VST3 Support

[T0NIT0RMX]

Hello,
I'm re-opening issue #2352
It was from 2015, it was a copy-paste, and today, in 2018, the context is different.

Context :
On the 1st Oct 2018, Steinberg stopped suporting VST2.
What does that means ? (The way I understand it, based on this topic)

• For devs who have a license : they can freely release new VST2 plugins.
• For devs who don't have a license, unfortunately, they are not allowed to distribute VST2 in any ways, and they CAN'T ask for a license.

Since may, I'm working on a big project, a free EDM synthesizer, using Cabbage framework..
Unfortunately I can't release it as a VST2, because I'm too late in the game...

The only way I will be able to distribute it is by the form of a VST3, which support GPL3 licensing.

Request

• Implementation of VT3 support for LMMS

I think it would be a really good improvement for LMMS, and I'd be pleased if my plugin could be compatible with the DAW I use.

Unfortunately, my knowledge to add this support is I think, too limited to lead the project, but I would be pleased to help & learn, so if you guys have knowldge about it, feel free to share it here so I can learn how it works in the same time (I know some devs have solid knowledge on this field, and would be interested to implement VST3 support for LMMS)

Thanks in advance,

[T0NIT0RMX]

@jasp00 @DomClark @PhysSong Could you guys help here ?
Thanks in adance

[jasp00]

For devs who don't have a license, unfortunately, they are not allowed to distribute VST2 in any ways

You can always use aeffectx.h from LMMS. There is no reason to ever drop VST2 support.

I do not think VST3 support is unwelcome. It should be optional because LMMS is GPL-2+. I believe this feature could be in 1.3.0, since you are volunteering.

Speaking for myself, 1.2.0 is the priority, so I will probably not help yet.

[T0NIT0RMX]

You can always use aeffectx.h from LMMS, they are not allowed to distribute VST2 in any ways

I don't talk about droping VST2 support in LMMS, but in Cabbage, the VST2 support will be dropped, and I don't know if it's really possible for Cabbage to use Vestige, because it relies on JUCE, so it would need a kind of wrapper to work with Vestige, if I understand well.
Also, at the moment I don't really understand why using this aeffectx.h header would allow me to release VST2 plugins, Steinberg seems very clear about that so..

I would love a support of VST3 yeah, and @DomClark told me that he worked on a VST3 host, so I guess he could be able to implement that support (of course after lmms 1.2)

I'm volunteering, I don't have much knowledge in the LMMS project, but I'm here to learn.

[Spekular]

Closing and consolidating into #5433

[DomClark]

VST3 is VST in name only - as far as the code goes, it's as different to VST2 as something like LV2 or LADSPA is. I don't think it's meaningful to consolidate it with other VST issues unless the intention is to create a generic "external plugins" meta-issue.

[Spekular]

I've hidden off-topic comments and removed the preview of Tone-Z to keep this issue more focused. As pointed out in #5746, it strayed from the topic quite a bit for a while.

[LoveBodhi]

VST2 SDK is non-free (no longer licensed by Steinberg!) and this doesn't support VST3 (Stardream Error Code G1811)......

[tresf]

🇻🇸🇹 2️⃣ SDK is non-free (no longer licensed by 🍺 berg!) and this doesn't support 🇻🇸🇹 3️⃣ (Stardream Error Code G1811)......

Just for clarification, our 🇻🇸🇹 2️⃣ header is not from Steinberg, it's a clean room reverse engineered header from long ago (and we're likely switching to a new one soon): #2003 (comment)

I understand that there's a history of 🍺 berg bullying projects still using the old API. I can only hope we don't fall subject to this. (Text obfuscated to thwart keyword crawlers).

[ghost]

LMMS is open source. Features are added by volunteers. If you want a feature sooner, we're always welcoming new contributors. Statements like "the sooner the better" or "it's 2024 now" do not help, not in the slightest. Please do not come here to complain.

I sincerely apologize if my comment came across the wrong way. My intention was to highlight the benefits of VST3 support for many producers, not to pressure anyone. I appreciate all the hard work being done by the volunteers.

[ghost]

I noticed that my second most recent comment regarding VST3 plugin support for LMMS was marked as off-topic.

It's closer to spam/too repetitive. Off-topic was chosen to be polite.

• Telling us what year it is not helpful to this bug report
• Demanding a timeline for this feature is not helpful to this bug report
• Expressing how important VST3s are is not helpful as this is widely known by devs and the community.

I understand and apologize for any confusion or frustration my comments may have caused. My intention is to help other music producers and bring the best possible value to our community. I realize that my approach might have come across as repetitive or demanding, and for that, I’m sorry. I’m passionate about accelerating the feature of VST3 support in LMMS because I believe it will greatly benefit many users. While I can’t help with coding, I’m eager to support in any other way I can without causing stress. Thank you for your understanding.

[tresf]

I’m passionate about accelerating the feature of VST3 [...] I can’t help with coding

This is a code repository; these are coding tasks so that's always the best place to start.

Click to expand off-topic-stuff...

Every developer that's here helping with LMMS came here because something wasn't working properly or something was missing. Each developer was passionate enough to ask for help and then took time to get the bug/feature working.

Here's my story:

• Asked for a feature on the mailing list.
• Tracked issues in dedicated bug reports, such as this one.
• Success!

In my case, I had some basic coding experience, not much experience with C++ or with CMake... but had drive and motivation to get it working. Perhaps VST3 can be your story. (/end off-topic-stuff)

We do tolerate the occasional thread bump here, especially for major bugs or small code fixes that get forgotten. This is a missing feature that requires significant coding to get working, so bumping it isn't going to make it happen any faster. If the final holdup comes down to licensing, I'd be happy to help with that portion.

[eugenialoli]

Honest question: has vst3 support started at all, or are we waiting for some new maintainer to coincidentally join and do that?`