This might have fallen under "Best Free Software For Making Music". Unfortunately, it's Mac-only:

Lately, I've been frustrated by AU Lab (takes waaaay too long to load, for unknown reasons) and Audio Plugin Player for the Mac, which will no longer load AU instruments or plugs. So I got online and looked around for a new AU host that lets me test out new plugs without the hassle of loading up a DAW or an audio editor. I stumbled over this thing, Ju-X Hosting AU, which seems to be selling itself as a "mini DAW". It comes with a built-in audio recorder, MIDI recorder and mixer, and reminds me of AU Lab, but with a nicer interface. It also loads up damn near instantly and, so far, seems to be running whatever I throw at it. My only problem with it is that it seems to crash on quit and has a little bit of a lag when loading some AUs (mainly with Arturia's stuff, which is the widowmaker of my collection and probably what is causing five minute loading times for my AU Lab nowadays). It also seems like they update it regularly, which is something I can't say about AU Lab or Audio Plugin Player. And it's free.

 

I have use it for some years now on my Mac
Its good when i want to reg plugin or just practice guitar if the ampsim dont come in a standalone version
One thing i DONT like is the drop down meny thing it is in a alphabetic order and you have to scroll to get to Z so if you have tons of plugins from say waves and melda it would be way better if one could choose a plugin or if we could have it to open a new sidebar to the right instead of only be able to scroll down

 

Last edited: Aug 17, 2018

looks interesting, will give it a try,
I use Hijack by Rogue Amoeba for various crazy audio-related not-so-daw things on MacOS
https://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/

 

I agree about the menu thing -- AU Lab at least organizes everything in manufacturer's folders, so it's a lot easier to locate a plug or VI quickly. Audio Plugin Player actually makes you open your AU or VST folder to locate plugs and VIs to load, instead of listing them in a pulldown menu at all.

 

I don't think they're the same thing, although Hosting AU seems to have recording and sequencing capabilities. I was looking for something that just hosted AU VIs and plugs, like a rack app, which is what I bought Audio Plugin Player for (and what I was hoping AU Lab would do when Audio Plugin Player started crapping out). It doesn't seem like they have a lot of those around, or a lot of them that work too well, which is surprising, as it seems like a lot of people would want just a simple AU host for live VI performances with some FX inserts, instead of loading up a DAW or Logic's MainStage. I assume that's why AU Lab hasn't really been updated in a while, as it would compete with MainStage.