Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

johnnyvn · Post by **johnnyvn** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:43 am

Hey guys. Sorry for the very basic question, but is there any advantage of using VST or AudioUnits or vice versa? Obviously, some plugs only come in one flavor, but when they come in both flavors, is there any advantage to using one or the other?

Thanks in advance for any info...

Forge. · Post by **Forge.** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:44 am

yes.

you should check with the manufacturer to see what they recommend. Waves ONLY support VST in Live and the AU ones don't seem to work for me.

While NI suggests using the AU.

FrankieP · Post by **FrankieP** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:38 am

If you want to make your projects compatible with other systems, then use VST. Can't use AU with PC.

MarkHenry · Post by **MarkHenry** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:17 pm

Yes, according to me, using VST is quite advisable then AU.

infiniteB · Post by **infiniteB** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:21 pm

au's are quite often more stable

johnnyvn · Post by **johnnyvn** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:35 pm

Wow, thanks for the various opinions. It's interesting that not everyone is in agreement. Mark, you prefer VST. Is this because of compatibility with PC's? Or is this because they seem to work better for you in some way?

Sureno · Post by **Sureno** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:10 pm

in my experience (waves in particular) VST are more stable and on a bonus, with VST, you get the presets in the drop down menu on the vst gui in ableton where as the au you dont

Forge. · Post by **Forge.** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:20 pm

check with what the developers recommend.

glitchrock-buddha · Post by **glitchrock-buddha** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:59 pm

Somewhere on this forum I've got a list about a mile long about why I think VSTs are the way to go.

As far as stability, it's trye that it really depends on the developer. Some may develop the AU first and then port to VST. But most will do the VST first and port to AU. I've found more cases of the VST versions not having some bug that the AU version has.
But besides possible stability VST offers:
-Midi out (AU doesn't send midi out, boo)
-Presets in the device drop down (easy switching by arrow keys in Live). Au in effect reloads the plug-in with aupresets.
-Ability to swap automapped and non-automapped VSTs. This means that if you get novation automap, all past project can instantly use it when you wrap a plug-in. AUs have to load them as separate plug-ins. This also means that if you one day delete automap from your system or temporarily disable.unwrap them, the regular VSTs load fine in their place with settings intact. AUs can't even find the plug-in, as it sees it as a different plug-in entirely.
-Cross-platform as mentioned. Wanna share your set with a PC user with the same plug-ins? AUs nope.
-You can customize your VST folder structure with subfolders if you like. AUs nope.

I'm sure there are other reasons I'm forgetting. I've even seen VST use just slightly less cpu, but that was quite a while ago with a slower system so probably not a factor now. I've stopped using audio units long ago. Don't use Logic much anymore but I'd load VSTs in Kore in that too.

cheers

nowtime · Post by **nowtime** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:08 pm

^Sticky that!

jamief · Post by **jamief** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:52 pm

VST's as when porting projects for remix to mac or pc project will open in its natural form with no missing plugins. With Au its not possible.
I run win 7 64 and OSX lion i have never seem any evidence that au or vst are more stable one over the other.

My advice again use VST

FrankieP · Post by **FrankieP** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:41 pm

glitchrock-buddha wrote:Somewhere on this forum I've got a list about a mile long about why I think VSTs are the way to go.

As far as stability, it's trye that it really depends on the developer. Some may develop the AU first and then port to VST. But most will do the VST first and port to AU. I've found more cases of the VST versions not having some bug that the AU version has.
But besides possible stability VST offers:
-Midi out (AU doesn't send midi out, boo)
-Presets in the device drop down (easy switching by arrow keys in Live). Au in effect reloads the plug-in with aupresets.
-Ability to swap automapped and non-automapped VSTs. This means that if you get novation automap, all past project can instantly use it when you wrap a plug-in. AUs have to load them as separate plug-ins. This also means that if you one day delete automap from your system or temporarily disable.unwrap them, the regular VSTs load fine in their place with settings intact. AUs can't even find the plug-in, as it sees it as a different plug-in entirely.
-Cross-platform as mentioned. Wanna share your set with a PC user with the same plug-ins? AUs nope.
-You can customize your VST folder structure with subfolders if you like. AUs nope.

I'm sure there are other reasons I'm forgetting. I've even seen VST use just slightly less cpu, but that was quite a while ago with a slower system so probably not a factor now. I've stopped using audio units long ago. Don't use Logic much anymore but I'd load VSTs in Kore in that too.

cheers

Well said, and pretty much sums it all up. Great point about presets.

marble33 · Post by **marble33** » Sat Mar 04, 2017 5:25 pm

Hello!
The comments above are 5 years old.
Has anything changed since then for AU?
How about AU v3?

Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?

Re: Which to use...VST or AudioUnits?