Author Topic: How to use VST instruments (Read 14927 times)

HvitRavn · « **on:** March 25, 2007, 13:10:48 »

Hi, I've been trying to load up and use VSTi's for a little while now, but I can't seem to figure out how to do it. I read and followed the plugin wiki page, and I can load the VSTi fine, I just can't get any sound from them - I'm guessing there's something I'm missing about assigining the MIDI/VSTi channel in the instruments tab.

I have tried to use the Ichiro Toda Synth1 VSTi (recommended in a VSTi thread here) as well as the DKL drum kit.

Note: I can load and apply VST effects just fine, it's the instruments I'm having trouble with.

Any hints and tips will be greatly appreciated

Asharin · « **Reply #1 on:** March 25, 2007, 13:16:31 »

Okay here's what I do..

The majority of VSTi's don't seem to care about wether you assign a channel or not, I only came accross one that did but I forget what it was

For this example I'll use Revitar, as that's the latest VSTi i have

Under the General page, I load the VSTi into the plugin area. Then I go to the instruments page, create a new instrument, and in the plugin section there I then select the VSTi from the drop down list.
Done, and it works..you can then of course edit the settings for the VSTi but that's a different kettle of fish.

One thing that springs to mind though, if you are using a drum synth (or drum vsti that uses samples, like sr202) I noticed the majority of them you'll need to have the octave set to 3 to hear anything when playing.
Hope this helps, I know it's not written up well, i'm at work and my music pc is at home

HvitRavn · « **Reply #2 on:** March 25, 2007, 13:18:36 »

Hi Asharin, thanks for your almost disturbingly sudden reply

It seems the problem was that I had created an IT Project mod, and not a plain IT mod. It works fine now, with a plain IT mod.

And holy crap what a great sound! I mean seriously!

Asharin · « **Reply #3 on:** March 25, 2007, 13:20:29 »

well I'd just 'marked all topics as read' so yours popped up right away

Glad you got it sorted, and yes, VSTi's have a great sound.
I haven't used samples (well apart from my own vocal samples) for nigh on 2 years now.

HvitRavn · « **Reply #4 on:** March 25, 2007, 14:01:28 »

Holy snap this is so awesome! I never knew I could get such awesome sound out of mpt!

This is what it must feel like to be reborn!

LPChip · « **Reply #5 on:** March 26, 2007, 08:08:22 »

Glad to hear that its working.

.ITP files can also have VSTi's in them, but that is a bit pointless if you'd only use VSTi's.

In order to do so, you'll have to first make an empty instrument and save it to disk to an .iti instrument. Now you can assign this .iti to your instruments. Make sure that in the general tab, song properties, you have selected [v] Embed ITP Instrument settings (or something alike, but there's just one embed setting in there.) or else it will alter the .iti file which will cause you to have the same settings for each instrument in your song.

But yet again, its not really a good idea to use an .ITP file when working with VSTi's. Its only usefull when you work with a big samplelibrary, where your song easilly gets up to 30, 40 mb.

mrvegas · « **Reply #6 on:** March 26, 2007, 21:09:01 »

Quote from: "Asharin"

I haven't used samples (well apart from my own vocal samples) for nigh on 2 years now.

Oddly, I'm just getting into using more samples than VSTis. I guess I enjoy searching for sounds more than tweaking knobs. I do use VST effects, though, in MPT.

aldog · « **Reply #7 on:** March 29, 2007, 20:49:17 »

Quote from: "Asharin"

create a new instrument, and in the plugin section there I then select the VSTi from the drop down list.
Done, and it works..you can then of course edit the settings for the VSTi but that's a different kettle of fish.

Where is the area to select the VSTi in the instrument page? I have my plugin loaded from the General page.
Thanks guys =)

LPChip · « **Reply #8 on:** March 30, 2007, 10:16:14 »

Quote from: "aldog"

Quote from: "Asharin"
create a new instrument, and in the plugin section there I then select the VSTi from the drop down list.
Done, and it works..you can then of course edit the settings for the VSTi but that's a different kettle of fish.
Where is the area to select the VSTi in the instrument page? I have my plugin loaded from the General page.
Thanks guys =)

To make sure that you're not seeing it because you are using an old version, please ensure that you are atleast using OpenMPT RC2, and not MPT 1.16.

In the instrument tab on the right, you have an FX: option. Set it to your VSTi. Its a combobox positioned to the right of the screen.

aldog · « **Reply #9 on:** March 30, 2007, 23:10:14 »

Yup, that was exactly the problem, I forgot that I had downloaded the tutorial version.
Thank you soooooo much
=)

LPChip · « **Reply #10 on:** March 31, 2007, 08:47:25 »

You're welcome