Reaper w/ East West Wordbuilder

[Burzum]

Hey Guys,

I just downloaded Reaper to test drive b/c I had to upgrade to a DAW that can run East West's Wordbuilder and Symphonic Choir. could someone please explain the full 411 on how to run it, I have all the programs on my computer but am totally lost. PLEASE HELP...THANKS

[EvilDragon]

You cannot run the plugin because Reaper doesn't support MFX plugins. You will have to run WB standalone and link to Reaper via virtual MIDI cables.

[musicbynumbers]

Isn't that script still available EvilDragon?

[hopi]

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

You cannot run the plugin because Reaper doesn't support MFX plugins.

Which is really a damn shame!

[EvilDragon]

Originally Posted by musicbynumbers

Isn't that script still available EvilDragon?

It is, but it's a less flexible solution because you cannot do everything you can with WB.

[musicbynumbers]

Crap. Is there no "mfx to vst" wrapper out there.

I might take a look at some point.

[Dragst]

I know this comes awfully late, but WB works now in reaper without any gimmicks or virtual black magic cables, just tested it couple of days ago!

[buggyboy]

You won't believe it, but WordBuilder could have been working in Reaper for years. All thanks to the marvelous plugins by Xlutop.

Download the demo of the "Chainer" VST plugin here (you should better buy it, because otherwise you can't save settings in your Reaper project, but be sure that everything works in the Demo first):
http://www.xlutop.com/html/downloads.html

Download the free MFX plugin wrapper here:
http://xlutop.com/buzz/zip/dxshell_v1.0.4b.zip

Here is a step-by-step guide of all necessary steps:
-) install Chainer
-) from dxshell_v1.0.4b.zip extract "mfxshell.dll" and "shell2vst.exe" (this program is located in shell2vst.zip)
-) place both files in your installation directory of WordBuilder (i.e., the folder which contains WordBuilder.exe and WordBuilderMFX.dll)
-) drag mfxshell.dll onto shell2vst.exe and a terminal window should appear => IMPORTANT: drag-and-drop onto exe must happen in target folder (i.e., East West Word Builder directory) otherwise Chainer won't find the plugin
-) this creates a subdirectory called "MFX" and in it you will find "WordBuilder [MFX].dll"
-) cut "WordBuilder [MFX].dll" and paste it into the "WordBuilder" directory (i.e., one directory up)
-) start Reaper and create a new track
-) add the following FX in this order: Chainer VSTi (Xlutop) -> Kompakt/Kontakt
-) in the Chainer VSTi click the arrow in the lower-right corner and select "Options / Plugin directories..."
-) delete all directories from the list and add the path to WordBuilder, e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\East West\WordBuilder
-) Chainer VSTi consists of 10 rows, you should now be able to click the arrow to the left of the first row and select "Instruments / WordBuilder [MFX]"
-) click the button titled "1" below the label "Editor" and the GUI of WordBuilder opens
-) load a Choir Multi in Kompakt/Kontakt

I tested this method with different operating systems and versions of Reaper and it worked every time. It seems to run stable and Reaper projects are correctly restored. What this basically means is that if you manage to set WordBuilder up in Chainer, it should work in all future versions of Reaper too!

@EvilDragon: I think you can finally start composing epic choir passages again without the hassle of virtual MIDI cables.

[EvilDragon]

Originally Posted by buggyboy

@EvilDragon: I think you can finally start composing epic choir passages again without the hassle of virtual MIDI cables.

No VMC anymore here, on a new computer I got a few years ago mfxshell worked just fine and I have WB running in Reaper too, borrowed a track template posted in a thread somewhere here, and it works!


It does crash a lot, though.

[buggyboy]

That is exactly what I am talking about: It runs perfectly STABLE in Chainer. I tried it for several days now without a single crash.
You should at least give it a try.

By the way, since all responsibility is now outsourced to Chainer this method should work in EVERY DAW (like FL Studio etc.)