VST Hosts that can load / arrange VST's while playing live?

[VanGilles]

Are there any VST-hosts that can load a new set of VST's while playing with a current set?

Backgroud is that I play in a band and hear the upcomming song in my in-ear system from a bandmember but don't have any clue which song;i.e. a playlist isn't involved.

So lets say in the last 30 seconds playing an outro of any song I hear "Let me Entertain you, is the next!". Then I want to load, right away in background, let's say "Steinberg - The Grand" for the piano and Arturia Brass for the Trumpet-solo in the end.
Then I "give" my laptop 30 seconds to load it, and then in the end of the current song playing on any keystroke the host must switch to the loaded "Let me entertain you"-preset without delay.

There is probably a way to load all vst's at ones and switch between them but then probably my memory and performance goes way down (latency errors, clicks peeps, etc) and you definately don't want that to happen on stage.

ooh yeah and this offcourse without a stuttering while playing the current vst's

Thanks in advance...

ChillXXL

[Lunch Money]

I can't imagine any host being able to 'load them on the fly' without at least SOME noticeable effect.

I think you're better off with your own suggestion of loading them all-- in most if not all hosts, a plug-in will not consume CPU cycles unless it is being used. This is dependent on the plug-in itself rather than the host. The plug-in should know that it's not receiving a signal and therefore won't be processing anything.

It WILL, however, use up your RAM based on the actual size of the code being loaded into memory (as little as 50k, but sometimes as much as 10 MB) but also based on any samples that get loaded into RAM. This is less of a concern if you use instruments that stream from disc.

Almost any host will do it with a bit of creativity, but if it's mainly for live use, you could check out something like Brainspawn's Forte. Click me for Forte info.

I imagine that Live could prove handy, but that opinion's just due to the name and reputation as a Live-usage tool... I haven't actually tried it myself.

Another one to at least demo is SpinAudio's VMC (Virtual Mixing Console). While the name makes it seem more like a mixer than a host, it is certainly capable of (and even designed in no small part for) handling instrument-hosting duties: Click Here

Greg

[allofdrab]

I find AudioMulch (via the Document Switcher, Metasurface, or custom switching mechanisms) and Bidule (via custom switching mechanisms) are excellent for transitioning between setups. Both allow for MIDI control, while Bidule also implements the newer OSC protocol.

[allofdrab]

Note: the Metasurface can't be controlled by MIDI (yet)