Preview 2.43: Podium x64 (for 64-bit Windows)

[Zynewave]

Podium 2.43 x64 beta1 is available in the VIP lounge download topic.

I've finally had a chance to try my x64 build of Podium on 64-bit Windows 7, and have managed to find and fix the few problems that remained. I would appreciate if some of you with 64-bit Windows could try this beta and see if you find any problems. Please keep backups of your old project files, before saving them with the x64 version.

Podium x64 only supports x64 VST plugins. I don't plan to implement a "bit bridge" type of feature that allows 32-bit plugins to run in Podium x64. This would take a lot of time to implement, and it's a feature that will become increasingly obsolete over the years as the majority of plugins become available as x64 versions. There is a "jBridge" plugin available which should be able to wrap 32-bit plugins for use in x64 hosts. I'm going to test it this weekend:

http://jstuff.wordpress.com/jbridge/

I'll need to port the zPlugins to x64 as well, before the 2.43 release will be ready.


So far I've tested Podium x64 with the following x64 plugins, without finding any problems:

NI Komplete 7 Players bundle (Only Kontakt and Guitar Rig are available as x64).
FabFilter total bundle.
Garritan GPO4.
Meldaproduction free effects bundle.
Voxengo Span free effect.
TAL-BassLine free synth.

Please post your test-results if you test other x64 plugins.

[4mica]

Dang, Frits! This one dropped out of the clear blue sky. I have a 64 bit system, and will test this afternoon.
One question, though: I have 4 gigs ram, so will this allow for much improvement in performance? See, I don't really have any plugins which require lots of ram, so I'm not sure if this is for me. Also I read this quote from another site, saying jbridge "creates a 64-bit wrapper allowing the wrapped plug-in to utilize more than 4 Gigs of RAM". Since I have only 4 gigs, will it matter?
Thanks for reading this, whoever you are, and good day!
John

[Zynewave]

[ronin]

This update was unexpected! Thanks Frits.
I gave it a try and so far it's working nicely. TAL-Flanger (x64) is crashing but this plugin seems to be problematic in other host too (namely Topten Cantabile). Maybe it is just buggy.
The rest of the TAL stuff, the ToneBooster plugins and YT Independance 3 are running smoothly.

[thcilnnahoj]

It's the first beta... *sniff* I can't test...

Another big step forward, though!

[MelodyMan]

This is great. Probably my last push to go all 64-bit.

[4mica]

Hi.
Did some quick testing this morning, with Athlon X2 dual core, 3 ghz, 4gb ram.
It opened fine, but with an error message: "Could not access midi input interface. Midi yoke nt:1. Interface either not connected/powered on or is locked by another running application." I checked midi options and couldn't find any available. Could this be due to the fact that I opened everything (Podium 64, plus 64 bit plugs) from the desktop?
When first opening the plugs I had no problems at all, but when I closed the gui of any plug and then tried to reopen it, Podium would freeze and crash. But if you notice at the bottom of any JBridged plug, there's a small bar with an options button. Go inside options and check the option which states "Prevent main host control when gui window is closed" and abracadabra, no further problems opening/closing gui.
Oh yeah, I checked the "performance mode" in options and my CPU for just about any plug would drop to very low levels. Super cool! The creator of JBridge said you might notice some aliasing in the sound but I couldn't hear any.
64 bit plugins I tried included the Melda free series, Poor Plate reverb, TAL Noisemaker and TAL Dub 1 and 2, Molot, one or two others. 32 bit plugs included Tyrell No6, Oatmeal, Short Circuit, Nasty DLA, IIEQ Pro.
Molot scanned in fine a few times, but then the 3rd or 4th time an error window came up: "Molot has crashed- Last audiomaster opcode:1 - Last dispatcher opcode: 42"
The 32 bit version of Poor Plate opens with a default Podium parameter list, no gui. But the 64 bit version, even though I could control it by controlling parameters from the inspector, would only open up an empty frame where the gui would normally be, with a frozen picture of Podium filling in the background.
But these individual problems may have to do with the individual plugs, no?
And even though it's not your fault, JBridge drives me nuts with the way it assigns mappings to each plugin. It adds a lot of clutter to my already overcluttered VST lists. But I think there's some options to streamline the mappings, which I'll look at later. EDIT: I just reread your message about autowrapping, Frits, so there's the solution, alright!
Despite the issues, I may go 64, though I'm normally a 32 kinda guy. The Performance mode alone makes it worthwhile. The JBridge developer said you should have lots of cores to make a big difference, but my dual core brightened the hell up! You're well on your way Frits--
John

ps Next time around I'll get a hold of some high CPU "big" 64 plugs to push this new Podium to the limit. Be seeing you-

pss Since I have many more 32 bit plugs than 64, should I use just the 64 bit Podium and bridge all the 32s? That way I could use performance mode all the time(if the sound doesn't degrade) and kill all cpu issues.

[Slomo]

No problem running AAS (Applied Acoustics Systems) plugins;

String Studio
Tassman 4
Ultra Analog

[Conquistador]

An x64 beta is great news thanks

I'll test with some plugins here and let you know how it goes.

[Conquistador]

Did some *basic* quick stress testing...

a. Processing Audio
b. Automation ( with a select few)
c. Saving during playback
d. Dragging in, replacing and deleting FX and VSTi during playback
e. MIDI Recording

..with the following x64 native plugs in my VST folder

INSTRUMENTS

Spectrasonics
Omnisphere
Trilian
RMX

Cakewalk
Rapture
z3ta+

U-he
TyrellN6 (amazing freebie by the way)

AAS
Ultra Analog
Lounge Lizard


FX

Izotope

Trash
Ozone 4
Spectron

Voxengo
SPAN
Varisaturator
Marvel
Overtone
Chrunchessor 2
Gliss 3
Stereo Touch
Tube Amp

Cytomic
The Glue

Team DNR
Mix Control

Nomad
MAGNETIC
Blue Tubes FX Pack
Liquid Bundle II
Studio Channel SC-226
Echoes (demo)

Nugen
MonoFilter 4
Steroizer 3
Stereoplacer 3

Liquid Sonics
Reveberate

AudioDamage
Replicant

Sugabytes
Effectrix

Tonebooster
Various (demos)

[Conquistador]

Results Summary...
Very smooth. No drama here. Had one incident where changing a patch in Trilian resulted in a glitch but to be honest it is probably not advisable to switch patches in such memory intensive plugs in real time with about 6 other VSTi's running at the same time at a latency of about 4ms or less. Some of the Trilian patches take a bit of time to load I am guessing Trilian had not fully loaded the patch. Not able to repro the issue in any case.

Smooth sailing so far. I think Geist now has an official X64 version (out of beta) so I will give that a run out in 2.43 as well as any other x64 plugs I do not have any more time to test today (Yellow tools Independence is another). Will probably post back tomorrow on those as these tests took much longer than I thought for today

[Conquistador]

Happy to report Geist x64 and Yellow Tools Independence 2.5 x64 also appear to run fine in Px64.

[Zynewave]

[Zynewave]

[Conquistador]

Cheers Frits

Update...

I have been getting consistent crashes with Cakewalk Rapture today. I could not figure out why this plugin alone would cause the app to crash. It scanned ok and passed my initial earlier tests. The windows error that pops up clearly lists Rapture as the cause. I have just checked the Cakewalk support areas for any update for the plug (long shot) and it does appear to have one (from last year).

That update adds Windows 7 compatibility. Strange in a way as I cannot remember having issues with it in W7 before today. Anyway I am installing the Rapture update and will let you know if there are any more problems with the plug.

No issues with the other plugs still.