Chainer

Chainer is a low-cost VST / VSTi host that functions as both a stand-alone application and as a plug-in itself. It can effectively make any combination of your synths and / or effects stand-alone, free from the complexity and CPU drain of Cubase et al. These 'chains' can also be accessed through your favourite host by using Chainer as a plug-in. I bought it for live use but have found myself constantly using it on my main DAW.

It can even host multiple instances of itself; what's the point of that then? Well, suppose you find a combination of synths and effects that sound awesome together (with strategic mixing and panning) and you want save the 'chain' as a single preset. You can do this very easily and recall the preset in a couple of clicks, run it alongside an existing chain or on a different channel, load / save the same configuration under Cubase or FL Studio and so on. If like me you occasionally take a semi-modular approach to your plug-ins (like layering several instances of Synth1 for example) these features come in very handy.

It functions very well as a lightweight host, but its strength is really in the ease of editing and routing / automation possibilities it presents. Mapping the controls from my MIDI keyboard to a plug-in is a breeze using the parameter list editor, when I'm done I can just save the configuration as a preset. One thing I have to mention is how the parameter list focuses on whichever control is being adjusted in the plug-in's main GUI. Then it is just a case of using Chainer's own MIDI learn to map the controller knob to the parameter.

This is a must for all live musicians and sound designers, as well as people who are just extremely lazy. Chainer gives you the maximum of control with the minimum of fannying around. I love it!

User Interface
The GUI is extremely intuitive and usable. Everything feels like it's in the right place, and the 'slot-based' concept for plug-ins works really well. You can drag and drop plug-ins between slots, bypass single instances or entire channels. I would have deducted a point for the rather garish colour scheme, but there is now an alternative skin available now :-)

Sound
This is a difficult area to score for a host. Although it doesn't make any sounds itself, it allowed me to create combinations of sounds and effects that I couldn't (or simply wouldn't take the time to) in another host.

Features
Chainer is a lightweight and minimal host, but it does far more than you might expect. The preset lab is great and a sound designer's dream. I also found it really useful for editing two or more plug-ins alongside one another; none of the random window behaviour I have observed with other hosts here. A few more hot keys (such as copying, pasting and renaming presets) and a Mac version would have been nice.

Documentation
The on-line help is there if you need it, but the learning curve is not exactly steep. Five minutes worth of experimenting with it should be sufficient.

Presets
Again very difficult to know how to score this, let's assume we are talking about the way the program handles presets. You can load and save presets or banks per plug-in, as well as the entire rack. For instance, I have found it a lot easier to make banks under Chainer than with FL Studio.

Customer Support
Support is provided by direct E-mail, which is a good thing I reckon. I had a couple of questions which were answered within a few hours, really nice guy too.

Value For Money
You get a lot for your $60, although at first glance it may not appear so. Chainer looks like Minihost with bells on, it does a lot more than just host plug-ins.

Stability
At the time of writing, the program hasn't seen an update since 2002. What does that tell you? It's a mature product that just works, that's what.

Overall
Clever, convenient, cheap and mind-blowingly useful. I defy anyone not think this is the best $60 they have ever spent on software for their DAW.

Quoting the below previews: "Chainer is VIAGRA for VST ..nothing less" -110% true:D

Some additions to them:
USER INTERFACE
Could hardly be more intuitive.

SOUND
For some reason it seems to boost the quality of the instruments used... How in the *ell is this done!?!?

FEATURES
"aMUSEd" writes about the linear chain as an bit of a disadvantage. Well, could be, but let´s be honest here... I had to ask myself: How many times did I wrap multiple synths and fx in a chain without actually creating a hopeless cacophony... I´ve come to see that (mostly) complex modularity is really secondary to sound/fx quality of more simple VSTs. In cases of creating soundscapes I personally prefer to split my project into a few tracks.

The biggest advantage by this plug is that you get to manage your instrument/fx combinations already at MIDI stage with every possible parameter CC automted!

DOCUMENTATION
This is the only part I found a little lacking. However, the intuitve use compensates hands down. Still 10/10 because this puppy is allover worth 10/10 in any case.

PRESETS
The ease of saving your own VST presets/banks and managing the already included presets of included VSTs through one interface is just... Phenomenally cool!

CUSTOMER SUPPORT
No experience except an rapid response to a personal thank you and appraisal mailing:D Anyway... 10/10 because this puppy is worth it allower in any case.

VALUE FOR MONEY
10/10 with "all universal superlatives". Buy it - I guarantee you won´t regret the investment!

STABILITY
Rock solid.

Stay cool n tuned!
MfLI

Chainer is simple perfection. It's satbility, ease, and efficiency has simply convinced me that VSTis are a reliable, professional part of my aresenal. I was not convinced of this before.

I have a dedicated softsynth computer that I treat essentially as a multi-synth "tone module," midi'd up to my main DAW. I tried numerous hosts with varying degrees of success and stability. Most of them were way over-featured for my needs and were not CPU efficient. Chainer is just ideal for me. Rock solid, transparent, and I seem to get:

a) significantly more instances of synths and effects out of my CPU than with my last main host.

b) less crackling, clicking, and crashing than I've experienced with other hosts.

It's odd that a non-sound-making application would be the most inspiring purchase I've made in some time, but it is absolutely the case. I feel like I'm breathing freely and moving confidently in the VSYi world for the first time.

PS, I commend the developer on his enlightened demo. The only lacking functionality is loading saved presets, but you can save them anyway, and the demo will open with your last configuration, so you can actually get to work on the demo and not sacrifice any moments of inspiration. Because of this, I was very quick to purchase Chainer after only one evening with the Demo. So "lightly restricted" demos can pay off in good customer relations. Good job.

Chainer may be the best $60 you'll spend on VST stuff,period.It's a patch bay for all your VSTis and VST effects(and combined with VB's ffx4,DX effects,too).
It will let you mangle different combinations of synths and effects to your heart's content;add a little hardware(there's audio ins,too),and export it all as a .wav file,or as .wav or SF2 multisamples.Load THAT into Crystal,VirtualSampler,NN-19,Kontakt,CronoX-you get the picture.Add to all this that it doesn't use hardly any resources(less than 1.5% on my old 933 MHz PIII) and the fact that it DOESN'T crash-if Chainer crashes,it's either a bad plug or something's wrong with your system-and you have the perfect solution for a lot of routing,sampling,etc.problems.Try the demo if you haven't,and then BUY it...these kind of apps need all the support we can give them!

My first review - noticed all the other reviews of Chainer and it is one of my favourites too so I wanted to add what I think is great about it.

Most people have covered the basics so I won't repeat what they have written - but there are a few really special features I wanted to draw attention to.

One is the fact that if you have Logic it is the only VSTi that enables you to access and automate ANY other VSTi on your system - Logic also has its own patch handling system and not all synths have internal ones so Chainer enables you to use the fxb/p patches properly too (this might also work with Orion too which also has its own preset system and issues with some VSTi's I believe).

Everyone knows some VSTis don't like to be wrapped as a DXi - however if you just wrap Chainer you can play them all and without having to wrap every VSTi in your system and the resultant conflicts and registry additions.

Chainer can load multiple directories so it is good for testing out synths before adding them to your main directory. I find it useful for troubleshooting problems with a synth or effect. That makes it a central place to play and test out your synths.

Because it works with "chains" of synths and effects you can create multiple combinations of synths and effects and then save them (with the full version)- effectively making a new modular synth. The only limitation here is that the chain is linear (unlike say the TC Spark machine). Try using even a basic synth sound with something crazy like GRM tools or an Ohmforce effect and it opens up a whole new vista of sound design. You can even save the results as a soundfont or wave file to use in a sampler.

And you can generate even more crazy and useful sounds with the innovative preset lab.

Chainer is the most stable host I have come across, and it lends some of this stability to the host you load it up in - I have been able to load up synths and effects in hosts they normally crash using Chainer.