Cubase 12 and VST2 support?

Is support for VST2 going to be scrapped?

not as far as I can seeā€¦ it affects the M1 Macs only

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Thatā€™s correct. Only on native Apple silicon system VST 2 plug-ins wonā€™t be supported.

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@Matthias_Quellmann
Is there something specific in the Apple ā€œsiliconā€ technology that prevents the use of VST2.4 plug-ins ? Beside this, Iā€™ll quote yourself from the Cubase 12 is coming in 2022 thread :

I smell the beginning of a process, and the feeling isnā€™t good. First, Iā€™m wondering how eventual Cubase users with an M1 based setup will deal with a VSTis set such as mineā€¦

I feel for them and am rather worried about what is planned beyond Cubase 12 for the other ā€˜categoriesā€™ of users : will what is left of the VST 2.4 compatibility remains ? I consider each of my VSTi as an INSTRUMENT, used since several years, have invested a lot of time/money/skills and continue to use each them as regularly as before. Beside this, and for nearly all of them, there are no equivalent available (Iā€™m especially thinking of Alchemy, Emulator X3 and TruePianos, which are no longer maintained but still prefectly working).

Actually, this is much more important for me than any digression about the forthcoming license management changes. So, more precisions about what is planned in the years to come about the VST 2.4 support would be welcomedā€¦

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Well, actually we are already deep in the process for years.

Looking at the list in your plug-in manager there is not really much left. Arturia fully supports VST3 with the V-Collection. Lennart Digital has already announced VST 3 support. Camel audio and FXpansion donā€™t exist any more. I donā€™t think that you can blame us for not supporting products of companies that are not maintained any more.

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Iā€™m not talking about ā€˜supporting products of companies that are not maintained any moreā€™. Iā€™m talking about supporting a standard (VST 2.4) that Steinberg has promoted during several years as a company.

Iā€™ll take the Microsoft example (never thought that I would need to do so, but wellā€¦) : they have, more or less, managed to assured us a backwards compatibility since countless years. So yes, I can blame you for not assuring us the same thing : a part of your credibility is in play, on the subject.

At the end, and despite your reaction, if I have to make a choice, Iā€™m sorry to say that Iā€™ll choose my VSTis over Cubase, as again, they are INSTRUMENTS, as well as the Stratocaster that I have since 30 years. I still have a Reaper valid licence that I carefully kept up to date, just in case : so, one customer lost for you. It wonā€™t make an earthquake in Hamburg, I reckon, but stillā€¦

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the standard is a very old one,
Steinberg promotes the transformation to VST3 since years, already

@st10ss
Are you sure that you have read all my post and, especially, what is related to the the backwards compatibility ?

are you sure that you understand what @Matthias_Quellmann was saying?
VST2.4 is outdated since years and Steinberg supports the vendors since years with the transformation to VST3.
and by now, only the M1 Macā€™s are affected from VST2 incompatibility.

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@st10ss
I perfectly understood what Matthias said and actually, you donā€™t answer my inquiry about the backwards compatibility. FYI, the VST 2.4 (2006) has been released AT THE SAME TIME as the VST 3.0 one :

https://www.kvraudio.com/news/steinberg_releases_vst_2_4_sdk_4656

ā€¦ this, to assure the needed management with what was already existing. Iā€™m not going to endless debates : what I see from Matthias answer is that Steinberg is ready to ditch the VST 2.4 support (it has already starting with the Apple M1 based configurations). Point taken : again, Iā€™ll prioritize my instruments over Cubase. As simple as thatā€¦

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Just for a better understanding: which instruments exactly are you talking about?

@Matthias_Quellmann
As I said previously (and seeable in my previous screenshot) :

  • Emulator X3
  • Camel Audio Alchemy v 1.55
  • 4Front True pianos v 1.95
  • BFD3 v 3.3.1.33
  • GSi VB3 v 1.4.1
  • Sylenth 1 v 2.21
  • Loomer Stings 2.5.4

Are you planning to buy a M1 Mac?

@st10ss

Surely not. What is this question for ?

Than you are not affected from unsupported VST2 plugins in the near futureā€¦
and you can still use older Cubase versions for compatibilityā€¦

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@st10ss

Thanks, but I have already the first post of @Matthias_Quellmann. What Iā€™m wondering about is what will happen beyond Cubase 12. Is that so difficult to grasp ?

Your list looks like an old rusty car.
For VB3,4Front, BFD are alternatives on the market, Google is your friend.
The lost of Camel Audio is annoying but itā€™s a fact. you can use Alchemy in Logic, which can load your Alchemy extensions. Another alternative is Omnisphere, which is in excellent condition incl. maintenance.

this will be pure speculationā€¦
and I guess @Matthias_Quellmann will not answer this question at the momentā€¦

Yep, old and gold rusty car still going aheadā€¦
FWIW, Iā€™m under Windows : no Logic workaround possible. Beside this, none (including Ominsphere) will give me the same sounds (mainly, Alchemy ones) I am used to and retrievable from past projects. And, beside this, Google is certainly not my friendā€¦

I also guessed it. Iā€™ll see what is coming from Steinberg headquarters. Simply, and all my previous posts were about it, as soon as Steinberg ditches the VST 2.4 support, Iā€™ll stop supporting Cubase : as simple as thatā€¦

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In my opinion we should be more mad at all those plugin vendors, that, since years until this day didnā€™t care enough about their customers and adapt to the next generation protocol to give us all the benefits that come with VST3.

I was waiting forever for eg. Native Instruments which is a big player to finally go the VST3 route. Same for some other big companiesā€¦ Though, there are still new or upgraded plugins released that are VST2.x exlcusive.

This irritates me more and itā€™s good something is finally happening on this side.

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