OSX Users: AU/VST/DPM ?

[UncleAge]

Its a long post, skip to the bottom where the question is if you can't be bothered to read it.

I lurked around on these boards for about 1.5 years before I joined. One of my takeaways was how much users go through changing from one platform to another. In 2010 I started to get my feet wet in OSX with my first Mac purchase. I gave myself about two years to fully transition. The transition wasn't horrible for me because all but a couple of my plugins were cross-platform. And in most cases the AU performed about the same as the VST, so big deal. However, i do miss using Bootsy's plugs.

Now my main hosts are Studio One, Live and Reaper. They all allow the use of VST and AU formats. I like that since there are few AU's that I really like such as Granite (New Sonic Arts) and Elecktroid (Audio Spillage) that have no VST version.

One of the bits of information I gathereed from all the BWS threads was that it would not support AU's. Since I work a lot with the two previously mentioned plugins I am in no rush to add BWS to my line up. Don't get me wrong, I can replace both with a little effort, its just not on the menu right now. But it got me to thinking about how important a company's available plugin formats have become in my purchase decision(s). For me its all about the plugins. That's my toolset. What host I use is a secondary concern. As a matter fact, I don't have any archived projects that are tied to any host specific plugs. The thought that I might have to change host somewhere down the line has meant that I backup all tracks as audio and midi (when necessary).

So I was wondering for all you folk on OSX or who normally have to work on multiple platforms; How important is it that a developer provide multiple formats for a given plugin, instrument or effect?

[jancivil]

I moved from Windows to OSX all at once ca 2006. Everything I really used made both VST and AU.
Now, I load ~98% of plugins into VE Pro which only loads AU on this side of the aisle, which connects as VST3 to Cubase which deals with .vst only.

I am glad NI Reaktor has a vst for OSX. There are a couple of other odd things which are only vst I would have to load into Cubase but I'd prefer not. I deal with automation by mouse interaction with Reaktor Skanner and SpaceDrone etc and with the VSL Vienna Suite plugins sometimes, so there VST comes in handy.

If this machine dies before I do, I might want to go with a windows box so, all in all I want the dev making these two versions. I'm not going to be using DP or Pro Tools so that will never factor.

[jancivil]

I think more devs could get with the future and do VST3. I expect people to have a strong opinion here that's bullshit, but it isn't. For instance why is no one but VSL with VE Pro interested in providing more than one MIDI port to the host? Gigastudio was multiport within itself 12 yrs ago. Kontakt followed suit, it looks like insofar as standalone; connect to the DAW though and here's your one fricken port and all your sixteen channels.

Is side-chaining compression within the plugin nothing to people?

[sqigls]

I write in Cubase, so I only use VSTs.
I bought Elektroid thinking I would use it in Ableton Live, but it never really gets loaded. Apart from that, I never buy or use AU plugins. But I'll always support devs who make 64bit VSTs.

[wesleyt]

I live in Logic, but dabble in Live and Numerology, so AUs for me. If there is a VST that piques my interest, I will load up Blue Cat's Patchwork.

So I'm fine with either provided its x64. I just wish Bong existed on Mac OS X so I could play with it.