[cw-discuss] Crossover - VST plugin support?

[JJB]

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
>>
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>> discuss at crossover.codeweavers.com
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>>
>