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frog_jr · Post by **frog_jr** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:27 pm

Relative newby question here. I guess the program I love so much, Psycle, is going to have to be replaced, at least sometimes, with something that works with more VST's, and isn't crashed by Liveslice. (Of course the dev'ers are supposed to be overhauling the VST engine sometime, but they have all taken a dip this summer.

) I want suggestions for a host, and other suggestions, and hopefully it is something I can afford money-wise. I don't have the $ for an expensive host; nonetheless I have purchased Beatcreator, Recycle, and now Liveslice.

So what application can I use that has good stable VST compatibility, and preferably a good sequencer built in? I am in love with the automation features of Psycle, but finding something more stable with VST's (for one thing) would really make me happy.

I am currently trying Mulch, and have purchased EnergyXT. I was sad to see a thread about crashing in Ext that really resembles what happens in Psycle (crashes leaving a process you can't kill until you reboot which won't allow you to start the program again, etc.) but for free.

rbet · Post by **rbet** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:39 pm

FL Studio
Orion
EnergyXT
Tunafish

MattmaN · Post by **MattmaN** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:55 pm

Ext is actually considered to be a stable host by most, and the thread you read is likely a somewhat isolated instance.
On my old pc EXT ran smooth, and fast, but on my Athlon xp24000 the gui is too slow?
Again this is a somewhat isloated instance that not too many experience.
If it's been stable so far for you, then your probably not going to have problems with it.
Ext has a great rep for vst compatibility too.

nitex · Post by **nitex** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:56 pm

Renoise is also a good choice, if you're into trackers. LiveSlice will work without problems in the next release and a beta will be probably available soon.

Polite Company · Post by **Polite Company** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:15 pm

No real input on what host to use as I myself am currently on the same search. But as a fellow user of Psycle, and fellow abandoner it would appear at least until 2.0 is it's ever done, I'd like to welcome you to KvR. It seems like more an more ex-psyclers are showing up here.

VeXKoN · Post by **VeXKoN** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:18 pm

eXT is good but can confuse if your not used to modular environments. ableton is the best "EZ" host.

frog_jr · Post by **frog_jr** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:23 pm

Great inputs, thanks! Keep them coming! I am hoping the remarks regarding Ext are correct, since I have already paid the miniscule price for it. I don't see anybody speaking for Mulch so far. It crashed on me some too. Has some truly great features, too. If I have to leave my Psycle I will be very sad. But I have been using Steinberg plugins simce BeOS. What about Tunafish? What about FL? What about Mulch?

frog_jr · Post by **frog_jr** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:30 pm

Polite Company wrote:No real input on what host to use as I myself am currently on the same search. But as a fellow user of Psycle, and fellow abandoner it would appear at least until 2.0 is it's ever done, I'd like to welcome you to KvR. It seems like more an more ex-psyclers are showing up here.

Hi PC. I am not giving up really, at least not yet, but until the new vst implementation I have to try something different. I am really impressed with Psycle's capability of recording your actions into the tracker interface. I suspect that is the most outstanding feature of Psycle, and I hope I can find that elsewhere. Cheers, frog

frog_jr · Post by **frog_jr** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:34 pm

VeXKoN wrote:eXT is good but can confuse if your not used to modular environments. ableton is the best "EZ" host.

You know, I have gotten some kind of "light" version of Ableton with this m-audio card I purchased. Is it worth it to try that, do you think? Never tried Ableton. An "EZ" host I had good results with before was VSTHost. Never tried it with Liveslice though.

ohm · Post by **ohm** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:43 pm

I'm using Energy XT as my main host, and I use it for testing LiveSlice during development, so for that reason it should be one of the more stable hosts for LiveSlice

The reason I never looked into the problems with LiveSlice and Psycle was that you told me Psycle is pretty unstable with VST's in general, so I figured there'd be a very small chance it was a LiveSlice problem. If LiveSlice crashes in another host let me know and it will be fixed (unless it's an early alpha version of that host of course)

frog_jr · Post by **frog_jr** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 1:10 am

ohm wrote:I'm using Energy XT as my main host, and I use it for testing LiveSlice during development, so for that reason it should be one of the more stable hosts for LiveSlice

Well, it's good to know I now have the host it was dev'd in.

ohm wrote:The reason I never looked into the problems with LiveSlice and Psycle was that you told me Psycle is pretty unstable with VST's in general, so I figured there'd be a very small chance it was a LiveSlice problem.

As for its stability, it depends on the VST. I had the impression, right or wrong, that some of these lovely VSTs available simply aren't that well put together, although well-intentioned, and that more hosts than just Psycle had problems with them. My attempts at using Mulch so far also have ended in crashes more than once, and I just installed the demo 2 wks ago. Hence my questions to this board.

Psycle eventually crashes most of the times I have used Liveslice, although I have used it for over half an hour before this happens. Also I havan't successfuly saved a .psy file with Liveslice and then been able to load the file again -- .psy being the native format, like .mod or whatever -- Psycle also usually crashes with Synthedit VSTs, and some others too. The other slicers I have tried will not load in the program at all.

And I wouldn't ask you to do anything about this presently since the dev'ers are supposedly making a new vst engine, or rather adapting Hermann Seib's wonderful little "VSTHost" as part of the next version. So I am hoping the VST issues will be less of a problem soon.

ohm wrote:If LiveSlice crashes in another host let me know and it will be fixed (unless it's an early alpha version of that host of course)

I really appreciate your attention to this. That is what I love about the shareware world. So that is my general impression regarding Liveslice in Psycle so far. Psycle is a really super program in a variety of ways, IMO especially how it is so easy to record all param changes to the tracker/sequencer. To a certain extent you can just play, and turn the knobs, and those things are all saved to the tracker. It is not happy with some VSTs however, and Liveslice appears to be one of them as of version 1.8.2

ohm · Post by **ohm** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 1:34 pm

I just tried running LiveSlice 1.44 in the latest stable release of Psycle - 1.8.2 - with no problems. Didn't test midi automation though.

Are you using the latest version of LiveSlice?
I recommend that you try re-installing Psycle with a fresh download and try again, then give me a thorough description of the problem if it persists.

LBN · Post by **LBN** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 2:08 pm

Keep in mind that you will be entitled to a free upgrade to energyXT v2 which promises to be an exciting release with a lot of new features. So it might be worth it to hold off on purchasing a new host at least until you can get your hands on a beta version of eXT2 (real soon now

).

frog_jr · Post by **frog_jr** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 2:33 pm

ohm wrote:I just tried running LiveSlice 1.44 in the latest stable release of Psycle - 1.8.2 - with no problems. Didn't test midi automation though.

Did you try saving a song with Liveslice as one of the VSTs and then reopen that song again? I will email you the error message I got.

Cheers, frog

hcv242 · Post by **hcv242** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 3:06 pm

i also use psycle ... i use psycle but i use energyxt as a vst subhost in psycle....since ext can be used as a vsti.... its much much more stable like that...psycle has issues with plugins that have more than one stereo out....it works with some, but others crash....it might be the case with liveslice ... so just load ext vsti in psycle and then load liveslice inside energyxt....works like a charm, and you can also do lots of midi routing like that...stuff that you couldnt even dream of before with psycle alone... also like this you can use .fxp and all the advantages of ext in psycle.... ext is a true swiss knife for any other host... bear in mind that are some plugs that dont like to be hosted in ext (with ext loaded in psycle, i think its mostly a graphical issue)... ive just found a few though....like vanguard....
psycles vst host will be updated in the next months... but i guess i'll keep on using ext as subhost the same, since it lets me to do so much more than just host plugs...
but if you really want to drop psycle why not use ext alone as main seq ? its much cooler, faster and stable than all the other hosts...

a linux version of psycle is also being ported/coded and both versions will get a new sequencer and some new features in some months...

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