CLAP, the Plugin Format (of the future?)

[] Peter:H []

Not sure what your beef is with clap,

Why you think that reporting facts and shedding a business view on what it means to be an early adopter versus not being an early adopter is beef? giving rational about why investing money and capacity elsewhere means beef? Interessting.

[] Peter:H []

Maybe it's because they didn't create numerous fake accounts and sock puppet accounts to spam the forums with advertisings like a certain developer did with Mdrummer ...

Wat!?

[ThomasHelzle]

I wish you all the best.

Cheers,

Tom

[cesarpx]

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 Sure, VST2 is obsolete, but just watch how "quickly" devs switch to VST3...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...

Are you serious? There absolutely is a near monopoly when it comes to VST. Let’s break it down:

- VST isn’t "technically free" if you want to develop and distribute proprietary plugins. The VST3 SDK is under the GPL license, which is viral—if you use it, you’re forced to open-source your entire project, making it unusable for many developers who might otherwise be interested in open-source development. Even if I wanted to make my project open-source, why would I be motivated if my work cannot be exploited in proprietary projects?

- Regarding VST2, you’re right, it’s obsolete, but the issue is that Steinberg made it nearly impossible for developers to continue using VST2 by stopping its licensing in 2018. So, developers didn’t just "switch to VST3" voluntarily — they were forced to​

- VST3 might be extensible, but it’s also rigid compared to open formats like CLAP. Sure, developers can extend it, but they have to work under Steinberg's ecosystem and licensing model. CLAP is the first open-source free license solution, designed to address these exact limitations. It offers more freedom to developers and better performance features, like multithreading and polyphonic modulation, which VST3 doesn't handle nearly as well​

- Here’s the kicker: I don’t even know how much a VST3 commercial license costs because Steinberg doesn't even list the price publicly—you have to call them and sign a contract! This isn’t something indie developers can easily navigate​.

- Open standards like MIDI have given us more options, flexibility, and better pricing over time, which is why we should support CLAP. It’s offering competition and freedom, not chaos.

- Reaper already supports CLAP, and we should be supporting CLAP across all forums and discussions so that vendors start migrating to this truly open and modern format. In the long run, this will allow for more free development of plugins, more choices for users, and a better ecosystem overall.

It’s our responsibility as users to support CLAP if we want more variety in audio plugins, competitive pricing, and future integration possibilities. If we want to make it easier for indie developers to create audio plugins—just like the strides we've made in computer development with frameworks—now is the time to support open formats like CLAP in the audio landscape. This shift will allow for innovation, independent development, and more affordable tools in the long term.

[cesarpx]

Here’s why we should prioritize using and supporting CLAP over VST. Although VST has been the industry standard for years, it’s not as free or flexible as it seems, especially for developers. Let’s break it down:

- VST isn’t "technically free" if you want to develop and distribute proprietary plugins. The VST3 SDK is under the GPL license, which is viral—if you use it, you’re forced to open-source your entire project, making it unusable for many developers who might otherwise be interested in open-source development. Even if I wanted to make my project open-source, why would I be motivated if my work cannot be exploited in proprietary projects?

- Regarding VST2, you’re right, it’s obsolete, but the issue is that Steinberg made it nearly impossible for developers to continue using VST2 by stopping its licensing in 2018. So, developers didn’t just "switch to VST3" voluntarily — they were forced to​

- VST3 might be extensible, but it’s also rigid compared to open formats like CLAP. Sure, developers can extend it, but they have to work under Steinberg's ecosystem and licensing model. CLAP is the first open-source free license solution, designed to address these exact limitations. It offers more freedom to developers and better performance features, like multithreading and polyphonic modulation, which VST3 doesn't handle nearly as well​

- Here’s the kicker: I don’t even know how much a VST3 commercial license costs because Steinberg doesn't even list the price publicly—you have to call them and sign a contract! This isn’t something indie developers can easily navigate​.

- Open standards like MIDI have given us more options, flexibility, and better pricing over time, which is why we should support CLAP. It’s offering competition and freedom, not chaos.

- Reaper already supports CLAP, and we should be supporting CLAP across all forums and discussions so that vendors start migrating to this truly open and modern format. In the long run, this will allow for more free development of plugins, more choices for users, and a better ecosystem overall.

It’s our responsibility as users to support CLAP if we want more variety in audio plugins, competitive pricing, and future integration possibilities. If we want to make it easier for indie developers to create audio plugins—just like the strides we've made in computer development with frameworks—now is the time to support open formats like CLAP in the audio landscape. This shift will allow for innovation, independent development, and more affordable tools in the long term.

[Frankie.T]

+1 for CLAP support
I use it over VST3 when available. Is made by and for developers, and reading some (expecially URS from U-he) infos looks like to be just better in every aspect.

[VariKusBrainZ]

CLAP offers way more creative possibilities than the other formats

[noizejoy]

I don’t even know how much a VST3 commercial license costs because Steinberg doesn't even list the price publicly

I don't think there's a money cost for a commercial VST3 license.

[MirkoVanHauten]

You only sell your soul and Steinberg can terminate the contract any time, pushing you out of business

[dmcsweeney]

Currently, these major hosts already support CLAP format:
- Bitwig, Reaper, FL Studio, Studio 1

And some others:
https://clapdb.tech/category/hostsdaws

[aMUSEd]

Plogue Bidule does too

[MrJubbly]

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

Fast forward a few years later* and it turns out that CLAP may actually be the last plugin format the world needs. Especially moving forwards.

*i.e. with support already from most of the main (non-proprietary format) DAW hosts (FL Studio, Bitwig, Reaper, Studio One, ... Ableton Live next?) the future for CLAP looks solid.

Apologies if your stance has nudged somewhat since this original quote regarding the CLAP format back in 2022. However, I can confirm that I am personally already using mostly CLAP format plugins within most of my new projects (since I currently own all of Fabfilter and u-he's CLAP plugin releases).

If Kilohearts and GForce were also to soon release CLAP updates, that would be almost a royal flush for me, in terms of this being a dominant format for my production needs. VST/VST3 is on the way out and demand for these legacy formats will only continue to decline further, with every new CLAP released plugin, for most non-Steinberg customers.

Surely, there must be many MeldaProduction customers who share this same opinion and who would also like for this company to support CLAP also?

Even Melda's owners (?) ... Image-Line now supports the format in their flagship DAW.

[n9research]

MComplete owner here.

I'd very much like to see CLAP implementation.

Along with polyphonic multiparameters in MSoundFactory.

Zebra3 is coming...

[dakkra]

I very much would like to see CLAP for Melda plugins as well. Also a MComplete owner

[quietzone]

Another MComplete owner here.

Would very much like for the Melda plugins to support CLAP.

Using FL Studio, Ableton and Reaper, defaulting to CLAP where I can.