Viper｜1.2.2 update with bugfixes and new skin

[adamszabo]

I do have a quick question: how does one change skins in 1.1.0? If I missed this, please forgive me.

Go to Vipers menu and select "Skins" and choose a skin. If you dont see the Skins option, you didnt copy that folder from the update in the zip to the Viper folder.

[kmonkey]

When they drop VST2 support is the time to go all-in on VST3. Until that time, why would you do that to yourself?

I can tell you why I am migrating to VST 3. Because now slowly I can, and when the times arrive and my DAW completely drops VST2 support I want to be already done with the migration.

I am well aware that VST3 is nothing to be amazed about and all that, but because Steinberg shut down the availability of VST 2 SDK (this does not mean someone will stop supporting existing VST 2 I get that) and because I see the trend is that companies are slowly shifting toward VST 3 I just want to be ready for the same reason there was a change from 32 bit to 64 bit. Today no one really offers 32-bit. If they do it's a really small number of developers.

I wouldn't be concerned about it at all if there is easy migration from VST 2 to VST 3 of the same instrument in your DAW session. Apparently, by reading NI forums there is a mechanism for that - but in practice, it does not work or it works half the time. There is something conflicting with the automation of parameters on VST 3 and VST ID when compared to VST 2 - I can't recall the exact discussion but the developer explained why it is a problem to migrate from VST 2 to VST 3 easily. Maybe in the future, there will be a better ways for developers. I don't know.

So better to be ready for it. That's my reason. And yes it stinks.

[adamszabo]

BTW, here is a little teaser of a new feature which the Virus and most synth dont have, a 'Unison Voice' modulation source. It means you can assign all kinds of modulation for each unison voice, so you can have different wavetable position, lfo amount, lfo rate, whatever you want for each voice. Here I control the pitch of each voice with a single envelope, spreading them out to octaves, thus creating the famous THX sound

https://www.adamszabo.com/internet/THX.mp4

Edit: right click the link and select open in new tab/window as kvr will obviously not play the mp4 embedded

[BONES]

I can tell you why I am migrating to VST 3. Because now slowly I can, and when the times arrive and my DAW completely drops VST2 support I want to be already done with the migration.

That makes no sense at all. There is no "migration" required, we've had both for years. I wouldn't even know if I'm using a VST2 or VST3 plugin. It's just a plugin.

I just want to be ready for the same reason there was a change from 32 bit to 64 bit.

That was a completely different situation because if you had a 32 bit host, you couldn't run 64 bit plugins and if you had most 64 bit hosts you couldn't run 32 bit plugins. You had to have your shit together to make the switch work. That's not the case here and just because you read something on a forum that suggest one idiot has a problem, that doesn't mean there is actually a problem.

[dlandis]

I do have a quick question: how does one change skins in 1.1.0? If I missed this, please forgive me.

Go to Vipers menu and select "Skins" and choose a skin. If you dont see the Skins option, you didnt copy that folder from the update in the zip to the Viper folder.

Thanks, Adam. My update to 1.1.0 (after purchasing the plug-in very recently) didn't have the skins folder. I went back to the demo folder which was still in my recycle bin and fetched the skins folder from there. I can now load different skins (I really like "Alien," I think in part because so few plug-ins seem to use a bold green in their GUIs. It's quite striking.)

All of which has me wondering: did other files not unZip as well? I'm tending to think this is an archive issue as WinZip wouldn't unzip the file at all and I had to use 7-Zip to extract it. The VST runs very well, but is there a way to check this, re: complete extraction of all files?

[adamszabo]

Thanks, Adam. My update to 1.1.0 (after purchasing the plug-in very recently) didn't have the skins folder. I went back to the demo folder which was still in my recycle bin and fetched the skins folder from there. I can now load different skins (I reallt like "Alien," I think in part because so few plug-ins seem to use a bold green in their GUIs. It's quite striking.)

All of which has me wondering: did other files not unZip as well? I'm tending to think this is an archive issue as WinZip wouldn't unzip the file at all and I had to use 7-Zip to extract it. The VST runs very well, but is there a way to check this, re: complete extraction of all files?

Hmm, that is very strange. The zip should contain all files: manual, wave files, skins, banks, dll files, everything. I have no clue what is happening on your end

[dlandis]

Thanks, Adam. My update to 1.1.0 (after purchasing the plug-in very recently) didn't have the skins folder. I went back to the demo folder which was still in my recycle bin and fetched the skins folder from there. I can now load different skins (I reallt like "Alien," I think in part because so few plug-ins seem to use a bold green in their GUIs. It's quite striking.)

All of which has me wondering: did other files not unZip as well? I'm tending to think this is an archive issue as WinZip wouldn't unzip the file at all and I had to use 7-Zip to extract it. The VST runs very well, but is there a way to check this, re: complete extraction of all files?

Hmm, that is very strange. The zip should contain all files: manual, wave files, skins, banks, dll files, everything. I have no clue what is happening on your end

Yes, I think it's odd as well. Here's a screenshot of my unzipped Viper folder:

Viper folder.png

The sizes for the folders are:

Patterns: 17.2 KB, Size on disk: 0 KB, Contains: 63 files, 0 folders.

Soundbanks: 724 KB, Size on disk: 732 KB, Contains: 4 files, 2 folders.

Waveforms: 197 KB, Size on disk: 332 KB, Contains: 65 files, 2 folders.

Wavetables: 50.8 MB, Size on Disk: 51.0 MB, Contains: 58 files, 1 folder.

Does this seem correct?

Thanks again, Adam.

[adamszabo]

Yeah everything is there except the skins, very strange. I downloaded it myself and I have everything in there, so it definitely should be in the zip. But anyway, its good that you managed to get it from the demo, problem solved I guess

[kmonkey]

That makes no sense at all. There is no "migration" required, we've had both for years. I wouldn't even know if I'm using a VST2 or VST3 plugin. It's just a plugin.

I just want to be ready for the same reason there was a change from 32 bit to 64 bit.

In this case, you either don't have experience in this situation which is why you don't see a sense in it. Or you do but with your plugins, you didn't have any trouble (that can also be the case depending o the company) There most definitely is "migration". Even Steinberg, the maker of VST 2 SDK refers to it - link at the bottom. We can argue about using "migration" as a term but this is semantic now. MY English is not the first language, the point is there is a "process" behind VST 2 vs VST3.

Example:

Load VST 2 plugin. Create a session in your DAW with the plugin. Uninstall the VST 2 plugin and install VST3 version.

Try to load your session which was previously created with VST2 version.

Not working. Or partly working (depending on the plugin).

For example, all of my Eventide plugins, when saved as VST2, will successfully load as a VST3 version. Fabfilter plugins will not. The only alternative is to painstakingly copy settings from VST2 into VST3 and resave.

Don't believe me? Google is full of forum articles threads and articles from various DAW companies.

https://forums.steinberg.net/t/in-situ- ... t3/69182/7
https://forums.presonus.com/viewtopic.p ... 0&p=300405

https://support.native-instruments.com/ ... migration-

From the NI changelog, you can see that there is VST 2 to VST 3 migration protocol but developers need to update their products and most of them did not do that (yet).

In fact, Steinberg themselves posted a GitHub article about it. So it is an issue so to speak. You can argue that "migration" is the wrong term. I can understand that.

https://steinbergmedia.github.io/vst3_d ... +VST2.html

[Aloysius]

Plugin Alliance: VST3 plugins show presets for most plugins in Ableton Live 11 (Windows) browser. So does Sonnox.

[BONES]

In this case, you either don't have experience in this situation which is why you don't see a sense in it. Or you do but with your plugins, you didn't have any trouble (that can also be the case depending o the company)

Of course I don't have any trouble with VST2, it's been working for more than a decade. OTOH, I definitely do ahve trouble with VST3, which seems to make my system less stable and also has problems in Studi One with synths that don't have their own patch-change system. e.g. I can't change patches in the VST3 version of Olga but I can in the VST 2.4 version.

There most definitely is "migration". Even Steinberg, the maker of VST 2 SDK refers to it - link at the bottom. We can argue about using "migration" as a term but this is semantic now. MY English is not the first language, the point is there is a "process" behind VST 2 vs VST3.

Example:

These examples show why it's stupid to ditch VST2 before it becomes absolutely necessary. It's more trouble than it's worth.

[Aloysius]

Sound Canvas VA VST2 gets automatically installed to a folder I don't use. I can't use this plugin without copying the dll to my default VST2 location. At time of writing, there is no VST3 for this plugin.

Overall, developers seem to respect the location of the VST3 folder. So that's one headache solved.

However, I do have problems with some VST3. Mathew Lane won't remember settings for me if I use VST3. So I have to use VST2.

EastWest Play will not work for me as VST3 in Ableton Live, so again, I have to use VST2.

Anyway ... back to the wonderful VIPER.

[izonin]

I was surprised how close to the original it can sound. Virus C first, Viper second.

https://soundcloud.com/izonin/viper-vs- ... blind-test

[ThomasLehmann]

I would like to have a soundbank window with two banks were I could copy and drag and drop sounds between, like in the Virus TI. This way I would organize my big library of sounds. At now it is impossible to manage my big library of virus soundbanks. I have to load a bank and have to save preset for preset over the menu.

[adamszabo]

I would like to have a soundbank window with two banks were I could copy and drag and drop sounds between, like in the Virus TI. This way I would organize my big library of sounds. At now it is impossible to manage my big library of virus soundbanks. I have to load a bank and have to save preset for preset over the menu.

Have two Vipers side by side, and load an empty bank in one of them and your soundbanks on the other. In the browser you can right click on the preset (or from the Viper main menu) and select "Copy Preset", then you can paste it in the Viper with the empty bank. This way you can create your favourite sounds very fast.