Hi all, Title pretty much says it all. I believe that when you update plugins via Native Access, if you are on VST v2 it will update them to VST v3. So what will happen when I open older DAW projects that used the VST v2 version of the plugin? TIA!
They will either work or the wont. Ideally what you do is install BOTH VST2 and VST3 versions so yourprojects still load with VST2 if needed and then you systematically go through your projects and manually switch out all the VST2 plugins for the VST3 version to update them all. You should be able to install both at the same time. Some plugins can "migrate" from VST2 to 3 automatically, I believe most NI plugins do however not all plugins do, in fact most plugins out there wont so it is a good idea now to move as many to VST3 as possible. If you are on Windows it is easier to keep VST2/3 installed for this but on mac, you have to launch most DAWs now in Rosetta mode to have VST 2 even show up
Hi! Thanks for the reply."Ideally what you do is install BOTH VST2 and VST3 versions so yourprojects still load with VST2 if needed". Yeah that's the issue. If you update a plugin via Native Access, I believe it replaces the VST2 file with a VST3 file, so how can you have both versions on your computer? Is the trick to make a copy of the VST2 file in another location, rename it, update the plugin via Native Access, and then bring the copy of the VST2 file back into the correct location afterwards so it's sitting alongside the VST 3 file? Thanks,
Over time you will find more and more devs doing this, especially on Mac where VST2 is deprecated. The only real solution is to note which plugins are in your project, save their presets and any other settings, then substitute the VST3 manually.
Some hosts don't even support migration at all regardless of the plugin - eg Ableton Live, but even those that do it still depends on the VST2 and VST3 being 100% compatible and many are not, even of those that do support migration often the plugin gets automatically substituted but the automation is off because automation Ids are not the same.
"If you update a plugin via Native Access, I believe it replaces the VST2 file with a VST3 file, so how can you have both versions on your computer?"
It does not. The formats are different. A VST2 file is *.dll whereas a VST3 file is a *.VST3 file.
There is no replacement - you will have both files present. And in different locations.
VP
I suspect what they are thinking is for most NI plugins there is now only a VST3 and AU version on Mac, so while it is not 'technically' replacing one with the other, it amounts to the same thing as the VST2 is usually deleted in the process (unless moved first but then it will be out of sync with the latest versions)
Also on Mac there are no 'dll's'
Got it. Forgot the OP was on Mac.
Just out of interest what's the situation on Windows - is there still a choice of VST2 and/or VST3 in the NI installers? I know some companies such as u-he have pretty much moved over to VST3 (plus CLAP for them) on both platforms.
No selection and never has been when installing via NA. All installs are silent with no user interaction. And no ability to set the VST2 directories anymore either. (Under Preferences→File Locations) Removed probably about a year ago? But unlike Mac - if one did have an old VST2 still present on the machine from say a year ago - the VST3 would install in parallel and not remove the old VST2 instance.
