1.3.8 GUI mode VST plug-in support

[Gale Andrews]

Audacity 1.3.8 and later now loads VST plug-ins by default if they are in given locations where Audacity searches. Previously, Audacity only loaded VST plug-ins if the user added the optional VST Enabler to the Audacity plug-ins folder. By default, VST effects now load in GUI mode with a fully-featured interface, but if preferred, the former generic, tabular interface can be selected on the Interface tab of Preferences. VST instrument (VSTi) plug-ins are not supported.

While some VST plug-ins caused crashes, freezes or excessive memory/CPU use in 1.3.8, many of these problems have been resolved in 1.3.9.

If any specific VST plug-ins cause problems, either remove them from the directories where Audacity looks for them, or rename the directories. On all platforms, Audacity looks in directories called "Plug-Ins", "Plugins" or "VST" in the Audacity installation directory, and in the path specified by the VST_PATH environment variable, if any. On Windows, the Audacity Beta installation directory is normally at C:\Program Files\Audacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode). On Mac, it is normally under "Applications".

On Windows, the following locations are also searched:

* The Windows Registry key HKLM\Software\VST\VSTPluginsPath

* C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins

On Mac, the following locations are also searched:

* /Users/<user>/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST

* /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST

If you do not want to use VST Effects in Audacity, go to the Effects tab of Preferences, uncheck "VST effects" under "Enable", click OK and restart Audacity.

Audacity 1.3.9 only scans for VST plug-ins the first time it detects any. Thereafter, plug-ins are cached so they do not slow down Audacity each time you launch it. To rescan for newly added VST effects, go to the Effects tab of Preferences, check "Rescan VST effects next time Audacity is started", click OK, and restart Audacity.

If any specific plug-ins still cause problems in 1.3.9 or later releases (for example VST instruments that are not ignored and/or cause Audacity to crash), please try our latest "Nightly Builds" development code. If problems persist, please write to our feedback e-mail address giving details of the problems and a web address to download the offending plug-in.

The following effect plug-ins are known to freeze or crash in 1.3.8 but have been fixed in 1.3.9:

* Blue Cat plug-ins
* CM Vocoder (does not work, but now does not crash)
* GRM Tools (these work only on Mac, but now don't crash on Windows)
* Modern Plugins

The following VST instrument plug-ins may crash or cause an error in 1.3.9 or later:

* BFD (an error message at launch occurs, after which Audacity works normally. No further fixes beyond that seem possible).

Gale

[minerl]

Thank You Gale, your comments were very helpful. 1.3.9 seems to run just fine. It still tells me the BFD folder is invalid when I start the program but I just cancel through the messages and Audacity loads and works fine. At this point I'm happy because now I can at least make it work.posting.php?mode=reply&f=37&t=11534&sid=130cb81e5f18e686324f14e0d384421f#

[Gale Andrews]

1.3.9 seems to run just fine. It still tells me the BFD folder is invalid when I start the program but I just cancel through the messages and Audacity loads and works fine. At this point I'm happy because now I can at least make it work.posting.php?mode=reply&f=37&t=11534&sid=130cb81e5f18e686324f14e0d384421f#

Thanks. The Nightly Build (1.3.9) has been updated again so if you get a chance you're welcome to try it and see if you're still getting these messages. It would be better if we could kill them off if we could. http://www.audacity.homerow.net/index.php?dir=mac%2F (bottom file on the list).


Gale

[AEN007]

2October2009

Greetings.
I recently discovered (& very much welcome) the enhanced Audacity VST support.
I am experiencing a small Audacity VST admin problem.
Audacity lists VST effects that are not on my c:\ drive (anymore).
I have tried re-scanning to no avail.
Maybe it would be nice if users could tell Audacity from where to load VST dlls?
I hope someone can/will reply and tell me how to remove from Audacity
the VST effects which Audacity shows that are not on my c:\ drive.
Audacity lists one of the VST effects twice.
Right now I only have one VST.dll on my c:\ drive.

I've also contacted the Audacity team about Audacity
not being able to run multi-step VST plug-ins properly.

Any helpful replies/insights appreciated.
Thank you.
Regards,
AEN
Æ

[Gale Andrews]

I recently discovered (& very much welcome) the enhanced Audacity VST support.
I am experiencing a small Audacity VST admin problem.
Audacity lists VST effects that are not on my c:\ drive (anymore).
I have tried re-scanning to no avail.

If you look in the README.txt accompanying 1.3.9, you'll see that it was a known issue that "VST effects always remain in Effect menu even when rescanned and no longer available". If you look at the online version of the release notes you will see that this issue has been fixed in our latest development code, so will be fixed in the next 1.3.10 Release. I have sent you a link to download an Alpha version of 1.3.10.

Maybe it would be nice if users could tell Audacity from where to load VST dlls?

We'll note your request, but ability to choose which of the supported locations to load from, or to choose a custom location is not likely until after the next Stable 2.0 Release.

Audacity lists one of the VST effects twice. Right now I only have one VST.dll on my c:\ drive.

If you are using 1.3.9 that should only be because you have a second copy of the .dll in one of the locations Audacity searches for it (see my main post in this topic). If you are using 1.3.8 it may be because you still have the VST Enabler in the Audacity Plug-Ins folder. I suggest you try 1.3.10 Alpha.

I've also contacted the Audacity team about Audacity
not being able to run multi-step VST plug-ins properly.

AEN007 is referrring to REAfir (used in "Subtract" Noise Removal mode) from:
http://reaper.fm/files/reaplugs.zip

We may at some future time be able to allow modeless effects so that you can change the selection area in the waveform and preview a different area without closing the efffect. That would solve part of the problem with REAfir (and allow our own Noise Removal to be run without closing and re-opening it, too). The plug-ins in this REA bundle are of course also designed to be used with real-time input so you can change the effect parameters as you play the audio. Audacity does not support real-time plug-ins yet.


Gale