Bye bye VST2

[machinesworking]

ClAP and AU work fine. I have to use VST3 for Melodyne, Reason Rack and other MIDI out devices right now, but honestly the whole VST2 to 3 fiasco just sours me on VST in general. It very much cements why CLAP is the reasonable choice in the future how sloppy all of it is, from plugin developers not willing or able to implement the VST2 to 3 migration, to pretty much every DAW that isn't Steinberg owned or made by ex Steinberg employees having issues with VST3 for years, and I mean 15 years, not the last 5 or 10.

I'm just annoyed that CLAP came about now instead of 15 years ago, it should have been the reaction to VST3 from the beginning instead of a reaction when Steinberg start forcing the issue. A truly independent plugin formant both DAW and OS was always needed.

[rasmusklump]

Anybody heard rumours about VST4?

No. Have you?

VST1.0 was just a bare-bones I/O system for processing extensions via .dll, and VST2 just tacked MIDI 1.0 onto it. VST3 was designed to address structural problems in VST2 and be far more adaptable, robust, forward-looking, and future-proof than VST2 was (think MIDI 2.0, sandboxing, etc). That was the reason VST3 needed to happen. There isn't any such need for a VST4.

You inhaled the Steinberg propaganda very well..

[whyterabbyt]

VST1.0 was just a bare-bones I/O system for processing extensions via .dll, and VST2 just tacked MIDI 1.0 onto it. VST3 was designed to address structural problems in VST2 and be far more adaptable, robust, forward-looking, and future-proof than VST2 was (think MIDI 2.0, sandboxing, etc). That was the reason VST3 needed to happen. There isn't any such need for a VST4.

there you have it, from our resident expert on structural problems in APIs.

[UltraByte]

time to switch to CLAP. (Kudos to Audiority for already supporting)

[Alexander_D]

I am using VST3 about last two years. Maybe sometimes all big companies will have Clap format. But at this time vst3 is a good one for sure!

[jamcat]

VST1.0 was just a bare-bones I/O system for processing extensions via .dll, and VST2 just tacked MIDI 1.0 onto it. VST3 was designed to address structural problems in VST2 and be far more adaptable, robust, forward-looking, and future-proof than VST2 was (think MIDI 2.0, sandboxing, etc). That was the reason VST3 needed to happen. There isn't any such need for a VST4.

there you have it, from our resident expert on structural problems in APIs.

The unfixable structural problems with VST2 are well documented:

• Fixed number of input/output channels
• Parameters identified only by numeric indices
• Only basic MIDI 1.0 messages rather than abstracted events
• Loose/inaccurate timing of MIDI/automation events due to being coupled with the audio buffer
• Audio processing and GUI handling were intertwined
• Lack of API standards for side-chaining, surround sound output, plugin states, or presets
• The VST2 SDK did not adhere to C++ coding best practices

Each bullet point listed above was enough to require a rewrite on its own.

[vurt]

i prefer an even number.

[whyterabbyt]

Each bullet point listed above was enough to require a rewrite on its own.

[Tj Shredder]

The problem is not that VST2 isn‘t good enough, the problem is, that its forced to be abandoned without need by legal tricks.
Fortunately I have a signed VST2 license and an older VST3 license without that killing part. They can terminate my VST3 license any time, but not the VST2 license!
As CLAP is there, and VST3 can be licensed with GPL, I would be free to create a CLAP to VST2 wrapper. U-He and other CLAP developers would not loose their VST2 only customers…
The majority of users most likely have already a VST3 compatible host and it doesn‘t affect them. I prefer usually VST3 over VST2 for its obvious advantages, but still a few work better as VST2. Those bugs will be ironed out but only for actively developed plugins…
We will see if Steinbergs move is Harakiri or not… I guess they want to force the market to strengthen VST3 for some years to come. If CLAP becomes the new standard, they would need to support it in Cubase, which could render parts of their investment in VST3 obsolete…

[MrJubbly]

Fors just released their latest plugin as CLAP and AU(v2) only, macOS only as well. Seems like a risky strategy, but their m4l-only plugins did well enough in the past, so they might be able to pull it off.

Fors Tela is a nice little plugin... I'm using the CLAP version in Bitwig.

It seems pretty cool. I like the UI. Shame (for me) that it's only currently supporting macOS, or else I'd probably buy it for Windows.

[MrJubbly]

Anybody heard rumours about VST4?

No. But I assume it will be coming at some point down the road.

It was primarily due to VST3 and the potential of having to eventually replace that (once discontinued) for some VST4 successor, that was the prime factor in me switching to CLAP.

Once you go CLAP, you never go BACK (to Steinberg).

[MrJubbly]

Anybody heard rumours about VST4?

No. Have you?

VST1.0 was just a bare-bones I/O system for processing extensions via .dll, and VST2 just tacked MIDI 1.0 onto it. VST3 was designed to address structural problems in VST2 and be far more adaptable, robust, forward-looking, and future-proof than VST2 was (think MIDI 2.0, sandboxing, etc). That was the reason VST3 needed to happen. There isn't any such need for a VST4.

You inhaled the Steinberg propaganda very well..

I dread to think what it smelled like.

[martinjuenke]

Anybody heard rumours about VST4?

No. Have you?

VST1.0 was just a bare-bones I/O system for processing extensions via .dll, and VST2 just tacked MIDI 1.0 onto it. VST3 was designed to address structural problems in VST2 and be far more adaptable, robust, forward-looking, and future-proof than VST2 was (think MIDI 2.0, sandboxing, etc). That was the reason VST3 needed to happen. There isn't any such need for a VST4.

You inhaled the Steinberg propaganda very well..

I dread to think what it smelled like.

Olfactory suicide.

[wikter]

VST2 remains as a Standard today. In fact there are no VST2toVST3 or VST2toCLAP adapters.
Polac released a free VST3toVST2 some years ago. CLAPtoVST2 is unknown.

[mjolnir]

thanks for explaining the specifics, various KVR people. it's interesting to learn about.