2. History and Formats

The history of plugins is also the history of market shares and competing interface formats.

VST/VST 2.0

In the spring of 1996, Steinberg unveiled the first version of Cubase VST at the Frankfurt Music Fair. Initially, Cubase VST 3.0 was exclusive to Mac users. PC users had to wait until version 3.5 to enjoy the benefits of Virtual Studio Technology (VST). At that time, the possibilities were quite limited, and the CPU power of the computers of that era was far from impressive. Users had to make do with four effect sends, had no dynamics control, and VST instruments were not even in the picture.

However, toward the end of 1996, Waves started preparing its Native Power Pack for the VST plugin interface. This gave users access to decent reverb, EQ, and compressors, which were previously only available for the expensive Digidesign Pro Tools TDM system. The revolutionary aspect was that all the processing occurred natively on a single processor, namely the CPU of the host computer. While users had to spend large sums on an ADAT recorder with only eight tracks back then, Cubase VST already included this feature along with additional effects, a mixer, and Total Recall functionality. This cost-effective production method laid the foundation for the widespread success of plugins, which continues to this day. VST 2.0 further expanded the success story with enhanced features.

Audio Units/MAS

When Steinberg ceased support for Pro Tools, many customers switched to Emagic Logic, now known as Apple Logic Pro, since Logic still offers Pro Tools support. Emagic gradually incorporated the features of Cubase, integrating the VST interface, although it always lagged behind Cubase in terms of performance. Probably due to this reason and various licensing disputes between Emagic and Steinberg, the new owner, Apple decided to introduce an entirely new and extended interface: Audio Units (AU) was born. Today, it is the standard alongside VST (Cubase for Mac only supports VST) on MacOSX. Practically all of Apple's creative software programs support this standard, including Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Garage Band, iLife, and more. Unfortunately, not every plugin manufacturer offers full AU support to this day, and the MAS interface is hardly used anymore.

TDM/RTAS (Real-Time Audio Suite)

Simultaneously, the founding father of all audio workstations, Digidesign, developed the TDM and RTAS interfaces, which are still used in Pro Tools systems today. RTAS is for the entry-level Pro Tools LE, while TDM is for the high-end versions of PT. TDM plugin prices are often double those of their VST or AU counterparts and only run on dedicated hardware.

TC Powercore, Universal Audio UAD-1, UADe, Creamware Pulsar XTC

These systems consist of external expansion cards that handle the processing of in-house plugins.

Advantage: The CPU of the host computer is significantly relieved, and the quality of the plugins is limited only by the algorithms used and the performance of the specially developed chips.

Disadvantage: This solution requires the purchase of hardware and additional plugins and occupies a Firewire or USB port on the host computer. The external integration into the host computer's bus system affects data stream in/out operations, resulting in latencies – noticeable delays in audio playback that cannot always be perfectly compensated for by the host program's automatic latency compensation. However, this negative effect is insignificant in machine programs without synchronization requirements.

When host CPUs were much weaker than they are today, this model offered a way out of the performance bottleneck. In the high-end, computation-intensive field, external systems still have a legitimate role to play.

DirectX

It's worth mentioning DirectX, which was initially provided rather unenthusiastically by Microsoft for game developers to enhance the music and video capabilities of the IBM PC. It wasn't until DirectX 10 that it gained the respect of plugin manufacturers. DirectX is mainly found in the multimedia 2D and 3D support of the Microsoft Xbox and various PC operating systems.

Rewire

In 1998, Propellerhead introduced the Rewire protocol in version 1.0. The Swedish music software company created quite a buzz at the time with its revolutionary virtual computer version of the Roland cult synth TB-303. Propellerhead fulfilled many fans' wishes for integration of 'Rebirth' into Cubase VST, the leading 'Dance' production software at the time. In 2001, Rewire 2.0 followed. Rewire has now become the standard for parallel operation of two music programs on a computer, communicating with MIDI and audio streams. It is supported by almost every manufacturer.

VST - Virtual Studio Technology

In 1996 Virtual Studio Technology (VST) was incorporated into Steinberg's Cubase VST 3.0 to cater for the introduction of their own audio plug-ins. Initially it was only available for Macintosh, and was not introduced for the PC until version 3.5.

The arrival of Cubase VST was largely responsible for the huge success of plug-ins - its built-in recorder, automatable mixer and effects processors provided a complete recording environment on a single computer. The amount of effects you could use simultaneously was of course limited by CPU power at the time, Cubase offered just four effects sends in total, but crucially, Steinberg made the VST standard an open format, paving the way for third-party plug-ins.

By the end of 1996, Waves had launched its range of Native Power plug-ins in VST format, which until then had only been available for Digidesign's high-end Pro Tools TDM system.

AU Audio Units

Not long after its invention, Emagic integrated Steinberg's VST format into its Logic sequencing software, but when Apple acquired Emagic, they decided to create a new plug-in interface which brought us "Audio Units". This is now the industry standard for Mac OSX and is supported by all Apple's media products including Final Cut, Logic, Garageband, and iLife.

TDM/RTAS -Time Domain Multiplex & Real-Time AudioSuite

Digidesign developed two separate interfaces - RTAS and TDM. RTAS uses the computer's native processing power, and is all that is available in Pro Tools LE systems, whereas TDM uses the dedicated DSP only found in the top of the range Pro Tools HD system to provide higher resolution processing with no strain on the CPU.

DSP Processors

Although they initially became popular when computers had slower processors and needed all the help they could get, DSP processors are just as useful today, now that plug-ins are really pushing the boundaries of the DAW, and the users' thirst for power seems unquenchable! These systems use separate hardware to run plug-ins without using the computer's own processing power. Models are available in PCI card format, and also as external units connected via FireWire or USB. While the hardware itself will integrate with your DAW using one of the standard formats such as VST or AU, they will not run standard plug-ins written for these formats and instead require plug-ins to be written specifically for them.