Just thought I would throw this here in case it helps diag any plugins with issues that could be crashing or causing issues with Cubase.
It basically uses JUCE plugin scanning framework, and then Tracktions validation process. You can set a threshold depending on how intense you want the validation to be.
So far I have found a couple culprits.
I am sure it’s not guaranteed to fix all Cubase plugin compatibility woes, but it could be a good start and might help to fix your favorite plugins.
I ended up needing to compile a new version in VS2026 so it can pull in all the latest JUCE and VST3 version and it runs much better. If anyone wants me to post that here, let me know.
Also, this is something interesting as to why you want at least validation level 5 with Steinberg’s validator:
I think I have seen a great talk from Dave Rowland (well, all talks by Dave Rowland are great, even if I don’t understand half of it sometimes…) about pluginval at an ADC conference. Seems like something every plugin developer should have in their CI pipeline.
I am not sure it is helpful as a general tool for scanning all your plugins even if you don’t have a problem. What would you do with that information? Open a bug report with the vendor? Even if it passes Cubase’s own validation and there is no real problem in daily use?
I’d be interested in the culprits you found, what did the auval report say and did you have a problem with the plugin?
I could see it being be helpful if you actually have a plugin with a problem as additional information for the developer in a bug report.
Well its exactly as you mention, if you do run into a problem. There is a lot of tinkering involved with this method, if your into that. But yes, if you know how finicky Cubase can be with 3rd party plugins, this can help narrow down culprits. Sometimes cubase does not generate a crash dump or give any indication of what’s going on. Sometimes, there IS a problem, but it does not always show up in certain instances until you tweak something a certain way.
There are a lot of decent free plugins out there, but they also cause a lot of issues. So, before you go dropping it into an important project, run the tool to see what it can handle before you feel like throwing your computer out the window when cubase crashes.
What I have come to discover though is this tool can tend to be very rigorous even when jumping from 4 to 5. Adding the Steinberg validator AND the other two additions, MOST plugins fail. So far out of all of mine, only Halion Sonic has fully passed 5. All the rest of Steinberg instruments fail 5. Most of them do pass level 4. So as a dev, I guess that passable enough until someone complains about it. Maybe having a list of known good/tested/working plugins for Cubase users would be helpful?
It would be nice to have an option to only validate with the Steinberg validator as a good starting point. I have not figured out a way to do that yet in pluginval, BUT I did build a copy of validator.exe and it’s just an easy console tool. I am actually building a simple GUI for that similiar to pluginval with your plugins listed, and the validator console output.
I am not sure if it is the same as the validator.exe you built, but Steinberg’s VST3PluginTestHost has a (clumsy) GUI for running a whole test suite against your installed plugins.
Interesting, I will check that out. Thanks!
