VST3 - known issues (Updated Jan 2019)

[Hanz Meyzer]

Hi,

didn't fully understand the essence of the first post. My question is, can I currently use note expression with Zebra2 using the VST3 version? Would love to do so.

Thanks.

[Urs]

Hi,

didn't fully understand the essence of the first post. My question is, can I currently use note expression with Zebra2 using the VST3 version? Would love to do so.

Thanks.

Unfortunately not. Zebra2 does not have any code to distinguish voice differences other than the obvious note and velocity, and polyphonic aftertouch. Everything else is handled on a global level.

Our newer stuff (ACE, Diva, Hive, Bazille, Repro-5) has per-voice controllability using MIDI Controllers (ModWheel, PitchBend, AT, CC#2, CC#11) different MIDI channels (as in, MPE). I'm not a Cubase expert so I don't know how Note Expressions relate to this.

[Hanz Meyzer]

Thanks! Do you know if I could MPE in Bitwig to have a similar feature, using Zebra2 VST2.4?

[Urs]

Thanks! Do you know if I could MPE in Bitwig to have a similar feature, using Zebra2 VST2.4?

That's the thing... Zebra2 does not have the feature no matter what. It's code is simply from an era where multichannel MIDI support wasn't an issue. In prospect of the V3 update (which finally picked up pace) I never found the energy to revise those specs. It's a humongous 6000 lines piece of code which includes the arpeggiator with its control sequence.

[Hanz Meyzer]

That's the thing... Zebra2 does not have the feature no matter what. It's code is simply from an era where multichannel MIDI support wasn't an issue. In prospect of the V3 update (which finally picked up pace) I never found the energy to revise those specs. It's a humongous 6000 lines piece of code which includes the arpeggiator with its control sequence.

Ok! Thanks again for the detailed info. Btw. in my humble opinion the arp could be removed for the sake of mpe - if that was the main headache. Arps are available as midi plugins in most DAWs, too. (Preparing for shitstorm...)

[zvenx]

That's the thing... Zebra2 does not have the feature no matter what. It's code is simply from an era where multichannel MIDI support wasn't an issue. In prospect of the V3 update (which finally picked up pace) I never found the energy to revise those specs. It's a humongous 6000 lines piece of code which includes the arpeggiator with its control sequence.

Ok! Thanks again for the detailed info. Btw. in my humble opinion the arp could be removed for the sake of mpe - if that was the main headache. Arps are available as midi plugins in most DAWs, too. (Preparing for shitstorm...)

lol
yep and you would deserve it.
The arp is so much part of many of my favourite zebra sounds..... and to take it out to put in a currently clique feature? ahhh... nooo ....ahh hell frigging no
rsp

[pdxindy]

That's the thing... Zebra2 does not have the feature no matter what. It's code is simply from an era where multichannel MIDI support wasn't an issue. In prospect of the V3 update (which finally picked up pace) I never found the energy to revise those specs. It's a humongous 6000 lines piece of code which includes the arpeggiator with its control sequence.

Ok! Thanks again for the detailed info. Btw. in my humble opinion the arp could be removed for the sake of mpe - if that was the main headache. Arps are available as midi plugins in most DAWs, too. (Preparing for shitstorm...)

lol
yep and you would deserve it.
The arp is so much part of many of my favourite zebra sounds..... and to take it out to put in a currently clique feature? ahhh... nooo ....ahh hell frigging no
rsp

We'll have both in Zebra 3!!

[BeeDog]

Hey, sorry for bumping this topic, but better than creating a new one I think. Might have been mentioned, but would it be possible for you to fix the VST3 metadata so the VST3 .dlls get grouped together with the VST2 ones in DAWs like FL Studio? Right now, since some metadata is missing (maybe "vendor" and something else?), the VST3s for Repro and Zebra are not coupled together with the rest like for other plug-ins. Let me know if I need to provide a screenshot

[ejgallego]

I also have a question relating VST2 vs VST3.

• Setup: Diva / Repro + Bitwig 2.3 + Ubuntu 18.04.
• Problem: Open the VST window, select a patch, close the VST window, reopen. In the VST2 version of the plugin, the selected patch is remembered, however, in the VST3 version, it is not and the patch is back to generic, tho the parameters are still correct.

Is anybody else seeing this? Thanks.

[tasmaniandevil]

Is anybody else seeing this? Thanks.

The patch is still totally fine in such a case, it is simply the main display which "forgets" the name of the loaded preset.
This used to happen on Mac and Windows, too. It was then fixed for Mac, and recently also for Windows. But for some reason the same thing apparently still happens on Linux. It's a known issue, and will surely be fixed at some point.

[tasmaniandevil]

Hey, sorry for bumping this topic, but better than creating a new one I think. Might have been mentioned, but would it be possible for you to fix the VST3 metadata so the VST3 .dlls get grouped together with the VST2 ones in DAWs like FL Studio? Right now, since some metadata is missing (maybe "vendor" and something else?), the VST3s for Repro and Zebra are not coupled together with the rest like for other plug-ins. Let me know if I need to provide a screenshot

I can't say for sure, but this might not be possible. Most plugins only have one plugin inside them, like Diva or Bazille. But with Repro and Zebra it's different. Repro comes with Repro-1 and Repro-5, and Zebra has Zebra, Zebralette, Zebrify, and Zrev. In VST2 format, each one of those has its own .dll file. But in the VST3 format, all of them are included in a single .vst3 file. There is just one Zebra2.vst3, but all the plugins are in there. Thus your host might not know how to couple those to the VST2 versions.
Besides that, FLStudio sometimes has trouble with displaying and loading such multi-plugin VST3s correctly.

[audiot]

I have a question regarding VST3 and midi-learn? It may sound a bit rude, but it's not meant that way. I love u-he as much as anybody else here , so ...

Will we ever see a working midi-learn function for the VST3 versions?

I really tried to work with the VST3 versions, because I heard that they use less CPU (at least if they are silent). This makes not a big sense, but sometimes you just need an instrument for an intro and in that case it can make sense. So I tried to use fixed Controller-Setups for my u-he instruments, but I just cant go on like this. Zebra, for example, has way to many controls for my midi controller.

I have bought "Fabfilter One" a few years ago until it was on sale for 5 bucks. I never used it, but I have installed the VST3 version yesterday and recognized that midi learn is working fine there. It's not as comfortable as the right-click method from the onboard-instruments in Cubase but its working.

All in all, the VST3 version dont make so much sense to me at the moment. Can the actual VST3 versions be seen as some kind of beta-versions?

For now I have deleted the VST3 plugins and will continue using the VST2.4 versions, so it's not a big problem, but I'm really interested if u-he is working on some improvements.

[BeeDog]

Hey, sorry for bumping this topic, but better than creating a new one I think. Might have been mentioned, but would it be possible for you to fix the VST3 metadata so the VST3 .dlls get grouped together with the VST2 ones in DAWs like FL Studio? Right now, since some metadata is missing (maybe "vendor" and something else?), the VST3s for Repro and Zebra are not coupled together with the rest like for other plug-ins. Let me know if I need to provide a screenshot

I can't say for sure, but this might not be possible. Most plugins only have one plugin inside them, like Diva or Bazille. But with Repro and Zebra it's different. Repro comes with Repro-1 and Repro-5, and Zebra has Zebra, Zebralette, Zebrify, and Zrev. In VST2 format, each one of those has its own .dll file. But in the VST3 format, all of them are included in a single .vst3 file. There is just one Zebra2.vst3, but all the plugins are in there. Thus your host might not know how to couple those to the VST2 versions.
Besides that, FLStudio sometimes has trouble with displaying and loading such multi-plugin VST3s correctly.

Thanks for getting back! Never dawned on me that several different plug-ins are collected in the VST3 file.

[ejgallego]

Is anybody else seeing this? Thanks.

The patch is still totally fine in such a case, it is simply the main display which "forgets" the name of the loaded preset.
This used to happen on Mac and Windows, too. It was then fixed for Mac, and recently also for Windows. But for some reason the same thing apparently still happens on Linux. It's a known issue, and will surely be fixed at some point.

Thanks! Hopefully the fix comes to Linux soon; it is a bit annoying for my patch browsing workflow as the UI totally forgets the browsing position each time I close the windows.

[Tappistry]

At the risk of sounding slightly lazy:

Which synths are essentially safe to go with VST3? So far I’ve had good luck with the effects: Satin and Colour Copy.

This far I’ve stuck with VST2 for the synths ...