MeldaProduction

jmg8 · Post by **jmg8** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 5:22 pm

Is there any advantage to using VST3 over VST2?
On another forum some people are considering switching their daw because it doesn't support VST3.
I know nothing about the difference, can someone please explain it?

vectorwarrior · Post by **vectorwarrior** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 6:42 pm

I switched over to VST3 as soon as Reaper supported it and it's been pretty frustrating to be honest. There's been a few issues in both Reaper and Melda plugs along the way, but they are mostly sorted now so you should be okay to switch.

The biggest benefit to me has been better side chain and multichannel support. My understanding is that VST2 is far more limited in regards to both. I do some pretty complex routing and a fair amount of surround work, so VST3 has been great for me on this count. If you're not using either extensively it may not be worth it.

What I'd love to see in the future is MXXX really support VST3's multiple sidechains, rather than just the one side chain input (above column 4). I want to be able to send a whole bunch of crap into MXXX, rather than just two signals. So... there's still room to grow with VST3.

vectorwarrior · Post by **vectorwarrior** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 6:45 pm

This is semi-interesting:
http://www.steinberg.net/en/company/tec ... /vst3.html
I wasn't aware of the CPU savings.

jmg8 · Post by **jmg8** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 7:27 pm

I too would love more sidechains into MXXX.

I'll have a read through that link, thanks for the info VW

steve2KVR · Post by **steve2KVR** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 7:52 pm

...multi sidechain could also be potentially very useful for "ducking" bass tracks vs kick/toms/snare...each drum sidechain assigned to individual bands and tuned to "perfection"...all sidechain inputs with "predelay" of course...hey...hey!...a guy can dream can't he?...

.../s

vectorwarrior · Post by **vectorwarrior** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:29 pm

steve2KVR wrote:...multi sidechain could also be potentially very useful for "ducking" bass tracks vs kick/toms/snare...each drum sidechain assigned to individual bands and tuned to "perfection"...all sidechain inputs with "predelay" of course...hey...hey!...a guy can dream can't he?... .../s

You can do this already in Reaper (not sure about Logic), but each 'duck' would have to be done with a different processor and it would therefore be additive, which is where the system may fall down. You'd send, say, the kick to 3/4, the toms to 5/6, the snare to 7/8, etc to the bass track. Then on the bass track, drop in your ducking processor (e.g. MXXX) and set the sidechain to receive from 3/4, then add another processor and set the sidechain to receive from 5/6, etc, etc. I'm not sure if this is what you can do in VST2, but on VST3 it's a breeze.

If you wanted to have it be properly content aware and therefore all done in ONE instance of MXXX, that's where you'd need multiple sidechains to be able to be input to MXXX. Then you could plumb them all in and use a mixer or ratio or frequency crossover or whatever to combine the sidechains, then use a feedback generator from that output to control the ducking. It would be pretty sweet.

All that said, the mixing revolution may make all this stuff redundant. But I'd still like to have multi-side chains for sound design reasons.

steve2KVR · Post by **steve2KVR** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:49 pm

...yup, VW, that's an affirmative...IF lpx supported vst3(with multisidechain) then the rest of the routing is a piece of cake...but nope, it don't...sooooo, I've been experimenting with three instances of MADEq assigned as described above...however, the results are not much different than a single instance...(sight)...when time permits I will give it a go under Reaper and/or Studio1.3...thanx for the input though...

.../s~

MeldaProduction · Post by **MeldaProduction** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 9:45 pm

In Reaper there's no advantage whatsoever probably. The main thing is indeed side-chaining (or more like correct bus management for both inputs and outputs). But in Reaper there is no true bus handling, you need to do everything manually, so it doesn't really do anything. Same for Live, where it is even worse, because Live doesn't support any bus processing properly, in any interface... But in Cubase or Studio one for example it makes it work.

Anyways as VST2 is settling for decades and still there are buggy hosts & plugins not implementing it properly, it will take time with VST3 as well probably. I personally use VST3, but that's mainly since I'm mainly a Cubase user. Other than the sidechain it doesn't do much. Maybe interface resizing and stuff...

There's one big disadvantage though - MIDI. I kind of understand what they tried to accomplish, but it just sucks... It generally works, but it's hard to imagine worse implementation and list of stuff that could go wrong

.

Tagirijus · Post by **Tagirijus** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 7:37 am

And what about the performance advantage? Is there really one, or can I stay on VST2?

Tearing Riots · Post by **Tearing Riots** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 9:38 am

Hope it´s ok if i pile on here, sample-rate accurate automation means audio-rate modulation of Melda vst3 plugs is possible? Or is there another bottleneck somewhere?

jmg8 · Post by **jmg8** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 9:44 am

Tearing Riots wrote:Hope it´s ok if i pile on here, sample-rate accurate automation means audio-rate modulation of Melda vst3 plugs is possible? Or is there another bottleneck somewhere?

Yes I was thinking about this too. There is already an option in melda plugins for sample accurate modulation, even in VST2

kokotte · Post by **kokotte** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 5:27 am

i use m utility in vst3 for sample accurate automation( it s the best tool for sidechain vol ducking, my side chain doesn t have any click now and have a perfect alignement)

MeldaProduction · Post by **MeldaProduction** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:16 am

Aaaaah, true... forgot about that!

In general I recommend going for VST3, but switching a host just because of that is probably a little too much...