Dear Anyone.
Hokay, I know 'standalone VST' is probably an oxymoron but here goes.
I've got a 32-bit DAW, designed for disabled people like me, which I love and understand perfectly. But the world's gone 64-bit crazy and I can't find many 32-bit VSTs. So I gotta few, but I've also got a totally legit., paid-for and licensed standalone 64-bit Kontakt. And Lunaris, also totally legit.
I know there's Vienna for linking computers and VSTs but I'm wondering if that's a bit overkill for a guy with only one PC. Is there something that would do the kinda job Vienna does, but on a smaller scale, just linking 1 DAW on 1 PC to about 3 standalone VSTs, Kontakt, UVI and Halion.
Just so you know Halion's a demo. UVI's legit. Kontakt's paid for. If I could link them, I'd pay for Halion too Even though UVI sound bundles are OWCH pricewise, they do have great sounds. Before buying 'em, I need to be sure I could use 'em!
Yours hopefully
Chris.
Sorry for replying to my own question, but just had a thought (god that hurt my head!)
Would Unify do it (link to a page I just found -
https://www.pluginguru.com/products/unify-demo/It doesn't specifically SAY you can link 32-bit to 64-bit standalone with it but one of you guys might know...
Can afford that if it'll do it (just!) unless you guys know anything else.
Yours hopefully
Chris.
Link 32-bit DAW to standalone VST ??
I would like to try to help, but I don't understand exactly what you are wanting to do. I run both Unify and Kontakt in my DAW (Reaper). I also run Kontakt in Unify in my DAW. Also, as you know Unify and Kontakt have standalone versions which do not require a DAW. I don't see any mention of the BIAB-VST or the BIAB Standalone VST which would bring you to this forum.
Bottom line, when you say "link your DAW to a standalone VST", I just don't know what that means?
Chris, have you tried jBridge?
https://jstuff.wordpress.com/jbridge/It will allow 64 bit VSTs to run in a 32 Bit DAW. I have used this in the past and in fact have one 32 bit VST running in my 64 bit DAW. Yes it works both ways.
My past experience showed that it worked most of the time so you might want to the demo prior to purchasing it. It is not very expensive, less than $20 USD.
I hope this helps.
Don't forget that Band-in-a-Box is available as both 32 and 64 bit programs. There is also a 32 bit Band-in-a-Box VST you can use inside your DAW.
Dear All, esp. Music Student.
I apologise for not being clear - and I'm trying everyone's ideas out even as I type this, just wanted to clarify stuff before I forgot (head like a machine-gunned sieve, me!)
I've got a standalone Kontakt, a standalone UVI Player (which is basically like Kontakt except it only plays UVI libraries. Which are great but EXPENSIVE!! You DO get a few nice free sounds with it though to whet your appetite - the entire set of sounds is SEVEN HUNDRED BUCKS near enough.....!! But like I said the free ones are nice.
I've also got a couple of other softsynths that are standalones - got their own virtual keyboards you play with the mouse and everything. They're all 64-bit. And I've got my lovely Quick Score Elite, which is a MIDI program, you put in notes with the mouse onto staves. Dunno if I can show you a pic., but just imagine a piece of A4 manuscript paper with lines and stave and everything, only each stave is a separate instrument.
Now I've got a bunch of proper VSTs but they're.... not the world's greatest. Freebies most of them, some of them darned good freebies, none of them up to Kontakt standard. So I got the latest version of Kontakt, and the others, cleaned myself out a bit doing it - and discovered they didn't have 32-bit plugin-versions when you installed them. I'd assumed - wrongly - you'd get the option of 32-bit or 64-bit. Yup - teach me to read websites better before pulling out bank cards, won't it!
So I was sitting looking at my DAW and these standalones and I wondered if there was a way to take the MIDI info. output by the DAW and shove it into the standalones which, as far as I know - I'm a composer, not a computer scientist, and not a good composer at that! - were designed to use MIDI. I hadn't heard of JBRIDGE, I'm going to try that. I wasn't after free ways to do anything, it's just I'd no idea what to go for. Then I read about Vienna and that seemed like the kinda thing that might do it. And I read about something called Unify.
I've read and re-read the Unify blurb and I still don't really understand it. What I THINK it is, is a VST you can put other VSTs into. So in your DAW you load up Unify, then you open up Unify and put your other VSTs into it. I'm not even sure if I'm right about that. But if I AM - I couldn't find out if Unify ITSELF has a 32-bit version you can put 64-bit stuff like modern Kontakt into. I THINK it can take 32 or 64-bit VSTs itself, but I'm not sure if UNIFY is 32 or 64 bit!
By then, my brane had 'ad enough and was trying to crawl out my ear and hide. So I came over here for advice, which you nice gentlemen have given me. This isn't to say I no longer would like to know what the heck Unify is (am I thinking of it right?)
Jim - I'd never heard much about Band in a Box other than to do with Applemacs. I thought it was Applemac only, like Logic is these days (believe it or not I possess the last ever PC version of Logic somewhere! It is ANCIENT!) I know absolutely zero about BiaB, I'll look it up and thanks for the info.
Music Student - as you run Unify in your DAW, you could help - is the thing 32-bit or 64-bit, if the latter is there a 32-bit version? And is it basically a box to put other VSTs in, as I've put above? If so can it hold 32-bit AND 64-bit VSTs simultaneously in a 32-bit DAW? I've read and re-read the blurb, not too sure what it is. Would love you to tell me.
And I'm going right now to the link rharv gave me, just stopped long enough to write this (which some will probably rightfully think was far too long!!)
Yours with thanks to all - especially Music Student if he, or someone, can help me wrap my head around Unify -
Chris.
Chris, both Kontakt and UVI come with both stand alone and VSTi versions. I think jbridge is the way to go. Try the demo to check if the 64 bit Kontakt and UVI VSTis work with it. This I believe is your easiest and best route to take.
OK, now we can talk about Unify.
Your basic understanding of Unify is correct. It is "a VST you can put other VSTs into".
Unify itself is 64-bit, but the Windows version includes built-in support for jBridge, an inexpensive 32/64-bit VST bridge program. You can load 32-bit VST plug-ins in Unify on a Windows PC using jBridge.
You can load Unify into your Daw, or, you can run it standalone. It is a fun tool. They have an active user forum and provide quick support when needed. I use this frequently.
There is a free version of Unify you can try before buying. See
https://pluginguru.com/product/unify-demo.Will ALL plug-ins work in Unify? PROBABLY NOT. Beta testers and early-adopters have found several plug-ins that don't load properly in Unify, and some that will cause Unify (and your DAW) to crash.
If you have a favorite plug-in, and you know you'll be disappointed if it doesn't work, check with support first, before buying Unify. They are always working VERY hard on plug-in compatibility issues, so plug-ins that don't work today will work in Unify eventually. I run a lot of the Kontakt libraries in Unify with no problem.
Let me know if any other questions or any specific tests I can do for you.
Dan
Do you just want to send midi from the DAW to the Standalone ?
if so you can use
LoopMIDI
Just for clarification, this is a Windows issue only. Kontakt 32 and 64 bit do not coexist on the MacOS but can in Windows (for now at least).
JBridge on the Mac can bring 64 bit VSTs into some 32bit apps including BIAB 2018 and earlier but it cannot bring 32 bit VSTs into 64 bit apps and DAWs after High Sierra (and it never worked very well for that).
At one time PG Music offered jBridge at a lower price than the price available at the
+++ website +++. However I can no longer find the links. You may want to ask PG Music Sales.
There is jBridge for Windows and jBridge for Mac. jBridge for Windows can bridge 32 to 64 or 64 to 32. Sometimes jBridge for Windows can be useful for 32 to 32 or 64 to 64. jBridge can be used as a standalone tool.
Band-in-a-Box for Windows automatically uses jBridge as needed in the background.
I have jBridge and have never really used it, or lets say, I couldn't get it to function like I thought it was supposed to. I attempted to load some 64 bit things into my 32 bit DAW and things didn't appear to work right.
So, for the time being.... I have determined that my DAW and it's musical VST collection will remain as it is and that I will not be buying the new stuff. That's OK with me.... it certainly saves on the money. When my DAW computer dies and no longer boots, and I can no longer get parts to fix it, I will upgrade everything to 64 bit and repurchase the things that I consider to be essential.
A virtual MIDI cable like Pipeline described should do what you want. There is also
LoopBe30 that I've used a a virtual MIDI cable for many years now.
At one time PG Music offered jBridge at a lower price than the price available at the
+++ website +++. However I can no longer find the links. You may want to ask PG Music Sales.
We are no longer are a reseller of Jbridge. Otherwise it is a great piece of software, and it still works with BIAB.
As for suggestions, I think Jbridge would be the most straightforward way to go, though it's a bit complicated to set up. Otherwise the virtual MIDI solutions like LoopBE should work well too.