VST instruments with audio inputs are a bit of a rare one. Once upon a time a sound generating plugin was thought to never need audio inputs. Only effects needed ins and outs.
Long story short, using VMPC2000XL as a sampler, recording new sounds with it, doesn't work properly in all DAWs. Maybe some things will improve as my understanding of it does, but for now the below matrices apply.
| Linux | LV2 Audio | LV2 MIDI | VST3 Audio | VST3 MIDI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carla | 2 mono in 10 mono out |
16 channels in 16 channels out |
plugin opens but Carla crashes |
plugin opens but Carla crashes |
| LMMS | no LV2 support | no LV2 support | no VST3 support in stable |
no VST3 support in stable |
| Ardour | plugin doesn't open don't know why |
plugin doesn't open don't know why |
plugin opens but Ardour crashes |
plugin opens but Ardour crashes |
| Reaper | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Bitwig | no LV2 support | no LV2 support | ? | ? |
| Qtractor | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Mixxx | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| AudioPluginHost | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Windows 10 | VST3 Audio | VST3 MIDI |
|---|---|---|
| Ableton Live 10 | 1 stereo in 5 stereo out |
16 channels in 1 channel out |
| Reaper 6 | 1 stereo in (always monitoring) 5 stereo out |
|
| Cubase 10 | 0 stereo in 5 stereo out |
| macOS | AU | AUv3 | VST3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logic Pro (X) | 1 stereo in (Side Chain in top right of plugin) 5 stereo out |
0 stereo in 1 stereo out only MIDI input |
|
| Ableton Live 10 | 1 stereo in 5 stereo out |
unsupported by Live | |
| GarageBand | 0 stereo in 1 stereo out only MIDI input |
||
| Cubase 10 | |||
| Reaper 6 |
Supported features
- MIDI note on/off input and output
- Multiple instances
- MIDI CLOCK slave synchronization
- Any MIDI Controller (1-127) controls the slider
- Persist full state including samples to DAW projects and programs
Not implemented
- Musical position synchronization
- Button to MIDI mapping
This will also serve as a rough indication of VMPC2000XL's MIDI and other control protocol support for the time being, which indeed is very crude and limited compared to the original.
- Side-chain options may be hidden depending on your Logic settings. To see the side-chain option, enable "Show Advanced Tools" in Preferences > Advanced, and make sure the "Audio" checkbox is enabled.
- You can resize the window, but not via the plugin window's handle. Use the bottom-right of the background of VMPC2000XL itself instead. I've been informed this is a known issue with Logic, and that literally only Apple's own plugins allow that kind of resizing.
- I have seen occasional absence of keyboard input. This seems to happen due to some issue related to window focus. Close and reopen the plugin window to work around this.
- Logic seems to block key repeat for certain keys. The
+and-keys that are by default used to turn the DATA wheel do not repeat. This can be annoying, but I don't have a workaround for now. Be aware, though, that as usual Shift and Control can be used for bigger increments. Press them both for even bigger increments.
Enable "Send all keyboard input to plug-in" to use VMPC2000XL's full keyboard mapping. This is recommended, else basic keyboard input, like Esc to go to MAIN screen will close the plugin editor, and using F1-F6 keys is not possible.
VMPC2000XL is exposed as both an AUv3 music device/aumu, as well as an AUv3 music effect/aumf.
An AUv3 music device supports:
- MIDI input
- audio output
An AUv3 music effect supports:
- MIDI input
- audio output
- audio input
In order to use VMPC2000XL AUv3 as a sampler, you have to insert it as an effect on the channel you want to sample. This channel you want to sample can be a mix bus to which some audio source is sent, or it can be directly on a channel that has an audio source like an instrument plugin.
Below is the mix bus approach used on a scenario where VMPC2000XL samples audio coming from Model D:
