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Steinberg discontinues VST2


Reid Rosefelt

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Does that mean that going forward, hosts will eventually stop scanning for/loading VST2 plugins? I tend to only install VST3 ones nowadays, but I'm wondering if it means I'll (eventually) no longer be able to use some of the older VST2 plugs I have.

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9 minutes ago, antler said:

Does that mean that going forward, hosts will eventually stop scanning for/loading VST2 plugins? I tend to only install VST3 ones nowadays, but I'm wondering if it means I'll (eventually) no longer be able to use some of the older VST2 plugs I have.

I only install the VST3 Versions, unless there is none...then I install VST2.
Soon I won't have even do that I suppose

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it's fairly annoying for all those older plugins that are not and may never be updated to VST3...and it's currently quite a long list (superior drummer 3 ? soundtoys ? UVI ? XLN AD/AK, lots of NI plugs etc etc).    Some will be updated for sure but probably as a paid version upgrade. $$$

There is no real technical reason to do it but they've been wanting to dump VST2 for years and they have got a bit frustrated waiting for the plugin developers to move to VST3...so they are forcing the issue by setting an arbitrary date.

I hope they provide a wrapper but somebody at Steinberg has been making some strange decisions recently.  At least the stupid licensing model was changed after all the protests - maybe they'll reconsider this to.....fingers crossed. 

as usual, restricting choice is always bad news for the consumer :(

 

 

 

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I hope there’s a long tail to the phase out. In other words if you have a VST 2 for an old product I hope that works in hosts outside of Steinberg for far more than the two year horizon they suggest.

It could be a big cost for us if we have to pay the active software developers for a VST 3 only upgrade.  Of course they need to cover their nickel, but added up across a lot of products for us could be tragic.

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3 hours ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

Unify is a great idea! It can host a variety of plugin formats, including VST2, and can then present itself to a host as VST3.

But just pointing out that this latest announcement only affects Steinberg hosts and VST2.

So for anyone else, including me, that is NOT using a Steinberg host, then you can relax for now... at least until your host of choice decides to bail out... :)

Quote

The discontinuation of VST 2 marks the final step in the transition process to VST 3. Focusing solely on VST 3 will increase the stability of * our products *  and allow us to fully leverage the advantages of the VST 3 platform.

 

Edited by abacab
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Ok, maybe it is the wodka talking (it's thursday so almost weekend), but goodbye. I am installing everything from scratch and I hate all those installers where yo first have to specify where you want to install your 64 bit plugin, only to find out later that you can opt out of VST2 and just continue with VST3. It is EVERY plugin. 🤬

Just go with one format and I don't care which one. Developers should be busy with the most new version...

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3 minutes ago, Nick Blanc said:

Ok, maybe it is the wodka talking (it's thursday so almost weekend), but goodbye. I am installing everything from scratch and I hate all those installers where yo first have to specify where you want to install your 64 bit plugin, only to find out later that you can opt out of VST2 and just continue with VST3. It is EVERY plugin. 🤬

Just go with one format and I don't care which one. Developers should be busy with the most new version...

Just use VST3 if available. Some DAWs, such as Studio One, will automatically ignore the VST2 version if the developer has set the appropriate flag in their VST3 plugin. In Cakewalk preferences, you can choose to have only VST3 if both are available.

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In june , i bougth zenology pro and all expansion , all exited to figure out that i can t use it in machine and live 9 , ain t that fun when its vst 3 only ... same goes for lastroland drum maschines ...

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1 hour ago, abacab said:

Just use VST3 if available. Some DAWs, such as Studio One, will automatically ignore the VST2 version if the developer has set the appropriate flag in their VST3 plugin. In Cakewalk preferences, you can choose to have only VST3 if both are available.

This is a huge plus for Cakewalk. It ignores double VST's. Image my shock when I changed to Ableton. Now I'm walking on eggshells. But still, it forces me to make a choice and save disk space.

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They should discontinue AAX also hehe.  Recently while searching for extra space on my ssd I discovered about 40GB of plug-in data that had been automatically installed in an AAX folder. I always uncheck AAX when installing so these were a total surprise to find.  If I move to VST3 exclusively then maybe I can get 80GB back?  That would be amazing. Score.  

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1 hour ago, Zo said:

In june , i bougth zenology pro and all expansion , all exited to figure out that i can t use it in machine and live 9 , ain t that fun when its vst 3 only ... same goes for lastroland drum maschines ...

I believe Live added VST3 support in version 10.1.

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The actual discontinuation of support for VST2 plugins only applies to Steinberg products (i.e. Cubase). I would think that virtually all other DAW manufacturers will continue to recognize VST2 plugins until there just aren't that many left in circulation.

<rant on>
It bothers me a lot that a private company controls a standard as ubiquitous as the (VST) audio plugin interface. Why isn't this an open standard supported by an independent group? I don't think that I'm the only one annoyed by some of the decisions made by Steinberg in the past, like initially crippling Midi support in the VST3 interface (they eventually backed off on that).
VST is just an interface! There is no required code behind it. Steinberg should relinquish control of it, or a new 'open' standard should be developed... Fat chance that will catch on, though 😒
Ok, all done.
<rant off>

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