64-bit and VST plugins?

Erkan

Erkan

mr-walker.bandcamp
Jun 16, 2008
3,305
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Uppsala, Sweden
mr-walker.bandcamp.com
I'm thinking of going 64 bits with Reaper and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with VST plugins not working when you made the switch to 64 bits. Are VSTs totally independant from the OS and only dependant on the DAW or how does it work?

Also, if anyone would strongly advice me not to go 64 bits, now is the time :) I'm ordering a new computer soon and I'm thinking of getting 8 gb of RAM so I should go 64 bits but if it's too unstable for audio yet, I'll stay away from it a while longer.

Thanks!
 
Think that's probably more a Windows 7 thing than a 64bit thing. I use XP 64 with Sonar 6 and 8, and most things still work.

The biggest problem isn't whether VSTs work or not though - with EQs, comps etc. you can find replacements (with EQs, as has been discussed in other threads, it doesn't make that much difference what you use) - the problem is that some sort of them work but are really unstable. They'll load, but crash almost at random. Once you've worked out what's good and what's not, it's okay. My biggest problem though is that Drumagog doesn't work at all, and I don't get on with any of the other replacement plug-ins around.

Steve
 
I'm actually putting together a Vista 64bit machine just to run VSTi's and such, loaded with memory etc... and I'm just installing everything and of course am running into a lot of problems, which I did expect though. Running Cubase 5 on it and so far I've gotten everything to work with the odd workaround here and there. The thing that won't work is Altiverb which I found out didn't support 64bit at all and they have no intention of updating it in the near future either. You can run it on Vista 64bit but you need to run the 32bit version of your sequencer, which kind of defeats the whole purpose.

So.. I've installed about 60% of my stuff so far and it seems to work although I haven't run any projects yet so I have no idea about actual stability issues with lots of stuff running. But that usually isn't a problem with native stuff. If it shows up in the software and loads, everything usually works down the road also. :lol:
 
I am very interested in going 64bit aswell... but with things like waves plugins, trouble has always been sat there. i beleive that you can run a 32bit bridge to the plugins while keeping the host in 64bit and it will work fine which is what i am considering doing but not 100 percent yet.
 
64-bit OS + 64-bit Reaper = You NEED to have 64-bit VST plugins, as I learned the hard way :erk:

However, 64-bit OS + 32-bit Reaper = you can use any VST plugins :) but you lose the advantage of 64-bit (you cannot use the full memory amount in Reaper, even though the OS does support it + Reaper can't take advantage of the 64-bit register space).
 
Erkan said:
Cheers for the info guys. It sadly feels like I should stick to 32-bits until the world has finally switched to 64-bit for good.
Click to expand...
I don't see that happening that soon... at least not until Microsoft releases an OS that everybody likes and uses more than XP and Vista (maybe Windows 7, who knows). That'll probably take some years
 
LeviathanMetal said:
I am very interested in going 64bit aswell... but with things like waves plugins, trouble has always been sat there. i beleive that you can run a 32bit bridge to the plugins while keeping the host in 64bit and it will work fine which is what i am considering doing but not 100 percent yet.
Click to expand...

There seems that jBridge has been made for that purpose.. I don't know the compatibility of this software but it seems to offer what we're looking for.

http://jstuff.wordpress.com/jbridge/

I think I'll reinstall windows x64 just to test that bridging software.
 
jBridge sounds interesting but I would never consider adapting even more softwares just to bypass existing problems... it's not a good solution. Stuff like that always has some issues, no matter how good it seems to be... :| I would love to be wrong though!

Let's hope Windows 7 is actually going to be useful unlike Vista, and that most of the music software industry leaps over to the 64bit trail. It's about time we move on... feels kinda crappy to be so limited in memory when they're so cheap to buy :)
 
Just got done with my 64bit machine, and well...
Some VSTi's I use just won't work at 64bit yet and a couple of plugins also. I had to install the 32bit version of Cubase 5 beside the 64bit version to get those programs to even run. I would not recommend going those route just yet actually! :D
 
I spend 2 months withe every possible Windows setup. (have 6GB DDR3)
-XP 32&64
-Vista 32&64
-W7 32&64

I'm now happy on XP32 (SP3).

All 64 bits versions gave troubles installing the official drivers. Some 64bits drivers took 15 minutes too install while the 32bit drivers took 5 seconds.

But I got XP/Vista/W7 working in 64bit with Sonar8-64bit.
Some plugins would be unstable.
The thing I hated the most was the horrible workflow with 2 widescreens. Normally if I'm editting a plugin in the right screen, I can play/stop with the TAB on the keyboard. But in 64 bit I have to select something in the left screen (after I adjusted a plugin in the right screen) to keep the TAB (start/stop) working. Very frustrating.

I haven't been over the 3 gb ramm since on XP32. I disables most of XP services, so XP takes only 150 mb from the 3 Gb.
 
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