I want to get VST plugins working in Win11. My install is 24H2, which is greatly debloated using a custom setup script. The sound works fine. I have a USB MOTU 8Pre; and it works well (except the sound drops out, and may require a system reboot every few days) as both a Windows sound device, and as an ASIO device in DAWs. The only way to get VST plugins working in Windows, without a loopback device, thereby more than doubling the already glacial Windows latency, that I’ve found is to use either EqualizerAPO, in which you can’t manipulate VST’s in realtime. In Win7, I had a setup working in which I could use VST’s in realtime, in Windows sound, without undue latency; by using an ancient Winamp 2 plugin for 32-bit VST2’s. If I want to set a effect for a podcast or vid with a speaker who trails off in volume, has a huge siblance problem, or who has bad quality audio that needs some high end to be intelligible, it involves a lot of guess and hit “Apply” in EqAPO to get it right; for as helpful as it usually is. I hope to do it with freeware, but if there is no way, something fairly inexpensive. Anything affordable that will allow VST’s in Windows audio will serve as a correct answer.
So, in hopes of recreating that dream setup, I tried the install that used to work in Win7, “ffdshow_rev4475_20120712_xhmikosr_icl12_x64.exe”, as well as “ffdshow_rev4532_20140717_clsid.exe” and “ffdshow_rev4533_20140929_clsid_x64.exe”; but I never get a system tray icon, nor can any of the fx built into ffdshow affect the signal at all: e.g. the volume won’t mute when brought down to zero.
I don’t really want to replace modern Win11 codecs with ones so old as in ffdshow, so I install it to only process mp3’s and raw audio, and with the DirectShow audio and video processing on. None of this even gets as far as trying VST’s.
As above, I’m using a setup script to hugely debloat Win11, from a 24H2 ISO; and am using it as a LTS release; and am running on a homebrew with a Asrock Tai Chi x570 mb with a Ryzen 7 3800x. I’d like to know if anyone has ffdshow processing audio on 24H2 or later, if anyone has ideas on how to get it running on mine, or if they have another way to process Windows audio with compatibility with actual professional audio processors (i.e. VST’s), affordably, and hopefully free, without a lot of added latency.
