BIAS FX with IR loader and VST - the workaround
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With some help from free tools, I can integrate IR loader and effect VSTs without opening DAW every time. Setting up for the 1st time could be a little complicated though, after then it's really quick and handy.
What you need:
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VST host: Cantabile Lite (free, https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/download/)
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IR loader: Nadir (free, http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=1790)
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Other VSTs you'd like to use with BIAS FX
A. Download Cantabile Lite and launch. Set up the audio ports, here's mine:
B. Download Nadir and make sure it's right in the VST folder, along with your VSTs. Click "Insert" and "Plugin", locate the VST folder and scan.
C. Here's the complicated part, launch BIAS FX, Nadir and the VSTs (here I use Ambience) and make signal routing like this:
(If you need more VSTs in the chain, just create them like BIAS FX and route it the same way)
D. Back to BIAS FX, click Setting -> Global Control, disable IR loader and Cabinet.
E. "Save Song". Done!
Now, by clicking the file, you can launch Cantabile with the whole signal chain, including BIAS FX, IR loader and any VST you like, without all the hassles from DAWs. :-)
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That's just using a vst host instead of a daw. Pretty straightforward.
However, if you prefer to use any of the ambience effects in Bias FX, you're hosed.....unless you run more than one instance after the IR loader.
But, as I've wondered in other threads, I wonder at the optimal signal levels out of the first instance of Bias FX, and into the next one.
Further, I wonder about the comparison of interaction between the amp and native IRs, and post-located ones.....
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@tannhauser said in BIAS FX with IR loader and VST - the workaround:
That's just using a vst host instead of a daw. Pretty straightforward.
However, if you prefer to use any of the ambience effects in Bias FX, you're hosed.....unless you run more than one instance after the IR loader.
Yes, the whole idea is because the reverb in BIAS FX is pretty basic, yet I don't want to see too many things I don't use. Cantabile lite is cool, given its free it does what I want. The only let down, at least to me, is its UI, not that user-friendly.
There're one more I use frequently called QwertyGo!, designed with qwerty keyboard integrated for live in mind, providing better UI and easier VST/MIDI signal routing. However, it's not free... I bought it for my Spanish learning lol, I could load all the vocabularies to each key and learn to speak form there.
But, as I've wondered in other threads, I wonder at the optimal signal levels out of the first instance of Bias FX, and into the next one.
Further, I wonder about the comparison of interaction between the amp and native IRs, and post-located ones.....
Interesting.. I'll load same IR to them and upload wav files ;-)
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@Joe-Kuo : yes, I'd like to hear.
By the way, I don't use reverb. I want a natural ambience, and a certain kind of delay from the Deluxe Delay has pleased me. A little bright, but seems to make it realer. A bit like an acoustic guitar six feet in front of you. I also have a nice sounding configuration with ReaDelay (stereo); clearer due to onboard filtering, yet not as objectifying.
I'm hoping for a PG stereo delay.
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FYI for folks on a Mac, Mainstage is the way to go for this kind of setup (find it on the Apple mac app store). It is inexpensive and is an awesome standalone plugin host. I use Bias and a host of other VSTs with it. Amazing tool. Setting this up is trivial with it.