Converting .dll VST files to .VST for mac

pint07

Oh hello
Alright, so I've always run off a windows based system. Which means i have hundreds of windows based .dll VST files. I'm now switching over to Mac with logic + firestudio ect. It's awesome, I'm so impressed. BUT i can't use my VSTs anymore :[

Is there any possibility in converting a .dll file to VST so that i can use it on my Mac? Yes, I have the converter so that I can convert the .vst file to Logic's specialness.

My last resort: I do have windows running in parallels here on my Mac. so i could install cubase here and just save my files as .wav and switch back and forth. But I would much rather be able to do it all in logic without the hassle of windows and exporting and such and losing qualitly.

I've also tried Vmachine's VFX software, but i couldn't get it running on my computer for some odd reason.

Any ideas? I'd really appreciate anything.

Oh and I'm not sure if this has hit here yet or not BUT

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/audio/vfxapplication.html

this program will run in mac and convert .dll files to VST and run inside that program, which you can then download

http://www.cycling74.com/products/soundflower

and you'll be able to run your windows VSTs on your mac! It just won't work for me, and it's honestly the same thing, just not as stable, as running windows through parallels. So we.
 
You cannot 'convert' Windows dlls to Mac dlls.

A .dll makes calls to specific operating system code.

It like trying to get your dog to help you speak dolphin... just aint gonna work....
 
Well, it's not theoretically impossible. If you were an über geek, you could link against WINElib for the OS routines and munge the actual API linkages into Mac VST calls and callbacks. That said, I don't know of any tools that do anything remotely like that....
 
Well, it's not theoretically impossible. If you were an über geek, you could link against WINElib for the OS routines and munge the actual API linkages into Mac VST calls and callbacks. That said, I don't know of any tools that do anything remotely like that....
Actually, I believe the software i posted does just that. However, it's only useable in its own interface, it doesn't actually convert the file. Which means you have to export or output it into your software.. Which is a pain, and I would rather just use the Parallels Windows.
 
Well, it's not theoretically impossible. If you were an über geek, you could link against WINElib for the OS routines and munge the actual API linkages into Mac VST calls and callbacks. That said, I don't know of any tools that do anything remotely like that....

Darn, don't you hate it when you have to deal with the REAL WORLD....
 
Actually, I believe the software i posted does just that. However, it's only useable in its own interface, it doesn't actually convert the file. Which means you have to export or output it into your software.. Which is a pain, and I would rather just use the Parallels Windows.

Not at all, thats where soundflower comes in..
 
is there still no way to convert .dll Vst-plugins to universal binary or some other mac stuff? is it really that hard?
 
No. Read my post above.

The system calls for MacOS are different than system OS calls for Windows.

Ain't gonna work...

(There are no 'magic' buttons on computers like there are on the ones you're watching on TV and movies.)
 
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is there still no way to convert .dll Vst-plugins to universal binary or some other mac stuff? is it really that hard?

Yes. It is incredibly difficult.

A .dll calls the lowest-level system hooks in the operating system.

A program to convert Windows dlls to Mac programs would have to do this:

1. Decompile the dll and process what it is doing. There are entire programs dedicated to just this.
2. Map the commands of the decompiled dll to their Mac equivalents. Since there isn't a 1:1 mapping of functionality between Windows and Mac, this step is also very challenging.
3. Build this new command set into a Mac-compatible binary. (This step is pretty easy.)
 
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