Audio Plug ins for Free site safe?

Here's where to talk about preamps, cables, microphones, monitors, etc.

Moderator: James Steele

Forum rules
Here's where to talk about preamps, cables, microphones, monitors, etc.
Post Reply
Julia123
Posts: 412
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:49 pm
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Audio Plug ins for Free site safe?

Post by Julia123 »

I am goin to be opening an old project that used Camel Crusher. I see it is no longer available on KVR but found it on Audiopluginsforfree.com Does anyone know if that is a safe site to download from?
iMac 27" 4.2 GHz i7 1TB SSD. 40 GB RAM. Apogee One.
User avatar
bayswater
Posts: 11923
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:06 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Vancouver

Re: Audio Plug ins for Free site safe?

Post by bayswater »

They don't appear to actually host any plugins themselves. Instead, when you click on the plugins listed, you are taken to the site of the original supplier. In the case of this plugin it goes to Dropbox. Camel was bought by Apple, so maybe the question is whether the Dropbox link takes you to an illegal copy, or whether some of their plugins were put into the public domain.
2018 Mini i7 32G 10.14.6, DP 11.3, Mixbus 9, Logic 10.5, Scarlett 18i8
User avatar
mikehalloran
Posts: 15133
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: Audio Plug ins for Free site safe?

Post by mikehalloran »

Version 1.01 from 2006.

From the comments, the only problem I see is that it's 32bit Carbon. Although it's not spelled out, that's why most Mac users can't get it working.

The GUI will not be visible in OS 10.8–10.12 without 32Lives. There's also a VST in the package but I don't know that it will work with JBridge (I found JBridge useless and was glad when 32Lives supported VSTs).

The installer will not pass Gate Keeper, of course. Although that is easily defeated, I have no way of knowing if the installer will even work.

You can right-click on the Mac installer and drill down till you get to the actual VST and AU libraries and install them manually — doing this is also how you ensure the safety of the download. No installer to put malicious code anywhere.

It will not work in High Sierra or later since all Carbon support has been dropped (32Lives no longer works without Carbon APIs to convert).

There are both 32bit and 64bit Win VSTs in the package.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
Julia123
Posts: 412
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:49 pm
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Re: Audio Plug ins for Free site safe?

Post by Julia123 »

Oh wow, I think I will just let that one go. Thanks for the information, I didn't think about the 32bit issue.
iMac 27" 4.2 GHz i7 1TB SSD. 40 GB RAM. Apogee One.
User avatar
James Steele
Site Administrator
Posts: 21068
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: San Diego, CA - U.S.A.
Contact:

Re: Audio Plug ins for Free site safe?

Post by James Steele »

Julia123 wrote:Thanks for the information, I didn't think about the 32bit issue.
The 32bit issue will only be a problem for you if you're planning on running High Sierra. I plan on staying on Sierra for some time, so I'm not that concerned. Ultimately, of course, we'll probably have to say good-bye to old 32-bit plug-ins entirely. I have enjoyed the fact that I can keep some of them around longer. I've managed to delay having to pay to update Altiverb 6 thanks to 32 Lives, so it's definitely been worth it.

So Mike, if you can see this, does it seem like there's basically no chance that SoundRadix will be able to do anything to keep 32 Lives useful on High Sierra? I should write to Nir (one of the developers over there) and ask. But sounds like it's pretty much over.
JamesSteeleProject.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Mac Studio M1 Max, 64GB/2TB, MacOS 14.4.1 Sonoma, DP 11.31, MOTU 828es, MOTU 24Ai, MOTU MIDI Express XT, UAD-2 TB3 Satellite OCTO, Console 1 Mk2, Avid S3, NI Komplete Kontrol S88 Mk2, Red Type B, Millennia HV-3C, Warm Audio WA-2A, AudioScape 76F, Dean guitars, Marshall amps, etc., etc.!
User avatar
mikehalloran
Posts: 15133
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: Audio Plug ins for Free site safe?

Post by mikehalloran »

In another thread, Julia has mentioned running 10.13 on a new Mac so this can't work for her because 32Lives won't. If it had been converted to Cocoa (as Apple had been urging since 2001!) there's a chance that High Sierra would be ok.

It is not absolutely certain that 32bit will not work in 10.14. Apple has said that 10.13 is the last version to support it without compromise — whatever that really means.

Back to 32Lives. Perhaps SoundRadix has some tricks to convert Carbon GUIs to emulate Cocoa. Problem is that Apple eliminated the hooks that allowed it to happen. They've made no announcement other than it won't work.

It still opens and scans plugins. A few plugs and VIs that wouldn't work before 32Lives still function such as the mda freeware, ComboV from Martinic and VB3 from GSI (why? only SoundRadix will know).

Most such as Camel Crusher, iDrum from iZotope and JBridge(!) do not per the email we were sent.

Camel Crusher is interesting because 32Lives cannot find it to reject. I suspect that could be because the others were already installed and 'wrapped' (as SoundRadix calls it) before I upgraded the OS. I suppose I could test this in my spare time.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
User avatar
James Steele
Site Administrator
Posts: 21068
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: San Diego, CA - U.S.A.
Contact:

Re: Audio Plug ins for Free site safe?

Post by James Steele »

What's interesting is I had assumed that 32 Lives would be a dead product after High Sierra, but last time I visited SoundRadix's site, it seemed to suggest that they were working in a version for it.
JamesSteeleProject.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Mac Studio M1 Max, 64GB/2TB, MacOS 14.4.1 Sonoma, DP 11.31, MOTU 828es, MOTU 24Ai, MOTU MIDI Express XT, UAD-2 TB3 Satellite OCTO, Console 1 Mk2, Avid S3, NI Komplete Kontrol S88 Mk2, Red Type B, Millennia HV-3C, Warm Audio WA-2A, AudioScape 76F, Dean guitars, Marshall amps, etc., etc.!
User avatar
mikehalloran
Posts: 15133
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: Audio Plug ins for Free site safe?

Post by mikehalloran »

James Steele wrote:What's interesting is I had assumed that 32 Lives would be a dead product after High Sierra, but last time I visited SoundRadix's site, it seemed to suggest that they were working in a version for it.
Yep.

Most plugs that were wrapped still work as does 32Lives, sorta-kinda. What it can’t do is wrap new plugs in High Sierra.

It will be a neat trick if they can get something to work in 10.14. Even better if they can make a virtual machine that can wrap other 32 bit apps. I’d like to be able to keep using Office 2008, for example.

Other than that, I can let my 32 bit plugins bite the dust next year if that’s all that the next version of 32L can do.

Discounting legacy apps and plugs, my current 32 bit apps that are waiting for 64 bit updates are Scrivener (due Nov. 20), BAIB and DSP-Q. Since I have TwistedWave, I’ll live if Stephano doesn’t get DSP-Q out. I do hope that PG Music gets it together on Band-In-A-Box, however.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
User avatar
James Steele
Site Administrator
Posts: 21068
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: San Diego, CA - U.S.A.
Contact:

Re: Audio Plug ins for Free site safe?

Post by James Steele »

mikehalloran wrote:
James Steele wrote:What's interesting is I had assumed that 32 Lives would be a dead product after High Sierra, but last time I visited SoundRadix's site, it seemed to suggest that they were working in a version for it.
Yep.

Most plugs that were wrapped still work as does 32Lives, sorta-kinda. What it can’t do is wrap new plugs in High Sierra.
Does that mean that if I have 32 Lives installed on a Mac running a version earlier the High Sierra, I could wrap the plug on that machine, and then simply copy the wrapped plug into the Components folder on a machine running High Sierra, and in theory be good to go?
JamesSteeleProject.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Mac Studio M1 Max, 64GB/2TB, MacOS 14.4.1 Sonoma, DP 11.31, MOTU 828es, MOTU 24Ai, MOTU MIDI Express XT, UAD-2 TB3 Satellite OCTO, Console 1 Mk2, Avid S3, NI Komplete Kontrol S88 Mk2, Red Type B, Millennia HV-3C, Warm Audio WA-2A, AudioScape 76F, Dean guitars, Marshall amps, etc., etc.!
Post Reply