProvider>> PlugProveders;
	for (int32 i = 0; i < factory->countClasses (); i++)
	{
		factory->getClassInfo (i, &classInfo);
		if (filterClassCategory (kVstAudioEffectClass, classInfo.category))
		{
			factory->createInstance (classInfo.cid, FUnknown::iid, (void**)&objs);
			factory->createInstance(classInfo.cid,IAudioProcessor::iid,(void**)&processor);
			processor->addRef();
			processor->process(obj);
			PlugProvider* plugProvider = new PlugProvider (factory, classInfo, true);
			if (plugProvider)
			{
				PlugProveders.add (plugProvider);
				plugProvider->release ();

			}
		}

If someone can help shall be great:)

[jens]

VstBoard is really cool. I like the concept very much and so far it's the thing that comes closest to my (rather conventional, I guess) idea of a host that lets you create and switch comfortably between different setups during a song.

However I did not yet manage to connect a controller from a the 'MIDI to parameter' tool. If I'm clicking/dragging the controller, I always only edit its value instead of creating a cable I could then connect to a destination.

What am I missing? Anyone?

(I asked the same question in the VstBoard-forum over at Sourceforge, but really can't wait to get this working I thought I might as well ask here in addition)

[CtrlBrk]

Thanks jens ! I replied on sourceforge, in short : you have to switch to "Cable mode" with the 'C' key.

@Bramban : I only use vst2.4, not vst3, I can't help...

[jens]

Thank you very much for your reply, CrtlBrk. By now I had (kind of) already figured it out myself (by switching back to cable without realizing that this was the reason for it).

I am already in love with VstBoard. I think the basic concept is exactly how it should be done. The different layers (program/group/project) are a work of beauty.

However I have a few questions/requests:

- I can save both .fxp/.fxb, but I haven't found a way to actually load them

- the preset-names of the loaded (default) bank are not shown anywhere, it seems

- is there a way to temporarily hide/unhide all currently openend editor-windows?

- it would be great if we could maximize/minimize a panel

- I would like to optionally have a much bigger text-size for the groups (maybe another window?) so that I can easily switch them even when I'm not very close to
the screen

- are only the plugins for the currently acti8ve group in ram? If not: could this be an option (i.e. remove plugins of a group when switching to another one)?

- when having several ASIO-devices available, it seems 'Config device' always opens the ASIO panel of the one on the top, meaning I can't adjust the lastency for the one I'm actually using if it's not the uppermost one

That's it for now, I think. Either way: thank you very much for creating VstBoard and sharing it with us like this!