AU OR VST

Dj Dreem · Post by **Dj Dreem** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:03 pm

For mac os x is it better to run au or vst ? I've been finding alot of plug in's that seem to be great except they only are in vst format not au.I currently have a few synth's that i'm running as au,any help would be appreciated!

forge · Post by **forge** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:09 pm

one thing to consider is if you use VST then you may be able to load the set on a PC as well (with the plug-ins on there of course) but if you use AU you wont

Dj Dreem · Post by **Dj Dreem** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:08 pm

forge wrote:one thing to consider is if you use VST then you may be able to load the set on a PC as well (with the plug-ins on there of course) but if you use AU you wont

So there is no advantage running au on a mac and if i use vst i can transfer my sets cross platform which is a great advantage. I wasnt sure because i read it was better to run au on mac vs vst. Thanks for your advise!

forge · Post by **forge** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:10 pm

Dj Dreem wrote:
forge wrote:one thing to consider is if you use VST then you may be able to load the set on a PC as well (with the plug-ins on there of course) but if you use AU you wont
So there is no advantage running au on a mac and if i use vst i can transfer my sets cross platform which is a great advantage. I wasnt sure because i read it was better to run au on mac vs vst. Thanks for your advise!

sorry - that wasnt blanket advice regarding all the merits of AU - just ONE point

pulsoc · Post by **pulsoc** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:14 pm

forge wrote:one thing to consider is if you use VST then you may be able to load the set on a PC as well (with the plug-ins on there of course) but if you use AU you wont

Does this really work, allowing you to move sets between os's?

zeepster · Post by **zeepster** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:27 pm

pulsoc wrote:Does this really work, allowing you to move sets between os's?

Yes, do it all the time.

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:25 pm

AU has several internal advantages over VST 2.0 that only VST 3.0 begins to catchup. Those are mostly about channel and parameter restrictions and about well organized and documented structures for software-developers. Sometimes one plugin-format offers better performance over the other which is mostly down to how developers implement things and not necessarily because of the format.

My personal preference is VST because of portability. I had several occassions when a guy I'm collaborating with send me his Live sets using AUs which don't work on my PC at all. Maybe Live could include a simple feature that allows to load VSTs with the corresponding settings if a set using AUs is imported on PC. Until then (which will never happen) VSTs will make sure you can jump from Mac OS to Windows without caring about formats.

But if you don't need that portability at all and find that a certain plugin runs better/more stable/more performant as AU then you should use it.

Dj Dreem · Post by **Dj Dreem** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:38 pm

Timur wrote:AU has several internal advantages over VST 2.0 that only VST 3.0 begins to catchup. Those are mostly about channel and parameter restrictions and about well organized and documented structures for software-developers. Sometimes one plugin-format offers better performance over the other which is mostly down to how developers implement things and not necessarily because of the format.

My personal preference is VST because of portability. I had several occassions when a guy I'm collaborating with send me his Live sets using AUs which don't work on my PC at all. Maybe Live could include a simple feature that allows to load VSTs with the corresponding settings if a set using AUs is imported on PC. Until then (which will never happen) VSTs will make sure you can jump from Mac OS to Windows without caring about formats.

But if you don't need that portability at all and find that a certain plugin runs better/more stable/more performant as AU then you should use it.

Thanks for the great info!

Homebelly · Post by **Homebelly** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:34 pm

I will often use both.
I feel that some synths and tempo controlled FX work better as AU's.
But there are aspects of automation and midi routing that work better with VST.
This is especially true if you have a plug in that can transmit MIDI such as a sequencer or LFO.

jeskola · Post by **jeskola** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:46 pm

Ive found for some reason presets never appear in my AU's so normally i stick to VSTs - althoguyh sometimes the Vsts are buggy and the AUs arnt... but i know which does what so i just mix it up

Hervé · Post by **Hervé** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:12 pm

Dont know if i'm dreaming, but i've been able to send some midi datas from vst plugs that i could not do with the AU version... weird

Homebelly · Post by **Homebelly** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:24 pm

Hervé wrote:Dont know if i'm dreaming, but i've been able to send some midi datas from vst plugs that i could not do with the AU version... weird

Your not dreaming,, this is an often requested aspect of AU that doesn't exist yet.