Cubase - Vst 2 vs 3

[sqigls]

vst 2 by default, vst3 also if it's sidechain appropriate...

I've seen "sidechain" mentioned multiple times with regards to VST3 - why? All VST2 plugins that are supposed to have sidechain input do have it.

Is there something extra with VST3s?

In Cubase we can simply activate the sidechain button on a VST3 plugin, then we can use the effect send of any channel to trigger the sidechain activated effect.
Using VST2, we'd have to either have a specialised plugin, or use quadro busses for example, and after an eon of setting up quadro busses for this purpose - i'm glad to just have a single button to click with the VST3 method.

[AdvancedFollower]

No, in a lot of cases VST3 plugins are more buggy

I can't really confirm that... for the plugins I use, the VST3 versions are as stable as VST2.

For me, if a plugin is buggy, I uninstall it. Life's too short to deal with stability issues and bugs when there are so many great VST's (both VST2 and VST3) that work reliably.

[antic604]

vst 2 by default, vst3 also if it's sidechain appropriate...

I've seen "sidechain" mentioned multiple times with regards to VST3 - why? All VST2 plugins that are supposed to have sidechain input do have it.

Is there something extra with VST3s?

In Cubase we can simply activate the sidechain button on a VST3 plugin, then we can use the effect send of any channel to trigger the sidechain activated effect.
Using VST2, we'd have to either have a specialised plugin, or use quadro busses for example, and after an eon of setting up quadro busses for this purpose - i'm glad to just have a single button to click with the VST3 method.

Ah, OK. So Steinberg purposedly made VST2 more difficult to use? Nice

[jancivil]

I instantiate VE Pro in the rack, technically to Cubase it's an instrument, but in the Audio Input mode it's an external effect. VST means up to 48 MIDI Ports so there's that. except for that I haven't encountered a reason. VE Pro doesn't support VST3 anyway.

[jamcat]

I have dropped several plugins because they didn’t have VST3 versions and I found they weren’t absolutely essential.

I only have 3 plugins left that I still use which don’t have VST3 versions: Relab LX480, Parallax-Audio Virtual Sound Stage 2, and MLVST PG-8X.

All other plugins get only VST3 versions installed. I have had no issues with any of them.

[chk071]

vst 2 by default, vst3 also if it's sidechain appropriate...

I've seen "sidechain" mentioned multiple times with regards to VST3 - why? All VST2 plugins that are supposed to have sidechain input do have it.

Is there something extra with VST3s?

In Cubase we can simply activate the sidechain button on a VST3 plugin, then we can use the effect send of any channel to trigger the sidechain activated effect.
Using VST2, we'd have to either have a specialised plugin, or use quadro busses for example, and after an eon of setting up quadro busses for this purpose - i'm glad to just have a single button to click with the VST3 method.

Ah, OK. So Steinberg purposedly made VST2 more difficult to use? Nice

It's rather a Cubase thing. Any other DAW can sidechain VST2's as well.

Well, maybe VST3 allows for such things out of the box, while on VST2, it's a workaround, I don't know.

[kritikon]

Dunno if VST3 is "better" than VST2, but I automatically install the VST3 ones and generally don't install the VST2 options if I'm given the choice. It's the newer format, there are some improvements etc so why use old tech (I get it with h/w but for s/w...no point ) ? TBH I don't think I use most of the extra stuff in VST3 though the sidechains are a helluva lot easier now and I do use those sometimes...I remember the dicking about you used to have to do with some comps with sidechains. Now the sends automatically appear as an option on other channels if a sidechain is activated. I like it.

I don't think I've ever come across a plugin where VST3 causes issues but the VST2 is stable. Possibly used to be the case, at least I've never seen it.

[chk071]

Fortunately, more and more developers hopped on board, and developed VST3 versions, after years of neglecting it, to be honest... Even more funny when you consider how the Apple M1 crew cried over plugins which didn't have a native M1 version after a year. VST3 took much, MUCH longer to get adopted.

As I read, there are still some things not possible with VST3 though. BlueARP's midi thru doesn't work in the VST3 version, for example.

[jamcat]

Steinberg went out of their way to prevent VST3 from being used to make MIDI FX. They called such plugins “a misuse of VST2.”

I suspect Steinberg feels MIDI features are what distinguish one DAW from another, and they want to protect their turf.

As I said, only 3 of my plugins aren’t VST3. But at least half of them aren’t Apple Silicon native yet.

[zvenx]

As far as I know sidechaining in vst2 was never intended for vst2, but accomplished via for lack of a better word, a hack. Cubendo never supported this hack after all they were adding sidechaining in vst3.
I have gotten most of that from the horse's mouth so to speak. (but my words paraphrasing etc)
Sidechaining in vst3, which was designed to include sidechaining is effortless.
rsp

vst 2 by default, vst3 also if it's sidechain appropriate...

I've seen "sidechain" mentioned multiple times with regards to VST3 - why? All VST2 plugins that are supposed to have sidechain input do have it.

Is there something extra with VST3s?

In Cubase we can simply activate the sidechain button on a VST3 plugin, then we can use the effect send of any channel to trigger the sidechain activated effect.
Using VST2, we'd have to either have a specialised plugin, or use quadro busses for example, and after an eon of setting up quadro busses for this purpose - i'm glad to just have a single button to click with the VST3 method.

Ah, OK. So Steinberg purposedly made VST2 more difficult to use? Nice

[antic604]

As far as I know sidechaining in vst2 was never intended for vst2, but accomplished via for lack of a better word, a hack. Cubendo never supported this hack after all they were adding sidechaining in vst3.
I have gotten most of that from the horse's mouth so to speak. (but my words paraphrasing etc)
Sidechaining in vst3, which was designed to include sidechaining is effortless.

I think we're conflating two things.

You're talking about plugin dev's point of view, where adding sidechaining to VST2 was somehow a hack, but we - the users - shouldn't care - all VST2 plugins that should have sidechaining had it, so "the hack" became a common knowledge and part of standard practice, i.e. no longer a hack.

I'm talking about DAW side, where Steinberg apparently decided to make it much more difficult to use VST2 sidechaining for VST2 in Cubase, even though the process is exactly the same in every other DAW I'm aware of (e.g. Bitwig, Studio One). That's a dick move on their part.

[sqigls]

Steinberg seem to excel in this area

[ThomasLehmann]

I don't like how steinberg tries to dominate the market and put pressure on it with vst3. I like open source standards, see here:
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=574861
I hope, all other DAW developer and all plugin developer goes to this new standard.

[chk071]

You're talking about plugin dev's point of view, where adding sidechaining to VST2 was somehow a hack, but we - the users - shouldn't care - all VST2 plugins that should have sidechaining had it, so "the hack" became a common knowledge and part of standard practice, i.e. no longer a hack.

I'm talking about DAW side, where Steinberg apparently decided to make it much more difficult to use VST2 sidechaining for VST2 in Cubase, even though the process is exactly the same in every other DAW I'm aware of (e.g. Bitwig, Studio One). That's a dick move on their part.

You mix things up. They didn't "make it harder to use VST2 sidechaining in Cubase". They simply decided not to implement a way to make the workarounds possible which some VST2 plugins use to provide sidechain capability. Yes, surely so that people use VST3 plugins for that, which officially has support for sidechain, without workarounds. After all, it's their tech, and, with VST2 no longer supported, of course they want people to use VST3.

[antic604]

You mix things up. They didn't "make it harder to use VST2 sidechaining in Cubase". They simply decided not to implement a way to make the workarounds possible which some VST2 plugins use to provide sidechain capability. Yes, surely so that people use VST3 plugins for that, which officially has support for sidechain, without workarounds. After all, it's their tech, and, with VST2 no longer supported, of course they want people to use VST3.

Perhaps.

But from regular user's perspective there's no difference to the way sidechaining is done with VST2 or VST3 in Bitwig or Studio One, whereas there is in Cubase.

Maybe a more favourable way of framing it would be that Steinberg made it easier for VST3, even though it's still not as easy as it is in Bitwig or S1 for both VST2 and VST3