dssi-vst and Kontakt free player

Link to good samples/soundfonts at http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/free_audio_data

Moderators: MattKingUSA, khz

Post Reply
nareto
Established Member
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat May 28, 2011 9:22 am

dssi-vst and Kontakt free player

Post by nareto »

Hi, I've asked about this on the LAU mailing list some days ago but didn't get much of a response, so I'm asking here. I thought many had success running the Kontakt free player through dssi-vst? I don't even get the plugin listed by dssi_list_plugins and I get "not found" error when I try to launch them with vsthost.

I'm on Archlinux 64bit, and I tried putting both the 32 and 64bit .dll files in my vst folders (where by the way there are many other windows VSTs which work just fine with dssi-vst).

I get this with vsthost:

$ vsthost Kontakt.dll -d 3
Returning file identifiers: RIm09HktUFdUmYGlh6aGz1ki
DSSI_PATH not set, defaulting to /home/renato/.dssi:/usr/local/lib/dssi:/usr/lib/dssi:/usr/lib32/dssi
RemoteVSTClient: executing /usr/lib32/dssi/dssi-vst/dssi-vst-server -g Kontakt.dll,RIm09HktUFdUmYGlh6aGz1ki
DSSI VST plugin server v0.986
Copyright (c) 2004-2010 Chris Cannam
Loading "Kontakt.dll"...
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /usr/lib/vst/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /usr/lib/vst/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /usr/local/lib/vst/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /usr/local/lib/vst/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /home/renato/.vst/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in .vst/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /windows/dlls/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /windows/dlls/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /home/renato/Audio/.vst/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in Audio/.vst/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /windows/dlls/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /windows/dlls/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in /home/renato/Audio/.vst/Kontakt.dll <----- this is the correct path, and the file is there
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in Audio/.vst/Kontakt.dll
dssi-vst-server[1]: not found in DLL path
dssi-vst-server: ERROR: Couldn't load VST DLL "Kontakt.dll"
Plugin server timed out on startup: No such device or address
vsthost: bailing out

Am I missing something?
glowrak guy
Established Member
Posts: 2315
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:37 pm
Been thanked: 251 times

Re: dssi-vst and Kontakt free player

Post by glowrak guy »

You'll likely have some success using reaper, wineasio, and a standard vst path:
/home/you/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins, then run the kontakt installer,
and use the defaults. Works for me. You might have to use winecfg to choose windows7
as the windows identifier.

Dimension Pro is also useful, it's on a no-brainer sale a couple times a year
for $15 or $20, and has lots of sfz files that can be used elsewhere.

Installing microsoft font packages, might help in general vst function,
there are a few such packages for linux. mscorettfonts, mscore, microsoftfonts, so check
synaptic, and debian/rpm package websites.
zenity was mentioned recently, as being useful for gui issues
Cheers
nareto
Established Member
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat May 28, 2011 9:22 am

Re: dssi-vst and Kontakt free player

Post by nareto »

I don't know, I don't want to use another DAW just for this, I have my thing going with the linux audio ecosystem. I'd like to run it witth dssi-vst and eventually in Carla. I don't think it's a path problem either, as, like I mentioned, other plugins work fine.

However, for curiosity, I tried launching the the executable (i.e. the .exe, not the .dll) installed in ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Native Instruments/Kontakt 5; it won't launch and it gives this error:

$ wine Kontakt\ 5.exe
err:module:import_dll Library MSVCP120.dll (which is needed by L"C:\\Program Files\\Native Instruments\\Kontakt 5\\Kontakt 5.exe") not found
err:module:import_dll Library MSVCR120.dll (which is needed by L"C:\\Program Files\\Native Instruments\\Kontakt 5\\Kontakt 5.exe") not found
err:module:LdrInitializeThunk Main exe initialization for L"C:\\Program Files\\Native Instruments\\Kontakt 5\\Kontakt 5.exe" failed, status c0000135

so maybe I'm just missing those .dll s, maybe I can install them through winetricks... and maybe that's the same reason why the Kontakt .dll files don't show up in dssi_list_plugins? I don't know, I'll investigate when I have some time
asbak
Established Member
Posts: 897
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2014 3:04 pm
Has thanked: 71 times
Been thanked: 64 times

Re: dssi-vst and Kontakt free player

Post by asbak »

I realise you're trying to make it work in dssi-vst and since I haven't tried this I can't offer advice but Kontakt does work under Carla. The only problem is that it doesn't work particularly well (at least for me) in the sense that it isn't completely reliable and that there are too many xruns which rules out using it for live playing although it should be ok if one were only to export audio tracks from it.

To reduce xruns a bit one can disable multicore cpu support and close the gui when running it as a VST.

I'm not sure whether it's worth the hassle trying to run Kontakt in Linux, time may be better spent converting Kontakt samples for use in Linuxsampler or alternatively running Kontakt on a Windows or Mac VST host which can be controlled from the Linux computer.
Some Focal / 20.04 audio packages and resources https://midistudio.groups.io/g/linuxaudio
nareto
Established Member
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat May 28, 2011 9:22 am

Re: dssi-vst and Kontakt free player

Post by nareto »

thanks asbak, I didn't know you could convert Kontakt samples for use in linuxsampler, I'm looking that up. It definitely would be preferable.

As for Carla, I thought current git couldn't load windows vst? I recall falktx saying it would be fixed in a few weeks... they certainly don't show up for me (I can't even check them in the "refresh" dialog)
glowrak guy
Established Member
Posts: 2315
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:37 pm
Been thanked: 251 times

Re: dssi-vst and Kontakt free player

Post by glowrak guy »

Conversion requires either a commercial product:

http://www.chickensys.com/products2/software.html

Or re-recording manually.

Reaper is still the best way to VST in linux. It's small fast, works in most cases,
and is only $60 for semi-pro license. So until something better comes along...
embrace the :twisted: GRIM :twisted:

Bitwig is making some really nice linux progress, but you're into Pro pricing at that point.
Airwave is being built and used for VST by several bitwig users, and is showing signs of success.
If it becomes a .deb/.rpm at some point, that could open up a lot of possibilities.
Cheers
asbak
Established Member
Posts: 897
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2014 3:04 pm
Has thanked: 71 times
Been thanked: 64 times

Re: dssi-vst and Kontakt free player

Post by asbak »

nareto wrote:thanks asbak, I didn't know you could convert Kontakt samples for use in linuxsampler, I'm looking that up. It definitely would be preferable.

As for Carla, I thought current git couldn't load windows vst? I recall falktx saying it would be fixed in a few weeks... they certainly don't show up for me (I can't even check them in the "refresh" dialog)
Hi Nareto, yes you're right. I should have mentioned that Kontakt USED to work in Carla. Windows VST's don't work for me either anymore :mrgreen:
Either I'm doing something wrong now or it's still broken.

Apparently Awave Studio can convert Kontakt samples (pre version 4.2.2 only). But it costs about 99 dollars......

http://www.fmjsoft.com/awavestudio.html#formats
Some Focal / 20.04 audio packages and resources https://midistudio.groups.io/g/linuxaudio
nareto
Established Member
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat May 28, 2011 9:22 am

Re: dssi-vst and Kontakt free player

Post by nareto »

hmm, bitwig has lots of potential, and I could consider saving up some for buying it, IF it were not I've read of people still suffering annoying bugs (like it doesnt' show neither ALSA nor JACK midi ports).

Reaper has no native linux version right? I've never really used wineasio... My current workflow revolves around ardour 3 and non-session-manager; would it be feasible to launch reaper through nsm-proxy, passing the song file as an argument, so I could continue to use ardour 3 for everything and just use reaper as a VST host? The critical point I think is if you can do something like "wine reaper.exe songfile"

Regarding conversion, I've also found extreme sample converter, and the demo did get the job done with a simple kontakt library I have. Though I've read that less trivial kontakt libraries (those that use scripting for example) are more problematic.

For the re-recording manually one could use synthclone which automates the process - I'm sure you guys know about it, just mentioning it here in the hopes of saving some research time to however googles this up ;)
glowrak guy
Established Member
Posts: 2315
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:37 pm
Been thanked: 251 times

Re: dssi-vst and Kontakt free player

Post by glowrak guy »

Reaper output can be routed with qjackctl wherever you like. Wineasio is pretty simple.
After installing, run a command as normal user:

regsvr32 wineasio.dll

It will confirm success. Then, in reaper, or other host device preferences panel,
choose wineasio as the asio driver. Reaper vst preferences allow multiple folder paths,
separated by ;

Reaper scans vsts quite well, if one causes an issue, restart reaper,
and it continues from beyond the plugin that failed to scan.
Native Instruments, U-he, and Cakewalk plugins usuallyjust work,
as well as most freeware, and small shop plugins. Kontakt may require
healthy cpu and ram,

Start Reaper, and right-click in the upper left empty area, and choose the menu option,
'insert plugin on new track'. The demo is honor system, no restrictions.
Post Reply