Re: [linux-audio-dev] VST plug-ins for Linux?

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Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] VST plug-ins for Linux?
From: Jarno Seppanen (jams_AT_cs.tut.fi)
Date: Fri Sep 07 2001 - 14:33:11 EEST


Peter Surda <shurdeek_AT_panorama.sth.ac.at> writes:

> What's VST? I've contributed some stuff to the avifile project and we are
> planning to integrate more binary codecs (QT, RealMedia), but it isn't top
> priority now, so if "VST" is something interesting I could take a look and
> tell if it is doable.

Hey, it would be great if you could have a look! Some explanation:
VST, or "virtual studio technology" is a plug-in API developed by
Steinberg, www.steinberg.net, famous of their Cubase sequencer app.
In short, it is a very *very* very popular interface in the music
production world, for plugging 3rd-party effects algorithms and
synthesizers into a diversity of audio editors/sequencers. What Linux
lacks is not the plug-in API but the loads of commercial plug-ins that
use VST.

There are other similar API's, like DirectX (DirectMusic or what's it
precisely?) and then Emagic, www.emagic.de, a rival of Steinberg's
probably has an API of their own. IMHO VST and DX are the widest
spread.

In practice, the VST plug-ins would probably be wrapped behind the
LADSPA API on Linux side, because there isn't a single VST host app
for Linux. Also most likely porting the plug-in GUIs will be
problematic, but initially this can be circumvented since the VST API
has a means for controlling the plug-ins directly without having to
open the GUI. If you want to try this out, which I definitely hope,
it would be easiest to try to use a freeware VST plug-in with source
(such as A0 Neosweep), and perhaps modify my plugin~ LADSPA/VST host
to run as a VST host on Linux (actually this particular combination
won't work since Neosweep is VST 2.0 and my host only supports VST 1.0).

Comments?

A0 Neosweep: http://www.a0audio.com/ns.htm
plugin~: http://iem.kug.ac.at/~jams/

-- 
-Jarno


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