This is a bridge to run Windows VST plugins (both 32 and 64 bits) with Linux VST hosts. = How to use it? = Let's suppose that you have installed vst-bridge in ~/local/ and you have a windows VST installed in ~/.wine/drive_c/VST/Synth1/Synth1.dll First you have to create a directory for your bridges: $ mkdir ~/.vst-bridges Then you can create your first bridge: $ ~/local/bin/vst-bridge-maker ~/.wine/drive_c/VST/Synth1/Synth1.dll ~/.vst-bridges/Synth1.so Optionally, you can add a third argument — a path to a WINEPREFIX you want the plugin to use. Now edit ~/.bashrc and add $HOME/.vst-bridges/ to VST_PATH. Mine looks like: export VST_PATH=/usr/lib/vst/:$HOME/.vst-bridges/ Then you can start your favorite DAW, ask him to scan plugins again and enjoy! = Architecture = A typical installation looks like: /home/abique/local/ /home/abique/local/bin /home/abique/local/bin/vst-bridge-maker /home/abique/local/lib /home/abique/local/lib/vst-bridge /home/abique/local/lib/vst-bridge/vst-bridge-plugin-tpl.so /home/abique/local/lib/vst-bridge/vst-bridge-host-32.exe /home/abique/local/lib/vst-bridge/vst-bridge-host-32.exe.so /home/abique/local/lib/vst-bridge/vst-bridge-host-64.exe /home/abique/local/lib/vst-bridge/vst-bridge-host-64.exe.so vst-bridge.so is a Linux VST plugin which has space reserved for the windows plugin path. vst-bridge-maker creates a dedicated <plugin>.so for a single Windows VST plugin by copying vst-bridge-plugin-tpl.so and updating the path to the Windows VST and the path to the corresponding host (32 bits or 64 bits). vst-bridge-host-(32|64).exe hosts a Windows VST and communicates with <plugin>.so. <plugin>.so spawns a new wine process vst-bridge-host-(32|64).exe and passes the path to the Windows VST plugin. = Protocol = The communication is done through socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_SEQPACKET, 0). - request : tag, cmd, data - tag: 4 bytes - cmd: 4 bytes - data: n bytes = Roadmap = - optimize I/O (reduce the number of bytes transfered) - make a scanner = Extra info = http://www.steinberg.net/en/company/developer.html http://reaper.fm/sdk/vst/vst_ext.php http://www.asseca.org/vst-24-specs/efVendorSpecific.html