DirectiXer

This is another VST-DX adapter, similar to the one that Cakewalk has bundled with SONAR. I'm an owner of SONAR 3, so I already have a VST-DX adapter, essentially free. Why, then, would I shell out my hard earned dough for a competing product?

Well, see my review of Cakewalk's adapter to get the answer. Put simply, Directixer makes it possible for me to manage my huge collection of VST and VSTi plugins, whereas Cakewalk's does not.

Directixer has some very cool features, and is a good looking, highly usable application. It seems totally stable and is able to encapsulate just about any VST I've ever thrown at it. It also has the singular ability to be able to capture the MIDI output of a VSTi plugin and route it back into SONAR. Try that with Cakewalk's adapter!

It does have a few limitations, which I hope will be addressed soon:

- No ability to randomize VST parameters (a feature I sorely miss)

- Relies on the VST plugin id to uniquely identify a plugin. Unfortunately, some VST developers don't properly set their VST plugin id, and so duplicate plugin ids are not all that uncommon. Other adapters allow you to load and use those plugins, but Directixer balks. In fairness, the bug lies with the VST developers who didn't set the plugin id, but it sure would be nice if Directixer would insulate me from it.

All in all, this is a great product at a great price. Cakewalk's adapter is still lagging behind this one. Worth a look.Read Review