Help needed for ning-nong who knows nothing about VSTi's.

[FilmCryptic]

I was looking around on Google for some royalty-free samples (because my collection is rather pathetic, and I wanted to attempt a decent track for the umpteenth time), when something caught my eye... VSTi's? Synthesizers? Wow. That would make things interesting.
Unfortunately there aren't too many tutorials for this sort of thing - for MPT, at any rate. I'm stuck at loading the darned things into MPT under the effect plug-ins section, and from there into the channels. I've tried toying with their settings, putting samples into the track, and so forth and so on. I just can't get a peep out of them. Some clarification on how they work, please?

[älskling]

1st: OpenMPT Wiki
2nd: Search for VST in the Technical Documents Sections
3rd: Ask right here about what remains unclear

I recommend assigning plugins to instruments rather than channels.

[FilmCryptic]

Many thanks.
As it turns out, I had it all wrong in my head. Doh!

[CoolDudeClem]

First of all, what version of MPT do you have?  As far as I know OpenMPT is capable of hosting a vsti properly, the ordinary MPT can't, which is probably why you're not getting any sound.  

Anyway here's how to use vst instruments.

First, get Open Mod-Plug tracker, if you don't already have it.

Now, when you load the program, to use a vsti, go to the main page (where you can name the module, mix the channels, name channels etc.) and click the "select" button in the plug-ins area to bring up the list of vsti's you've installed.

In the "Mix Plugins" window (which is the plugins list), select the vsti you would like to use.  If you don't see the vsti in the list, click "New Plugin" and find and select the vsti's dll, it should now be in the list.

Now you have loaded the desired vsti, go to the instruments tab and create a new instrument.  In the "Plugin/Midi" area, select your vsti from the drop-down menu.

The vsti should be ready to use.  If you press the "editor" button, you can change the vsti's settings.

Hope this helps. [/img]

[Harbinger]

When you're then ready to really explore the possibilities that your new VSTi brings, you can begin experimenting with altering the controls of any VSTi WHILE PLAYING YOUR TRACK. This is done by assigning one of your VSTi settings (such as Volume, Filter envelope, or whatever else the VSTi can control) to an SFx controller.
To control the VSTi's settings, assign it to an SFx channel by opening the VSTi's window, selecting the Input menu, and selecting "Macro...". Select a "Learn parameter" for the SFx channel you want to use, say, SF1. Release the mouse button and then click on or drag on the VSTi control you want to alter in-track, such as Volume. You're notified that that control is controlled by that SFx.

Now, to alter the VSTi control during playback, step-record a note in any Pattern. (If you don't want the note to sound, give the note a volume of 0.) In the last field within the note entry, enter "SF1" for this example. This is the controller for Volume in our example. In any step after this one, use the Zxx Note FX to alter the parameter, such as "Z64" for instance. Now you're pattern entry should look something like this:

Code Select Expand

C-5 01 v00 SF1
... .. ... Z64

Whatever you set Z at will affect the last parameter chosen. Also, keep in mind that if the VSTi has not been activated in a channel yet, you must cause it to play a note, even a silent one, to activate any controls.

One last thing: any VSTi controls you change in-track IS NOT RESET at the end of the song. So you hafta reset the VSTi to the preset sound before the song begins playing. (I usually create a 16-line empty pattern at the beginning to set up all the controls where they should be.)

Once you get used to it, you'll wonder where VSTi's were the whole time you were trying to manipulate samples!  You should also appreciate the wonderfulness of this FREE piece of software called ModPlug Tracker!! :wink:

[Sam_Zen]

I don't use VST plugins myself, but thanks CoolDudeClem and Harbinger, for the clear explanation if one wants to start with it.

I recommend assigning plugins to instruments rather than channels.

This was one of my confusions about this matter. Because of the impression that a plugin was assigned to a channel.
If it also can be an instrument, it gives me much more analogy with the WAV sample situation, because in a module a sample has to be defined as an instrument as well, before coding it in the pattern.

To add some relevant information :
1) Check the 'Technical Documents' category on the main forum. Lots of threads about plugins.
2) I gathered some text-files about this :
http://www.louigiverona.com/webarchive/samzen/download/mptplugins.txt
http://www.louigiverona.com/webarchive/samzen/download/mptplugs.txt  ( by LPChip)
http://www.louigiverona.com/webarchive/samzen/download/freevst.txt