Question:

What is a VST Plugin? What does it do?

The Virtual Studio Technology (VST) interface was developed by Steinberg and first released to the public in 1996. VST allows producers to create a virtual studio on their computer through the use of any VST capable Digital Audio Environment or Sequencer. There are many sequencers on the market that support VST integration. The most popular of these being Pro Tools, ACID Pro, Ableton Live, and Logic Studio

VST's come in the form of effects processors, drum machines, synthesizers, and any other conceivable audio production utilities. These VST's can be recreations of old vintage units or expand into newly developed ideas and effects only limited by the programmers imagination and abilities!

To put things plainly, VST's are a VIRTUAL (software based) replacement of a hardware device.

VST's do not require any external gear, therefore the need for a mess of cords and MIDI cables is unnecessary. Considering VST is routed to your sequencer via a virtual connection there is no loss of sound when mixing down the sounds to your sequencer of choice. VST's are also fully automatable, meaning all controlls are able to be changed in real-time, or can be routed to, and controlled by an external controller such as the ever popular M-Audio Controllers.

One of the other great things about the VST is its support for an open standard. This allows freelance programmers and larger companies to freely create new VST's, therefore new ones are being created by people and companies every day! This also means that there are many, very powerful VST's that are FREE, or extremely inexpensive.

Check out the Free VST Downloads page for a list of great VST's to get you started!

Written by FrequenZ exclusively for the DJMixSource Tutorials Section

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