(Tutorial) Use your 32bit Windows VSTs on your Modern Mac (Wizoo Latigo etc.)

Discussion in 'Mac / Hackintosh' started by Swatch, Jun 27, 2025 at 11:37 PM.

  1. Swatch

    Swatch Producer

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    Hello friends,

    Yesterday i had a big success to fire up my old Wizoo Darbuka & Latigo VST on my Macbook M4.
    It runs stable.
    I was really happy so i want to share the Basics with you.

    This is not a Full Tutorial, just a Kickstarter :) It´s also not a guarantee that your VST will run.
    It needs also some basic understanding in Whisky/Wine/Crossover whatever.
    Why this setup?
    Because it´s almost latency free and runs on your local Mac.

    I try to extend this Tutorial the next days and also try to post some Screenshots.
    I hope this can help somebody like it helped me :)

    You need:
    Whisky App: (For me it runs stable, Crossover 25 is buggy with Audiogridder)
    https://getwhisky.app/

    Visual C Runtimes (Need for Windows Softwares)
    https://www.techpowerup.com/download/visual-c-redistributable-runtime-package-all-in-one/

    Audiogridder Server for Windows
    Audiogridder Plugin for Mac (Take care of intel/arm)
    https://audiogridder.com/download/

    JBridge (To bridge 32 bit VST to 64 bit) (You can play around with the Demo)
    https://jstuff.wordpress.com/jbridge/

    First you need to setup Whisky and all the requirements.
    Windows 11 Bottle, Standard Settings, No Retina Mode, no DXVK
    Now you install all the Visual C Runtimes in your Whisky Bottle (install_all.bat)

    Than you install Audiogridder in the Bottle.
    Important
    With Audiogridder its a bit strange, because the Icon in the menu bar behaves strange. It´s a known phenomen. You need to press the Audiogridder button, and while you pressed it you drag down with your mouse. Then the menu appears.

    When Audiogridder is running, you made a good Job until here :)

    Now we will install our VST.
    The setup routines are really different and you need to check, how you can install them.
    But in Whisky you can open your virtual C: Drive. From there it´s like a Windows Explorer. You can copy the files from your finder into the C Drive of the bottle.
    So when your´re lucky, its just a normal Setup.exe.
    But in the case for Wizoo Darbuka & Latigo for example it´s a iso file you need to mount in OSX, 2 Installers, DLLs and License files ^^

    In the Audiogridder server (Icon in the Mac Menu Bar) we add our VST Paths now:
    c:\Program Files (x86)\VSTPlugins
    Or the 64 bit path c:\Program Files\VSTPlugins
    (I always remove the steinberg folder)
    So you add the folder, where you installed your 32 or 64 bit plugins

    than you press rescan in the Audiogridder Menu.
    When you´re lucky and its a compatible 64 bit VST, than huraiii

    But when you want to use 32 Bit VSTs than you install Jbridge now into the Whisky Bottle.
    Jbridge:
    I use a 64 bit Host - And than i choosed the second solution: " Create bridging files inside each plugins directory"
    Now you can choose your 32 bit vst dll and it will create a small 64 bit file into the same directory.

    Rescan in Audiogridder.
    You can check in the Audiogridder Plugin windows, if your plugin was correctly scanned.
    So in the case of a bridged plugin you have a failed one and a working one "plugin.64"

    Now we come to the settings in Audiogridder and which worked (For me)
    Audiogridder Settings:in was crashing
    Sandbox mode Disabled
    Screen Capturing mode Disabled ( Local Mode)
    Legacy Tiff Detection enabled

    Now we install the Audiogridder Plugin for Mac (AU, VST)
    In Ableton Live 12 i use the AG Instrument VST
    It connects to the running Audiogridder server.

    When the Plugin doesnt find the Audiogridder server:
    Make sure in the OSX Privacy settings all Apps can communicate in the LOCAL NETWORK!
    Super important setting in the OSX Settings under Privacy.
    Make sure, firewall is not blocking.
    I made a Lulu Rule for Ableton to allow connection to 127.0.0.1
    Because Audiogridder runs as localhost or 127.0.0.1
    I also entered this IP in the Audiogridder Plugin.

    When you use 64 BIt VST, you could be already happy and use your Plugin

    When you use Jbridge:
    Jbridge Settings:
    Standard setting &
    Separate GUI Mode !!!!
    At the first times, the plugin was crashing after closing the window.
    But the Separate GUI Mode in Jbridge helped.

    So this was a very short tutorial.
    Please read also the official Manuals or Tutorials from Audiogridder, Whisky and Jbridge.

    here i will post you a link from another Thread from the Crossgridder/Crossover Guys:
    https://audiosex.pro/threads/crossgridder-mac.73314/page-3#post-850365
    There you find a PDF File to download. It´s the Manual for Crossgridder (Audiogridder in Crossover)
    But the Explanation and the settings from Audiogridder in this PDF are correct and also helped me.

    And PLEASE: SUPPORT THE SMALL DEVs!! (When you can!)
    Donate to Audiogridder
    BUY Jbridge!

    This small independent Developers helps us all to keep the past alive.
    From their help we can continue using our old Plugins and keep the past alive :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2025 at 11:46 PM

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