Quote:
Originally Posted by Xenakios
SWELL is only a minimal implementation of some win32 API functions for Cockos's own purposes for Reaper and the included plugins. But VST plugins are free to use any operating system APIs they like, so they essentially need the whole target operating system running under them. Additionally there's the issue that binaries built for Windows are not compatible with how binaries work on Linux and macOs. So it's not really feasible for Cockos themselves to implement running Windows VST plugins on other operating systems. The only possible solution I see would involve somehow using the services from WINE. (Run the reaper_host32.exe/reaper_host64.exe programs under WINE and make the Linux or macOs main Reaper program bridge into those.)
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mespotine, Thanks for trying to make sense out of that. It was done quickly on my android phone, and it will make the strangest word replacements sometimes. My bad for not checking, but I've edited it to make more sense.
Xenakios, it would seem to me that it should be an easy thing to create a Wineskin or Winebottle that would have all the libraries that would be necessary to run most Windows plugins. Nearly every Windows VST plugin I've ever seen is compatible with every Windows version from XP through 10, so they must be relying on a fairly small set of libraries. The trick is just getting it talking to the DAW. I thought that the ReaPlugs for macOS require some sort of wrapper to run, which is why they won't work outside of REAPER on the Mac.This makes me think the devs at Cockos would be our best chance for creating a 95% functional solution for using most Win32 VSTs with REAPER in Linux and macOS, so I think this is a valid FR. Cockos devs are very forward thinking, and I think they foresee the same mass exodus from Windows and macOS that I do, especially among their user base, which is mostly made of anarchistic/freedom loving people who are fed up with paying ridiculous amounts of money to have crappy software shoved down their throats.
Everything beyond this probably belongs in another thread, so I'll post it elsewhere, but leave it here for context.
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There are people who have created systems that use a WINE wrapper and some sort of bridge to run Windows VSTs in *nix environments. Here's one setup that seems to work for a lot of people, but I get a fatal error (executable not found) when trying to install the software he uses to create a virtual server for the VSTs on the Wineskin/bottle:
http://diaphone.blogspot.com/2010/12/11.html
Another solution that some people have been able to get working is the jVSTwRapper, but consensus is that getting it to work is as rare as discovering a new species. Most have given up on that solution.
I'd assume that most plugin developers are now using something like Juce, which is designed to make cross platform plugin development much easier. This includes Linux. Chris J at Airwindows writes small plugins for all three platforms (Intel only, of course) on his Mac, and releases about one a week. You really might want check out his plugins. They are donationware, so give generously. (His DeEss is what I've been waiting for a major plugin dev to do for years regarding sibilance. It recognizes the pattern of sibilance and smooths it out, leaving the rest of the signal in that frequency range alone. It's replaced FabFilter DS as my favorite De-Esser.) The extension is .so for his Linux VSTs. He's able to do this by not creating GUIs, because that's where most of the performance and cross platform issues come up, which is why the JSFX plugs work everywhere. His plugins are just sliders, but they are amazing. I've noticed his VSTs won't work in REAPER on the Mac, though. Only the AUs.
I would only hate running an install Windows XP in a VirtualBox on my Mac a little bit if there was a way to bridge the VSTs over to REAPER from there. I just can't use a non *nix system as my main OS. I've tried. It's just garbage that keeps getting worse, and now they want a subscription for Windows 10. No thanks. I gave it a fair shot, and it's just not viable.