FXpansion VST-RTAS Adapter

I have been using computer-based music production systems for 22 years. I am currently using a PC-based workstation running Digidesign ProTools LE with a Digi 002 Rack. I am running a Pentium4 3.2 GHz machine with 1 Gb of RAM.

I just bought the FXpansion VST to RTAS Adapter to improve the functionality of my Native Instruments plugins (NI Komplete 2) with ProTools. One of the problems that I encountered with the NI plugins is that in the RTAS format, ProTools seems to be able to access only a single MIDI channel in each instance of a plugin. According to everything I had read about it, the FXPansion adaptor would sort this problem out. And it did (read on for details...)

The package is incredibly simple to install and use. I ran the installer, and had the software up and running within minutes. The user interface is self-explanatory, and there really is very little that a user has to do once everything is installed.

The options available are to scan the entire system for VST plugins (an option that I would generally avoid), or to seek for plugins in a particular location. The application folder contains a forder for VST plugins, so rather than scanning my entire system, I simply copied the .dll files for those plugins that I wanted to wrap into the VST folder in the FXpansion folder. From there, once I had scanned the folder, all the plugins were picked up and wrapped immediately.

Once this had been done, I loaded ProTools, to find that everything I had wrapped was available for insert or AudioSuite use. Everything worked seamlessly.

This package does not produce sound in and of itself. I found that the wrapper has no impact on sound quality - all of the wrapped plugins sound identical to their RTAS or standalone counterparts.

What I did find is that wrapping the problematic NI plugins fixed the problem completely - I now have access to 16 MIDI channels for each instance of the plugins.

This package is worth it's price a hundred times over. One of my major complaints about Digi and ProTools is that the availability of RTAS plugins is so limited. I've even heard of 3rd party manufacturers who have been refused the right to develop RTAS versions by Digidesign, so it gives me great pleasure to be able to use pretty much any plugin in existence with ProTools, as if they were RTAS native.

Not only do some of the major plugin packages not have RTAS support, but there is such a broad range of VST plugins that have been developed by independent developers, so if you're running an RTAS compatible ProTools system, this product is an absolute must-have.

I have found (strangely enough) that the plugins seem to have a lower latency when wrapped than when operating in native RTAS format. For some reason (that baffles me), the latency dropped from about 300 samples (using RTAS) to around 12 samples (using the VST version of the same plugin wrapped with the adapter). I tried to break my system by instantiating about 12 NI plugins at the same time as rewiring Reason to ProTools, but much to my joy, I reached a CPU usage ceiling of around 20%, and despite trying to push enough out of the plugins to make things fall over, the system remained as stable as anything.

The FXpansion VST to RTAS Adapter is an awesome package that should be seriously considered by anybody running ProTools.

I've been playing music for almost 40 years, currently play piano, guitar, 12 string, bass, various synths, horns and the like. I've played in studio settings as well as live venues. software, I've got more than could be listed here. I'm sure to some it's an obscene collection, but I use most of them several times a year, so it pays off long term.

The VST2RTAS software is the solution for those of us using ProTools and have those great VST plug-ins that are not ported to RTAS.

I use VST2RTAS for about 2 dozen plug-ins from Sir (convolution reverb) to V-Station or TauPro or UA's Analog Synth & Lounge Lizard as well as a lot of freeware plug-ins. Some months, I'll purge the directory and just refresh what I'm currently using.

I run a Pentium PC with 2.8Ghz processor, 3 Gig of ram and a 200Gig Audio source drive (all sounds, samples, etc, that are not realtime are stored here). currently the Studio montiros are Edirol MA-10D digital monitors.

The interface is straightforward, enter your name, and then your license number, it will then scan for plugs and convert them. Pretty easy.

The manual is a couple pages, but do you really need it for this?

Only ran into one glitch, but it relates to the actual plug-in developer, not FXpansion. When loading some plug-ins, they appear to be cutoff partially (the UI). By minimizing and restoring the plug-in window, you get it all, but that in itself is just a peeve. I don't believe it's an FX issue, if it is, then Angus over at FX should address it soon. If you're reading this Angus, drop me mail :-).

No difference from the VST instrument. All this is is a wrapper that allows the instrument to be used and loaded in Protools.

overall, it made my plunge into ProTools, relatively seamless. I love my VST's and although most of the ones I prefer are available as RTAS, the cool quirky ones are the ones I love to use for those odd flavors here and there. By having VST2RTAS, I'm able to use them anytime.