The other day I bought Bitwig because I was looking for this exact thing on Linux. I don't regret it one bit, but it's amazing to see the beginnings of an open source solution to this! Hats off to the contributors who pulled through and made this happen.
If you're interested, there's a $20 plugin for REAPER that introduces a fantastic clip-launcher workflow, complete with MIDI controller integration/remote controls.
Didn't know about that, thank you! (Their terminology is confusing though: a "VST" that only works in Reaper is a Reaper plugin, not a VST proper...?) But anyway, will try it!
Reaper has it's own specific plugin format and language, JSFX (no relation to javascript), so that's probably why they specify it uses the VST format. But also relies on Reaper specific APIs making it only work in Reaper.
JSFX are distributed as text files, not binaries, and they can even be edited on the fly while the DAW is running. I don't think they can be called VSTs, but they sure are extremely powerful (I have written a couple myself).
JSFX can also be run in most DAWs using ReaJS, a JSFX VST host written by Cockos (not updated in a while, so some recent features of the language won't work), or another similar thing called YSFX.
Playtime probably uses Reaper-specific API calls and UI manipulation, but why the author chose to write a Reaper-specific VST instead of a plugin, IDK.
They aren't VSTs but that's my point. A "Reaper plugin" to the community usually means a JSFX plugin.
Playtime is a VST plugin, not a JSFX plugin, but it also relies on Reaper specific API calls making it incompatible with other DAWs that support VST.
It matters because you'll find it in the VST section of your Reaper plugin list and I believe Steinberg also requires you to use the VST branding on any plugins using the VST SDK
VST isn't an open plugin format and it doesn't guarantee compatibility across all hosts. It's a source-available format owned by Steinberg who grants financial free use of it (but not free use in the FOSS sense)
Reaper has some VST(TM) extensions that only it supports. So if you create a VST(TM) plugin that uses one of them, it will not run (correctly) in other hosts.
That looks awesome, I'd be interested in giving it a whirl once they add Linux support! Currently I'm sticking with Bitwig for the excellent DrivenByMoss Push1 integration, but eventually I'd like to give Reaper a try (since it has the same Push1 plugins).
I've used Ardour to mix-down my last few tracks. I write EDM and I decided to try creating a track entirely in Ardour. Coming from "clip" or pattern based sequencing, working with Ardour was pretty painful. I went back to Ableton for sequencing and arranging.
Glad to see they've added a clip based workflow, makes it a lot more useful for the way I do my sequencing and arranging.
I don't know about recent drama but just want to add I won't ever buy Bitwig because if their servers have an error, it can lock you out of the app or crash running sessions. These have happened multiple times. Even if you activated Bitwig offline, it will still try to reach the licensing server every few minutes. If the licensing server throws a 500 error, it refuses to open and closes any running sessions without saving.
The recent drama has been resolved. For a week or so there was some uncertainty whether all new Bitwig devices would be part of the Studio edition and therefore covered with the cost of the update plan. Bitwig (the company) put out a paid add-on with new devices and announced that there would be other paid add-ons in the future. That caused a lot of negative responses in the community. After a week the Bitwig company apologized, made the add-on part of the regular Studio distribution and ensured that in the future all new devices would be part of the Studio - effectively no additional paid add-ons.
The thing with the licensing server has been fixed. I tried that by turning off my router. No session closing and no data loss whatsoever.
It's actually a different issue. If the servers are completely down, or inaccessible (blocked or you're actually offline) it uses the offline license check and works fine.
If you're online and the servers are online but having issues, like returning a status 504, your local license gets revoked. Even if you chose offline activation during installation it still tries the online activation method every few minutes. If there is a server response but it's not status=200 Bitwig considers it a failed license check. Offline activation checks will then no longer work until their servers give you a good response.
Reason has a similar system, which is pretty annoying. I wonder how hard it would be to write a "yes server" that would simply respond "ok" to any activation request. Some keys must be floating around if one looks hard enough; or one should be able to find them in the local executables themselves?
Ironically it works if your internet or the servers are legitimately offline. So just block the domain. But if the servers are having trouble and return an error status code, it revokes your license until it gets an OK status again.
The other day I bought Bitwig because I was looking for this exact thing on Linux. I don't regret it one bit, but it's amazing to see the beginnings of an open source solution to this! Hats off to the contributors who pulled through and made this happen.