• Vst Plugin Host Software Download
• Vst Host App

Sample Host Software VST, AU, AAX Plugins & Standalone. These search results show instrument and plugin host audio plugins for all operating systems (Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS. A VST (plus AudioUnit on OSX) plugin host designed for live use. Based on the JUCE 'audio plugin host' code, heavily modified to better suit my purposes. Key Features: Modular patching. All plugin parameters can be manipulated in real time via MIDI CCs or Open Sound Control messages. Any number of patches can be queued up and rapidly switched. Free Music Software, Plugins, Instruments, DAWS Here is our colection of FREE software, VST plugins, VSTi instruments, audio utilities and DAWs. Should you know of anything that we have not listed here.

Search results showing free plugin host VST Plugins, VST3 Plugins, Audio Units Plugins (AU), AAX Plugins and Rack Extension Plugins for Windows and MacOS. The results are sorted by most popular. Cantabile Lite - Free VST Host A Powerful and Free VST Host with Beautifully Designed & Touch Friendly UI! If you're looking for a simple way to play VST plugins in realtime, we think you're going to love our free VST host Cantabile Lite.

VSTHost is a little demonstrational Windows program to understand the inner workings of VST plug-ins. Features include loading VST effects (aka 'plugins'), parameterize or edit them, sound output. MrsWatson is a command-line audio plugin host. It takes an audio and/or MIDI file as input, and processes it through one or more VST plugins. MrsWatson was designed primarily for two purposes: Audio plugin development and testing; Automated audio processing tasks; Say you have an audio file which you would like to process with an effect plugin.

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 Plugin Host Software Download

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'.

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)

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.

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

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

LiveProfessor is a live oriented plugin host for Windows and OSX.LiveProfessor makes it easy to create a powerful, portable and flexible effect rack using VST or AU plugins.

Vst Host App

The software was developed in close collaboration with experienced audio professionals from live sound, theatre and broadcast, and is now used all over the world.

Signal Chains

LiveProfessor 2 comes with a new feature called Signal Chains.
A chain is a collection of plugins where all plugins are connected in series.
It makes it easy to organize plugins, for example all plugins that process the bass-guitar can be put in the “Bass guitar” chain.

Snapshot automation

LiveProfessor comes with extensive snapshot automation. Seamlessly switch between snapshots that save individual plugin settings, or global snapshots that recover the entire state of a project.

Hardware controllers

LiveProfessor also features an extensive system of hardware controllers, to allow you to control plugin parameters and program functions.
We’ve worked hard to make this system as flexible as possible, while at the same time quick and easy to use. What’s more, each control can be tweaked to respond just how you want it to.

Responsive User Interface

LiveProfessor has a nice, dark, customizable user interface and let’s you recall window layouts easily using View Sets and Work Spaces

Cue lists

Cue lists allow you to seamlessly change LiveProfessor’s settings during a live performance.
Some of these cues include recalling a snapshot, changing audio routing, sending midi messages, and altering project tempo. You can easily recall these on the fly to get the right settings for each individual song.

Midi Modifiers

Each plugin has a set of powerful Midi Modifiers. These are especially useful for keyboard players, with functions such as transpose, key-zone and filter.

Downloads

• Windows

• OSX

  User Manual

LiveProfessor has extensive snapshot automation. There are two types of snapshots. Global Snapshots store and recall the entire setup, while plugin snapshots contain settings only for a specific plugin, more like presets.

The Global Snapshots can be filtered so that you can decide what should be recalled in each snapshot.

Snapshots can be used together with the cue lists to recall settings during a performance

Signal Chains

In LiveProfessor 2 there are two ways to organize plugins, either as free standing units that you wire up any way you like or as Signal Chains

A chain is a collection of plugins where all plugins are connected in series, and can have anywhere from 1 to 8 channels.

Chains make it easy to organize plugins, for example all plugins that process the bass-guitar can be put in the “Bass guitar” chain.
Drag the plugins to change the order of processing.
Replacing a plugin or bypassing the whole chain is easy.

If you are using plugins that create additional latency, chains can be time aligned to each other.

As one of the most powerful features of LiveProfessor, the Cue Lists lets you program shows for instant recall of all LiveProfessor settings.
The cue list is built up with different cue types, like “Recall Snapshot”, “Send MIDI” and “Map Controller”. With the many cue types available you can make each cue as simple or complex as you like. The cue list can be stepped through as a sequence, or each can be triggered individually by external gear.

Everything in LiveProfessor can be controlled using the cue list, it can even playback audio files

User Manual
PDF manual can be downloaded here

Community
Feature request from the users are added and voted on here
Follow the development of LiveProfessor in the forum
News and updates are also posted on Twitter and Facebook

Knowledge Base
An ever-growing collection of helpful articles can be found here
Vst plugins hub.

Change logs
View the change log to see the latest updates to the software.