VST Live 2.1.16 Pre-Release is online

[Stephen_Doonan]

Devices–>Connections–>Audio

Devices–>Audio Setup

And, after quitting VST Live, unplugging headphones from computer, and restarting VST Live:

Brief video screencast of VST Live while playing a few notes on my external MIDI keyboard, to show MIDI activity indicators in the VST Live GUI, then clicking keys of the HALion7 virtual keyboard.

I still have the feeling that this might be a very stupid new-user error, for which I sincerely apologize to everyone. At least this thread might serve as reference for other such cases if they occur.

[CliveJ]

That’s weird!

If you switch to the Home view in Halion it should show you all 16 slots and what MIDI activity is on each - do you see anything?

Also - what MIDI channel is your keyboard transmitting on?

[Stephen_Doonan]

In the HALion7 VST GUI accessed from within VST Live, and with HALion7’s Default screen set loaded, only one slot is visible, occupied with one program (Amped Elektra–>Ballad Times), which is set to use MIDI A1 (port A, channel 1).
My external MIDI keyboard is transmitting on MIDI channel 1, whether by MIDI cable plugged into a MIDI hub (the hub is connected to the computer with a USB cable), or plugged directly into the computer using a USB cable from external MIDI keyboard to computer.

[musicullum]

@CliveJ

That’s weird!

Absolutely.

The final missing piece is your mixer, where does “Stereo Out” go? Because if you cannot hear the click while metronome is activated, you will hear nothing (on that output channel) and nothing will be processed.

The Halion Layer receives MIDI. It sends that to Halion, but Halion can only do anything if it is beeing processed. Same goes for the “Metro” Channel, provided it is connected to “Stereo Out” as well. It is only beeing processed if the “Stereo Out” channel (top right of Layer) is connected to “MAIN”. Try to select (nc) in the layer, then back to “Stereo Out”. In the mixer, make sure the “Stereo Out” Channel has “MAIN” at its top (maybe toggle (nc) and MAIN there as well). If that fails, pls send a screenshot of your mixer, thanks.

[Stephen_Doonan]

I tried everything in the order you suggested. Result: no audio yet.
Screenshot of Mixer tab. I’ll see if I can think of anything else to test.

Is it possible that some app or extension that launches when I start-up the Mac might be interfering with VST Live? There are currently very few startup items or exensions other than those that a Mac with Sequoia automatically launches during bootup. However, you might notice something that I ought to disable for testing purposes. Here’s a screenshot of “Login Items & Extensions” in System Settings–>General

EDIT: disabling iLok License Manager and Vienna Symphonic Library, then rebooting the computer, did not help: still no audio from VST Live, and the HALion7 VST doesn’t seem to be processing (and it doesn’t appear to be receiving) MIDI data, nor outputting audio.

[CliveJ]

@musicullum

It sends that to Halion

But Halion doesn’t appear to be showing MIDI activity in the video, that’s why I asked about the Home page. Filtering maybe?

@Stephen_Doonan can we have a picture of the Halion MIDI and Mix tabs please?

[Stephen_Doonan]

@CliveJ

@Stephen_Doonan can we have a picture of the Halion MIDI and Mix tabs please?

Brief screencast attached. I’ll post screenshots if preferred.

[musicullum]

@CliveJ

But Halion doesn’t appear to be showing MIDI activity in the video, that’s why I asked about the Home page. Filtering maybe?

Thanks but no, it is not beeing processed on the audio side in the first place, so it can’t show MIDI activity. If you press the plugins’ virtual keys, it should sound, but it doesn’t, so there must be a problem on the audio end.

But thanks for ideas. Running out of those, the problem appears to be on the OS audio end, as all routing looks good. But then again, other audio apps (and Halion standalone) work with the same system, that’s weird.

I’d start with forgetting about the Layer and MIDI stuff altogether, and make the Metronome work. As long as that doesn’t “click”, there is no use to search for MIDI problems.

[Stephen_Doonan]

@musicullum

But then again, other audio apps (and Halion standalone) work with the same system, that’s weird.

This is a list of audio/MIDI apps other than VST Live that are installed on this computer and in which MIDI and audio routing seem to work fine.

• Cubase 13 Pro
• HALion7 standalone and VST3 in Cubase
• Pianoteq 8 by Modartt, as VST3 in Cubase and as standalone app
• Organteq by Modartt, as VST3 in Cubase and as standalone app
• Camelot VST host by AudioModeling
• Vital synthesizer, standalone app and VST3
• Surge synthesizer, standalone app
• Vienna Synchron Player, standalone app
• Vienna Synchron Prime orchestral sample-based instruments, used in Synchron standalone app or its VST3 plugin
• The Grand 3 by Steinberg, standalone app and VST3
• SpectraLayers by Steinberg (audio app only, no MIDI)
• SWAM instruments by AudioModeling, both standalone apps and VST3
• Groove Agent 5 by Steinberg, standalone app

I think this is a fairly complete list of the MIDI & audio apps that are installed on this Mac Studio computer at this time. The only app I’ve noticed an Audio or MIDI routing/processing issue with so far is VST Live.

[Spork]

@Stephen_Doonan

… no input, no sample rate? No Buffer Size? That will be the problem. Can you click to the input, rate or size filed? What happens? Does a menu appear? Can you select something?
… never seen that before What Mac-Machine are you running?

Can you please open the Apple “Audio MIDI Setup” application. Then “Menu / Window / Show Audio Devices”. Can you please make a screenshot of that window?

Sorry and we are very happy about your help!
Michael.

[Spork]

… and can you start your “System Preferences” application. Then select “Security & Privacy” and “Microphone”. Search for “VST Live 2” and make sure that it is ticked.

/Michael.

[Stephen_Doonan]

Michael-- Thank you very much for these ideas. Although my computer doesn’t have a microphone or webcam with microphone, I did go to System Settings–>Privacy & Security–>Microphone, and enabled the access setting for VST Live 2. Then I rebooted the computer and launched VST Live. The issue remained (still no audio from VST Live.

However, the comments in your previous post (about Devices–>Audio Setup–>Audio Input, Sample Rate and Buffer Size) gave me some information to troubleshoot with, and I think that the issue might be solved.

I don’t have a need to route audio into the Mac at this time, neither by microphone nor audio produced by external hardware (synths, etc.). Currently I route only MIDI data into the computer, by using a direct USB-to-USB connection/cable between a hardware device (like my MIDI keyboard) and the computer, or from a MIDI hub connected to one or more MIDI hardware devices by MIDI-to-MIDI cable, while the hub itself is connected to the computer using a USB-B-to-USB-A-or-C cable.

Because I’m only routing MIDI data into the computer for use with virtual instruments, but am not recording nor have any need to route external audio into the computer, no audio interface has been connected to the computer. But I do have an audio interface, a Mackie Onyx Producer 2-2 external audio interface.

I shut down the Mac, connected the audio interface to the computer, rebooted the computer, and despite the fact that there are no external instruments or microphones or other hardware, and no MIDI, connected to any of the input or output ports on the audio interface, the interface itself now appears in Mac OS Audio MIDI Setup app–

–and after launching VST Live, it also appears in Devices–>Audio Setup…–

But, the great news (for me, anyway) is that with the external audio/MIDI interface connected to the computer via USB, and despite the fact that it’s audio and MIDI ports are unused and unneeded, VST Live works and produces/outputs audio from a chosen VST instrument (like aHALion7 preset).

Now I’m going to go to System Settings–>Privacy & Security, and disable access to the microphone for VST Live and reboot the computer, in order to see if that access setting is required or not, for VST Live to process MIDI and output audio. I’ll update this reply in a few minutes.

OK-- update, findings and observations are in a separate reply.

[Stephen_Doonan]

–

Info, Conclusions & Observations

OK-- Thank you Michael for the nudge in the direction of Devices–>Audio Setup, audio-input, microphone, sample rate and buffer size.

I currently don’t need to route audio into the computer (only MIDI), so I didn’t have an external audio interface attached to the Mac. However, after connecting an external hardware audio interface to the Mac, rebooting the computer and verifying that the audio interface was visible in System Settings–>Sound and in the Audio MIDI Setup app, then booting VST Live and checking/configuring Devices–>Audio Setup and Devices–>Connections, VST Live began to produce sound from a selected VST instrument, solving the no-audio issue mentioned earlier in the thread.

But here are several comments and observations regarding this issue, that might be useful going forward.

• After VST Live was producing audio, I disabled its access to a microphone in System Settings–>Privacy & Security–Microphone, just as a test, and VST Live continued to produce audio with no problem. I rebooted the computer, and still, VST Live continued to produce audio despite not being granted access to a microphone (no microphone exists or is attached to my computer at present).
• I don’t actually need the external audio interface for any of the work I’m doing now, so after VST Live began to produce audio that I could hear from the Mac’s internal speakers or the headphones attached to the Mac, I detached the USB cable between the computer and the audio interface, while the computer was running, and VST Live continued to process and output audio, and continue to do so even after a computer reboot.
• However, as an earlier intermediate attempt to troubleshoot, I had downloaded and installed an audio loopback virtual device (Black Hole, by Existential Audio), and now, when I launch VST Live and look at Devices–>Audio Setup, I see this–
  
  
• After installing the Black Hole audio loopback device, VST Live now continues to process and output audio despite the fact that the external audio interface is completely disconnected from the computer and unused.

---

But, as a last test today, I quit VST Live, uninstalled the Black Hole audio loopback device using its uninstaller app, then relaunched VST Live, to check whether the no-audio issue would happen without either an external audio interface or an internal audio loopback device, and the issue did return. In Devices–>Audio Setup, the “Audio Input,” “Sample Rate” and “Buffer Size” fields were all empty and no audio was produced or routed by VST Live.

I then reinstalled Black Hole in order to use VST Live. In thinking about this issue, while I don’t (yet) find it necessary to use an external audio interface, I think that most use cases would want or need to route the audio from VST Live to external hardware for processing and or distribution to speakers. So mine is an “edge case” I guess, and for the vast majority of users, this no-audio issue would not occur. In addition, although I don’t currently need or use an external audio interface, I do need to route audio between applications (from one app to another), and I think that the Black Hole audio loopback device will allow that to happen.

Thank you for your help.

[Spork]

… thank you four your help, @Stephen_Doonan. We’ll fix it. VST Live should be able to run without any Input-Device.

See you,
Michael.

[Spork]

… @Stephen_Doonan, another question, please. Which Mac-Machine are you working with?

Thank you,
Michael.

[Stephen_Doonan]

@Spork

Which Mac-Machine are you working with?

Hi Michael-- I found myself wondering whether VST Live for Mac might default to the Mac’s own internal audio (coreaudio?) if no external audio interface were discovered by the app.

Some system info below. I can provide more if you specify which type.

Under “Audio” below, the PHL BDM3270 device is my monitor connected via HDMI cable, and “BlackHole 2ch” is the software audio loopback device I recently installed, from-- https://existential.audio/

xxxxxx@Mac ~ % system_profiler SPHardwareDataType SPAudioDataType
Hardware:

    Hardware Overview:

      Model Name: Mac Studio
      Model Identifier: Mac14,13
      Model Number: Z17Z0006ZLL/A
      Chip: Apple M2 Max
      Total Number of Cores: 12 (8 performance and 4 efficiency)
      Memory: 64 GB
      System Firmware Version: 11881.1.1
      OS Loader Version: 11881.1.1
      Serial Number (system): D4291MQ43R
      Hardware UUID: 26E7144C-AEE7-5187-B888-18E774D09CE2
      Provisioning UDID: 00006021-000251091E43C01E
      Activation Lock Status: Disabled

Audio:

    Devices:

        PHL BDM3270:

          Manufacturer: PHL
          Output Channels: 2
          Current SampleRate: 48000
          Transport: HDMI
          Output Source: Default

        BlackHole 2ch:

          Default Input Device: Yes
          Input Channels: 2
          Manufacturer: Existential Audio Inc.
          Output Channels: 2
          Current SampleRate: 48000
          Transport: Virtual
          Input Source: Default
          Output Source: Default

        External Headphones:

          Default Output Device: Yes
          Default System Output Device: Yes
          Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
          Output Channels: 2
          Current SampleRate: 48000
          Transport: Built-in
          Output Source: External Headphones

        Mac Studio Speakers:

          Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
          Output Channels: 2
          Current SampleRate: 48000
          Transport: Built-in
          Output Source: Mac Studio Speakers

[Spork]

… “Model Name: Mac Studio”, that’s all I want to know. Thank you. Give us a bit, we’ll fix it. Then you don’t need an Audio-Input to run VST Live.

/Michael.

[Spork]

… good news, @Stephen_Doonan. We were able to reproduce your problem with a “Mac Studio” machine. And here we go : It’s fixed now. We do release every Friday a new Pre-Release. The fix will be added to the next Pre-Release. Please re-try it and let us know if it’s now working for your - without any additional installations.

Thank you for all your help,
Michael.