VST2 is in the way out, Steinberg will terminate SDK licenses

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For those not following this developments since 2018 Steinberg has been pushing developers to abandon VST2, but they recently released a new Licensing Agreement with more clear clauses for those developers intending to use the last version of the VST3 SDK: https://github.com/steinbergmedia/vst3sdk specially clause 9.8:

Any and all prior Agreements between Steinberg and the Licensee shall be automatically terminated by signing this Agreement.

Together with clause 1.6:

This Agreement neither applies to the development nor the hosting of VST2 Plug-Ins.

So, what this means is that any developer intending to use this last SDK will terminate their previous Licensing agreements and by doing so they can no longer use VSt2 SDK or Publish updates to it, developers wont be able to include VST2 in their installers and host won't be able to use the format either.

Developers don't have to jump into the new agreement just yet but time is running out. Other problem for many plugin developers is that even if they now have VST3 versions there might be using some parts of the VST2 SDK.

DAWs are going to eventually have to drop VST2 support and I am sure users are going to be pissed, hope this situation helps push the adoption of CLAP.

[pottering]

Clause 1.6 can actually imply clause 9.8 (in fact the whole Agreement) does not apply to VST2.

I think Clause 1.6 implies you need another Licensing Agreement for VST2, which Steinberg does not provide anymore, but Ableton already got decades ago.

And Steinberg employees have stated publicly that 9.8 (9.7 in previous versions) doesn't apply to hosts.

https://forums.steinberg.net/t/vst-3-sd ... /201638/13

[lovelight]

Where is the logic behind all this ?

[Machinesworking]

Where is the logic behind all this ?

Steinberg are trying to get rid of VST2, they made VST3 so different and kludgy to develop that it's taken 15 years for market saturation and they don't want to support VST2 or have people use it anymore.

[pottering]

People overhyped VST3 and attacked Ableton for years for not rushing to adopt it, now the truth comes out about VST3 but none of those people will mention that Ableton was right about it all along.

[Machinesworking]

People overhyped VST3 and attacked Ableton for years for not rushing to adopt it, now the truth comes out about VST3 but none of those people will mention that Ableton was right about it all along.

Well one thing is true, especially for Windows users, the need to port to VST3 is real. Plus because it seems to be a tough port for both hosts and plugins, so the years that it's been around is good for Ableton. It's all malarky by Steinberg though, and really points out how much CLAP was needed probably 20 years ago when Apple announced AU, which was also a response to mediocre VST performance on Mac OS.

It sucks, Windows users will experience the "fun" of transitions away from working formats, VST2, to VST3 which means having to at some point save all Live Sets with VST2 plugins as VST3, which means saving all settings in the VST2 as a preset then replacing it with VST3. Ableton isn't doing the VST2 to VST3 migration code.

[cids]

Would be great if Ableton would implement automatic VST2 to VST3 substitution like FL Studio

[baseinstinct]

That sounds excellent, cids. Or just proper. Having done some programming in the past, it keeps puzzling me when incompatibilities even get to the attention of the user. They could all be ironed out under the hood in advance. I think the mobile apps market is more trained in it, with users of all walks of life expecting to be able to do stuff on their mobiles ever without reading instructions.

VST2, VST3, why TF would you even have to hear about it? LOL

[Lumix]

good for steinberg. i really hope CLAP will get mass adoption. CLAP to VST3 still loads faster than native VST3.

i will keep using VST2 as long as i can ...