Are VST3 widely adopted now?

[EvilDragon]

Well, at least from Surge codebase, there was a host of issues with resizing in all sorts of hosts (haha, host of issues ). You change things to work in one host and they stop working in another. And this was specifically with VST2. With VST3 there were extremely few issues, and once sorted out it didn't break in other hosts... So we recommend VST3 for using flexible UI rescaling without issues.

It's always possible there is something wrong being done there w.r.t. VST2 in the code itself, but, this is our experience at least.

[jackoo]

i prefer VST2 over VST3 as a user.

[Markus Krause]

Well, at least from Surge codebase, there was a host of issues with resizing in all sorts of hosts (haha, host of issues ). You change things to work in one host and they stop working in another. And this was specifically with VST2. With VST3 there were extremely few issues, and once sorted out it didn't break in other hosts... So we recommend VST3 for using flexible UI rescaling without issues.

It's always possible there is something wrong being done there w.r.t. VST2 in the code itself, but, this is our experience at least.

I was able to fix the problem. Resizing our VST 2.4 plugins works fine in all common hosts. If you need the code let me know

[EvilDragon]

Does it also work in uncommon hosts too, like, MuLab, EnergyXT 2/3 (for some reason Surge doesn't even show up in EXT2, it's just a black screen!), Kore 2, Freestyle, Maschine etc.? We have a number of issues in Sonar/Cakewalk by Bandlab too...

At any rate, our VST2 interface is here... It's all out there in the open, anyone can send a pull request - and your help would be indeed welcome if you figured this stuff out!

[syntonica]

Does it also work in uncommon hosts too, like, MuLab, EnergyXT 2/3 (for some reason Surge doesn't even show up in EXT2, it's just a black screen!), Kore 2, Freestyle, Maschine etc.? We have a number of issues in Sonar/Cakewalk by Bandlab too...

Weird. I've never had an issue with either MuLab or EXT. They're the most resilient of hosts, along with Reaper. Tracktion and family used to be a bit touchy when I first started, but seem to be fine now.

Live can go die in a fire, along with Cubase while FL watches... Worst. Hosts. Ever.

[EvilDragon]

Absolutely agree with you on Live and FL w.r.t. weird stuff they do.

W.r.t. EXT... see here.

In Reaper we get weird repainting issues and scrollbars showing up when they shouldn't show up, only with VST2, not with VST3...

Surge works fine in MuLab from what I can tell (was just listing it up there as it's not a "common host").

But I don't really want this to look like I'm recruiting help to fix Surge's bugs, ehehe. ^_^;


(Anyone's free to look and comment and talk with us on our Discord server, though! )

[Markus Krause]

Does it also work in uncommon hosts too, like, MuLab, EnergyXT 2/3 (for some reason Surge doesn't even show up in EXT2, it's just a black screen!), Kore 2, Freestyle, Maschine etc.? We have a number of issues in Sonar/Cakewalk by Bandlab too...

At any rate, our VST2 interface is here... It's all out there in the open, anyone can send a pull request - and your help would be indeed welcome if you figured this stuff out!

Yes. Works also with exotic hosts.

void T2Editor::changeWindowSize2 (long newWidth,long newHeight)
{
if (!frame) return;
bool fruityloops = false;
bool cubase = false;

#ifdef WIN32
char hostname[64];
((T2Audio *)effect)->getHostProductString(&hostname[0]);
if (strcmp(hostname,"Fruity Wrapper")==0) fruityloops = true;
if (strcmp(hostname,"Cubase VST")==0) cubase = true;//sonst weisser breiter Rand nach laden nach 'save a default preset'
if (fruityloops||cubase)
{
rect.left = 0;
rect.top = 0;
rect.right = (short)newWidth;
rect.bottom = (short)newHeight;
}
#endif

if (frame)
{
CRect newRect;
newRect(0, 0, rect.right, rect.bottom);//verursacht crash bei virtualizer? zu grosser block?
if (!fruityloops) frame->setSize(newWidth, newHeight);
frame->setMouseableArea(newRect);
frame->setMouseEnabled (true);
frame->setDirty();
frame->invalidate(newRect);
}

if (((T2Audio *)effect)->canHostDo ("sizeWindow"))
{

if (((T2Audio *)effect)->sizeWindow ((long)newWidth, (long)newHeight))
{
CRect newSize;
newSize.setWidth (newWidth);
newSize.setHeight (newHeight);
if (frame) frame->setViewSize (newSize);

}
}

if (frame) frame->invalid();
editorsizehaschanged = true;
}


void T2Editor::idle ()
{
...
if (editorsizehaschanged) {frame->setDirty();editorsizehaschanged=false;}

AEffGUIEditor::idle ();
}

[syntonica]

bool fruityloops = false;
bool cubase = false;

Those should never be true!

[SuperHappy]

Yes, if you have to choose one format go VST3 ... from my own recent experience, more and more new interesting plugins are ONLY available in VST3 format, while VST2 (VST) only format is offered for pretty old plugins (5-8yrs old), without VST3 support.

[Markus Krause]

Meanwhile we offer VST3 versions for most of our plugins. However we recommend the usage of the VST2 version, since VST3 does not offer proper Midi support.

https://www.tone2.com/comparison%20of%2 ... rmats.html

It also seems that most customers do not care what plugin format is provided or prefer VST2. There was not much demand for the VST3 versions.

[softdevca]

Markus, what is the proper MIDI support that VST3 is missing? Thanks.

[machinesworking]

That said, it's really nigh time to move everything to VST3, because VST2.4 won't work natively on ARM Macs ever (and you can bet Apple will kill Rosetta 2 eventually), and VST3 already supports that.

Almost all the native plug ins here on this M1 Macbook Air have M1 VST2 versions. All native, no Rosetta 2 involved. In fact the Roli/FXpansion plug ins Cypher 2 and Strobe 2 have bugs in the M1 AU versions, that aren't there in the M1 VST2 versions.

[Markus Krause]

Markus, what is the proper MIDI support that VST3 is missing? Thanks.

1) No Midi CCs are transmitted unless the plugins exposes dozens of fake-automation parameters as placeholders to the DAW

2) Midi- program change not possible for plugins with an own preset-management

3) Midi 2.0 messages need to be handled by the DAW (and most DAWs do not support this)

Apart from this there are also other serious design-flaws. More info is here:
https://www.tone2.com/comparison%20of%2 ... rmats.html

Steinberg continuously ignores the most important industry-standard that exists since decades and that was created by the major players in the music-industry.

[Sahul]

1) Midi Channels can not be transmitted. Multitimbral synths are not possible.

Then I guess some smart guys at Native Instruments found a workaround, because Kontakt 6 is indeed multitimbral and has a VST3 version now. Also Steinberg's own HALion and HALion Sonic since many years ago.

[Markus Krause]

https://forums.steinberg.net/t/vst3-and ... all/201879