Plugin Rack / Host

[James Steele]

Yeah. Hard to say. Like I said, I’m kinda holding off doing much until I can sell a few guitars perhaps and get a Mac Studio in the next few months. My MacPro5,1 is getting long in tooth and I’m frustrated finding plugs that I like taking up so much CPU. Making the transition to Apple Silicon and updating my interfaces is a priority. I’m still running MOTU PCIe audio interfaces and I’m way overdo to do a modernization.

[Michael Canavan]

A couple more things in Unify's favor:

AU MIDI FX work inside Unify, so devices that do not work as VST MIDI FX or are more cumbersome etc. that way can be used the way Logic does it, inline, not specifically as a MIDI input source. In my case on an M1 Mac I can run Unify in Apple Silicon native mode with an AU version of Reason for it's various MIDI FX. There's also an elegance of course to having the entire thing in a single plug in, instead of devices or a rack preset.

There are assignable MIDI CC's for macro controls with presets, so you can use any controller keyboard to control any plug in without it being more or less out of the users control the way Komplete Control seems to be, tied to abandonware like VIP, or having to reassign controllers to parts of a plug in like you do if CC's aren't permanently assignable in the plug in.

It's not 100% a Kore replacement but it's not a bad start.

[dewdman42]

Yep. The same is true for Patchworks, Kushview, plogueBidule, etc..they all support AU MFX, both to host AUMFX inside them as well as to be themselves used as an AUMFX in logicPro...as you may need. Kushview does that for essentially free.

[dewdman42]

Komplete is another one, but it is very less flexible honestly...I personally never liked Komplete, but it does have one huge advantage over all the others... the Komplete NKS preview sounds...when they are installed...makes it great to hear what each patch will sound like, before loading it. Komplete is also pretty much free.

[dewdman42]

Here are some screenshots of some of the various products we have talked about so far...inside DP11. I was incorrect earlier when I said VIP doesn't run on Monterey, I have it here running under DP11 on Monterey (intel) no problem. See below.

Each of these have pros and cons. Some are free, some cheap...some not....

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[dewdman42]

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[stubbsonic]

Just got an email from DDMF about the final hours of their sale price of Superplugin. It shows as $59 but if you decide in time, you might get 30% off with coupon code SUPERINTRO.

https://ddmf.eu/superplugin/

In some ways, it is similar to Blue Cat's Patchwork. It has 4 serial slots leading into a 4x4 parallel matrix which can also be configured as a 4 band splitter so you can apply plugins to specific bands. All that is followed by 4 more serial slots. It looks like it has a 32/64 bridge capability, but that only works up to Catalina. It includes a stand-alone version. Renders with oversampling and can act as a plugin wrapper to other formats. (See the linked description above.)

[dewdman42]

Thanks for that heads up. its like Waves StudioRack in a lot of ways but works with anything. Also handles instruments and mdii plugins I think. I notice also they have a bundle with MetaPlugin for $99. I will probably pick this up. I need to test out if transport works and multi out audio.

[JSmith1234567]

Here are some screenshots of some of the various products we have talked about so far...inside DP11. I was incorrect earlier when I said VIP doesn't run on Monterey, I have it here running under DP11 on Monterey (intel) no problem. See below.

Each of these have pros and cons. Some are free, some cheap...some not....


Screen Shot 2022-07-04 at 1.15.06 PM.jpg
Screen Shot 2022-07-04 at 1.18.44 PM.jpgScreen Shot 2022-07-04 at 1.20.27 PM.jpg

Thanks so much for that!

It's really helpful.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I'm trying to build an Arduino Well really Teensy)-based controller using the Mackie MCU protocol for plugins.

The MCU thing is pretty weird, so I'm trying to see what will actually work with multiple plugins.

The idea was to build a channel-strip controller with my favorite plugins something like the SSL UC1.

But with my favorite EQ and compressor plugin, not an actual AU channelstrip.

[MichaelAshSharbaugh]

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Hey ... I just wanted to let You All know that I appreche the info I got out of this forum, and ... those interface pics were right on-the-money. I've made My decision, I believe: VIP.

[Michael Canavan]

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Hey ... I just wanted to let You All know that I appreche the info I got out of this forum, and ... those interface pics were right on-the-money. I've made My decision, I believe: VIP.

Just downloaded it here. I like it, but I haven't used it in years because Akai haven't given it any love. Plus you don't mention what controllers you use. VIP is tied to InMusic brands, so you need an Alesis, M-Audio or Akai keyboard with some knobs to get full use out of VIP.

All of this also applies to Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol, you will want at least an MKII version of one of NI's Controller keyboards to get full use out of it.

[MichaelAshSharbaugh]

you don't mention what controllers you use

Hi! Appreche the convo. I use DP 11.3 on a MAC PRO DESKTOP using Mojave, and My preferred format is (was!) VST2, but now, with all this research I'm doin', I'm thinkin' of makin' VST3 My fave.

My controller is a tabla rasa -- that is, I'm in the market to purchase one. I was thinkin' AKAI, or ALESIS, KORG, or others. I wanna control My CV ARPs with one controller, so that's a consideration.

I am investing in $1,000s of pluigins, and downloaded about 30 in the last 2 nites. My plugin folder is so convoluted.

I gave up on the AKAI rack. It's not VST3.

I'm now studying -- and testing -- the SUPERPLUGIN and METAPLUGIN racks.

[dewdman42]

DDMF plugins are great, I also highly recommend Unify and Kushview Element(currently free)

[stubbsonic]

DDMF plugins are great, I also highly recommend Unify and Kushview Element(currently free)

I've used Directional EQ as one of my transcription-secret-weapons. It doesn't always work as I expect, but it allows me to hear things in a mix I wouldn't otherwise be able to find.

[dewdman42]

As far as VIP, from everything I've read online, it's abandonware. Supposedly updates are promised and it seems promising, but it's not getting maintained.

its not really abandonare per say, they have been updating it a few times in the past year or two, but its not really something they are actively trying to sell as a software product, they are bundling it together with their keyboards. You can still buy it, but it's just not Akai's focus. Their MPC software gets more focus then VIP does, but even that is associated with hardware too.

Though when it first came out that product manager had these videos about look how great it could gather and consolidate all the presets from all your plugins into one searchable place, etc.. but its true we haven't heard much about that since then.

Anyway, I have it, hardly ever use it mainly because it's a bit too much. I typically just want something light and simple. But if you want a mixer interface like that, it's about the only one like that...and it does have that smart preset searching stuff.

Unify is the next one kind of like that, doesn't have the mixer view, but basically provides all the same kind of abilities and more, is more lightweight...I like it a lot. lone developer working on it and he seems to get annoyed by having to work too many hours and not enough $$ from it, but still Unify is really cool....but I think it will grow in features very very slowly because lack of funding. but the good news is its already pretty good. Unify also has a nice way to setup categories and presets and and then search for them, but unfortunately not as cool as Akai VIP to automatically build the preset DB. PluginGuru sells a lot of presets built on top of unify and unify bundles in a bunch of freeware plugins also. It's pretty cool product. They are going to come out with a more expensive Pro version I think...not sure what will be in it. Very easy to learn compared to the others. Its based on JUCE

Patchworks, very cool, bluecataudio makes quality stuff. I find a few things about it a little bit cumbersome and some limitations. But it's very clean interface and sometimes just the right tool for the job. Quality company. One cool thing is that it can be used in conjunction with bluecatAudio's connector plugin...but I haven't found a use case for that yet.

DDMF MetaPlugin and SuperPlugin, also based on JUCE, very solid. sometimes it's the only one that will load into VePro for me. No standalone version.

KushView Element is coming along, it's currently free. It's open source, It's quite good, I usually try to turn to it first because I like the developer and I have made very small contributions of effort through github. One thing is it has a built in LUA scripting engine that can write scripts with Audio, MIDI and even GUI use inside it. It's still a developing product, but the basic functionality works quite well usually. Did I mention it's basically free unless you want to support the developer indirectly through Patreon? Sometimes he charges for binary download but right now the latest release is free to download. you can also build it yourself, very easily, for free.

Ploguebidule is an old standby, been around a long time. It does a lot. One thing, it does not handle Plugin Delay Compensation at all, FYI

Waves Studio Rack is free. But its waves....FWIW.