Subject:VSTi support?...maybe not

Posted by: dlcham

Date:8/16/2002 10:44:27 AM

Got this email from SoFo today...can someone explain?

"Acid 4.0 will begin shipping soon, we do not have a firm release date. We will notify you via e-mail when it becomes available. Acid 4 will not support recording or live monitoring of VST instruments.

If, however, you would like to see these features in the future, please let us know at our product suggestion page:
<http://www.sonicfoundry.com/support/default.asp?pageid=1606>"

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: SonicJG

Date:8/16/2002 11:05:20 AM

dlcham-

WHERE did you get that MISINFORMATION from? **HOW** can you put that in quotes?

Your "quote" is totally bogus--we will definitely be supporting VST instruments.

Thanks,
Joel

PS- Unless you can verify your source, this posting thread will be deleted.

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: dlcham

Date:8/16/2002 11:50:32 AM

Joel,
Check with Nick. I deliberately did not post the signature block on this forum in order to prevent any fallout. I thought that perhaps I had misinterpreted what VSTi support means (e.g., maybe that version 4 could use VSTi play back midi recorded via some other source, but would not allow real-time recording a la Cubase, SONAR with a DXi wrapper). I like many others, would probably ditch SONAR, et al in a second if the MIDI capabilities in ACID 4 are up to snuff.

I can forward the email to you if you'd like. I'm working on clarification of the issue with Nick.

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: dlcham

Date:8/16/2002 12:51:22 PM

Joel,
Now that you've accused a paying Sonic Foundry customer of fabricating "MISINFORMATION" (think about it - what good would that do me?), would you please tell all of us Acid users precisely what we will and will not be able to do with VST instruments with Acid 4? It's a legitimate question that isn't adequately addressed in the marketing material, which is all we have at this point.

Thanks -

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: Maruuk

Date:8/16/2002 1:04:39 PM

dl--Thanks for keeping us in the loop here! Since VSTi without live monitoring would be virtually useless, you have uncovered a potential blockbuster. Hopefully this Nick character is just misinformed, but if not, Houston, we have a problem.

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: SonicNickw

Date:8/16/2002 1:05:47 PM

Sorry for the confusion. It will support VSTi instruments. I was thinking of live input monitoring. I'm new on the Sonic Foundry scene. Again sorry for the confusion everyone.

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:8/16/2002 1:07:09 PM

From what I've understood thus far, you should be able to use and load any VSTi that's out there right now, like those from Native Instruments (Battery, Reaktor, etc.) and Muon (tau pro, electron). Even those free ones like the ones from Computer Music magazine in the UK should work.

Like any VSTi in any other program, you should be able to record or arrange a MIDI track in ACID Pro and set up (assign?) the particular VSTi to that track. That's what it looks like to me in the screenshot in the catalog anyway.

I have faith in SoFo that this will be the case.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: Maruuk

Date:8/16/2002 1:15:47 PM

Aha, well live input monitoring is a semantic twist that leaves us still twisting in the wind...

So let's clear the air here. SOFO please explain in detail how we can live-monitor our VSTi as we are rehearsing a part and then recording it. Can we all assume that the VSTi will be monitored normally with nominal minimum latency via ASIO and no standard monitoring elements are missing from the 4.0 spec?

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: dlcham

Date:8/16/2002 1:22:19 PM

Nick,
Didn't mean to pull you into the line of fire...I genuinely need some clarification:
Will I be able to open up Acid 4, assign my SampleTank VSTi to a midi track and select a patch, hit Record, and record from my midi controller keyboard in real-time while monitoring everything (including the midi track assigned to the VSTi) with low-latency bliss? If the answer's "Yes" to all the above, I'm a happy camper.

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: SonyNateM

Date:8/16/2002 1:28:04 PM

As one of the people in charge of testing VST instruments in Acid 4.0 I will say this:

YES, Acid 4.0 contains support for loading VST instruments to be used as Soft Synths within your projects. You can then add your own MIDI tracks, or create your tracks from scratch through recording from an external controller, or by laying them out manually.

also,

YES, you will be able to route MIDI input from your external MIDI controller to the VST instrument for live playback of the synth in Acid. This can be done during playback, recording, or just normal editing. This has been working quite well for us on even mediocre-speed machines with very low latency settings.

I hope this will end this bout of speculation.

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: dlcham

Date:8/16/2002 1:38:04 PM

Nate,
Thanks for the clarification. I can't wait.

BTW, thanks for the back-up Maruuk.

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: PipelineAudio

Date:8/16/2002 1:54:03 PM

you guys finally got the chance to make acid and vegas work at least as well as 1960's era tape recorders, and you blow it by ditching input monitoring ?

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: waynegee

Date:8/16/2002 2:49:07 PM

Ha! Nothing but three to four weeks of unmitigated forum hell. Boy, I'll betcha Sonic Foundry will keep their damn mouths shut next time, eh? That'll learn 'em to prematurely announce some s@#t...hee.

But watch, Acid 4.0 will come out and blow us all away.


(Better, anyway...)

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: anon

Date:8/16/2002 2:54:09 PM

It's torture, but it's good torture. The natives are restless :).

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: pwppch

Date:8/17/2002 8:04:22 AM

Yes.

Peter

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: pwppch

Date:8/17/2002 8:09:00 AM

Input monitoring of what?

ACID will let you "trigger" VST Instruments with an external keyboard (or any MIDI source".)

ACID does not monitor audio input through software. You will have to use a card that has ASIO drivers and set up the input monitoring. There was not much point in this for for ACID. ACID uses a modal recording model vs a Vegas type arming of existing tracks.

Peter

Subject:RE: VSTi support?...maybe not

Reply by: dlcham

Date:8/21/2002 9:17:03 AM

It's definitely there, and better than I thought it would be. Good job, SoFo.