CLAP, the Plugin Format (of the future?)

[operator]

As some Developers (Reaper, Bitwig, u-he,...) are working on this amazing new plugin-format I was wondering if Melda might play with the idea of supporting it too. --> v.1 is arround the corner.
(u-he MFM 2.5 is already in CLAP available and Zebra3 development started currently also in CLAP)

So this new format seems quite nice (open souce) and Urs (u-he) also stated that benchmarks brought "eye-poppin" results due to some benefits of CLAP over VST --> Host controlled Multithreading.

A big thing for me personally would be "resource consolidation" in combination with MSF-Sampler--> see video or repository.

https://github.com/free-audio/clap

[Starship Krupa]

I would love to see Vojtech contribute ideas to this project. Without a doubt, he would have some excellent ones.

[MeldaProduction]

Ugh... honestly... the last thing the world needs is yet another plugin format...

[SirkusPi]

As a consumer, I kind of feel the same way as Vojtech. It's obviously a "chicken and the egg" situation, but I absolutely understand why Vojtech and other developers might not want to get involved in the burden of dealing with another plugin format such as CLAP until there is widespread consumer interest / demand, even as I understand there probably won't be widespread consumer interest until it is supported by most developers.

So good on Urs and others for pushing forward and I wish them luck and success, but I also do not begrudge developers who want to stay on the outside until CLAP gains a little more traction. I certainly don't plan on jumping in to experiment with it until it's more established (assuming my DAW even ever supports the format).

(To be clear, I'm not saying that anyone above does begrudge developers who hold back for the moment!)

[Hexspa]

Tangentially related, the gpu audio thing seems to have people's interest. It seems more proprietary though which could hurt its adoption.

[chk071]

Ugh... honestly... the last thing the world needs is yet another plugin format...

Just what I wrote in the respective thread. And got trolled for it.

They just don't understand that it will be yet another format to support, nothing else. There's no benefit except for more work, and more cluster.

[Held]

CLAP provides things that VST3 doesn't and probably never will.

For developers, it's a C API which let's you program plugins in any language you want, like Rust which tends to produce more stable software.

The main motivation for Urs from u-he is that he can keep most of his current development pipeline to build VST3 which would be a hassle otherwise.

For users it has polyphonic modulation/automation and voice stacking (unison controlled by the DAW). For MSoundFactory this could allow you to also run the FX section per voice which would allow for some creative stuff, I believe.

If anything, it creates a tight integration between Bitwig and u-he plugins (and Surge) and let's you do things that you can't with other plugins or DAWs.

So while the world may not need it, Bitwig and u-he users will get a lot out of it regardless.

[chk071]

So while the world may not need it, Bitwig and u-he users will get a lot out of it regardless.

The question is if that is enough to justify supporting another format, which is quite a task, I would imagine (let alone learning the new format).

Bitwig and u-he isn't everything. By far it isn't. It's a tiny part of the market.

[Held]

The question is if that is enough to justify supporting another format, which is quite a task, I would imagine (let alone learning the new format).

That's a question every developer has to answer for themselves. For Bitwig, REAPER, u-he and Surge, the answer seems to be 'yes'.

And from what I hear, it's actually easier to develop for CLAP and then generate all other formats than it is with anything that's available now. Of course, if you already have a huge code base, it's probably a lot of additional work up front, but might be worth it in the long run. And for developers who only now start the transition to VST3, it's an opportunity to make their lives easier.

Personally, I look forward trying CLAP myself when it is released.

Bitwig and u-he isn't everything. By far it isn't. It's a tiny part of the market.

A lot of great things have started as a tiny part of the market.

[MirkoVanHauten]

Bitwig and u-he isn't everything. By far it isn't. It's a tiny part of the market.

So is melda, that's why it doesn't matter much in the end. I'm a bit astonished to see that the "innovative" developer who even recommended switching to windows when Apple did their non-sense moves, doesn't want to be on the frontline here when it's about getting rid of a shady company driven monopoly.

[MeldaProduction]

What monopoly?? AAX sure, but not many care about Avid anymore. AU sure, but most of the market doesn't need/use it. VST2 & VST3 is the to go interfaces and they are technically free to use. Sure, VST2 is obsolete, but just watch how "quickly" devs switch to VST3... Same thing will happen here. So now there will be one more column for all interfaces. In DAWs where you can choose, each plugin will be published 3x instead of 2x (and that's on Windows...). There will be "some features" available, which most plugins won't benefit at all, so what do you think will happen??... Just more chaos...
And btw VST3 is extensible, if they needed more features, they could do them. But they wanted more publicity, that's all imho...

[Held]

VST2 & VST3 is the to go interfaces and they are technically free to use.

If you consider

2. Steinberg is entitled to terminate this Agreement with 24 months written notice. For the validity of the
termination, it shall be sufficient that Steinberg sends the termination to the last known email address
of the Licensee.

3. Steinberg is entitled to terminate this Agreement with 6 months written notice if Steinberg publishes a new version of VST Software Developer Kit subject to a separate licensing Agreement.

"free". Sure. Most people don't.

Wanting to not be dependent on the random mood swings of another company can hardly be considered "wanting more publicity".

[chk071]

Wanting to not be dependent on the random mood swings of another company can hardly be considered "wanting more publicity".

You better hope that the CLAP developers won't just say "farewell" one day then.

Apart from that, the company that benefits the most from VST's is Steinberg, so, what you say is highly unlikely.

[Held]

Wanting to not be dependent on the random mood swings of another company can hardly be considered "wanting more publicity".

You better hope that the CLAP developers won't just say "farewell" one day then.

CLAP will be published under the MIT licenses, so that's not going to be an issue.

[chk071]

Well, it is, if noone picks up the work/understands the code, or whatever.

But, let's not speculate. Let's not speculate about what Steinberg does, or does not do with their SDK either. If you take a look at how long the VST2 SDK was available, after it already had been discontinued, then I don't see any reason for such angst.