[cw-discuss] Crossover - VST plugin support?

[Jeremy White]

Thanks for that explanation, that helps a great deal.

So would the ideal then be the ability to install a Windows VST
plugin in CrossOver, and have CrossOver drop a stub Mac OS X VST
plugin into the Mac OS X environment?  In theory, then, a Mac OS X
(Intel only) VST host could run a Windows VST plugin.

(That's much what we do for Netscape style plugins on Linux).

Cheers,

Jeremy

JJB wrote:
> On OS X the OS has a plugin standard called Audio Units. But before 
> there was OS X, there was VST, a semi-cross platform standard which  has
> been updated for OS X. Almost all plugin manufacturers who write 
> plugins for the Mac release in both VST and AU formats. The VST 
> standard on the pc is not binary compatiblle with OS X VST, so  plugins
> made to run in Windows will not run under OS X. For some  reason, the
> number of plugins for Windows created over the years is  astronmonical,
> and the number for mac is not.
> 
> On the mac, there is a program from FXpansion that wrapps VST plugins 
> with code so they work in Audio Units compatible hosts. There is 
> nothing that works in the other direction, wrapping Audio Units  to 
> look like VST's.  Nor any way of accessing the plethora of Windows  VST
> plugins on OS X (Intel).
> 
> On LInux, using Wine, people have developed ways to run windows VST 
> plugins. While there are difficulties getting them to work, when they 
> do work, they work better than under Windows - lower latency, better 
> performance. Meanwhile, a Linux plugin format is evolving, and  someone
> has made a wrapper for that system to use VST plugins, which  apparantly
> workes better than the original system.
> 
> I was hoping that codeweavers might be able to recompile the existing 
> code from either vstserver or its descendants to work under OS X.
> 
> If this could work in a CPU efficient manner, with low latency audio 
> output, I think the business case would be very good, given how many 
> people use Macs for music. I'll think about this a bit more and try  to
> get you some better data about what you might expect.
> 
> Joel
> 
> 
> On Jan 16, 2007, at 8:49 AM, Jeremy White wrote:
> 
>> Hi Joel,
>>
>> Can you educate me a bit?  Is there a standard on Mac OS X for
>> these plugins?  That is, could you make a single plugin wrapper
>> that glued from 'format X' to VST?
>>
>> One concern I have is that on Linux I didn't feel that the
>> standards are all that stable.
>>
>> We're actually quite good at writing this sort of plugin
>> server, and I'm interested in other areas where we could
>> provide this functionality.
>>
>> Before I get your hopes up, I should be brutally honest:
>> this is likely to be one of those where I'm intellectually
>> interested, but then am unable to make the business case
>> for the work required to make it go.
>>
>> However, we can certainly create an entry for VST plugin
>> support in our compatibility center and let folks rally there;
>> if we see clear and compelling demand for it in the form
>> of pledges, then the business case will be easy <grin>.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Jeremy
>>
>>
>> JJB wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Crossover developers
>>>
>>> There has been several rather successful WINE based attempts to   create
>>> systems for running windows VST audio plugins, the most  popular  audio
>>> plugin format, under Linux. Since your system is based  on WINE, I  was
>>> thinking the following:
>>>
>>> Would it be possible to build a very limited version of Crossover   that
>>> does nothing but run VST plugins? For those of us who have   switched to
>>> Mac and just want that functionality, it would be great  if there  was a
>>> simple install and host that could be used to run all  those  thousands
>>> and thousands of plugins, many of which are freeware,  on OS X.
>>> Currently there are perhaps 15-20  freeware VST plugins for  OS X,  lots
>>> more commercial ones, but some of the PC vst plugins, even  the free
>>> ones are really quite exceptional.
>>>
>>> The original, now abandoned project was called vstserver, the newer
>>> standard appears to be somewhat more complex, but apparently does a
>>> better job of running VST plugins: DSSI a standard for Linux audio
>>> plugins with a wrapper that allows pc VST plugins to run. Another
>>> project that appears to have success in the same area is FST-jack.
>>>
>>> If any of these could be made to run under OS X, it would be truly
>>> wonderful. Even better if it had a GUI on it...
>>>
>>> Here is the page to look at for overall info: http://
>>> ladspavst.linuxaudio.org/?intro=1
>>>
>>> Sourcecode for vstserver appears to be here: http://www.notam02.no/
>>> arkiv/src/
>>>
>>> Thanks, let me know if there is anything in the works like this,
>>>
>>> Joel
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> discuss mailing list
>>> discuss at crossover.codeweavers.com
>>> http://crossover.codeweavers.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>
>>
> 
>