END OF VST PLUG-INS

[Herbert Zio]

I recently saw that Steinberg announced the end of support for VST Plug-Ins within 24 months.

As for the Plug-Ins that belong to the Sonar Platinum package, for example, will there be any support for them, such as the Nomad Factory - Blue Tubes Plug-Ins and others, will there be any updates for VT3?

[Will.]

23 minutes ago, Keni said:

The scary thoughts were that somehow all vst2 plugins would stop working. Crazy, right?

? Exactly.

I understood what they've meant from their very first announcement. It's even it the article i've posted above. The company said: they give everyone 24months to check all their projects and advice everyone to replace vst2 versions with Vst3 versions. Clearly this was meant for members across all the available products the company "Steinberg" owns and not beyond its borders. 

Like Mark stated: It has nothing to do with the host, but mainly Developers of these vsts on license agreement only. DAWS will still be able to run them - just not new comers since the announcement and all new purchases will be in VST3. 

I might be wrong, but I think i remember reading somewhere that waves dropped Vst2 already.

I wonder what holds VST4 in stores for us ? 

[azslow3]

22 minutes ago, Will_Kaydo said:

I wonder what holds VST4 in stores for us ? 

As I wrote before... VST4 announcement can really have "armageddon" effect, not just 20 pages discussion.

Any (all) VST3 developer(s) can be informed (by simple e-mail) that his/her license to write VST3 plug-ins is void in 6 month.  § 9.3 of license agreement...

In addition, even prior such drastic change, §3 can be used to force everyone immediately (within 30 days) change all VST related logos (which have to be used everywhere).

Think about forcing Cakewalk users use Cakewalk logo and trademark notice on any media, including uploaded MP3, in case Cakewalk was used to produce it. And update that logo at all places, within 30 days, at Cakewalk wish. That is hard to imagine. But Steinberg does that. And they have no problem use "modified" GPL3 license, the license which was invented to be not modifiable at wish...

 

[Xoo]

It's even more nuanced than that.  Steinberg tried to change the VST3 license agreement, which would have allowed them (theoretically) to stop those with existing VST2 licenses from developing new VST2 plug-ins (and hosts?) at an arbitrary time of their choosing.  That was reversed out of the license agreement, but it would have potentially meant no new VST2 plug-ins and only updates to existing ones, so if you had a VST2 only host, your supply of plug-ins would dry up and - reading between the lines - a host developer would have to drop VST2 support on a new version of the host (although when that would apply...dunno).

To give that control over your technology to a competitor...whoah!

[Keni]

2 hours ago, Will_Kaydo said:

? Exactly.

I understood what they've meant from their very first announcement. It's even it the article i've posted above. The company said: they give everyone 24months to check all their projects and advice everyone to replace vst2 versions with Vst3 versions. Clearly this was meant for members across all the available products the company "Steinberg" owns and not beyond its borders. 

Like Mark stated: It has nothing to do with the host, but mainly Developers of these vsts on license agreement only. DAWS will still be able to run them - just not new comers since the announcement and all new purchases will be in VST3. 

I might be wrong, but I think i remember reading somewhere that waves dropped Vst2 already.

I wonder what holds VST4 in stores for us ? 

Shhh... As soon as the vst3 changeover is complete, I expect the vst4 announcement addressing new issues brought about with midi 2.1

[Herbert Zio]

On 2/3/2022 at 9:41 AM, msmcleod said:

@Herbert Miron - The discontinuation of VST2 plugins only really affects Plugin manufacturers who didn't sign a developer agreement prior to 2018.  Those who have a developer agreement signed before 2018 can continue to release VST2 plugins if they wish.

What Steinberg's statement is saying is that new developers cannot release VST2 plugins - only VST3 ones.  

Also, as far as I can tell, this affects the releasing of plugins, not plugin hosts (such as Cakewalk and other DAWs).  Cakewalk will continue to support VST2 plugins and has no plans to discontinue support for them.

Thank you very much for clearing this doubt regarding Cakewalk when hosting VST2 Plug-Ins!

[Herbert Zio]

18 hours ago, Kevin Perry said:

It's even more nuanced than that.  Steinberg tried to change the VST3 license agreement, which would have allowed them (theoretically) to stop those with existing VST2 licenses from developing new VST2 plug-ins (and hosts?) at an arbitrary time of their choosing.  That was reversed out of the license agreement, but it would have potentially meant no new VST2 plug-ins and only updates to existing ones, so if you had a VST2 only host, your supply of plug-ins would dry up and - reading between the lines - a host developer would have to drop VST2 support on a new version of the host (although when that would apply...dunno).

To give that control over your technology to a competitor...whoah!

Exactly!

If, depending on the contract with the developer, there was any clause that limited the license period, revoking it upon reaching the expiration date, not even updates would be possible, with time certain Plug-Ins would stop working! There are some Plug-Ins that no longer work due to lack of updates, as there are some that are no longer recognizable on some systems.

Of course, that's drawing a hypothetical scenario!

[John Vere]

Like I said this is nothing new and the same topic title shows up all over the internet including Facebook sites. Pages and pages of good info that @msmcleod just did a great job of explaining in a paragraph. 
On many of the threads Plug in developers chimed in to clarify what this means to them. 
DAW developers are not planning on dropping support for something that is a critical part of how users make music and will continue to use for years to come. 
It is said that Stienberg is actually going to loose a lot of people if Cubase becomes VST 3 only. 

[Starship Krupa]

On 2/2/2022 at 9:27 AM, Herbert Miron said:

I recently saw that Steinberg announced the end of support for VST Plug-Ins within 24 months.

As for the Plug-Ins that belong to the Sonar Platinum package, for example, will there be any support for them, such as the Nomad Factory - Blue Tubes Plug-Ins and others, will there be any updates for VT3?

Unless you are a Cubase or Nuendo user, there is no impact. Existing plug-ins, hosts, and developers of them will continue to be compatible with the VST2 spec.

As for anything that came with SONAR Platinum, if it works, it won't require further support.

There's no company called "Cakewalk" any more. There's BandLab, which bought Cakewalk, Inc.'s products. That's all they bought. They didn't buy the company. The only connnection is that BandLab produces a DAW that's based on Cakewalk, Inc. code they bought from Gibson. They call it Cakewalk by BandLab. That's just a name. They're under no obligation to support Cakewalk, Inc.'s customers. They do, as a courtesy, keep the old Cakewalk, Inc. licensing servers running.

I hope this clarifies things.