Close

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 28
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Pretoria, South Africa
    Posts
    124

    Default Suggested VSTi for SS

    Hi all,

    At this point I am so entirely fed-up, frustrated and despondent, that I really don't know what else to do/try.

    I have been trying (with help from folks here on the forum, as well as some suggestions from the NI forums, to get Komplete 7 and SS to work smoothly, with no joy! It's been months! I've tried every suggestion:

    • Didn't move VSTs, but created .ini inside SS's VST folder
    • Upgraded to 8Gig of RAM under Win 7 64bit
    • Placed Komplete's library on a seperate SATA disk, SS's data folder (where all the audio is recorded) on a seperate SATA drive, and obviously use ANOTHER seperate SATA drive for system & SS
    • Made SS run as administrator
    • ALL the Windows 7 tweaks applied that can be applied to my system
    • Tried jBridge to bridge 64bit VSTs so that they run inside SS's 32bit environment (mainly to try an allow for additional RAM usage) after the 32bit versions gave these problems
    • Re-installed using 32-bit Win 7, no joy, back to 64bit Win 7 - no joy, and yes, each time I re-installed, I DID ALL THE ABOVE AGAIN before attempting a load.


    I've probably done quite a few other things as well, but, until today, I have not been able to run SS and NI Komplete 7 succesfully without getting the crashes. Here's what happens:

    When I open an EDL in SS which has Kontakt loaded and in use, the EDL does not complete opening, but crashes and says "Sawstudio has stopped working". At this point I simply click the "close" button, which is the only one available, and SS gets closed by Windows. When I try several times, I am often lucky and the EDL actually opens.

    Once open, the EDLs seem to give the minimum hassles. Mostly I have been able to continue work from there on, saving as required, and undoing as needed etc, BUT, every time I want to open another song/EDL, I have to go through the same process of attempting to open several times (anything from twice, to eight times) and waiting the full time of the load before recieving the crash message, then having to close, then cancel the "Windows is looking for a solution" message, and restart SS, and THEN open the EDL again - anything from twice to eight times per EDL open! You can imagine how ludicrous this becomes when the client is sitting next to you.

    Even worse, part of my planning was to start using SS & Komplete during live shows that we started doing for organizations around July, but, since I had all the hassles with actually GETTING a song to open, NONE of these events have been handled by us. We were forced to give the work to another company (a friend of mine who uses Sonar) - ARGH! I could not risk having an audience sitting and waiting while we attempt to open a next EDL!

    Ok, so, my option is to simply start looking for ANY decent alternative. I know that HALION is out there, and have heard good things. Anyone got any advice on good samplers/synths as vsti that function well in SS?

    Mainly we use typical "live band sound" type stuff. Pianos of various types, pads, strings/brass arrangements, and other instruments. Very little to no typical electronic music (I'm thinking rap, r&b, hip-hop, dj-type loops etc). Most of the stuff is typical rock, metal, country, gospel, negro-spiritual, jazz, blues, lounge etc...

    Thus, something like Kontakt is sort-of vital in the stuff we do, for its pianos/keys/synths/orchestral.

    Thanks for any advice folks.
    Last edited by Jazzstudio; 10-02-2011 at 08:03 AM.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Suggested VSTi for SS

    Hi Jazz,
    It can certainly get frustrating getting VSTi plugins to work.
    I can tell you this - I have several NI plugins and they are at times glitchy even on my Receptor which I bought for live performances so I didn't have to carry out a computer for my Piano, organ, strings & synth stuff.
    As far as VSTi plugins go I've had pretty good luck with Ivory Piano, Eastwest strings & Garritan Strings.
    Arturia has just about the best plugin synths I've ever used but unfortunately they don't work on the Receptor....
    They do however work great in Sawstudio/MWS....
    The Mini moog sounds great.
    At times the NI B4 glitches on me but I keep using it because it is hands down the best B3 organ out there - the leslie sounds great and the draw bars work really well.

    P.S.
    A few months ago I tried out Windows 7. After fighting it for a couple of weeks I took it off my computer and went back to Windows XP which has worked great for me over the past 8 years.
    I really wanted to use Windows 7 so I could use more RAM but I went back to Windows XP - 4 gigs seems to be enough for just about all my needs.
    I know some people here have had luck using Windows 7 but it just didn't work for me.
    I didn't like the way the computer felt while using it (it felt sluggish). Windows XP just felt more instant. I also saw the hard drive light come on a lot more while using Windows 7 as compared to XP - ever after applying the recommended tweaks. In the end I decided it wasn't worth the headaches.
    Last edited by Tim Miskimon; 10-02-2011 at 09:08 AM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Portland, Maine U.S.A.
    Posts
    2,430

    Default Re: Suggested VSTi for SS

    I wish I had good news for you, but SS seems to be incompatible with more & more VST plugins.

    These all cause crashes or have corrupted settings on load on my system:

    All Lexicon plugins
    All IK plugins seem to suffer data corruption from time to time
    Native Instruments including Maschine and Komplete
    All Sound Toys plugins

    I run almost all my VSTis on a separate Mac computer in Logic at this point and record them in SAW.


    Regards,

    MM
    Michael McInnis Productions

  4. #4

    Default Re: Suggested VSTi for SS

    Add some of the Waves plugs to that list.
    Ken

  5. #5

    Default Re: Suggested VSTi for SS

    YES, Soundtoys, Tha one just bit me in the ass..If i save any Mix with the Soundtoys plugins it crashes on reopen, took me forever to figure that one out, Didnt know it was an issue...... All this hit an miss, does worry me..I really dont have time to go through a session and keep removing plugins till it works....Im gonna try the same thing on a few other daws to see how the same plugins respond...
    Carey A. Langille
    Producer/Engineer
    Ocean Sound Productions
    www.oceansoundstudio.com
    Creativity at the Speed of Sound

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Darling Downs Qld Australia
    Posts
    1,029

    Default Re: Suggested VSTi for SS

    typoHi Jazzstudio - I feel your pain. Sometimes wehen I want to move out to some new sounds I get the same result you are having so I go back to what I know works.
    Most of my work is country, country rock and rock.
    I play guitar live so I usually don't use the guitar parts of a midi file.

    My standard setup is Sawstudio with Hypercanvas (a very good meat and potatoes sampler, a nice bass sample I use with EXSP24 and Superior Drummer 2.0 for the drums.
    If I need better brass I'll go for Linplug Saxlab 2.

    This really covers most of my needs.

    Good luck

    cheers - mako
    Last edited by mako; 10-02-2011 at 05:30 PM. Reason: typo
    Denis Hillman
    Queensland
    Australia

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Darling Downs Qld Australia
    Posts
    1,029

    Default Re: Suggested VSTi for SS

    You might want to give JBridge a try before giving up competely.
    That's fixed a couple of odd ones for me.
    Also Chainer has been able to clear up a couple of problem makers.

    cheers - mako
    Denis Hillman
    Queensland
    Australia

  8. #8

    Default Re: Suggested VSTi for SS

    If you want to use them as substitute
    for a hardware workstation, then why
    not just run them as stanalone units.

    Sebastiam

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Maple Ridge, BC Canada
    Posts
    3,517
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Suggested VSTi for SS

    Hello,

    First off have a look at my post, "Kontakt and SS 5.0 Demo"...

    Second, I use SS and Kontakt 4.1 and then 5.0 and have no problems (other than what I noted above).

    I find that most, and I do not see this covered or even mentioned on many of the various audio forums out there, is that often it can be the installers that cause problems. So, to overcome this situtation, I install the VST's on a separate system, get them working and then find out how to make them "portable". This often requires some registry tweaking, but after having done it for so long, you get to know the things to look for. This is especially pertinent with Kontakt libraries. Interestingly, the only app that I had to "install" on my existing system was Kontakt 5.0 (actutally the Kontakt installer does just fine in this regard).

    I personally avoid any software that requires iLok dongles and such and I find these to be unstable on PC systems.

    I have had no problems personally with the Lexicon reverbs and the IK reverbs. My reverbs of choice at present are the Studio Reverb, Sonnox Native Reverb and Ariesverb.

    I have tested WIN7 and do not find any practicable reasons for going to it. If you build your own system, most (if not all) of the motherboards offer WINXP drivers...so I see not need to use WIN7. I personally found no "real" advantage to either WINXP-64bit or WIN7-64bit, even using JBridge and such.

    I recently upgraded my Intel G865 to an Intel G965 chipset and am very, very happy with that. You cna find these boards used at many of the recycling stores.

    Lastly, what you have not told us is what hardware you are using. This just might be a hardware issue.

  10. #10

    Default Re: Suggested VSTi for SS

    UPS just dropped off MOTU's MACHFIVE 3. I plan to use this on my MAC setup, but will try it out in SAW. It comes with a ton of good sounds, so this may be the ticket.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •