New Mac User: Help Me

thebookclub · Post by **thebookclub** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 6:24 am

I'm switching from PC to Mac with Ableton and I have several songs already composed using PC-based VST plug-ins (i.e. .dll files). Is there anyway to still use those plug-ins on my MacBook? I spent months writing these songs and I'm going to rather upset if I have to rediscover new sounds for these midi tracks and so on.

Any help and/or links to software to use would be very appreciated. Thanks.

parma · Post by **parma** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:24 am

.dll's can only be used on Windows. So, your only real option is to install Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

you won't be able to use your .dll plugins on OSX

hope that helps

Pasha · Post by **Pasha** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:14 am

parma wrote:.dll's can only be used on Windows. So, your only real option is to install Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

you won't be able to use your .dll plugins on OSX

hope that helps

I'm almost in the same situation, only no VSTs.
Will my XP made Live projects can be transfered to Mac including Song Folder?
All my Live Projects are saved as 'Self-Contained'
I have sampled sounds in the simpler that have samples in the Waveforms directory. Can I save all this? Is just like moving a file to Mac and it's ok?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

tylenol · Post by **tylenol** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:51 pm

Any help and/or links to software to use would be very appreciated. Thanks.

It's entirely dependent on the plugin author -- also, a lot of mac plugins don't have UB versions yet (though most commercial ones at least should get there soon). It seems like boot camp (or maybe parallels?) would be the best option for your older songs -- though if you are done(ish) with some of them you could resample some of the tracks so as to have something to use when in os x. On the plus side, you can now use automat.

thebookclub · Post by **thebookclub** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 9:36 pm

tylenol wrote:
Any help and/or links to software to use would be very appreciated. Thanks.
It's entirely dependent on the plugin author -- also, a lot of mac plugins don't have UB versions yet (though most commercial ones at least should get there soon). It seems like boot camp (or maybe parallels?) would be the best option for your older songs -- though if you are done(ish) with some of them you could resample some of the tracks so as to have something to use when in os x. On the plus side, you can now use automat.

I've considered resampling the tracks, but I enjoy the plugins I have and I hate to just lose them.

I'm not familiar with automat. Elaborate, please.

tylenol · Post by **tylenol** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:30 pm

thebookclub wrote:
tylenol wrote:
Any help and/or links to software to use would be very appreciated. Thanks.
I'm not familiar with automat. Elaborate, please.

It's a free softsynth available only as an AU, and it is pretty nice. http://www.alphakanal.de/snipsnap/space/automat.