• Using Vst Plugins
• Vst Plugins Definition
• The Best Free Vst Plugins
• What Is Vst Plugin Support
• Pirating Vst Plugins Is The Standard Whatever

Modern producers heavily rely on computer and software gear when it comes to creating music. Regardless if you're an experienced 'geek' or just a bedroom producer when you come across a good and free VST plugin your day will become a lot better. And since we don't support piracy (we do feel really generous today), we've decided to create a list of 4 free plugins that you should already have.

• 10 Reasons Not to Pirate Waves Plugins You never know what viruses you’ll get. Pirated software often contains malicious code which may put your computer at risk of being hacked, can cause a wide array of software problems and may even expose your private information to the wrong people.
• VST stands for “Virtual Studio Technology,” a technology for virtual instruments and plugins that Steinberg developed in 1996. It is an open-source technology that powers many of the plugins and instruments developed by major companies such as Arturia, Waves, and T-Racks.
• Depends what vst plug-ins because there are websites for music ones and then ones for like photoshop and other editing software so it depends why type of plug in you want. This video summarizes what pirating PC games is like: The loud music, the weird fonts, the psychedelic visuals. It checks all of the boxes to make a perfect crack.

Pluginboutique is the place where the best music software companies come to sell their VST Plugins, Virtual Instruments, Synth Presets and Music Plugins to Producers, Musicians and DJs worldwide. Customers can browse Best Selling and Top Rated plugins and can download Free VST Plugins, Demos and Trial Versions before purchasing.

Digits 2 - Extent Of The Jam

We'll start our list with Digits 2 synthesizer which is produced by Extent of the jam. This superb instrument has a terrific 80's influenced source inspired by Casio's CZ series. Whether you're creating warm pads, glitchy sounds, dirty basses, filthy sweeps, screaming leads, and anything in-between, Digits 2 will do the job like a pro. Designers definitely decided to work on sound instead of design, but the minimalistic look will enable you to create your desired sounds from scratch in no time. If you haven't studied synthesis yet, a list of 70+ presets will definitely do it for you. This synth supports both 32 as well as the 64-bit version for Mac and PC. Find more info HERE.

PTEq-X - Ignite Amps

Our second choice is a PTEq-X produced by Ignite Amps. You're probably already familiar with famous Pultec equalisers and PTEq-X is a digital emulation of 3 famous vintage passive program EQ. The Pultec was originally built with two separate units: one for the high and low frequencies and the other one for mid-range. Once you set up your desirable frequency, you can either boost or attenuate it. PTEq-X is meant to be used as a studio equalizer for tracking, mixing and mastering inside hosts capable of VST or AU Plug-Ins support. You can get your copy HERE.

Track Control - DMG Audio

DMG Audio is one of the leading manufacturers that develops software gear for mixing, mastering and post-production. The company is famous for some of their products such as EQuality, EQuilibrium, Limitless and many others. Their VST Track Control is a perfect tool with multiple features that will help you mostly during the mixing stage. It features M/S conversion, phase inversion, stereo width control, channel delay adjustments and classical channel-strip highlights such as trim, gain and filter. This freebie can be used in several different ways as insert and in some cases even on buses. It's one of those plugins that will come in handy and you'll surely use it a lot. Get it HERE.

Spaceship Delay - Musical Entropy

Our last choice in this list is a Spaceship Delay that comes from Musical Entropy. This decision might be a little bit subjective since we're simply abusing delay's in general, especially this one. It's a delay audio effect featuring classic modern and vintage sounding delays, with the multiple characteristics such as different modes, modulation section, attack control, advanced filtering, 'freeze' mode and many others. Spaceship Delay can be used as a standard one for mixing different elements, adding some depth to drums, pads, synth sounds and on the other side, it can also be utilised in a more creative way (freeze switch works as a looper and enables very long delay sizes). The VST also holds a bunch of presets which will help you find the starting point before you begin tweaking it around and tearing apart. Check out more about it HERE.

These are just some of the free VST plugins that are available and have a high-quality standard. It doesn't always need to be an expensive piece of gear to get the results that you've wanted. Thanks for reading this article and let us know which ones do you prefer.

/free-vst-instrument-for-fl-studio-12.html. _____

Using Vst Plugins

Tips & Tutorials column is curated by producer Alex Ranerro. The articles are created with a simple aim to share his experiences and knowledge with SolvdMag readers. If you would like to contribute or you have any other questions, please write Alex at sasa@solvdmag.com.

Virtual Studio Technology (VST) is an audio plug-in software interface that integrates software synthesizers and effects units into digital audio workstations. VST and similar technologies use digital signal processing to simulate traditional recording studio hardware in software. Thousands of plugins exist, both commercial and freeware, and many audio applications support VST under license from its creator, Steinberg.

Overview[edit]

VST plugins generally run within a digital audio workstation (DAW), to provide additional functionality, though a few standalone plugin hosts exist which support VST. Most VST plugins are either instruments (VSTi) or effects (VSTfx), although other categories exist—for example spectrum analyzers and various meters. VST plugins usually provide a custom graphical user interface that displays controls similar to physical switches and knobs on audio hardware. Some (often older) plugins rely on the host application for their user interface.

VST instruments include software simulation emulations of well-known hardware synthesizers and samplers. These typically emulate the look of the original equipment as well as its sonic characteristics. This lets musicians and recording engineers use virtual versions of devices that otherwise might be difficult and expensive to obtain.

VST instruments receive notes as digital information via MIDI, and output digital audio. Effect plugins receive digital audio and process it through to their outputs. (Some effect plugins also accept MIDI input—for example, MIDI sync to modulate the effect in sync with the tempo). MIDI messages can control both instrument and effect plugin parameters. Most host applications can route the audio output from one VST to the audio input of another VST (chaining). For example, the output of a VST synthesizer can be sent through a VST reverb effect.

History[edit]

Steinberg released the VST interface specification and SDK in 1996. They released it at the same time as Steinberg Cubase 3.02, which included the first VST format plugins: Espacial (a reverb), Choirus (a chorus effect), Stereo Echo, and Auto-Panner.^[2]

Steinberg updated the VST interface specification to version 2.0 in 1999. One addition was the ability for plugins to receive MIDI data. This supported the introduction of Virtual Studio Technology Instrument (VSTi) format plugins. VST Instruments can act as standalone software synthesizers, samplers, or drum machines.^[3]

Neon^[4] was the first available VST Instrument (included with Cubase VST 3.7). It was a 16-voice, 2-oscillator virtual analog synthesizer.^[3]

In 2006, the VST interface specification was updated to version 2.4. Changes included the ability to process audio with 64-bit precision.^[5] A free-software replacement was developed for LMMS that would be used later by other free-software projects.^[6][7]

VST 3.0 came out in 2008. Changes included:^[8]

• Audio Inputs for VST Instruments
• Multiple MIDI inputs/outputs
• Optional SKI (Steinberg Kernel Interface) integration

VST 3.5 came out in February 2011. Changes included note expression, which provides extensive articulation information in individual note events in a polyphonic arrangement. According to Steinberg, this supports performance flexibility and a more natural playing feel.^[9]

In October 2011, Celemony Software and PreSonus released Audio Random Access (ARA), an extension for audio plug-in interfaces, such as VST, allowing greater integration between audio plug-ins and DAW software.^[10]

In September, 2013, Steinberg discontinued maintenance of the VST 2 SDK. In December, Steinberg stopped distributing the SDK.^[11] The higher versions are continued.

VST 3.6.7 came out in March, 2017. It includes a preview version of VST3 for Linux platform, the VST3 part of the SDK gets a dual license: 'Proprietary Steinberg VST3' or the 'Open-source GPLv3'.

Vst Plugins Definition

As VSTi virtual instrument technology was under development at Steinberg, a platform for virtual instruments using DirectX engine technology was being developed by Cakewalk, famous for its Sonar DAW. However, the format did not gain much acceptance beyond instruments bundled with SONAR. Currently, almost all virtual instruments on the market use Steinberg's VSTi format.^{[citation needed]}

VST plugins[edit]

There are three types of VST plugins:

• VST instruments generate audio. They are generally either Virtual Synthesizers or Virtual samplers. Many recreate the look and sound of famous hardware synthesizers. Better known VST instruments include Discovery, Nexus, Sylenth1, Massive, Omnisphere, FM8, Absynth, Reaktor, Gladiator, Serum and Vanguard.
• VST effects process rather than generate audio—and perform the same functions as hardware audio processors such as reverbs and phasers. Other monitoring effects provide visual feedback of the input signal without processing the audio. Most hosts allow multiple effects to be chained. Audio monitoring devices such as spectrum analyzers and meters represent audio characteristics (frequency distribution, amplitude, etc.) visually.
• VST MIDI effects process MIDI messages (for example, transpose or arpeggiate) and route the MIDI data to other VST instruments or to hardware devices.

VST hosts[edit]

A VST host is a software application or hardware device that VST plugins run under. The host application presents the plugin UIs and routes digital audio and MIDI to and from the plugins.

Software[edit]

Many VST hosts are available. Not all of these support VST 3 plugins.

• Acon Digital Acoustica
• Acoustica Mixcraft (VST3)
• Ardour (open source)
• Audacity (free and open source, VST support works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux^[12])
• Digital Performer (version 8 or higher)
• Psycle (open source)
• Reason (version 9.5 or higher)
• vMix (VST3 Only)

The Best Free Vst Plugins

Stand-alone dedicated hosts provide a host environment for VST plugins rather than use the plugins to extend their own capabilities. These are usually optimized for live performance use, with features like fast song configuration switching.

VST plugins can be hosted in incompatible environments using a translation layer, or shim. For example, FL Studio only supports its own internal plugin architecture, but an available native 'wrapper' loads VST plugins, among others. FXpansion offers a VST-to-RTAS (Real Time AudioSuite) wrapper that lets VST plugins run in Pro Tools, and a VST-to-Audio Units wrapper lets VST plugins run in Logic Pro.

Hardware[edit]

Hardware VST hosts can load special versions of VST plugins. These units are portable and usable without a computer, though some of them require a computer for editing. Other hardware options include PCI/PCIe cards designed for audio processing, which take over audio processing from the computer's CPU and free up RAM.

What Is Vst Plugin Support

Some hardware hosts accept VSTs and VSTis, and either run Windows-compatible music applications like Cubase, Live, Pro Tools, Logic etc., or run their own DAW. Other are VST Hosts only and require a separate DAW application. Origin from Arturia is a hardware DSP system that houses several VST software synthesizers in one machine, like Jupiter 50/80 from Roland. Using appropriate software, audio data can also be sent over a network, so the main host runs on one computer, and VST plugins on peripheral machines.

Standard[edit]

The VST plugin standard is the audio plugin standard created by Steinberg to allow any third-party developers to create VST plugins for use within VST host applications. VST requires separate installations for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The majority of VST plugins are available for Windows only due to Apple's competing proprietary Audio Unit technology being used on OS X (Audio Units is a core part of the OS X operating system). The short history of commercial environments for Linux means few developers have targeted this platform.

Presets[edit]

VST plugins often have many controls, and therefore need a method of managing presets (sets of control settings).

Steinberg Cubase VST introduced two file formats for storing presets: an FXP file stores a single preset, while an FXB file stores a whole bank of presets. These formats have since been adopted by many other VST hosts, although Cubase itself switched to a new system of preset management with Cubase 4.0.

Many VST plugins have their own method of loading and saving presets, which do not necessarily use the standard FXP/FXB formats.

Competing technologies[edit]

• Apple's Audio Units
• Avid's Avid Audio eXtension
• Digidesign's Real Time AudioSuite
• Digidesign's TDM
• LADSPA, DSSI for Linux
• LV2, a cross-platform, open source, liberally licensed audio plugin standard
• Microsoft's DirectX plugin
• Mark of the Unicorn's Motu Audio System
• JACK Audio Connection Kit, an open-source sound server allowing flexible audio routing between apps
• Reason Studios' Rack Extensions

Pirating Vst Plugins Is The Standard Whatever

Programming languages[edit]

Steinberg's VST SDK is a set of C++ classes based around an underlying C API. The SDK can be downloaded from their website.

There are several ports available, such as a Delphi version by Frederic Vanmol,^[13] a Java version from the jVSTwRapper project at Sourceforge,^[14] and two .NET versions – Noise^[15] and VST.NET;^[16] this open source project also includes a framework that makes creating VST plugins easier and result in more structured code. VST.NET also provides support for writing managed host applications with a managed class that allows loading an unmanaged Plugin. A notable language supporting VST is FAUST, considering that it is especially made for making signal processing plugins, often producing code faster than hand-written C++.

In addition, Steinberg has developed the VST GUI, which is another set of C++ classes, which can be used to build a graphical interface. There are classes for buttons, sliders and displays, etc. Note that these are low-level C++ classes and the look and feel still have to be created by the plugin manufacturer. VST GUI is part of the VST SDK and is also available as a SourceForge project.^[17]

Many commercial and open-source VSTs are written using the Juce C++ framework instead of direct calls to the VST SDK because this allows multi-format (VST, Audio Units and Real Time AudioSuite) binaries to be built from a single codebase.

See also[edit]

• LADSPA and LV2, similar open-source standards.
• SynthEdit, a VST/VSTi editor.

References[edit]

1. ^'Our Technologies'. www.steinberg.net.
2. ^Steinberg Cubase 3 (article), Sound on sound, Jul 1996.
3. ^ ^abCubase 3.7 (article), Sound on sound, Sep 1999
4. ^KVR audio.
5. ^Steinberg.
6. ^'vestige.h'.
7. ^'aeffectx.h'.
8. ^News, KVR audio.
9. ^VST 3.5 a milestone in VST development (News), Steinberg, 2011-02-10.
10. ^'Celemony introduces ARA Audio Random Access - Extension for Plug-in Interfaces'. KVR Audio. Retrieved 2018-06-05.
11. ^SDK for VST 2 software interface discontinued (News), Steinberg, 2013-12-09
12. ^VST plug-ins
13. ^VST, Axi world.
14. ^jVSTwRapper, Source forge.
15. ^Noise, Google code.
16. ^VST.Net, Codeplex.
17. ^http://sourceforge.net/projects/vstgui