Virtual Studio Technology

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VST was developed by Steinberg Media Technologies in 1996. It creates a complete, professional studio environment on PC or Mac.

Virtual Studio Technology ( English for Virtual Studio Technology ), short- VST is a programming interface for audio plug-ins . Virtual effect devices and instruments can be used in music software via the interface. VST was originally developed by Steinberg Media Technologies for its sequencer program Cubase from 1996. A few years later, VST established itself as the industry standard. Plug-ins for software for music production on the PC are typically equipped with the VST interface.

technology

VST is used to give the developers of digital instruments or effects access to the main program ("host", English for "host") with which the composition or production is created. In technical terms, VST enables the dialog between a VST host and virtual instruments (VSTi) and effects, which can then be operated as plug-ins within the sequencer program.

The technology of loading the plug-in directly into the host as a DLL package offers an efficient connection to the host - which was a priority development goal when VST was developed in the 1990s (due to the low processing power of the computers). However, the disadvantage of this approach (compared to e.g. DirectX-based plugins) is that the crash of a VST plugin usually destabilizes the host as well.

VST plug-in standard

The VST plug-in standard is the audio plug-in standard developed by Steinberg that third parties can use to create VST plug-ins for use in VST host applications. VST requires separate installations for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Most VST plugins are only available for Windows, for Apple the audio unit technology under macOS applies (audio units is a core part of the macOS operating system). The brief history of commercial environments for Linux means that few developers are considering this platform.

Presets

VST plugins often have extensive setting options and therefore require a method for 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 number of presets. These formats have since been adopted by many other VST hosts, although Cubase itself was converted to a new system of preset management with Cubase 4.0.

Many VST plugins have their own method of loading and saving presets that are not necessarily using the standard FXP / FXB formats.

meaning

The VST interface is the most widely used across all platforms today. It is basically open to developers and available free of charge, but is bound by proprietary license conditions . The Software Development Kit (SDK) is available from licensor Steinberg in C ++ for Windows , Macintosh and BeOS operating systems as 32- and 64-bit versions. There is also an official and an unofficial version for Linux , a Delphi VST SDK and an open source Java VST SDK.

Together with Cubase 4, Steinberg presented the third version of the VST standard, which, in addition to some technical innovations, now also introduces the qualitative labeling of plugins.

At the NAMM 2008, Steinberg announces the release of the latest generation of the VST Software Development Kit (SDK). VST3 offers new possibilities for developers of host applications, audio plugins and virtual instruments. The VST3 SDK is available for download on the Steinberg server. VST3 has a completely rewritten code base, it is more stable and reliable than previous generations. Features include VST3 controller and Note Expression support as well as VST Expression Maps integration.

history

Steinberg published the VST interface specification and SDK in 1996. It was released at the same time as Steinberg Cubase 3.02, which contained the first plugins in VST format: Espacial (a reverb), Choirus (a chorus effect), Stereo Echo and Auto-Panner.

In 1999 Steinberg updated the VST interface specification to version 2.0. Among other things, it was now possible for plugins to receive MIDI data. This supported the introduction of Virtual Studio Technology Instrument (VSTi) format plugins. VST instruments can be used as stand-alone software synthesizers , samplers or drum machines.

Neon was the first available VST instrument (included in Cubase VST 3.7). It was a 16-part virtual analog synthesizer with 2 oscillators . The VST interface specification was updated to version 2.4 in 2006. Changes included the ability to process audio with 64-bit accuracy.

In 2008 VST 3.0 was released - the following changes were included:

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

VST 3.5 followed in February 2011. The changes include the note printout, which provides extensive articulation information for individual note events in a polyphonic arrangement. In October of the same year, Celemony Software and PreSonus released Audio Random Access (ARA) - an extension to audio plug-in interfaces such as VST that allow for greater integration between audio plug-ins and DAW software.

In September 2013 Steinberg stopped maintaining the VST 2 SDK and in December the distribution of the SDK. The higher versions will continue.

VST 3.6.7 was released in March 2017. It contains a preview version of VST3 for the Linux platform, the VST3 part of the SDK receives a dual license: "Proprietary Steinberg VST3" or the "Open-source GPLv3".

Areas of application

VST plug- ins were developed as part of the VST to extend the VST host software, usually a DAW application, to plug-ins. These are not only in home recording usual, but also in the professional recording studio .

As an instrument

A common area of ​​application of a VST plug-in is the provision of virtual instruments that are used to generate sound . This can be an imitation of a real instrument (such as a guitar ), a software sampler , but also a synthesizer that uses synthesis to generate different sounds.

As an effect

VST software can also interact with the audio signals. This makes it possible to implement virtual effects devices , such as the reverb , the delay (music) , the equalizer or the compressor . Many hosts also allow different VST effects to be chained together so that the original sound can be modified almost at will. A typical area of ​​application for this digital sound modification is also changing pitches, for example using Antares Auto-Tune . For many areas of application in music production , such as in the mastering process, digital effects are almost indispensable.

It is also possible for VST effects to intervene directly in the MIDI transmissions and thus to influence individual parameters, such as transposition .

VST host

A VST host is software or hardware that can communicate with VST plugins.

software

There is a variety of software that will act as a VST host including:

Standalone dedicated hosts provide a host environment for VST plugins instead of using the plugins to expand their own capabilities. These are usually optimized for live use.

VST plugins can be hosted in incompatible environments via a translation interface or shim . For example, FL Studio only supports its own internal plug-in architecture, but an available "wrapper" loads VST plug-ins, among other things. FXpansion offers a VST-to-RTAS ( Real Time AudioSuite ) wrapper that runs VST plug-ins in Pro Tools and a VST-to- Audio Units wrapper that runs VST plug-ins in Logic Pro .

hardware

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

Some hardware hosts accept VSTs and VSTis and either run Windows-compatible music applications such as Cubase, Live, Pro Tools, Logic, etc., or run their own DAW. Others are just VST hosts and require a separate DAW application. Arturia's Origin is a hardware DSP system that houses multiple VST software synthesizers in one device, such as the Roland Jupiter 50/80. With appropriate software, audio data can also be sent over a network so that the main host runs on a computer and VST plugins on peripheral devices.

Alternatives

In addition to the VST interface, there are interfaces for many systems that serve a similar purpose:

  • Audio Unit is an integrated interface for software instruments and effects under macOS .
  • DirectX is a Windows - API , in addition to many multimedia features also permits the operation of software instruments and effects.
  • DSSI / LADSPA and LV2 are free plug-in interfaces for audio programs under GNU / Linux .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Our technologies. In: https://www.steinberg.net/ . Steinberg Media, accessed August 2, 2019 .
  2. ↑ VST. In: https://www.delamar.de/ . Accessed July 31, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Cubase. In: https://www.soundandrecording.de/ . Accessed July 31, 2019 .
  4. ↑ A new generation of the VST interface will be presented at NAMM 2008. In: Recodring.de. Musicians Life, July 29, 9, accessed July 31, 2019 .
  5. ^ Steinberg Technologies. In: http://www.yamaha.com/ . Retrieved July 31, 2019 .
  6. ↑ VST - software interface and recording revolution. In: https://www.pianoo.de/ . Retrieved August 2, 2019 .
  7. ↑ VST plug-ins. Retrieved August 17, 2019 .
  8. ↑ https://www.propellerheads.se/reason-95