I want to be able to run Virus Control in standalone mode, i.e. without having to use it as a plugin to a sequencer. As there is no direct provision for Virus Control to work this way, I have take the advice given elsewhere in the forum to try a free VST host application. These are supposed to provide a simple, low-overhead wrapper to allow a single VST plugin to be used. I have tried Savihost, Minihost and Cantabile Lite. I have not been able to get any of them to usefully work. Judging from its frequent recommendation and mention on the forum, Savihost is the most popular Windows VST host for the Virus. So I may have the best chance getting some help from the forum to get that particular VST host working.
When Virus Control starts up in Savihost, it shows an error message to the right of the plugin's Virus TI caption below its controls:
"A Sync error occurred. Press Stop and Play to clear."
Despite this message, Virus control does actually communicate with the synth fine. Parameters modified in Virus Control change the synths sound. And parameters changed with knobs on the synth are reflected graphically in Virus Control. To get any sound, I have to have to turn on the Virus Control's Direct button for the part being played. Nothing wrong with that, I would expect to do so.
The problem is that there is a delay of a large fraction of a second between a key being pressed on my Polar and the corresponding note sounding.
This is surely a latency problem. To fix it, I thought the first thing to try would be to set the buffer size for the Virus Asio driver to the minimum of 128. But I cannot see how to do that in Savihost. In Savihost's Engine Configuration dialogue box, there is a Priority page where I tried setting the various priorities to High or Highest. That did not help. I have Virus Control working very well with Pro Tools, with no noticeable note delay, on the same computer. So it ought to be possible with a small VST host like Savihost. I would appreciate any suggestions.
Simon