I’m not sure that’s an accurate analogy but of course you are welcome to your opinion.
not sure what is selfish about it ?
What would you think if Toontrack don’t upgrade SD3 but instead release SD4 which IS VST3 and costs $199 upgrade price ?
You’re not losing money. Have a think about it please.
That list is reason alone to mean I won’t be upgrading if VST 2 goes. I use a good proportion of those nearly every day.
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I’ll upgrade. No brainer.
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Ditching paid plugins IS losing money.
I think you are normalizing something that is not right here…If you are happy to be a victim of a hard-nosed decision by a corporation, all power to you, but I think what is going on here is unacceptable!!
You won’t be alone…
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If I recall, VST2 was announced as end-of-life in 2013 and went unsupported at that time. I do not think that any “new” developers have been able to get VST2 licenses since then. It reads to me as if Steinberg gave developers 10 years for the transition. That seems pretty reasonable.
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yes - that’s true - and yes it’s frustrating that some developers haven’t updated although bear in mind not all are actually still active.
BUT - as a customer I don’t really care about who is to blame I just want to keep using the tools that I bought and that work perfectly well. And I would like Steinberg continue to support those 100% working tools.
Steinberg are more than welcome to do whatever they see fit but the decision to drop VST2 support is going to be very painful and I’m hoping that a compromise solution can be found.
As it stands today - I won’t be able to upgrade my Cubase/Nuendo/Wavelab licences - not because I don’t want to but because some of those plugins are more valuable than any DAW update . I’m sure I’m not alone ?
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This is crucial. No matter the year released, there are plug-ins that offer very high quality results. I know that plug-ins being software are a special case, as you see that people nowadays don’t use microphones or compressors or equalizers or guitars designed in the 40s 50s or 60s. They have all been… replaced… with more… modern… 
hey, wait a minute 
I don’t speak legalese, but isn’t there a way for steinberg to offer backwards compatibility from within the VST3.x standard, that each DAW host can implement and sell? There, I said it. Sell. I am willing to pay to be able to use all my VST"<3" plug-ins as VST3 wrapped, if that’s possible. I have jbridge to wrap 32s to 64s, but from what I gather this won’t be enough for VST3.
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Afaik, DDMF MetaPlugin can wrap VST2-3.
j,
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About Native Instruments - I think they’re only about halfway there.
Most of the newer fx and some of the programs are converted, but Reaktor, FM8, Battery, Absynth and probably others aren’t vst3 yet.
I like Cubase, but will probably also be using some other daw now in addition to it.
If it works flawlessly, 50 is a very small price to pay!
yes this would work.
The problems may arise with automation / backwards compatibility with existing projects / stability / latency compenstation etc
I’d still like to know the exact reason for SB dropping support ?
Argh, another 50 per project for whiskey and painkillers.
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Well, it’s to push VST3 so it can take central focus to help with compatibility (Apple Silicon etc.) and VST2 has been blamed on HiDPI issues currently experienced.
Apple have demonstrated that pushing developers will get what they want, and I can appreciate that Steinberg are needing to the same thing. To create a VST2 bridge undermines their own desire, so whether it’s easy or not, I don’t think they will entertain that idea as it sends out the wrong message.
I develop apps myself and must say as frustrating as Apple are with their forced changes, it sure pushes everyone to react. The move to 64-bit was painful, but very clearly defined. I now have far more problems with 32 bit window apps in Win 10 because MS didn’t force it the same, it’s just a muddle when you allow people to sit dormant and don’t take clinical action.
I’d imagine from a developer perspective they want everyone on the same page to reduce that confusion. VST 3.5 is 10 years old now, there may even be an updated VST format due on the horizon in the next 24 months, too? If that’s the case it makes even more sense.
I don’t use Cubasis, but that must have some form of plugin architecture, perhaps the VST 3 format will be advanced into that environment as Apples AUv3 can co-exist across MacOS and iOS - Surely VST has to follow that path with how integrated Silicon is?
Just kinda thinking out loud, really! 
yes, I suspect it’s because they haven’t managed to fix the HiDPI issues - and they’ve already announced that it’s being scrapped for M1 native.
Although if you want to run on a Mac you have no option…but that’s not true in DAW land.
I think the Apple analogy is accurate though - it’s our way or the highway - but SB are not Apple and they rely on the goodwill and continued (financial!) support of a much smaller userbase.
As I said - for me personally it’s not that I won’t update for ‘political’ reasons. I won’t be able to update because of the tools I rely on…and yes there are always alternative plugins but there are also alternative DAWs…and the DAW is cheaper (much !!!) than the plugins I would lose.
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The trouble with this announcement is whether you wait and see what the damage will be in the next 2 years… Or jump now.
A lot of changes you can ‘suck it and see’. But with this, you could be inadvertently killing your own projects by using VST2 plugins from today onwards so now is the time to start assessing the situation.
Just had a quick check and 30-40% of my plugs are VST2 . Includes Korg, NI , Synthmaster, Slate SSD5 and lots of MIDI generator tools. Hopefully there’s updates for all of them… grrrrr.
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I agree with all you say 
although I’m not sure we need to jump just yet ? It just means that for some of us C12/N12/W11 may be the last versions we buy.
As you implied earlier I strongly feel that some of this is ‘brinkmanship’ from Steinberg trying to force VST3 on developers who are dragging their heels, but unfortunately the ones who lose in this instance are the consumers.
And it’s not a case of blaming the plugin developers or Steinberg - I don’t care who is wrong or right. I just want to Steinberg to support the way I work and continue to support my investment (£££££) in plugins that I bought SPECIFICALLY to use with their products.
Even if they can’t get HiDPI working - so what ?! - it doesn’t work properly now…so why throw the baby out with the bathwater…seems to make very little commercial sense to me.
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The big question is why over fifteen years after the introduction of VST3 there is still such a lack of acceptance of VST3 and why a lot of developers ignored it for years and years, and only reluctantly started supporting it (same with DAWS).
There has been valid criticism of the VST3 framework (overly complicated, no MIDI support which made migrating for instrument and MIDI plugin developers really complicated or impossible, no bindings to other languages than C++…) and SB never really addressed that. Instead, they used brute force with licensing manoeuvres…
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As you, it’s nothing personal or political for me - I just don’t fancy saving projects today that I can’t open in 24 months. I don’t want to sit on a legacy build as it’ll push me deeper into a corner.
Eventually something will force an update, whether that’s lack of security updates, inability to sync with cloud services or connect with people… Or even a piece of hardware or new feature that is attractive.
So for me, this begins today. Gonna test what happens when you save a VST2 plugin, remove that version and only have VST3 - and recall the project. If if fails, and it looks like a decent proportion of plugs won’t go VST3, I’ll just reluctantly have to go elsewhere.
Can’t really moan about it, as I appreciate why they are forcing it. Trouble is, they can only force within their own eco system, there’s alternatives out there and I think that’s what undermines them the most, more so than allowing an official VST2 bridge to exist.
Most disappointing factor is that the world of Cubase was very sunny yesterday.
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