FAQs: AudioPort Universal

Is AudioPort Universal a plug-in or what?
AudioPort Universal is comprised of two components, a VST Host and a plug-in. The Host runs on a Windows PC and it's where you place your VST “sound makers” (sample players such as Kontakt Player VSTs). The plug-in is supplied in VST and AU versions for running on Windows or Mac sequencers. Digital audio travels over an Ethernet connection from the AudioPort Host(s) on one or more Windows computers to the AudioPort Plug-in(s) on your sequencer Mac or Windows computer.

Can I use AudioPort Universal with my Kontakt instruments?
Yes, APU works well with Native Instruments’ Kontakt version 3 through 4.1. You can use up to two of the 16-port Kontakt plug-ins within a single AudioPort Host, although the actual number of streaming instruments you can successfully run from one AudioPort Host will depend upon the capability of the hosting computer.

Can I use AudioPort Universal with my Spectrasonics instruments?
Yes and No. We have not yet done extensive testing. Stylus RMX works well, Atmosphere and Trilogy do not.

Does AudioPort Universal provide audio and MIDI connectivity? Or do we have to buy MIDIoverLAN CP or ipMIDI for the MIDI connection?
AudioPort Host sends digital audio to AudioPort plug-ins. Our software does not come with MIDI control, but the VST plug-ins you instantiate within AudioPort Host can communicate via MIDI over Ethernet using MusicLab’s MIDIoverLAN CP or the Nerds’ ipMIDI. A right-click of your mouse on any instantiated plug-in within AudioPort Host allows you to make this assignment once you’ve installed MolCp or ipMIDI on the host computer.

Can I use hardware MIDI? Is AudioPort listening on any system-level MIDI port?
AudioPort Host will work with any MIDI driver you have installed on the computer on which it’s running. So, for example, if you connect a MIDI keyboard to that computer and the computer has a suitable driver for the keyboard, then you can link a sampler or synth VST plug-in within AudioPort Host to the keyboard’s MIDI.

Is the AudioPort plug-in a VST or VSTi plug-in?
It is a VST plug-in (and also an Apple Audio Unit plug-in; on a Macintosh you have your choice).

Can I insert AudioPort plug-in on an Instrument track, Audio track or Input track in Cubase?
Instantiate the AudioPort plug-in as an effect on a stereo audio track. The audio track must be input enabled.

Is AudioPort compatible with 64-bit operating systems?
Alone, AudioPort host will run on a Windows 64-bit system, but in 32-bit mode.You must add jBridge Software to take full advantage of all the RAM in a 64-bit Windows operating system. AudioPort's sequencer plug-ins are compatible with Macintosh 32-bit or 64-bit operating systems, and with Windows 32-bit operating sytems; they can be enabled for 64-bit versions of Windows by adding jBridge (one jBridge license covers your whole studio).

Will the AudioPort Universal Host work with 64-bit VST plug-ins?
Yes the AudioPort Universal Host can accept 64-bit plug-ins if you add jBridge, as noted above.

How many instances of the AudioPort Host can be run on a single system?

You can only run one AudioPort Host per computer. Your license allows you to send out digital audio from up to four of these AudioPort Host computers at once, and to run a fifth computer on which you instantiate the AudioPort plug-ins to receive digital audio from the AudioPort Hosts.

What is the lowest latency that you have been able to get out of the audio transfer between systems?
We've measured as little as 4.6 to 4.8 milliseconds on a moderately fast computer (Intel Core 2 Quad 3.6 GHz) running nothing else, two audio channels, and with a dedicated Gigabit LAN that was not going through a router – just fixed IP addresses and a Gigabit switch. Adding more audio channels and/or more network traffic (e.g., not on a dedicated LAN) can increase the latency, using a faster processor such as an i7 may reduce latency.

I know that I can’t send audio from my Mac to the AudioPort Host on a Windows PC via AudioPort. But I can do it via regular Audio I/O, then transfer the audio processed on a VST filter in AudioPort Host back to my Mac via AudioPort?
No. AudioPort Host was not intended to accept incoming digital audio, but only to output digital audio that's created by a VST “sound maker” within it.
If you have a synth, sampler or other virtual instrument VST inside AudioPort Host on a Windows PC, it can send audio out to AudioPort plug-ins on another PC or a Mac system, but it’s not made to work in reverse.
AudioPort Host can run a VST effects plug-in that processes the on-board created sound, and it should work with a VST plug-in that relies upon an associated DSP card (something like a UAD card and plug-in combination) although we have yet to test plug-ins associated with external cards. Remember though that any DSP card is doing number crunching, but the audio itself would travel only from AudioPort Host to AudioPort Plug-ins via Ethernet.

Is it possible to send from One Mac to another? Or is this just PC to Mac?
AudioPort sends only from a PC, either to PC or to a Mac. Please also read the following FAQ.

Is it possible to run AudioPort on an Intel Mac, and send the audio over Ethernet to another Mac?
No… and yes. You can’t run AudioPort Host (the digital audio sending end) in Mac OS X, but you can boot the Intel Mac in Windows using Boot Camp. Then you can launch AudioPort Host and send digital audio to another Mac (Intel, G5, G4 or even a fast G3 chip) which is booted in OS-X; this is where you can use our AU or VST version of the AudioPort plug-in. We’re compatible with OS 10.3.9 and higher, but if you also want to use MusicLab’s MIDIoverLAN CP, you’ll need to use OS 10.4.x or higher.

Your web site shows a diagram with a master MacPro Sequencer/DAW running AudioPort plug-ins and a PC running AudioPort Host. Would a master MacPro and a MacPro AudioPort Host work also?
Yes... but only if the MacPro(s) running AudioPort Host is booted in Windows (not Parallels, but actually Boot Camp set for a cold boot in Windows). The windows-booted Macs would be running AudioPort Host to host VST instruments and/or effects.
A Mac can also be booted in Mac OS X and used to run a sequencer or DAW that has the AudioPort VST or AU plug-in instantiated to receive the digital audio being sent from the AudioPort Hosts.

How many computers can I run this on?

One license will allow you to run up to 4 AudioPort Hosts (you can only instantiate one of these per Windows computer) sending digital audio to one computer (PC or Mac), on which you can instantiate as many AudioPort plug-ins as you like for receiving the digital audio.

You can buy more licenses if you want to set up a larger Host farm or use multiple destination (sequencer/DAW) computers. At some point the network or the receiving computer may bog down from too much traffic, so the expansion is not unlimited.

Can I automate a plug-in which is on the PC AudioPort host through my Mac Sequencer or DAW?
AudioPort Host can accept MIDI commands if you use a third-party program like MusicLab’s MIDIoverLAN CP or the Nerds’ ipMIDI. So assuming you install that on your Mac and your PC, and assuming your sequencer or DAW can output suitable MIDI code to “talk to” the VST plug-in running in AudioPort Host on the PC, then yes, you can send commands that way. In fact we do this with our own 70 DVZ Strings library and AudioPort.

Does AudioPort Universal work as an RTAS plug-in within Protools 8 on a Mac? Or would I have to wrap it with VST wrapper from FXpansion?
No and No. Our tests using RTAS wrappers did not produce satisfactory results for us. As they say in the car ads, “Your mileage may vary,” but we can’t recommend a wrapper. Avid/Digi-design does not allow developers to build RTAS plug-ins that convey audio over Ethernet. (Could it be because they are in the business of selling expensive hardware to move digital audio between computers?)

Can I use AudioPort Universal with my Tascam GigaStudio instruments?
Yes, we have tested AudioPort Host with GigaStudio and it works well. In fact, this is one of the key reasons we decided to offer the program as a stand-alone and not just for our own DVZ libraries.