Garritan users and Finale refugees may like to know that there is an update to ARIA Player, v. 1.959.
This includes Catalina support for Mac; HiDPI support for Windows; and a VST3 plug-in!
However, the Player update (and the Engine, which is a separate thing) do not seem to be readily accessible at the moment: I had to persist with MakeMusic Support before they agreed to give me a (time limited) download link.
FWIW if I open my current version of Aria (Player v1.872 and Engine V1.933) the Engine update to 1.959 is available on the Settings page.
But it says the Player is the latest version, though itâs a few years old now.
Do you actually get an update link though? When I clicked it, it took me to ARIA Engine Update | ARIAEngine.comARIAEngine.com, but what looks like should be a download link isnât actually active. Going to my account in the MM Download library, the latest version available for download there is 1.872. Just wondering if you could actually download the update.
Youâre right.
Seems like the usual MakeMusic website shambles. When I upgraded from GPO4 to GPO5 the download link was another copy of GPO4. It took a few weeks to get that sorted out. The only part of the deal that âworked properlyâ was charging my credit card for the non-upgrade, amazingly enough.
This was probably 10 years ago, so I might be remembering it wrong, but I seem to recall once updating the Aria Engine before the Aria Player update came out, and it caused playback issues. The version #s currently match, so Iâm sorta assuming they may be waiting until both are ready for release.
The installer I was given updates both the Player and the Engine. Links for Windows and Mac are in this discussion, though I donât know how long they will work for.
https://www.finaleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18230&p=71113#p71113
Link worked great, thanks!
I notice the new Aria Player/Engine has a VST3 version included, but I have not yet been able to determine whether it is multi-channel (since Iâd first have to remove the VST2 versions from my whitelist to see what remains.
Iâm curious about the multi-channel issue too. The new VST3 version doesnât seem to be, unless Iâve just got it configured incorrectly. That makes it pretty useless in Dorico. Has anyone been able to use it with multiple playback channels active?
Did anyone ever get the new VST3 version of Aria to work as a multi-channel player? I still havenât figured it out and am keeping the âAria Player Multi VST_x64â whitelisted. If anyone could get it to work multi-channel, can you please explain how? Thanks!
As far as I can determine, the VTS3 Aria Player only outputs to channels 1 & 2.
Has anyone who owns a Garritan sound set asked about this on the Garritan Forums/âSubmit a requestâ link?
Yes, it seems a bit of a damp squib, as no multi-output. Still, hope for the future that there will be full VST3 at some point!
Oh well, Iâm sure it will be full multi-channel VST3 at some point. As the current version is 1.959 maybe they are waiting for the 2.0 release.
Reviving this old thread because there seems to be a problem that persists in both Dorico 3.5 and Dorico 4 with this VST3 version of ARIAplayer (v1.959). Itâs NOT a problem with Cubase, Sibelius, Finale, etc.
Aside from not supporting Multiple audio outputs, channel bouncing does not work.
I.E. Set a sustain string sound on channel 1. A Pizzicato on channel 2. Make an expression map with absolute or relative channels. It doesnât work.
Channel bouncing does work with the VST2 versions.
Also, the VST3 version will work in Dorico if itâs bridged through something like Bidule.
Iâve started a thread on the Plogue forum requesting a fully featured VST3 ARIAplayer if anyone wants to join in there.
https://www.plogue.com/plgfrms/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=9289
Hi. I just opened a ticket for this at MakeMusic, but my experiences are they are reluctant to do anything for their customers once theyâve paid. Looks like an evil trap. ;-(
Please whatâs Bidule? (And why, if itâs so good, isnât it included in Dorico 5 pro?
Others, like Cakewalk, include j-bridge to even allow VSt2 @32bitâŚ
Please give more information. Thank you!
Yes, ARIA Player is now fully Multi-output VST3 â and Apple Silicon native, to boot.
You can download it free from MakeMusicâs website, so no payment required!
Bidule is not a Steinberg product. Itâs made by Plogue. It a pretty deep host or utility plugin in its own right that is attractive to sound designers for a variety of reasons. Utilities like bidule allow a user to intercept, monitor, route, and manipulate MIDI, VST, Audio, and OSC data in real time. Itâs more of a power-user kind of app that allows one to âmergeâ many plugins and audio sources into a single plugin (or stand alone) instance.
As for Steinberg hosts including a âbridgeâ.
Older post but at the timeâŚ
Historically Steinberg does include bridges or some equivalent legacy support option. Eventually âbridgesâ go away with newer versions, but Steinberg usually provides some path to get older projects running again in newer versions with minimal user fuss.
The VST2 version still worked fine Dorico on Windows. Dorico still supports VST2/64 for the time being. No need to bridge anything.
Dorico on Macs with Apple silicon can run VST2 with Rosetta.
ARIA comes in a version for Mac that works fine on Macs.
Over the years Steinberg has provided some bridging capabilities for a time in their hosts, but gradually phase them out as third party developers catch up on the newest protocols. I.E. When everything was shifting from 32bit to 64bit, Cubase and Nuendo still shipped with an internal bridge (like jbridge). At some point plugins were expected to all come in a 64bit version. Cubendo no longer provides such a bridge, and if you âstillâ need it, then youâll have to find and install your own 3rd party bridge.
VST2 is being phased out. In theory, developers can no longer get a VST2 dev kit from Steinberg. At this time VST2 still works fine in all versions of Dorico and Cubase/Nuendo for Windows. It will still work for Mac (while some of the newer ones with Apple silicon might require Rosetta).
Aria comes in VST3, AU, and Pro Tools variants that work fine in most hosts on the market. There has been a VST3 windows version for a while now. I have not tried it in a long time, but last time I did it was broken in Steinberg hosts (only one âMIDIâ channel would work, and it did not support multiple audio outputs). Perhaps this has been corrected by now. My personal work around, since I have and use Bidule a good deal (power user reasons) was to gradually make newer versions of my scores that hosted the VST2 version of Aria inside VST3 Bidule instances; hence, if and when VST2 does go away in DoricoâŚmy old scores will still play. This works better for me personally than using many instances of Aria directly in Dorico anyway (I can build better sounding instruments from the Garritan libraries with more options, and have them be a little âsmarterâ at interpreting scores).
If the VST3 version of Aria has been updated to function properly in VST3 hosts this is great news! Back when this thread was âstartedâ, that was NOT the case. Using one of the bog standard âkeyswitchedâ instruments per instance was fine, but if you needed anything more complex (multiple audio outputs, or to channel bounce among articulations or sound variations in different Aria slots), it didnât work in Dorico. Dorico can/could still use the VST2 variant without issue, but âpersonallyâ I wanted to get my old scores in a state that will simply âopen and playâ without issue in future versions of Dorico that might no longer support VST2. Another perk of my Bidule setup, is that I can easily repair and export older setups to newer configurations in the future IF I find I need to do so. I can also easily âshare or portâ entire instrument setups among different hosts (Sibelius, Finale, Cubase, and more) with just a few clicks and avoid having to ârebuild the entire messâ from the bottom up in each host. I can also design a somewhat âuniformâ score translation and instrument implementation across the different hosts.
Well yes, for Mackies. Not for PCs.
Everything I do I do it on a PC (Windows 11 pro, 23H2, 64bit.)
This VSt3 support for Windows is what I am asking for.
If Aria/VST3/Windows is still broken, you can continue to use VST2 versions for now. At some point in the future Dorico might drop VST2 support, but you can always keep a copy of the latest Dorico version thatâs happy with VST2. That would at least give you instant access to older scores without needing to redo your instrument setup(s). You would also be able to save various instrument states in the event a fully functional VST3 Aria doesnât come to Windows (by then, or ever), and you want to ârebuildâ things in one of those âbridgesâ.
It might also be possible that by the time VST2 is gone from Dorico, that itâll be capable of bouncing articulations over âdifferent pluginsâ. If thatâs the case, not having channels and multiple outputs working in Aria wonât be a big deal. Just use different instance. You could even opt to use the sforzando plugin instead of Aria.
Meanwhile, if it hasnât been fixed by now, put pressure on Makemusic to âfixâ that plugin where you can. Iâd be happy to join in your efforts on that front. VST2 Aria in bidule instances has served me so well for so long (spoils me reallyâŚas compared to running instances directly in Dorico instrument slots) that itâs been a while since Iâve even tried it.
If you want to experiment with a VST3 > VST2 bridge, there is a free one (Kushview Element) out there you can try. Itâs a bit weird when it comes to anything involving MIDI program changes, but otherwise it seems to be solid and quite useful for the task at hand (hosting VST2 Aria in a VST3 host).
Personally I use bidule (not free for the plugin version), but some of my students use Kushview for the âopposite purposeââŚto get HALion/Sonic 7 (No VST2 plugin for those) up and running in Sibelius/Finale on Windows.
By now there are probably some other options out there as well. I canât remember them off the top of my head but it seems like there is at least one other utility out there that can bridge VST2 plugins into VST3.