Hey there folks,

So here's something I initially had trouble with when trying to load up plugins I downloaded both in 32 and 64 bit (most plugins that support both 32 and 64 bit will have the option to install both automatically checked during the install process).

Here's the thing, when these plugins are installed, the .dll files for the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the same plugins are placed separately under C\Program Files (x86) and C\Program Files respectively (see screenshots).

So for all you users who don't use J-bridge (myself included, despite having bought it, because I'm a different PC now, my original license link expired, and I'm too lazy to contact them for a new one ), make sure you load up the dll file from C\Program Files (x86).

Excellent tip. Thanks for posting.

DeaconBlues -

Unless you've changed your email address, you should be able to get a new copy of jbridge by just requesting it. You go to the jbridge site and click on the link for the latest registered update, enter your email address, and the program gets mailed to you in a double compressed file (you'll need to have either 7-zip or WinRAR available) to unzip the initial 7-zip file and then the resulting WinZip file (you can use WinZip for the second file, but not the 7-zip format, unless they've recently added it).

Then, you can just install jbridge and it will work automatically in BIAB and RealBand.

If you have changed your email address since originally getting it, just send them a note indicating your old email address, along with your new email address, and some indication that you originally did purchase it. That's what I did when I changed my email address, and they responded quickly.

Thanks John, This seems a lot easier than I feared. I'll give it a shot...

Thanks John, it worked like a charm! (Oh man how I love these forums and the good kind who folk who populate them )

Deacon,
Why would you install both the 32bit and 64bit versions of VSTs?

32 bits ones for use in Band-in-a-Box or any other 32 bit music applications and the 64 bit VSTs for use in 64 bit applications. Yes there is jBridge but it doesn't work 100% of the time. Also some VSTs never make the transition from 32 bit to 64 bit while other VSTs are only available in 64 bit form.

Thanks, Jim.

Over the last couple of years I have tended to only download the 32-bit ones (apart from two days ago), because they work with the 64-bit systems, and I do not want to have extra stuff cluttering up the works.

To add on to what Jim said, there is really no downside to installing both 32 and 64 bit versions at the same time. There's really nothing to worry about IMO w/ respect to clutter as they get placed in separate folders anyway, they take up a negligible amount of HD space, and then you can use the 64 bit versions in Reaper (or your DAW of choice).

The only difference I have occasionally noticed using 32bit vs 64 bit VST's in a 64 bit DAW is that the 64 bit VST's interfaces are sometimes more extensive; do either of you notice any sonic differences?

So I'm not really not a computer guy, but from what I understand (and I could be very wrong) 32 bit architecture can only utilize 2 CPU cores, and 64 bit can take advantage of any number of them.

When it comes to BiaB the issue is twofold: First, as generating and regenerating RTs is CPU intensive, with multiple cores this would be exponentially faster. That is a quad core vs a dual core would not cut a regen time from, say 20 seconds to 10, but more like 20 seconds to 5 or even less.

The second has to do with VSTs, which, in itself has two components. First is the fact that many manufacturers of plugins are releasing their current products without 32 bit support. For instance, there are certain Native Instrument products that will only work in Reaktor 6, and Reaktor 6 only works in 64 bit. Second, if you are just using a simple VST for adding some chorus or distortion, that's no biggie. But say you want to play a MIDI string track through a very advanced orchestral VSTi (VST instrument). These can use gigabytes of samples for every possible articulation requiring tremendous amounts of processing power for which a quad-core CPU is the minimum requirement, let alone the recommended spec. This is why a lot of VSTis will have "purge" features, so that samples not in a particular track will not be loaded. For instance, if your score does not call for staccato strings, it will "purge" the dozens of staccato samples for each instrument in an entire string section instead of loading them up so that they are standing at the ready should your MIDI track need it to play instantly. In short, advanced, sophisticated VSTis pretty much require 64 bit functionality.

Again, I could be wrong about much of this. When the folks from other time-zones (who actually know their stuff) come online I'll probably be corrected on many of these points!

Hi Deacon,
Many thanks for that information - it is very useful.

I had anticipated that things would move fully to 64 bit at some point, but have not really done any tracking for about a year so I am out of the loop, so to speak.

Talking of different time zones, I have again been up all night, so must get some sleep. It is early here in the EST time zone.\

Thanks again.

Wow, you must be a night owl, insomniac, or both! Before you joined the forum, when it's morning where I live (Israel), it's pretty much only the Aussies and Brits I see hanging out here in the English-language forums. :-)

I have both 32-bit and 64-bit. The DLL files generally don't take up much space (unless they are VSTi instruments, but even then the DLL VSTi files share the same audio content). I have a bunch of legacy VSTs that only came in 32-bit, but the cool thing about jBridge is that it goes both ways. You can create bridged 32-bit VST's that work in 64-bit hosts, just like you can create bridged 64-bit VST's for 32-bit hosts. That just gives me the best of all worlds. Since I keep them all separated, it's pretty easy to manage and find the appropriate plugin.

Yup, a bit of both, but especially a night owl. From Monday to Tuesday I stayed up for over 24 hours, and I did my usual of staying up last night through the night.

There is just too much to do...all of it to do with music.

I really do function best at night.

Thanks for this, John.
I have not yet tried jbridge, and did not know that one could use it to make 64bit VSTs work in a 32bit environment.