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Robert already gave a great overview of WDL-OL, which is my favorite library for plugin development. I will mention though that there is another more expensive (I.e. Not free) and significantly less portable library, “JUCE”, that allows you to mak. This guide only covers building VST 2.x plugins, as the VST3 SDK is not very widely supported yet. Note that Steinberg’s website is a bit confusing and it is easy to accidentally download the wrong version of the SDK, so double-check to make sure that you have the 2.4 SDK.

VST plugins can give you access to great guitar effects, amp tones, and more as covered in my Ultimate Guide to Guitar Plugins.

But what if you want to run a plugin outside of your recording program (DAW)?

Sometimes you might want to use a plugin’s effects, but you don’t need to use a DAW. While some plugins come with their own standalone versions, many only work when added inside of a DAW.

In this guide, I’ll explain how you can run any VST plugin as standalone without a DAW.

I’ll also give a specific example of how to run Line 6 Helix Native as a standalone application (something a lot of guitarists want to know).

If you want to learn how to use plugins in a DAW, check out these tutorials.

How to Run a VST Plugin as Standalone

Let’s look at the different ways you can run a VST plugin as standalone.

Does the Plugin Come With a Standalone Version?

Before you do anything to run a plugin as a standalone, first check to make sure that the plugin doesn’t already come with a standalone version.

Run a search in your programs to make sure there isn’t already a standalone program you can use.

In the above example, you can see that when I search for AmpliTube, Windows has found the standalone version that AmpliTube 4 comes with when I installed the plugin.

If you see a result when you search for your plugin, run it to use your plugin as standalone.

If you don’t find a standalone version, it could be that it wasn’t installed when you installed the plugin.

Check the plugin’s website to double-check that it does come with a standalone version.

I’ve had quite a few people email me over the years only to find out that they mistakenly unchecked the box during installation for a standalone version.

If the plugin’s website says that it comes with a standalone version, simply reinstall the plugin and make sure you check the box to install the standalone version.

Using a VST Host

If your plugin doesn’t come with a standalone version, there is a way around this. It is possible to run a VST plugin as standalone without using a DAW.

The easiest way is to use something called a VST host. A VST host is a lightweight program with the sole purpose of running the VST.

VST hosts don’t have any recording or mixing capabilities and are only meant to run plugins as standalone versions.

There are a few different VST hosts available, so let’s go through the most popular options so you can see how to run any VST plugin as standalone.

How to Use VSTHost (VSTHost Tutorial)

VSTHost is the most well-known VST host program for Windows and works extremely well.

If you only want to run one plugin, you may prefer SAVIHost (covered later). If you might want to run multiple plugins at once or you want to jump between different plugins, then VSTHost is definitely the best choice.

Here’s how to install and set up VSTHost.

Step 1: Download VSTHost

Go to the VSTHost website as scroll down to downloads.

You’ll see a few different versions for different versions of Windows.

The key point is that you should download a version that is compatible with your computer. Unless you’re using an ancient PC or you only want to run 32-bit plugins, I recommend downloading the 64-bit version of VSTHost (vsthostx64.zip).

All of the versions work with both 32 and 64-bit plugins. The only difference is how the plugins are processed.

Step 2: Install VSTHost

Once you have downloaded the right version of VSTHost, you should have a zip file.

Create a folder somewhere you will remember (I created mine inside my plugins directory) and copy all the files in that folder.

Once you have all of the files installed, I recommend creating a shortcut to vsthost.exe either on your Desktop or in the Start Menu area so you can quickly open it whenever you want.

Step 3: Set Up VSTHost Audio Settings

Open vsthost.exe and let it load.

Go to Devices > Wave to set up your audio interface.

Remember that VSTHost needs to connect to your audio interface just like a DAW, so you need to have appropriate audio drivers set up to use it properly.

If you don’t know if your audio drivers are set up properly, read the first steps in this tutorial to set them up properly. Read the section on ASIO4ALL if your audio interface doesn’t come with a driver.

Select the Output Port dropdown menu and select an appropriate driver.

In the above screenshot, you can see that while I have a few options, I’ve selected ASIO4ALL because it gives me the best performance for my audio interface (iRig HD 2).

You don’t need to worry about the Input Port option when you select an ASIO device from the Output Port menu.

Set the sample rate to match what your audio interface is compatible with (usually 44.1kHz or 48kHz) and select OK.

If you select an ASIO device, you will now see two extra menu options under the Devices menu:

This is where you can configure your audio interface to make sure it properly connects to your guitar input.

Use the ASIO Channel Selection option to make sure your guitar input is enabled and the correct outputs are enabled.

Check the ASIO Control Panel option to make sure your interface is working properly.

Step 4: Find Your Plugins

Now you can configure VSTHost to find your plugins.

Go to File > Set Plugin Path and add any folders where you have plugins installed.

Click the bottom right button with the three dots to add a directory to the list:

The above two folders are the most likely places to look for your plugins, but it depends on any DAWs you have and where your plugin installers chose as the default directory.

Once you have all of your plugin paths added to the list, click OK.

VSTHost will scan for all the plugins (you’ll see the scanning on the bottom of the screen. The scan will be slow, so if you have a lot of plugins, expect to wait a while.

Step 5: Load Plugins

Once the scanning finishes (should show Ready on the bottom bar), you can load any plugin you want by going to File > Plugins.

Select any plugin and you’ll see something like this:

Think of this as your virtual guitar rig. The box on the left is your guitar signal and the box on the far right is your speaker output.

Anything between those two boxes are where you can load plugins (you can load more than one plugin in VSTHost).

You can drag any of these boxes around as you like, which can be handy if you load multiple plugins and chain them together.

There are a lot of features here, but the grey circle on the green button is the main option you want to open and edit the plugin.

Click the button and you’ll see the plugin window open up:

You can now edit the plugin as you like and drag the window around (handy if you run multiple plugins at once).

At this point, I recommend saving the ‘Performance’ (what VSTHost calls the current plugin setup) so you can easily bring up this setup at any time.

Go to Performance > Save As and rename it to whatever you want.

This is a handy feature if you ever want to set up different rigs or combinations of plugins.

If I ever want to load AmpliTube 4 on its own, I simply select it from the dropdown menu.

If I want to run AmpliTube along with another plugin, I simply load all the plugins and save the performance in an available slot.

In the below screenshot, you can se

How To Make A Vst Plugin C