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Season 3 ·

S3E08 – Should You Use VST2 or VST3 Plugins

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Should you use VST3 or VST2 Plugins? Will one give you a better sound?

In short, use VST3 for best future-proofing of your music projects…

If your software does not support VST3, that’s where you’ll have to fallback to the VST2 version of that plugin.

As an end user, we really don’t see too many benefits of VST2 vs. VST3, as it’s mainly developers who gain access to new features and functionality that we end users get to use when making our music.

(The main benefits of VST3 would be usually a resizable GUI, and in FL Studio, we can often right-click in VST3 third-party plugins!)

Bonus: Should you buy subscription plugins?

I also talk to you about the dangers of subscription VST plugins in this episode.. be very careful because these companies are holding your music hostage if you don’t keep paying!

I have tons of experience paying for subscription plugins each year to manage this website you’re currently reading.. some costing hundreds each year!

The difference?

These website plugins still allow you to use the plugin, but you just don’t get new updates or bugs fixes.. (which is pretty fair).

In the audio world, I think if you stop paying, you stop “playing”.. (correct me if I’m wrong here!).. In other words, if you stop paying for your VST plugin subscription, you will not be able to open your projects and use those VSTs.. this is very bad, and I would not recommend supporting this type of business behavior.

As always, feel free to browse the website for tons of FL Studio Training!

Custom Music Folder FL Studio Plugins VST2 VST3 VSTs

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S3E08 – Should You Use VST2 or VST3 Plugins

  1. Season three, episode eight. Should you use VST2 or VST3
  2. plugins? There's actually quite a lot to talk about regarding VST, and that's what I
  3. want to cover in this episode.
  4. But a little backstory. So when I first started, it was on VST2, 32-bit.
  5. Then it started to get introduced to 64-bit, which means that now there's way more
  6. access to the amount of RAM on your computer.
  7. And one thing to mention is now with Windows 11, 32-bit is even no longer supported
  8. because it requires a minimum of four gigabytes of RAM, which means that there's no
  9. 32-bit of Windows 11. So what was happening in the early years of plugins
  10. was it went from 32-bit VST2 to 64-bit
  11. VST2. All right. So this is all in the VST2 world.
  12. And then now what's happening is now we are transitioning to VST3.
  13. So the question you should ask yourself is do I need to use VST2 anymore?
  14. And that's what I want to tackle in this episode.
  15. Again, don't forget about my free book.
  16. It's called Five Keys to a Successful Beat.
  17. So simple it becomes creative.
  18. Go to it's gratuitous.com forward slash five keys.
  19. And what it is is you simply just follow the courses in order for the most simple
  20. way to learn music production.
  21. It's essentially like a college curriculum for beat makers, right on the platform,
  22. really organized. Again, you can start slow by going to it'sgratuitous.com forward
  23. slash five keys, download the book, check out the free training, and then jump into
  24. the platform if you're interested with the special pricing.
  25. Okay, so I talked to you a lot about standards.
  26. Standards are actually really, really important for cohesiveness.
  27. And what I'm saying is what happened regarding MIDI, MIDI, because we are going to
  28. be talking about VST here in a moment, but I want to first start with MIDI, okay?
  29. So MIDI is actually super super cool because what happened was all of these music
  30. companies way back in the day were creating all their different hardware, but if
  31. they did not agree on a standard, people were not able to use the equipment with
  32. different equipment. For example, if you had a synthesizer and then you want to plug
  33. that into like a sound module, you would not be able to do that if it wasn't for
  34. MIDI. In this case, a standard like that is really, really good.
  35. All these companies came together, they created a standard.
  36. Something like the standard of MIDI is what like the world should be following when
  37. it comes to standards. A lot of times when we talk about standards, we kind of get
  38. it confused in regards to if there is a company and they have a proprietary format.
  39. For example, let's just say Apple, and they always have to try to change like their
  40. connector and stuff like that.
  41. So in that case, it's really not like a standard, it's more of like a form of
  42. control, if that makes sense. A standard is something that makes things easy for
  43. everybody, such as MIDI, right?
  44. It's a simple connector. If you had a Roland keyboard, if you had an Alysis
  45. keyboard, even like an M audio MIDI keyboard, you were able to use MIDI, a MIDI
  46. cable to plug into different hardware, and all of this equipment could work.
  47. And so essentially it allowed musicians as a whole to work with any piece of
  48. equipment, and that is what I'm saying.
  49. That it's so awesome. And so I wanted to start with that story because VST
  50. essentially came to solve a similar problem, except the only difference is so VST is
  51. owned by Steinberg, and I really don't understand like the licensing and all that
  52. kind of stuff because I have not developed a plugin myself.
  53. But anyways, for a while, in the very very beginning stages of music production,
  54. they were struggling in regards to what format should you use.
  55. You may have heard of AU units for Mac, you may have heard of like Direct X plugins
  56. for Windows. If you're just dealing with just Pro Tools, they have so many different
  57. formats. They have like the AAX, the RTAS.
  58. But what happened was VST came out, and it was essentially kind of like the one
  59. catch-all that all developers can start using.
  60. So, just like how MIDI came in, and it was like the standard that allowed all your
  61. equipment to kind of work together, which is awesome.
  62. That's really what you need in the music world, right?
  63. VST kind of came in like the same way, and it just allowed all developers to use one
  64. format, it doesn't really matter what you know software you're using, even if it's
  65. music production software or even other software that requires audio, many times you
  66. could be bringing in your VST plugins, and that's why I say to you that if you get a
  67. high quality set of VST plugins, those plugins can follow you anywhere you go on
  68. your computer, and the thing is you learn them really well, it allows you to work
  69. faster, it allows you to train your ear quicker.
  70. I'm always just talking about workflow.
  71. Okay, so to answer the question now and focus on the topic of this episode of what
  72. you know, should you use VST2 or VST3?
  73. So I would recommend using VST3 wherever you can, but you have to understand that
  74. sometimes software is not up to date.
  75. So sometimes you can't use VST3.
  76. Thankfully, FL Studio is usually really really quick to adopt these new standards,
  77. and they do make sure that it's not that buggy or anything.
  78. But I really really like that because it allows you to be up to date on the newest
  79. trends. They have supported VST3 for a long time.
  80. And so I have been using VST3 for all the plugins that have VST3
  81. compatibility. We'll talk a little bit about the difference between VST2 and VST3
  82. near the end of this, but in short, use VST3 because it's going to allow your
  83. projects to have the longest compatibility in the future.
  84. Now, sometimes software is not up to date, which means that you are restricted to
  85. using VST2. And so, in other words, if you have the choice to install your
  86. plugins, sometimes it would say, Do you want to install the VST3 version, the VST2
  87. version? If you only make beats in FL Studio, you only need to install the VST3
  88. version. If you are using other software that requires the VST2 version, then you
  89. will want to install both the VST3 and the VST2 versions.
  90. When you make beats in FL Studio, use the VST3 version so that your projects are
  91. most compatible in the future.
  92. And then you'll have to use VST2 for any other projects.
  93. Okay. So at the moment it's kind of like that transition stage when it was like
  94. 32-bit VST2 and 64-bit VST2. And now we have
  95. VST3. Okay. So it's kind of like that transitioning is happening.
  96. Now, a couple of things I want to say regarding VST3.
  97. When it comes to VST3, what makes it really unique is that it has to live in what's
  98. called the common files folder on your computer.
  99. And it actually has the VST3 extension.
  100. This I think is powerful, but at the same time, I don't like it.
  101. And let me just talk about VST2 for a second.
  102. So VST2 is in the DLL format. You are able to install it anywhere on your computer,
  103. and then you can simply load it into FL Studio no problem from anywhere, which means
  104. that you are able to have one custom music folder.
  105. You're able to keep everything backed up in sync if you want to use your studio
  106. computer, if you want to use a laptop, everything was really easy to keep in sync.
  107. Now VST3 has to live in that common files folder.
  108. This is good because it's one central location, which is what it should always have
  109. been. Because back in the day when you were installing your different plugins, it
  110. was always putting it into the VST plugins folder, and sometimes they would put it
  111. in like a Steinberg and then VST plugins.
  112. So in other words, there was no standard, and your plugins would end up being all
  113. over your computer all the time, whether it's a 32-bit, 64-bit, or
  114. VST3, you had no idea what was going on.
  115. And that's why I always was talking about my custom music folder because I like to
  116. know exactly where my files are.
  117. I know where I can back stuff up.
  118. If I want to purchase a new computer to transfer files over, I'm telling you the
  119. process was so easy. If you do want to learn about the custom music folder, check
  120. out my course. It's called a specific music production folder.
  121. It breaks it all down, all right.
  122. But anyway, so VST3 has to live in the common files folder.
  123. This is good because it's one central location, but in some areas it's kind of
  124. annoying. because if you have really, really big plugins, it can take up a lot of
  125. your SSD hard drive space But at the same time, a lot of times the VST
  126. can actually access the sounds off of a different hard drive because sometimes
  127. a lot of these romplers, especially in the cinematic industry, these
  128. virtual instruments can get huge in file size.
  129. Like we're talking like huge. That is one reason why I always say be careful with
  130. the amount of plugins that you're using because you have to understand the larger
  131. your files are, and the more files you have, the longer your backups take on your
  132. computer too. So my mindset is I always like to have minimal.
  133. I want to be able to have the highest quality, I want to be able to have the most
  134. versatility and variety, but that doesn't always mean that you need to have millions
  135. of sounds and that your hard drive needs to be huge.
  136. So I'm only speaking from years and years of experience there, okay.
  137. One thing to mention there is a lot of times there's really no announcement to these
  138. things, it just kind of happens over time, and people just kind of figure out as it
  139. you know as you go along. Now, what are the benefits of VST3?
  140. So I actually created a video about this VST3 versus VST2, and a lot of people
  141. want more information on it. And the thing is, a lot of the things regarding VST3
  142. are typically for developers who are developing the plugin.
  143. And we as the end user, we really don't see too much of a difference.
  144. The main difference that we will experience is many times VST3, you can resize the
  145. window. Another benefit of VST3, which is probably the best one in my opinion for
  146. workflow, is many times VST3 plugins allow you to right-click on knobs to be able to
  147. create an automation clip, or you can right-click it to copy the value.
  148. VST2 plugins in FL Studio, if they're third party, many times you are not able to
  149. right-click them to access the normal right-click menu.
  150. You would have to go to like to tools, and then you know, you'd have to do an
  151. alternative way to access this right-click menu.
  152. As the end user, we really don't see too much difference.
  153. Sometimes the developer will say you will see very, very minimal CPU improvement
  154. when you're using VST3. But in my experience, we're usually just able to
  155. resize the GUI, the GUI, the graphical user interface.
  156. In other words, we're able to resize how the plugin looks on our screen.
  157. And many times we can right-click knobs in a VST3 plugin for just a way better
  158. workflow and to treat it as if it's kind of like a native plugin in FL Studio.
  159. Again, I'm specifically speaking to FL Studio users, they like to be up to date
  160. where they can, and VST3 they have adopted very early on and they have worked out
  161. pretty much all those bugs. One thing to say is if you have the option of installing
  162. VST3 and VST2, and if this is a brand new plugin to you, because again, I
  163. always tell you when it comes to your music folder, do not just bring new sounds in
  164. and do not just bring new plugins in.
  165. Make sure that you are testing them and that you like them.
  166. If you like it, then it is allowed in your music folder.
  167. But if you are in the testing stage of this plugin, I would highly suggest
  168. installing the VST3 version. Try it out and make sure it's not buggy in FL Studio.
  169. If it is buggy, then you're gonna have to use the VST2 version, okay?
  170. And one final thing I want to talk about in this episode is just regarding plugins
  171. and how to purchase plugins, okay?
  172. I will leave you a link on my website.
  173. It's how to purchase the right plugins for you as a producer.
  174. I highly recommend watching it.
  175. It's totally free. It will teach you how to properly buy plugins to give you the
  176. best experience for the long term.
  177. A lot of times when it comes to this marketing, you either download a lot of free
  178. plugins or you start purchasing plugins and then you realize later on, like, oh, I
  179. don't even use this plugin, I wasted the money.
  180. Or I ended up using these free plugins on a serious project.
  181. Now you go back to work on it, and maybe you deleted it, maybe it's hard to find
  182. now. So here is what I look for.
  183. Okay. So number one, your plugins should never ever be subscription.
  184. A lot of these companies are starting to bring in a subscription model to plugins.
  185. But what you have to understand is if you stop paying for that subscription, you
  186. cannot really open your projects anymore.
  187. And if you do open them, you're not gonna have the same sound as when those plugins
  188. were active, right? So don't get tricked out there.
  189. Do not support these companies who are making you opt into a subscription model
  190. regarding plugins. Okay. For example, I will compare a subscription, let's say to my
  191. course platform. If you subscribe to a membership, you are given access to watch the
  192. courses, right? You can stream them.
  193. If you stop your subscription, then you cannot watch the courses.
  194. But the difference is I'm not holding your music hostage.
  195. These companies that are offering you a paid monthly or yearly subscription to these
  196. plugins are holding your music hostage, whether you know it or not.
  197. And now you know it. Okay, be very careful.
  198. Another thing I don't like that these companies are often doing is they are making
  199. you install a central piece of software in order to download all of their other
  200. software. So, in other words, I will talk about, let's say native instruments.
  201. I usually don't like to kind of pick companies apart, but in this one, I will just
  202. call out native instruments. So when I was doing my MIDI keyboard reviews, so I had
  203. the MAudio Oxygen Pro, that's the MIDI keyboard I'm currently using.
  204. But I also reviewed the Native Instruments A49.
  205. The reason I reviewed it was because it had semi-weighted keys in the 49 key model.
  206. That's really hard to find. But the main thing I didn't like about that MIDI
  207. keyboard was that native instruments was making you install tons and tons of
  208. software just to give you access to all of the buttons on that MIDI keyboard.
  209. If you simply just plugged in the MIDI keyboard through USB cable, there was no
  210. separate driver that you could just simply install just to get the keyboard up and
  211. running. No, you had to install all of this additional software in order to use all
  212. the features of that MIDI keyboard.
  213. And for me, it's just kind of like that's kind of weird.
  214. Like, why do I have to install all this software?
  215. The Oxygen Pro, you simply install a driver and you're good to go.
  216. There is an additional piece of software, and it's also allowed to be installed
  217. separately. Okay, it's like the preset editor.
  218. And then there is also the MAudio Oxygen Pro Software Manager.
  219. But the thing is, yes, this is one central place to access all the things regarding
  220. the MIDI keyboard, but you do not have to have that piece of software to use the
  221. MIDI keyboard. With native instruments, you actually have to install their kind of
  222. manager software in order to use the MIDI keyboard, which I personally just kind of
  223. think is like a red flag. It's just weird.
  224. When I installed the MAudio Oxygen Pro, the amount of software is super lightweight.
  225. When I installed the software for the native instruments, there was so much software
  226. just to use the MIDI keyboard.
  227. Now let's talk about virtual instruments again.
  228. So Serum is awesome for this. You simply just download an executable
  229. file, they give you a license, you're good to go.
  230. That's it. Talk about silence one, you download an executable file, they give you a
  231. license, you're good to go. Arturia, they make you install again a central piece of
  232. software in order to download pigments.
  233. And I really, really like pigments.
  234. But for me personally, I would like to be able to download Pigments as an executable
  235. file and enter in the license code.
  236. But a lot of people who are new, they get confused and they think, oh, well, that's
  237. how you keep your software up to date.
  238. And it's like, well, no, no, no.
  239. All of these plugins back in the day when there was an update, a little pop-up would
  240. appear in the plugin. You simply click update, and it would take you either to the
  241. website or sometimes it would even download directly right there.
  242. But many times it would take you to the website to the download page, and you can
  243. download it that way. I'm telling you, that is the way how you want your plugins to
  244. be so that you are in full control.
  245. The more that you have to install software on your computer, the more that we are
  246. allowing these companies to take control of our music and our essentially our
  247. computers eventually. So an executable file, the reason I why I like it is number
  248. one, it allows you to keep different versions of that plugin.
  249. So an executable file, it is the EXE file.
  250. It's essentially what you double-click to install the plugin, right?
  251. An exe file, an executable file.
  252. The reason I like executable files is number one, it allows you. to install it on a
  253. computer that's offline It also allows you to keep different versions of that plugin
  254. in case let's say you install it and it's buggy or something.
  255. That's very, very wise to keep different versions of the plugin.
  256. You don't need to keep all of the versions of the different plugins because
  257. sometimes you know it just works good.
  258. But for example, let's say FL Studio 12 to FL Studio 20 to FL Studio 21,
  259. in my opinion, I would highly recommend downloading and keeping the latest version
  260. of that release on your computer.
  261. So, in other words, keep the latest version of FL Studio 12 on your computer just as
  262. an executable file in case you ever need to access old projects and they don't work
  263. in new projects very well. Same thing with 20, same thing with 21, etc.
  264. Okay. Because again, what's happening is things are changing within the industry.
  265. But what's happening is so many new people are coming into the industry and they
  266. just think, oh, that's normal.
  267. But the thing is when it comes to audio, it's not normal.
  268. The audio industry has always been, and again, I'm just gonna talk about virtual
  269. instruments and sound packs. You downloaded the executable file, they gave you a
  270. digital license, you activated it, it was good to go.
  271. Okay. I understand there's piracy, I understand there's theft, all that stuff, but
  272. at the end of the day, there's always going to be piracy and theft.
  273. And you're also gonna have really, really good customers who want to support you as
  274. well. And then when it came to our one-shot drum samples, you want to make sure that
  275. you are installing a sound kit.
  276. I understand nowadays companies like Splice have made it a lot easier to access just
  277. one sound and stuff like that.
  278. But I'm telling you, if you really, really want a fast beatmaking workflow, you want
  279. to have full sound kits that are local on your computer..
  280. It allows you to go through the sound super, super quick
  281. It also allows you to make mistakes, which is important if you want to be a good
  282. beat maker. Good beat makers know when a mistake happens and they're like, hey, that
  283. sounds pretty good, and you go with it.
  284. If you are just selecting single sounds here and there from a platform like that,
  285. you are handcuffing yourself and you're actually wasting so much time trying to find
  286. just that one sound because see, this is where marketing comes in.
  287. They're telling you, oh, well, you are saving money.
  288. Why are you wasting so much money buying all these sounds that you never use and you
  289. end up only using two sounds in a sound kit?
  290. Well, if you would listen to my advice, which is never bring in a sound kit if you
  291. don't like it to your custom music folder.
  292. Okay. So whenever you find a sound kit, you go through it and you think to yourself,
  293. yeah, this is a solid drum kit.
  294. Even if all the sounds in there aren't your favorite sounds, that doesn't mean that
  295. you may not end up using them later on.
  296. But you have to go through them, make sure that they're high quality, make sure that
  297. you know there's not like weird background noise and all the sounds.
  298. Make sure you're purchasing from a reputable sound designer or a sound kit vendor.
  299. If you like the sound kit, you bring it into your sound kits folder.
  300. That sound kit is now with your tools forever.
  301. Okay, you have to understand that because all of your beats are using all of these
  302. sounds. If you start deleting sound kits, you're gonna have missing files.
  303. So you have to make sure that all of the sounds coming into your custom music folder
  304. are yours for life. All right.
  305. So if you follow that advice, I promise you, you will have way better results, and
  306. you won't get tricked into the marketing.
  307. If you're just purchasing single sounds here and there, I'm telling you that you're
  308. restricting yourself from having more creativityity. and the abil to make mistakes
  309. Because I'm telling you, as a good beat maker, you're gonna make mistakes, and
  310. sometimes those mistakes could be like your best beats, and you don't want to miss
  311. those moments. All right, so a lot of information.
  312. I also just wanted to kind of recap there about you know virtual instruments, how to
  313. purchase them, what to be careful of.
  314. Again, be careful of subscription stuff for me.
  315. Plugins like Serum, Silence One, I really really like Nexus.
  316. Has started to come out with a little software manager.
  317. Again, I don't really like that.
  318. but again, that's sometimes just the way it goes.
  319. Same with Arturia. I really like pigments, and in order to kind of keep it updated
  320. and stuff, you have to install their central software.
  321. But again, I like I really do like pigments, and again, with marketing, these
  322. companies will tell you, oh, it's a super easy piece of software, it allows you to
  323. stay updated, really easy to know, you know, with that plugin.
  324. But in reality, if you look at that software, many times they have their store baked
  325. right into the software, right?
  326. So, in other words, they're just trying to put their products right in front of your
  327. eyes. And I understand it's business, it's all about selling and making money so
  328. that you can grow your business.
  329. But the old way was executable files, a digital license, you are good to go.
  330. And again, be careful with the e licensor and i lock and stuff like that.
  331. I try to avoid all plugins that require that stuff.
  332. I it's only been hassles for me, and I can say to you guys be very careful with
  333. plugins that require eye looks, e licensors, and essentially, those are licensing
  334. USB dongles that you put into your computer, and you have to leave them in your
  335. computer. So, in other words, it takes up a USB port.
  336. If you don't have them plugged in, you can't use those virtual instruments or
  337. plugins. So I understand Piracy is an issue, but all of these companies that allow
  338. you to install the EXE file, executable, a digital license, those are some of the
  339. most popular plugins, and I'm sure that those companies are very, very successful
  340. financially as well. So just be careful with all the marketing because that's what
  341. it is. It's marketing. The old school ways many times are better, sometimes new and
  342. improved is better. Such as let's say in your DAW, you create a project, you save
  343. that project, you can reopen that project and it loads all of your settings.
  344. That's such a big benefit for us.
  345. Back in the day, you know, you would have to tweak all your knobs back to their old
  346. settings. Nowadays, you simply open a project.
  347. See, like that that's what we call like an advancement.
  348. That's really beneficial to us as users.
  349. But when it comes to a subscription, that's not a benefit to us.
  350. That's a benefit to the company.
  351. As soon as you stop paying, you no longer own your music.
  352. Okay, so be careful out there, all right.
  353. So that is this episode regarding VST2 and VST3 plugins.
  354. I would recommend using VST3 if you use FL Studio for your projects to be best
  355. compatibility. You'll have to use VST2 for other software, such as in your video
  356. editing software or stuff like that, if it doesn't support VST3.
  357. And if you guys want to stay updated with this podcast, you guys can subscribe
  358. wherever you subscribe. If you can leave a review, that always helps too.
  359. And make sure to visit it'sgratuitous.com.
  360. There is so much FL Studio training on there.
  361. Everything from courses to books to this podcast, you can sign up with your email
  362. and you'll be emailed whenever I release a podcast.
  363. There's lessons on there, you know, if you want to book a lesson.
  364. and that is it. So again, don't forget about the free book.
  365. It's called Five Keys to a Successful Beat.
  366. So simple, it becomes creative..
  367. Go to it'sgratuitous.com forward slash five keys
  368. You will get the free book, which reveals tons and tons of secrets of what I wish I
  369. knew before I started learning to you know become a music producer.
  370. You get some free video training.
  371. It'll be sent to you one a day, and you'll get special pricing to the platform.
  372. All right. Again, the platform has 30 FL Studio courses, and you can take advantage
  373. of my course pathways. The course pathways is like a college curriculum for beat
  374. makers. In other words, you simply follow the courses in order of how I've laid them
  375. out. There's very minimal distractions.
  376. So in other words, you get in there, you start learning how the music program works,
  377. and I break down each course more in depth.
  378. And each course is not just like a simple little course.
  379. Some of these courses are four hours, some courses are eight hours, some courses
  380. have 10 videos, some courses have like 30 videos.
  381. Okay, so this is a very in-depth platform.
  382. I've been teaching how to make beats for many, many years.
  383. And if you want to take advantage of it, again, start with the free book by going to
  384. it'sgratuitous.com forward slash five keys.
  385. I'll talk to you in the next episode.
  386. Thanks for
  387. listening,
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