Steinberg drops VST2

[Guy Rowland]

https://www.gearnews.com/steinberg-disc ... -plug-ins/

This has been on the cards for a while, and the release says it will phase out support in the next 24 months, so unclear at the moment if Cubase 12 will retain VST2 as a final version to do so.

Most stuff seems to be VST3 these days, but I think there's a few developers - such as u-He - where the VST3 versions have never worked very well, so that's a concern. Also does anyone know if all existing projects created using a VST2 version automatically work if the the host only has the VST3 version?

[Lawrence]

I don’t know the answer, but it feels like SOMEONE is always conspiring to make you rebuild your entire f* king template.

[lofi]

I don’t know the answer, but it feels like SOMEONE is always conspiring to make you rebuild your entire f* king template.

According to Internet forums it is one or more of the major or minor sample library developers who conspires agains humanity as a concept.
Most of the time it is due to them selling or giving away a product that unlike humans has some sort of flaw.
It could be too much to download or too little to cover ALL the NECESSARY articulations or sounds we as humans need.
A few years ago Avid abandoned TDM, I read somewhere that the earth was minutes away from imploding (or exploding can't remember).
Luckily it all worked out and we are still here, although I'm not sure that is a good thing.
Maybe this reality is a broken mirror of what it could have been hadn't Avid abandoned TDM.

@Guy
A wrapper of sorts will be available, it will not work as well as things use to... but really, what does?
In a year or two we will have VST4 or something different and most of us will have forgotten about those perfectly built older VST's.
Those who remember will sit in dark rooms, cursing one and all, using hacked AOL Instant Messengers to communicate with "the other side".

...

Remember when Direct X plugins was a thing

/Anders

[Lawrence]

I remember the obsolescence of thousands of dollars worth of SCSI peripherals. Also, ADB peripherals. Also ADATS, DATS, JAZ drives and….well, never mind.

[FriFlo]

I think it's all the fault of Spitfire!

What was the Topic again?

[Guy Rowland]

@Guy
A wrapper of sorts will be available, it will not work as well as things use to... but really, what does?

Most of my stuff I have both VST2 and 3. Hopefully I won’t need a wrapper (much) - the main thing is if Cubase will see a VST2 thing, saying “I can’t load that, but look here’s a VST3 thing, I’ll load that instead”, complete with patch info. No idea if that’s wishful thinking.

Honestly, most of the plugins I use I don’t even know if I’m using VST2 or 3, I’d have to go through and manually check.

[lofi]

@Guy
A wrapper of sorts will be available, it will not work as well as things use to... but really, what does?

Most of my stuff I have both VST2 and 3. Hopefully I won’t need a wrapper (much) - the main thing is if Cubase will see a VST2 thing, saying “I can’t load that, but look here’s a VST3 thing, I’ll load that instead”, complete with patch info. No idea if that’s wishful thinking.

Honestly, most of the plugins I use I don’t even know if I’m using VST2 or 3, I’d have to go through and manually check.

Sorry don’t use Cubase, fingers crossed that your wish comes true.
Remember the transition from TDM to AAX went fairly smooth after some initial confusion. That was as long as the developer had an aax version ready, some still don’t.

Best,
/Anders

[EvilDragon]

u-he did update their VST3s, they work just fine now.

Also does anyone know if all existing projects created using a VST2 version automatically work if the the host only has the VST3 version?

Only if the plugin developer used the same plugin ID for the VST3 version as they did for VST2. And then kept the plugin data chunk format the same. Best check with each plugin dev on that account.

[Guy Rowland]

OK, thanks Mario. Will have to dig around what I'm actually using at some point.

[wst3]

I read the announcement this morning, and just wanted to scream.

A year or so ago I went on a rampage to reduce the number of plugins on my system. It was a very silly number.

Much to my surprise, a lot of the "extra" plugins were simply VST2 dupes of the VST3 versions. So I deleted any VST2 plugin that had a corresponding VST3 plugin and life has been wonderful ever since.

Until now!

Not sure why, but I never bothered to use VEPro for synthesizers. Now that I am getting more and more comfortable with it I decided to create a couple of instances of synthesizer plugins. Except that almost all my instrument plugins are VST3 - and I got rid of the VST2 versions. So this week I have been slowly but surely installing the VST2 versions back. Again. UGH!

There is very little meaningful difference between 2 & 3, at least for me, but I know a lot of people really like the VST3 format.

Oh my!

[Guy Rowland]

There is very little meaningful difference between 2 & 3, at least for me, but I know a lot of people really like the VST3 format.

That’s just the thing, eh. It makes stuff all difference to us in practice. The lone exception is - ironically - VE Pro’s DAW plugin, where the VST3 version has 8 sets of 16 channels. That’s a pretty big deal.

[wst3]

OK, yeah, that is a big deal, but the fact that it can not host VST3 plugins is making me just a little it crazy!

[Guy Rowland]

OK, yeah, that is a big deal, but the fact that it can not host VST3 plugins is making me just a little it crazy!

It’s inexplicable, that. After all this time… when you need to use it’s own VST3 version and yet it can’t use anyone else’s it’s quite perverse.

[FriFlo]

OK, yeah, that is a big deal, but the fact that it can not host VST3 plugins is making me just a little it crazy!

No worries! When the time comes, you will be able to use VST3 plugins as well ... for a certain fee in version 8, of course!

[srkrishnan]

Lot of good free plugins can't be used without tools like metaplugin. Seriously considering switching to Reaper completely where I can even run LV2 and 32 bit plugins - Some really good ones!