Author Topic: VST Effects Plugin  (Read 124216 times)

ultradust

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redwing

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When I restarted MusicBee, initially (for about 2 seconds) it looked like it was scanning plugins. Then I get the error:
"Runtime Error! Program: C:\Program Files (x86)\MusicBee\MusicBee.exe R6016 -not enough space for thread data"

The error dialogue provides an OK button, but when I click it the same error immediately pops up repeatedly. There is no way to proceed except to crash MusicBee via the Task Manager.

I've tried restarting MusicBee a few times, but the errors occur almost immediately. Any ideas?

You might have a problematic/unsupported VST plugin. I would remove all VST plugins in the folder and try adding one by one.

Elisa Cologne

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I just want to give all of you a hint. A friend of mine makes music and he knows everything about vst effects. He told me that a lot of free vst effects are not coded from scratch but made with a bulding bricks tool what doesn't make them very stable. They often cause problems in host programs.

So with that in mind it would be better to make a list of plugins that work without problems here. He tried some eq plugins for me and found one from a professional audio software company named Bluecat Audio. Here is the link to the EQ VST: https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_TripleEQ/

Please install the 32bit version to your musicbee VST folder and report if it works flawless. Maybe you know other free plugins that also work without problems? Please post it here so others can test and confirm.

Greetings from Cologne.  

Elisa :P

BTW: Musicbee is such an amazing software.  :-*

PS: I realised that the downloadlink isn't described as 32bit. So here is the link: https://www.bluecataudio.com//Vault/Products/Product_TripleEQ/BlueCatTripleEQVSTSetup.exe
Last Edit: November 04, 2017, 04:10:51 PM by Elisa Cologne

Elisa Cologne

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Hi, I just have another hint. If your VST effects don't show up in the list than you have one plugin what causes that. You allways should separate them and try to add one by one to avoid crashes and the disappearance of your VSTs.

Here are some other plugin wich are working without any flaw. At least on my system.

- http://www.voxengo.com/product/oldskoolverb/ < Reverb (really cool)
- http://www.lesliesanford.com/vst/plugins/ < Delay/Reverb
- https://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/nova67p/ < EQ

 :)

ultradust

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Hi all -

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it.


Re: redwing - I have literally hundreds of VST plugins. Having to add them one-by-one would be extremely tedious.

Re: Elisa Cologne: Agreed that MusicBee is excellent! I really enjoy using it. And yes, I use several Blue Cat, Voxengo and VladG (as well as TDR) plugins.

So, the thing is: I use the same batch of plugins in various DAWs with no issues - neither during initial scanning of the entire batch of plugins, nor with actual use. So I suspect something is wrong with the MusicBee VST scanning process itself, rather than the plugins. I wonder if maybe it literally can't handle as many plugins as I have, which is why it reports: ""Runtime Error! Program: C:\Program Files (x86)\MusicBee\MusicBee.exe R6016 -not enough space for thread data" ...
Last Edit: November 08, 2017, 02:56:29 AM by ultradust

Elisa Cologne

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Yeah, of course the Musicbee VST Plugin is just a vehicle, but Musicbee's intention isn't to load all kind of VSTs, because it makes no sense to use Flanger oder Delay in already finished songs. You only need EQ. Maybe Room, Dynamik and sattle Distortion/Saturation. So i would suggest to only copy usefull and working VSTs into the Musicbee folder to avoid crashing or not showing up of certain VSTs. My friend told me, even audio software has sometimes problems to load every VST Plugin, because some of them are buggy too.

So i think you should just take a look at your best and most usefull plugins, copy (separate) them into the Musicbee VST Folder and try out if they work properly. My friend did so and now I'am happy to have a nice EQ, because I don't like those EQs with just fixed frequencies. I also hope the Musicbee Plugin is getting better so that we can use more plugins. For a moment I was really happy because I had the Reaper EQ running in Musicbee but then it didn't work anymore (You can't delete bands.).

LG Elisa

ultradust

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Elisa, thank you for your notes. Really helpful.

In my case, I'm less interested in using plugins for listening enjoyment (EQ, saturation, etc.) and more as a vehicle for using MusicBee as a quick test tool when I don't want to fire up a DAW to check various aspects of audio using metering, room correction, track coherence, etc.

So now I've noticed another issue. Per your thoughts, I've created a unique MusicBee VST folder, set the MusicBee VST plugin to use that folder, and copied one core monitoring plugin, Sonarworks Reference 4, into the folder.

MusicBee successfully scans the Sonarworks plugin and lists it under "Equaliser and DSP Settings", which is good. I can activate the Sonarworks plugin, launch the plugin interface and make edits. The problem is, anytime I make a change to the plugin, the change is not reflected in the audio output unless I uncheck (deactivate) and recheck (activate) the plugin again in the Equaliser and DSP Settings window. I can literally perform the most audio-mangling changes in the plugin interface, and nothing changes in the actual processing until I uncheck and recheck the plugin. Effectively, it seems like the MusicBee VST plugin just takes a single snapshot of the Sonarworks plugin settings at activation and uses those, regardless of changes, until the plugin is deactivated and reactivated.

I tried another plugin, DMG Audio's TrackControl, and making changes in its interface does nothing to the audio output whatsoever, even after deactivating and reactivating the plugin.

At this time, it appears the MusicBee VST plugin may be in a fairly broken state. It obviously works with your plugin selections, but it's looking like some of the basic plugins I'd want to use simply don't work through its hosting mechanism.

Elisa Cologne

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I have to agree. Most pugins don't work or just don't work like they are supposed to. Thats the reason I wrote, it would be better to make a list of working plugins rather than wondering why most of the VSTs don't run properly. This Musicbee plugin needs a lot of fixing and can only be used for testing or with a view VSTs. The list of crashes and freezes is longer than the list of working VSTs.

So I'am sorry, but your planned workflow with Musicbee doesn't work at the moment. But who knows ... maybe there is a fix around soon?   Lets hope. ;)

sveakul

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Ultradust and Elisa,

I have the same issue as Ultradust;  the 3rd-party VST plugin shows up in the list and can be selected, but no audio is being passed through the plugin until the mb_vst plugin itself is deactivated/reactivated.  When I discovered the latter, I thought my problem had been solved and posted here to that effect, later to find out that once exiting MusicBee and re-opening it, the VST plugin no longer was being used until mb_vst was once again deactivated/reactivated--not an ideal solution.  This was with the LoudMax VST plugin, which I have used without an issue on 2 other players each using different VST hosting methods.

As a workaround I am now using MusicBee with the Winamp VST Host available here: http://www.pcjv.de/applications/winamp/  ;  I found that unpacking the dll from the downloaded installer and selecting it via MusicBee's "Import Winamp" button by the DSP Plugins window results in a selectable choice in the DSP list.  This host allows you to load only one active VST plugin at a time, but by using to load just the Acon "EffectChainer" plugin, multiple VST plugins may be used through that interface.  This is working fine for me using LoudMax and a Meier Crossfeed plugin simultaneously with the latest MusicBee.

BTW the EffectChainer is no longer listed in the Downloads secion at the Acon Digital Media website, but can still be downloaded from there at this link:  http://www.acondigital.com/software/EffectChainer102us.exe ; and the documentation here: http://www.acondigital.com/docs/EffectChainer10us.pdf

See if those solutions work for you until the mb_vst.dll gets a revision.
Last Edit: July 12, 2018, 08:46:35 PM by sveakul

Elisa Cologne

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Nice work-around, sveakul. I will give it a try. Thank you.

 :)

ultradust

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sveakul - yes, I am also using the Winamp VST host and using a chainer (Blue Cat PatchWork in my case) as a workaround. Still, would like to see the native MusicBee VST plugin work well at some point.  :)

sveakul

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Hi ultradust,

Yes I would much rather use the MusicBee plugin than an 8-year old workaround designed for another player.  When I first posted about this issue I went to the Bugs forum, and Steven offered to let me download a debug version of the plugin that creates its own logs he could analyze.  I didn't follow that up because I thought I had solved the problem with the first deactivate/re-activate action, which as you know too was not a "sticky" solution.

Is it possible you might volunteer to run the debug version?  I know it sounds lame not to do it myself, but you are using more advanced VST plugins, and have experienced the activate/decativate issue, plus one where MB would not allow you to vary the working VST in real-time, and also where nothing at all could make the VST function.  Therefore, your results in the form of the debug log would be much broader, resulting in a better picture of exactly what the problems may be than my one-issue one-VST version would.  So, if you feel like it, I encourage you to post in the Bugs forum and ask Steven for the mb_vst.dll debug version to try.

Thanks in any rate for sharing your experiences here!  I'm glad that you too are able to use the same decent workaround for your own VSTs as I found.  Sure wish I could spring for that Blue Cat chainer though!!  :-\

ultradust

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sveakul, thank you for your excellent analysis and request. I'm really glad to meet someone thoughtful and committed to maximizing technical performance like you on this forum.

I believe the thread you were referring to is this:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=22824.0

I've posted there and requested the debug version.

sveakul

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Thanks a lot ultradust for agreeing to request the debug version mb_vst.dll and do the testing!  Much appreciated.  I feel that Steven will be able to find the needed fixes in short order after getting the logs.  Hard to see how it could be a problem with the VST plugins themselves when the old Winamp host performs fine in the same environment.  I'll be watching here and in the Bugs forum to see what comes of it.

wealstarr

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Winamp's DSP plugin works far better then the native vst plugin for MusicBee. Far more plugins are compatible using the "8 years old" solution. I think the real culprit with the MusicBee's plugin are the Bass dependencies from un4seen and since the Winamp's plugin doesn't require those, it supports large lists of plugins.

I did some tests based on the information shared in above posts and found that none of the DMG audio plugin's work. Blue Cat's Patchwork also appears to have the same exact issues of compatibility like the MusicBee's VST plugin. Acon Digital chainer won't work. Host application returns error. DDMF Metaplugin as well as Image-Line's Modular host "report" working on every level "technically" but there's no audio output. But when hosted within the Winamp's DSP they work fine so the issue is definitely at the MusicBee's end.

mb_VST also apparently takes ample time to scan the plugins after the start-up. If you instantly open the DSP window, there are no plugin's in it, close it, open it after a while and voila! all are there. Winamp's DSP is always there as if it's build inside the application.

I'm myself using Winamp's DSP and it work flawlessly, the only problem being the inability to host more then one effect, no support for vst3 and inability to save/recall multiple snapshots/presets. Apart from the Equalizer, I always need a declipper because of the large collection of field recordings. When using a chainer, it adds to the latency and with that many loops hardly an ideal solution.

No doubt the VST plugin needs to be fixed. Some very extensive testing/debugging needs to be done. However, we can't expect Steven to do everything alone. Someone with the coding knowledge needs to volunteer to get it fixed. I'm ready to do any testing/debugging if it helps.

Also, I don't agree with Elisa on the point that most of these plugins are developed casually. There're like 5000 reputed companies in this field with semi-large to very large research and development wings with personnel being highly talented and experienced. Most of the stuff on the market is as solid as the Adobe's.