VST plugin that allow inside 4 or more VST plugins to save a multi vst effect

[S-N-S]

what about the new plugin from blue audiocat patchwork??

[aMUSEd]

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/chainer ... op/details

As much as I still like and use Chainer, I suggest people look elsewhere:.

- Some newer plugins don't work with it.
- The author has categorically said that he has no intention of updating it.
- It was developed in VST 2.3.

I would definitely spend my money on something more recent and actively developed.

A shame really, because it's still the smallest, tightest, most solid and most efficiently written VST host ever. The last revision of this host was in 2002! And if I'm not mistaken, it's one of the few, if only self-contained hosts that can be stand-alone AND plugin: it can even host itself. Interesting that in 12 years no one's done something as flexible as this.

Apart from NI Kore

[Breeze]

...Interesting that in 12 years no one's done something as flexible as this.

Apart from NI Kore

Right. Which isn't available for sale anymore... like Phrazor before it...

Maybe the market for this type of utility is simply unsustainable.

[ENV1]

Chainer is still the smallest, tightest, most solid and most efficiently written VST host ever.

Nope. That would be SAVIHost.

And if I'm not mistaken, it's one of the few, if only self-contained hosts that can be stand-alone AND plugin: it can even host itself. Interesting that in 12 years no one's done something as flexible as this.

Im not sure anyone here knows it at all, but you can use Hermann Seibs entire VSTHost as a VST/VSTi plugin via Legree. The principle here is somewhat similar to ReWire; heres how it works:

- You start VSTHost with the -Slave parameter

- You load the Legree plugin into the host

- The plugin auto-connects to VSTHost

- VSTHost now functions as a VST plugin in your host

(VSTHost instances can be given a number so you can use multiple VSTHost environments simultaneously.)


The benefit is obvious; you can use this big versatile modular environment as an instrument rack, or an effect rack, or even a rack containing an arrangement of both instruments AND effects, with absolutely no limitations as to the number of plugins contained and how they are connected with each other. As i mentioned; theres 2 Legree DLLs, a VST version and a VSTi version, and yes, they come in 64bit as well.

The only downside, if you want to call it that, is that Legree is merely a 'handler', meaning it does not (yet?) save/restore any 'presets'. What this means is that your host will save the presence of Legree in the project, Legree will connect to VSTHost upon reloading that project, but Legree itself will not reload any data into VSTHost. Instead you will have to save your VSTHost racks/arrangements as 'Performances', (which is VSTHosts name for 'Projects'), and load the desired performance back into VSTHost as required.

The positive aspect about this is that you can use these performances in ANY host since the data is not stored in any one hosts project file. So basically youre trading a little bit of convenience for enormous flexibility. As i said earlier, its not entirely unlike ReWire so some of you should already be familiar with the basic concept at least. Since it worked rather well in my own tests (Win7/32 - no complaints here) i can only recommend to try it if you havent yet.



PS: I know VSTHost probably wouldnt win any beauty contests (not that it matters) but Hermann absolutely knows his shit when it comes to coding. (Which obviously is the important part.) This i can say with confidence because VSTHost is one of the most stable hosts i have ever worked with. Nothing about it strikes you as having been done 'sloppily', in fact the exact opposite is the case. So dont judge this book by its cover. To get an idea how many features VSTHost actually has (and there is much more than meets the eye), i recommend to just read the manual. It is very detailed and should leave no questions open.

[arakula]

Thank you very much for this unpaid advertising

The only downside, if you want to call it that, is that Legree is merely a 'handler', meaning it does not (yet?) save/restore any 'presets'.

That is correct, and I have no plans to change it in the foreseeable future.

PS: I know VSTHost probably wouldnt win any beauty contests (not that it matters)

You can always install one of the beautiful skins that Artvera did for it. Or roll your own.

[whyterabbyt]

Thanks for the list. Are you sure about MUX? AFAICT, MUX is only a plugin though the basic MuLab host is free.

No, I think you're right there, sorry.

[Shabdahbriah]

Not yet mentioned:

Cantabile

[Breeze]

Not yet mentioned:
Cantabile

Cantabile is a nice live host, like Forte and Mainstsge (OS X), but it doesn't fit the requirements of the OT: it can't be used as a VST plugin.

Another note for the OT: you can find most of the sub-hosts mentioned in this thread and others by searching the KVR database.

[Breeze]

Thank you very much for this unpaid advertising

The only downside, if you want to call it that, is that Legree is merely a 'handler', meaning it does not (yet?) save/restore any 'presets'.

That is correct, and I have no plans to change it in the foreseeable future.

PS: I know VSTHost probably wouldnt win any beauty contests (not that it matters)

You can always install one of the beautiful skins that Artvera did for it. Or roll your own.

Parameter recall is no small thing. I've escalated experimental Chainer setups to full productions by using it as a plugin; it's easy and painless involving no extra management but instantiation. I would say it's a basic requirement. BTW, one way I used Chainer in a 64-bit environment (it is and likely always will be 32-bit... grr...) is by using J-Bridge, which surprisingly is very stable.

A few comments about SAVIHost (Hi Hermann!): I've used SAVIhost as a test platform but after looking at the optional GUIs, I think I must be using an old version because my version only hosts one plugin at a time and has to be closed to open another. The other thing I find annoying about it is having to "physically" navigate from its home directory to my VST folders to find plugins, instead of having a managed list and access to multiple folders. Have these changed? (I think I have to get in touch... for some reason my "donated" status timed out...)

I've only used Legree to manage ZynAddSubFX and found it somewhat shaky, but I'm pretty sure that's because of the experimental nature of the ZynAddSubFX builds.

[arakula]

A few comments about SAVIHost (Hi Hermann!): I've used SAVIhost as a test platform but after looking at the optional GUIs, I think I must be using an old version because my version only hosts one plugin at a time and has to be closed to open another. The other thing I find annoying about it is having to "physically" navigate from its home directory to my VST folders to find plugins, instead of having a managed list and access to multiple folders. Have these changed?

No, it's still "one PlugIn at a time". And will stay so.

But you don't have to copy it around if you don't want to, because (a) if you start it and there's no DLL with the same name in the same directory, it will present a file selection dialog and (b) if you want to do it the other way round, simply keep SAVIHost on the desktop and drag the PlugIn DLLs onto its icon. SAVIHost accepts command line parameters; if a parameter is not preceded by - or /, it's supposed to be the name of the PlugIn DLL that's to be loaded.

A third option equivalent to (b) above would be to create a link on the desktop/in a folder/in the start menu which contains savihost.exe dllname in the target. A fourth, which I use, although it's perhaps needlessly complicated, would be to create hard links using either fsutil hardlink create or mklink /h (depending on your Windows version).

Anything I've forgotten? Ah yes, option #5... right-click a PlugIn DLL and set the default open method to SAVIHost. From then on, double-clicking anything with the extension .dll will open SAVIHost with the DLL. Definitely not recommended if you do anything else with .dll files, but it's possible.

[Edit:] JFTR: SAVIHost is short for Stand Alone VST Instrument Host. It was never intended to load more than one PlugIn.

[Breeze]

No, it's still "one PlugIn at a time". And will stay so.

Thanks for the verbose response. It seems I got SAVIHost mixed up with VSTHost.

Clearly a more complete and flexible host than SAVI. Currently scanning my plugin directories.... it's going to take a while...

[scalawag]

Acon Digital EffectChainer:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia ... iner.shtml

Discontinued....

[Debutante]

Studio Units - modular and free and stable as hell http://www.studio-units.com/

[noobAudioJunky]

A third option equivalent to (b) above would be to create a link on the desktop/in a folder/in the start menu which contains savihost.exe dllname in the target. A fourth, which I use, although it's perhaps needlessly complicated, would be to create hard links using either fsutil hardlink create or mklink /h (depending on your Windows version).

That's awesome!
if you put a shortcut in your sendto folder, i.e.

!vst-test.lnk
with the target as
savihost.exe %1

then you can quickly check out new vsts!

[Saukar30]

Overlooked... but I'll post it again...

Patchwork
https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/P ... PatchWork/