[cw-discuss] Crossover - VST plugin support?

[Mark Knecht]

On 1/16/07, Jeremy White <jwhite at codeweavers.com> wrote:
> 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
>

Jeremy,
   The way I view VSTs is that they are mostly useless unless they
have a platform to run in. Once the platform works the VST begins to
have some use. Our problem today is that we do not have a dependable
platform for VSTs to run in.

   The original idea of VSTs was to create virtual instrument plugins
that could be dropped into a larger recording application. This
started on the Mac and after awhile moved to the Windows platform
where I have all my experience so I cannot speak in depth about the
earliest incantation. In windows we have large applications for
recording audio and MIDI, such as Pro Tools, Cubase, Digital
Performer, Acid Pro, Ableton Live and easily 50-100 more. The
'problem' if you will with these apps was that when software synthesis
started to appear the options were very platform specific. If you
wanted Synth A, you had to purchase Synth A specifically for Cubase.
If you wanted to switch to Acid Pro you couldn't use it.

   VSTs were a way for both developers and users to better leverage
their investments. If I bought something like Battery as a VST I could
use it today on Acid Pro but later use it on Pro Tools. This allowed
me to save money, change platforms based on what would work best for
the piece of music I was working on, but it also allowed the VST
developers to make either no changes or possibly just a few changes
and get it working on a new platform which gave them new customer and
more revenue. In the end it was good for everyone. VSTs on Windows
have always been used in two ways - some apps support loading VSTs
directly in the app while others support loading the same VST in an
external VST host running side by side on the same computer.

   So, what is really needed in my mind, and has been needed and
requested for literally years now, is for Wine's audio to work well
enough to allow some standard VST host to interface into it correctly
for audio and MIDI to work down in the lower levels of Wine and Linux
but on the top end provide the VST with a 100% system that looks like
Windows.

   Keep in mind that this has been addressed, in the past, to
different degrees by things like FST. There is a web site dedicated to
some of this:

http://ladspavst.linuxaudio.org/

I have no idea how complete it is but I doubt it gives a really
complete picture. There are easily more than 1000 and probably more
than 10,000 VSTs out there. There are complete software kits to allow
people to quickly create VSTs to their own specifications - types of
sounds, types of controls, number of voices, etc. I suspect that less
than 1% of the complete population of VSTs have ever been tested on
Linux and my personal experience is that less than 10% of what I've
tested, or maybe 5 out of 50, have worked correctly.

   I don't want to be too negative or paint too negative a picture. I
actually expect that there is probably no major design reason why VSTs
cannot work in Wine. I fully expect it's a matter of just getting
attention. I obviously would love it to happen or I wouldn't have
chimed in with so many words within minute of this thread getting
started. Heck, I probably haven't posted on this list in a year if not
longer. However somewhere on WineHQ I posted that making this work
would probably add more working programs to the list of apps Wine
supports because there are just so many of them.

   As always, ask questions and I'll be willing to help someone learn
about it. I'm also willing to do some limited testing as time is
available.

Cheers,
Mark