Keep VST 2 duplicates?

[zerocrossing]

Lately I’ve been always selecting the VST 3, or CLAP if available, and I’ve suffered no ill effects. I’m wondering, “why not just delete all the VST 2 files?” Is there a compelling argument for keeping them?

[legendCNCD]

Previous projects not rendered to stems/channels, still using VST2's?

[sjm]

Some VST3s have issues that aren't present in VST. In particular, there have been a bunch of VST3s where the parameter settings are not restored correctly upon reloading a project with VST3 plugins, but the VST is flawless. So I install both, just in case. It sometimes takes a while to determine that there is an issue with the VST3, and which VST3s have issues seems to be at least in part host-dependent.

More annoyingly, I've also had VST3 plugins that work fine, only to break in later major releases of my host. Kuassa's plugins being a case in point here. Worked fine as VST3 until a major version upgrade of the host, at which point I needed to replace every single instance with the VST in my projects if I wanted the plugins to load correctly after saving the project in a newer version of the host.

Obviously you can also choose to retroacively install the VST if the VST3 is borked. Just be aware that for whatever reason, some developers have issues with VST3 that aren't present in the VST versions.

[T-CM11]

Is there a compelling argument for keeping them?

There exist VST3s that are wrappers for VST2 - so both versions are needed for VST3 to work.

[osiris]

There's a thread on another website that claims some VST3 software is actually VST2 in a wrapper, reason being is Steinberg has to grant you permission to switch it to VST3 and some devs were complaining that it took months. I personally wouldn't, but FL has an option in the plug manager to combine them, so I've done that.

[zerocrossing]

Some VST3s have issues that aren't present in VST. In particular, there have been a bunch of VST3s where the parameter settings are not restored correctly upon reloading a project with VST3 plugins, but the VST is flawless. So I install both, just in case. It sometimes takes a while to determine that there is an issue with the VST3, and which VST3s have issues seems to be at least in part host-dependent.

More annoyingly, I've also had VST3 plugins that work fine, only to break in later major releases of my host. Kuassa's plugins being a case in point here. Worked fine as VST3 until a major version upgrade of the host, at which point I needed to replace every single instance with the VST in my projects if I wanted the plugins to load correctly after saving the project in a newer version of the host.

Obviously you can also choose to retroacively install the VST if the VST3 is borked. Just be aware that for whatever reason, some developers have issues with VST3 that aren't present in the VST versions.

That seems reasonable. I won’t delete the v2 versions, but instead move them to another drive. I can always put them back or reinstall.

[deepspeccode]

I have so many plugins with duplicate "vst2", im at the point where it would be easier to format my machine then to try sit and delete what i dont use. For any new plugins only install the vst3