DXi Standalone Wrapper?

[sjoens]

Is there one like SaviHost is for VSTs?  

[msmcleod]

Not that I know of... but you could try using this DXi to VST wrapper then use it with SaviHost:

https://craiganderton.org/how-to-use-dx-plug-ins-with-vst-only-daws/

[sjoens]

Thanks Mark, will check it out.

[sjoens]

One reason for asking is wanting to use TTS-1 DXi as a standalone outside of a DAW.  SaviHost works great for VSTi's but not DXi's.

18 hours ago, msmcleod said:

try using this DXi to VST wrapper then use it with SaviHost

"dxshell.dll & dxishell.dll"... Not sure if SaviHost can work with them at all but they do work with VSTHost (from same vender) which is a "basic" host program for running DX and VST plugins that aren't exclusive to another host.  Not quite the same as a wrapped standalone plugin but it works.

However, setting up VSTHost is too complex for me without a how-to video.

Edited September 20 by sjoens

[Amberwolf]

Couple decades back, used to be a rack called Forte by Brainspawn, but it doesn't work in modern versions of Windows.  It did work in XP, so if you can set up a system to run it, and can find an archive of it, that should work. 

 

(That's assuming your TTS1 is not locked to only work in Cakewalk products like most of the stuff shipped with various versions was). 

 

Regarding VSThost, I've never gotten it to see anything but VST's.  If it works with DX effects and synths, I'll have to figure out how to do that.   

It is a rather complex program because of all the possibilities in it, but it works a fair bit like the old KxProject did for the SBLive cards, and I got used to setting that up (to use it's internal DSP rather than CPU cycles), so I figured out how to 'wire" things up pretty quick.  Setting up the banks, performances, etc takes some trial and error but once you get th e hang of it it's relatively easy.  I doubt I could explain it very well, though. 😳 

 

 

EDIT:  Also, this thread

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=178414

talks about Xlutop Chainer, which Iv'e never used, but had vague memories of wanting to try out years b back.  Might also be worth checking out. 

Edited September 20 by Amberwolf

[sjoens]

Thanks.  That's actually what Craig's blog is about that Mark linked to above for dxshell & dxishell.  Put them in your plugin folders and VSTHost or any other host will see dx as vst.  Works great outside of DAW use but I've also had issues with dxshell interfering with DAWs when using them.

FWIW, VSTHost is great but is proving a little flaky and quits working at times.  And I haven't discovered if it can access more than the default channel on multichannel synths like TTS-1 and SYXG50.

Edited September 20 by sjoens

[Amberwolf]

I haven't tried to use it for more than stereo, so can't answer that one.

If by "quit working" you mean the audio ceases, I don't know why it happens, but when it does I just hit the Engine-Restart menu option and audio begins again.

 

Not that it matters for this thread, but I only started using it because something broke in my system with the SONAR VST adapter after I tried installing CbB some long time back, so I couldn't add any new VSTs (if I did, it completely broke all my existing ones, and screwed up all my projects, and uninstall reinstall etc didn't fix anything (just made it worse), so I had to find a registry backup and do a bunch of fiddling to get my old stuff back (which took all the new stuff out).   None of the audio editors I had at the time could use VSTs.... So I used it to build chains of stuff for trying out "mastering" the final renders for various songs made in SONAR, with VSThost chained  with audio loopbacks between the editors (audacity, cooledit, etc) and my speakers.  The process didn't really work very well, since most of the mastering doesn't work very well with a single setting all the way thru, and there wasn't a way to automate the plugins (like you can with envelopes in SONAR).    Audacity eventually added VST support for effects bins, but there's still no automation so.... 

 

What I wish I could find was a (modern?) VST-DXI wrapper like the old DirectiXer; something other than the one built into SONAR just so it would not touch any of the stuff in the registry or elsewhere for the SONAR VST stuff.   Then I could use new VSTs in SONAR itself, as I can't risk breaking SONAR/etc again (it took forever (weeks?  months? a really really long time) to fix the problems and I couldn't do anything I needed to do until it was done).  

 

Edited September 20 by Amberwolf

[sjoens]

"Quit working" meant it would freeze with white screen and had to be forced off using Task Manager.

I had issue with Plugin Manager not working right when I installed some of the Sonar X versions.  I fixed it by installing them as admin and then forcing them to run as admin.  Only then would Plugin Manager scan & load the plugins.  Weird.

Edited September 20 by sjoens

[Amberwolf]

I haven't had it just freeze (white screen, no response) yet.   For cases where that happens, I'd suspect a plugin that it's hosting, and some incompatiblity between them.

 

Intended to be the last of the OT:  With the Cakewalk plugin manager, mine does scan/etc, and makes entries for new working plugins. it just screws up all the existing instances of stuff, so that nothing in existing projects will then load (just get the plugin placeholder). So I can't use it anymore without breaking my ability to keep working on anything I'm already doing, and that I can't live with.   So....for this machine, I'm just stuck at the point I'm already at--troubleshooting is too great a risk, since that tends to break stuff while looking for the problem (already done a LOT of that in the original troubleshooting to fix the original issue), and I just don't have the time, energy, or willpower to deal with that again.   I'm in the process of setting up a second machine that probably will work normally with new stuff, but if it doesn't work with the original stuff I have to keep the other one going for the existing projects.