http://www.cantabilesoftware.com/
 
It's just a VST host thingy, for as you might have guessed, hosting VST's, VSTi's. It comes in 3 versions, Lite (FREE), Solo and Performer. I am looking for something like this so I don't have to fire up Sonar and go through the motions just to have a mess around with a few things. Or does anyone use anything similar which they would recommend ?
 
I'll Probably download the Lite version and install it on one of my other machines and try it out, I'm a bit wary of installing stuff on my main machine, any in fact, so just thought I would see if anyone had any experiences or knew of another alternative first.

 
I have used Cantable Lite for many years. It is a very stable and capable vst host. I run Synthmaster, Omnisphere, Trilian, and Alchemy with no problems. I doubt that I have used all the features of Cantable but was up and running with it very quickly and using vst instruments standalone which was all I wanted.    Dan

Hi, thanks, I installed the 'Solo' Demo version on one of my other PC's, the demo's allow you to use it for 30 days, similar experience, easy installation and everything works like you would expect, easy to get up and running, the recording part of it, while it worked fine was a little unintuitive, to me at least, but you get used to it fairly quickly, not sure if I want the recording feature, although it would be handy and turn it into a nice little scratch pad for ideas, if I decide I don't want the recording feature then the Lite version will do fine.

I use it a lot to authorize plugins. 

Got to check out Cantabile again.
 
My perennial soapbox for EnergyXT if you are looking for vsti management, which for my application was a significant cut above Cantabile awhile back when I compared the two.
 
XT loaded onto a track opens a full control 3D modular environment unattainable in Sonar, and to be honest, can't do it in Reaper either. Means one Sonar track and as many synths as you can chain in any stereo field you want to place them.
 
Easy fast management of vst/vsti. Works as a standalone DAW though I've never used it that way.
 
Another plus, the included synthesizer is excellent, with hundreds of presets written by users.
 
Also maybe a bit hard to grasp at first. You need to go to the modular environment after the plugin directories are set.
 
Drag and drop any number of synths or effects, parallel, series. Tweak, rewire.
 
Open the mixer and set the parameters for each synth or effect. If it gets any better than this, please tell me.
 
Download demo is fully functional except you can't save anything until registering. Should be in the toolbox of anyone using Sonar. Demo available at:
 
http://www.energy-xt.com/index.php?id=0101
 
They got a sale for 39 euros or whatever. Wish is was this cheap when I bought it.
 
John

I have the free version of Contabile and sometimes use it, but normally use a paid version of a similar product, called Forte - from Brainspawn.
 
Both products are essentially well-made VST host 'wrappers', that allow you to build a soft rack of VST plugins, then through a combination of mute/enable and selecting different presets for whichever ones you want to layer from the plugins - to save each combination as presets.
 
These programs, both Cantibile and Forte, are really good for preset switching from a bunch of soft synths.  I gigged with mostly Forte, but again they are similar in function.
 
I LOVE Sonar for recording, but for me - Sonar is too slow to load different plugins into the rack , or switch from preset to preset, whereas Forte and Cantibile allow nearly instant switching - even with sample-based synths like Kontakt.  (Forte lets you choose to keep an instrument's samples loaded, if you want, so that switching to and from that instrument is instant, with no sample load time - I do not know if Cantibile does that or not).
 
Anyways - I give a giant thumbs up to both of these programs - if live performance using soft synths is what you are after.
 
Bob Bone
 

Thanks, I have been messing around with the Cantabile Solo version demo, which does what I want, but I will look into Forte as you mentioned, and see which I like the best, then I'll grab that.
 
Thanks all

I've tried most of the VSTi hosts.
 
For a long time I used Brainspawn Forte, and for live use I think it still the best solution. Very well thought out, but it is geared for live use.
 
I really like Bidule, and until recently that was my go-to, but my requirements have changed, and I'm now about a week into a trial of Vienna Ensemble Pro. Hate to purchase another tool, but it really is easy to use.
 
Overkill if you just want a host environment, in which case I'd recommend something free, like Cantabile or Tonybear's Minihost (just checked, seems it is no longer available?) or Herman Seib's SaviHost. If you are playing virtual instruments live then Forte is the way to go. And if you want to leave a large number of virtual instruments up and loaded then Bidule or VEPro are the way to go. If you plan to use multiple machines then VEPro is the trick, since it takes care of the networking for you.

 
All I wanted was a vst host Which Cantabile Lite does very well.
 
Dan

Well I purchased Cantabile Solo version, and shortly after received an Email about the Cantabile 3.0 Preview and a link to download it for registered users of Solo or Performer. So apparently there will be a new version coming in the not to distant future. It looks nice, from a purely aesthetic point of view, have not downloaded the Preview version, will probably just upgrade when the new is released.
Cantabile 2.0 Solo does what I want,  and with the recording capabilities makes it a nice little scratch pad.
 
Thanks to all for you input.