Screencast of Composing with DP and Bidule

[James Steele]

Nice work. Bidule is the best!

RE: Bidule

On a most simplistic level - can I use this program to run a standalone app (such as Kontakt 2 which doesn't run on PPC machines running Leopard and DP 6).

Clearly, it seems far more complex that that, but that would solve my immediate problem with DP 6.

Thanks in advance, guys.

I think that's what you can do. You can also run standalone KP2. When I was fighting with the PPC/DP6/Leopard issues, I *could* get it to work using Soundflower and running plug-ins standalone. All my NI stuff worked fine standalone. What I didn't like doing is having to remember which NI plugs to remember to open before launching DP, etc. Seems like from what I could tell on the web page, Bidule can save a setup that would automatically load the proper VIs for a project and have them routed correctly. You could just name it the file the same/similar to your DP project. Perhaps MOTU ought to build in a facility in DP that would create a link between a DP project file a Bidule file, or config file for a standalone VI so that standalone plugs or external apps would automatically be launched when appropriate for the project? Hmmmm...

Either way, I think the idea is intriguing to have all your main instruments at the read via Bidule. Seems like a big timesaver.

[pencilina]

MLC,

Yes you can. Think of Bidule as a modular host or even an external v rack. You set up your Bidule environment with whatever VIs, plugs, processes and routings you want. Its rewireable so you can run it as a stand alone alongside DP or, if you're masochistic, can open your setup environment as an AU in DP. Because my mac is older I run it on a separate PC. I can't say enough good things about Bidule or its very responsive developers. Its also nice because it opens up the world of VSTs as well. Once you have a template setup you can have everything all loaded up and ready to go for your arrangements and if you need a special VI or voice here or there you can add to the Bidule template or put them into your DP projects or run another instance of bidule on another machine. Unlike DP its not so finicky about VIs. I read about one composer using it to host different orchestral stems on multiple mac minis.

Best

B

[James Steele]

Its also nice because it opens up the world of VSTs as well.

Get out! That's very interesting. I've seen some cool VST plugs that I can't run in DP6. Makes me wonder... what ever happened to Audioease's VST Wrapper plug? I think that got left behind at a version compatible with DP 4.x.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Thanks guys - Looks like I'm out another $75!

[jroadrage]

+1 for -$75

I had no idea Bidule was that powerful, seems like a really nice solution for bloated orchestral templates.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

+1 for -$75

I had no idea Bidule was that powerful, seems like a really nice solution for bloated orchestral templates.

Bummer! They pulled the demo! Now we have to wait for the release version and pay MORE. Figures!


OR NOT!

Their forum pages date back to 2004 and 2005 where they promise the program will be released at some point. It's 5 years later now - so where is it? Has this thing already gone vaporware?!

[c0mp0ser]

Okay, here's a quick video of my template and how I have everything set up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBB4Txnpl78&fmt=22

[c0mp0ser]

Your youtube is really gonna cost me. I even made my wife watch it and you know what....she got it.

haha! that's great. Well, I hope it smooths over the "sweety, i need to buy more stuff to play with" conversation.

[jroadrage]

That was really helpful, thanks again.

[pencilina]

One more thing worth mentioning. A year or so ago when I was setting up my main bidule template I realized that it was way easier and more flexible working in Bidule then with the K3 stand alone. Also, I was able to get more voices before stutters or crashing. Mind you this was on 32 bit 'doze XP. Also, I gotta say its very annoying (and maybe a bit deplorable) that NI or MOTU can't seem to deliver a 64 bit version of their products while a small company like Plogue has had one for around 2 years.

[c0mp0ser]

NI or MOTU can't seem to deliver a 64 bit version of their products while a small company like Plogue has had one for around 2 years.

Well, Bidule is still a 32-bit application. Seb, the guy who developed this program says that he's working on making it 64-bit in the future. You're still limited to 2 GB in bidule... that's why I say you have to tweak the DFD settings in Kontakt a bit to get more stuff to load.

Kontakt 3.5 is supposed to be 64-bit as well... but that has been delayed it seems. REALLY looking forward to that.

[dosuna11]

That was really helpful, thanks again.

+1 on that!

[SixStringGeek]

the baby crying sample is a custom library. Not for sale.

Aw c'mon man - you want us all to go out and make babies cry because you won't share? Think of the children, man!

I'm amazed you get as much going on as you do. I'm working on a rather modest track (8 vocal tracks, an instance of omnisphere with 4 patches loaded, kontakt with 2 cello and one violin sample, a bass guitar, Ivory, two altiverbs, and mach 5 with 3 instruments loaded (single samples each - not huge) and I'm getting "audio buffer overload" dialogs more and more and my BFD 2 kit refused to load. I don't get it. I've got 9G on a Mac Pro Dual Quad 3GHz machine. Is the idea behind bidule is that it can claim more/different memory than DP so the memory use doesn't conflict?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

+1 for -$75

I had no idea Bidule was that powerful, seems like a really nice solution for bloated orchestral templates.

Bummer! They pulled the demo! Now we have to wait for the release version and pay MORE. Figures!


OR NOT!

Their forum pages date back to 2004 and 2005 where they promise the program will be released at some point. It's 5 years later now - so where is it? Has this thing already gone vaporware?!

This from the developer today:

Our demo versions have a fixed expiry date of three months after
their release. Since that date has passed, we took the download
offline because it would simply say expired and not run for anyone
not owning a Bidule license.

We expect, barring any unforeseen problems, to release the new version
with its demo at the end of this week/beginning of next week.

Very nice!

[richardein]

Very similar to my own setup but with more instruments offloaded onto two macs that feed into my main composing machine. I used to use Bidule in exactly the same manner, to host instances of Kontakt, but then for some reason stopped.

One major difference in our templates is that my mine is laid out in final score order - winds at the top, strings at the bottom, etc, so that I can create a MIDI file that opens with some kind of sense in Sib. That said, there's a lot that that needs to be tweaked, but at least everything is roughly in the same place.