Actually pulled this from
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/9452413-post18.htmlNoel
Straight from Noel of CW:
"Regarding VST3, I will publish an article listing the features we implemented later.SONAR doesn't support the Steinberg specific features like expression maps, but our implementation is goes beyond what other non Steinberg VST3 hosts do today. We chose to implement all the more important and useful features. Sample accurate automation, silent buffer CPU savings, sidechaining, plugin resizing support, automatic VST2-3 migration, hierarchical parameter organization and plugin categorization are a few that that we did. The work in this area however goes well beyond just VST3. The entire VST engine was overhauled so many of these benefits apply to VST2 plugins as well. e.g. SONAR now fully supports mono sidechain plugins both in VST2 and VST3. There are some industry firsts with general plugin management as well. Plugin scanning is now transparent and automatic so you can launch the app and start working immediately in seconds, without waiting for a boring plugin scan operation to finish. Hardcore plugin addicts will be happy to know that there are no more limits to the counts of plugins listed in menus and the browser as well"
The bottom line really depends on what plug-ins you use and how you use them.
Even though the VST3 spec supports things like 'plug-in resizing' it's up to the developer to take advantage of them in a meaningful way.
Other factors...
* Some developers only develop VST3 plugs or have stopped VST2 development.
Such as Waves - (from what I've read in other posts) has frozen VST2x development and in the future will only be coding VST3 plug-ins. So no more updates for VST2 versions. (Anyone have link to something official on this?)
* Side-Chaining is supposedly easier. Let others argue about this.
I haven't used side chaining since I stopped doing jingles.
* CPU savings (in terms of shutting off when not used).
This item has been hotly debated.
What the devs say is that a well coded VST2 plug-in in will already do this.
In terms of CPU usage - really that depends more on what kind of plug-in it is & how the plug-in operates. All things being equal a well coded VST2 plug-in will use less than a badly coded VST3.
I am happy X3 supports VST3s. Hopefully it will lead to better, more user friendly plugs-ins.
The 'plug-in resizing' feature by itself could be wonderful. Possible some other features will surface (in VST3 vs VST2) that I will find indispensable.
...Steven
post edited by TheSteven - 2013/11/05 00:17:33