Created by Steinberg, a German musical software and equipment company, the VST plug-in standard is the audio plug-in standard that allows third-party developers to make VST plug-ins. Users can download VST plug-ins on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. The vast majority of VST plug-ins are available on Windows.

1. Do Windows Vst Plugins Work On Mac Windows 10
2. Do Windows Vst Plugins Work On Macbook
3. Do Windows Vst Plugins Work On Mac Os

Info from Trebor, triaged by Gale, that can be incorporated into this page (add those plugins not already listed).

Download the Best Free Audio Plugins. Synths, Reverbs, Compressors.and much more. Just click and download. That means you can now load and play nearly every Windows VST plug-in directly in Mac OS X and route the audio signals to your favorite sequencer (e.g. Via Soundflower). You don't need the V-Machine hardware to play your Windows VST plug-ins on your Mac'.

• The JS series & MDA series of VST plugins, (which are old) , wouldn't work properly with Audacity 2.1.0 , see https://bugzilla.audacityteam.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1083 for status, it is DEVEL-FIX MADE now.

• The “Antress modern” series of plugins, http://antress.blogspot.co.uk/ do work , but since implementation of real-time-adjustment , you have to stop then start playback for any adjustments to the controls to take effect. This is not on Bugzilla, so needs testing but it could have already been fixed by the fix for https://bugzilla.audacityteam.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1084 .

• Free VST effects I have on my machine right now, which I use regularly, so I know are working OK on Audacity 2.1.0:
  • Marvel GEQ.dll http://www.voxengo.com/product/marvelgeq/https://forum.audacityteam.org/download/file.php?id=13343]A graphic equalizer
  • ANWIDA Soft DX Reverb Light.dll http://www.anwida.com/product.asp?pid=7, http://www.anwida.com/dc.asp?file=http://www.anwida.com/progs/asdxrl20.zip&pid=7
  • BC Chorus 4 VST(Stereo).dll http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_Chorus/
  • Gmulti.dll , Ggate.dll , Gsnap.dll http://www.gvst.co.uk/downloads.htm [ compressor, gate, autotune ].
  • SPITFISH.dll http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php?item=2&subItem=5 [ a basic de-esser ].
  • TB_Sibalance_v3.dll http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-sibalance/ [ a sophisticated de-esser ].
  • DtBlkFx.dll http://rekkerd.org/dtblkfx/ A spectral-processor [ capable of weirdness like nothing else ].
  • 'Acon Multiply' https://acondigital.com/products/multiply/ It does chorus & stereo effects . It has presets, so is simple to operate : ideal for newbies who wants to add effects to vocal / guitar recordings.

This page describes support for VST (Virtual Studio Technology) effect plug-ins in Audacity; VST instrument plug-ins that generate audio are not supported. A list of VST effects known to process correctly in Audacity on Windows is given here. VST effects are supported by Audacity on OS X and GNU/Linux, but relatively few are available on Mac (due to Apple's competing Audio Units technology) and even fewer on Linux. If a specific VST effect is required on Linux, it may be necessary to employ workarounds such as running Audacity for Windows in a virtual machine.

Related article(s): Other pages in our Plug-ins category

• 3List of functional VST Plug-ins

VST support in Audacity

On Windows and Mac OS X, Audacity is a 32-bit application so won't see 64-bit versions of VST plug-ins, even on 64-bit operating systems. On GNU/Linux, 32-bit systems will have 32-bit versions of Audacity which won't see 64-bit VST plug-ins. 64-bit systems will have 64-bit versions of Audacity which will see 64-bit VST plug-ins but won't see 32-bit plug-ins. VST instruments (VSTi) (such as synths) and real-time VST effects (that change the audio data while playing or recording) are not yet supported. VST 3 plug-ins are not supported.

VST effects are displayed with full GUI interface (where provided by the plug-in), and without need of the VST Enabler. This has been made possible by use of an open source VST header.

For instructions on how to load new VST effects into Audacity please see this page in the Manual.

The overwhelming majority of VST effect plug-ins should display and process correctly. If an incompatible VST plug-in does cause a problem, click the Manage button in the effect's dialog then choose 'Options...'. In the dialog that appears, try reducing Buffer Size, disabling Latency Compensation or disabling graphical display. See VST Effect Options in the Manual for more information on these choices.

• To report a plug-in that is problematic in current Audacity, please report it on the Audacity Forum.

Installing VST plug-ins in Audacity

The process and file location is different for each operating system. See the following pages in the Audacity Manual:

List of functional VST Plug-ins

Instructions for adding plug-ins to the list: Please insert new plug-ins that work in Audacity in the correct place so as to keep the list sorted in alphabetical order. Please give a download link to the plug-in if possible, enclosing the link inside single square brackets - for example: [http://www.linktoplugin.com] If plug-ins are not free, please note this.

• The majority of plug-ins will be for Windows only unless OS 9 or OS X is stated.
• Classic Mac OS plug-ins will only work under OS 9 and previous. Mac OS X plug-ins with a .component file marked as 'PowerPC' will only work on PPC Macs (they might work on Intel Macs with slow performance under Rosetta but Rosetta cannot be used on OS X 10.7 or later).

List of Plug-ins with download links

• Antares AutoTune Evo - Mostly works with current Audacity. Automatic pitch correction works, but to be able to draw pitch curves clock must be set to 'internal' and not 'host'. (commercial)
• Antress Modern Plug-ins including a number of compressors, a limiter, an expander, an exciter and a 'spacer' which could be used for creating 'fake stereo'
• ANWIDA Soft DX Reverb Light.dll for Windows and Mac (PowerPC only)
• Bo Johansen Plug-ins
• Bluecat Plug-ins
• bs2b.dll stereo to binaural
• Buzzroom CL 201 (Vintage Maximiser) - now shareware

Peter 16Nov15: I'm not sure I want us to continue linking to the Brothersoft site (or its plug-ins) the very first ad I got served on that page was for a porn site - sure the adds cycled round with normal sensible ads but they were on a cycle and the porn ad kept returning. And It carries a misleading big green 'Download' button !

• Gale 18Nov15: The Classic plugins below are discontinued. The links were pointing to Brothersoft which is a dubious site and now point to VST4free which is much less bad. Also you can get the complete bundle from http://acoustica1.cachefly.net/other/Classic-Effects-Installer.exe. The installer puts the plugins in %PROGRAMFILES%VST where (according to the Manual and VSTEffect.cpp) Audacity should not see them unless a registry key or VST_PATH environment variable points there. But Audacity does see them (on Win 10).

Classic plug-ins

• Classic Chorus.dll
  
• Classic Compressor.dll
  
• Classic Delay.dll
  
• Classic EQ.dll
  
• Classic Flanger.dll
  
• Classic Master Limiter.dll
  
• Classic Phaser.dll
  
• Classic Reverb.dll
  

Peter 16Nov15:

Do Windows Vst Plugins Work On Mac Windows 10

Rather than linking direct to the downloads for these digitalfishphones plug-ins, might it not be better to link to the site's download page for them as it tells the user, in some detail, just what each one is for: THD, dominion and normalizer?

• Gale 17Nov15: Any other plugins are not listed because presumably no-one tested them. Yes, show a landing page with detail for the plugin if there is one. But if we have a table like I suggest we can link to the publisher and the plugin in a less confusing way.

• digitalfishphones plug-ins

• • dominion v1.2.dll - a tool to shape the envelope of a signal, giving you total control of the signal's attack & sustain phase
  • endorphin - dual-band stereo compressor
  • BLOCKFISH - compressor for Windows and OS X (PPC only)
  • FLOORFISH.dll - expander/noise gate for Windows and OS X (PPC only)
  • SPITFISH.dll - de-esser for Windows and OS X (PPC only)
  • normalizer.dll - a denormalization tool
  • THD.dll - analog-style saturator

• DtBlkFx (FFT-based frequency and harmonics manipulation). Also supports OS X (Universal binary) but only Windows version tested.
• Extra Boy Pro removal and isolation of audio components (commercial, paid for)
• EZmix (commercial, time limited demo available). Also supports OS X but only Windows version tested.
• Freeverb Plug-ins
  • Freeverb for OS X
  • Freeverb2.dll for Windows
  • FreeverbToo.dll for Windows
• GMulti Multi-band compressor
• iZotope vinyl for Windows and OS X
• JS plug-in pack - contains plug-ins listed below.
  • JS 6 equalizer V1.0.dll
  • JS Band Cut V1.0.dll
  • JS Compresseur V1.1.dll
  • JS Disto V1.0.dll
  • JS equalizer V1.0.dll
  • Humanizer v1.0.dll
  • JS Limiteur V1.0.dll
  • JS Magneto V1.1.dll
  • JS Mini-sample V1.0.dll
  • JS Noise Attenu V1.0 .dll
  • JS Noise Filtre V1.0.dll
  • JS Oscil resonne V2.0 .dll
  • JS Oscil resonne V3.0.dll
  • JS PanDelay .dll
  • JS Resonnateur V1.0.dll
  • JS Vibrato V1.0.dll
• jVSTwRapper-based plug-ins (on Windows, Mac OSX PPC/Intel and Linux).

jVSTwRapper is a way of writing Java plug-ins using VST-based technology, enclosed in a wrapper that makes them compatible for use in VST, Audio Units and LADSPA hosts. Thus jVSTwRapper plug-ins can be run on all three platforms.

• Lisp level-independent sibilance processor
• Smartelectronix Plug-ins
  • Ambience - reverb plug-in for Windows, OS 9/X (PPC only)
  • MjCompressor.dll for Windows and OS XWindows version only has a tabular interface even in Audacity 1.3.8+
• REFLEX free - a regenerating delay plug-in, a mixture of stereo delays followed by a dense
• Robotizer for Windows and Mac OS X (PPC only)
• TAL-Reverb-2 - popular GPL licensed plate reverb
• TB Compressor (working demo) in Tone Boosters plug-in bundle - supports 'New York' or 'parallel' compression
• UpStereo.dll - stereo widener
• UpStereo for OS X(not tested)
• VOX_DoctorDemo.dll - De-Esser
• Voxengo - free VST plug-ins from Voxengo

List of Plug-ins with known problems

Instructions for adding VST effect plug-ins to the list: Please do not add VST instrument plug-ins to the list, because Audacity won't work with any of those. List effect plug-ins that do not work properly in Audacity, giving a short note of the problem, such as 'Audacity won't launch', 'plug-in does not appear in Effect Menu', 'not all controls available', 'audio not processed'. Please give a download link to the plug-in if possible, enclosing the link inside single square brackets - for example: [http://www.linktoplugin.com] Please also give your operating system such as Windows 10 or Mac OS X 10.9.4, the date of your report, and the version of Audacity used. Feel free to use current Audacity to retest any plug-ins that did not work with legacy VST Enabler or legacy 1.x versions of Audacity. If plug-ins now work, please move them up into the 'working' list. Audacity 2.0.6 onwards supports buffer delay compensation. Most plug-ins previously listed below that suffered from inserted silence due to Audacity's lack of compensation are no longer listed.

In addition to the below list, the following plug-ins do not have functioning sliders in Audacity 2.1.0 or later and so will only apply at default settings. See Bug 1083.

• JS plug-ins
• MDA VST's
• stereoizer.dll

Plug-in	OS	Date	Audacity version	Symptoms
Auto-Tune	Windows	Dec.2012	Audacity 2.0.1	Tuning by MIDI input is not supported.
BlueCat	OS X	Sep.2014	Audacity 2.0.5, 2.0.6	In 2.0.5, the plug-in interface does not work, so you can only use default settings. The interface works in 2.0.6, but in both versions, saving a preset will lock out the main Audacity window, requiring to close Audacity from the Dock.
CM Vocoder	Windows/OS X	Sep.08	Audacity 1.3.8+	Does not appear
Effect Chainer DX and VST wrapper	Windows	Jan.08	All	can't host any plug-ins
FFX-4 DX and VST Wrapper	Windows	Jan.08	All	can't host any plug-ins
Freeverb2	Windows 7	Oct.11	Audacity 1.3.13	Only tabular interface, no preset support
GRM Tools	OS X	May 2014	Audacity 2.0.6-alpha	Interface cannot be used (so the effects can only be used at default settings) or interface disappears completely when loading preset. The interface is likely to be available in 2.0.6 release, but attempting to save a preset in any Audacity version could lock out the main Audacity window.
GRM Tools	Windows	Sep.08	Audacity 1.3.8+	unspecified
GSnap	Windows	Jan.2014	Audacity 2.0.6	Tuning by MIDI input is not supported.
keFIR	Windows	Apr.08	VST-Bridge 1.1	has no effect on audio
kn0ck0ut	Windows	Sep.2014	Audacity 2.0.6-alpha	Despite Audacity 2.0.6 or later supporting buffer delay compensation, the start of the processed audio has silence inserted and a corresponding length is removed from the end of the processed audio. This also occurs in Goldwave and Wavosaur so is probably a bug in Kn0ck0ut, but the VST version is no longer being developed, only an LV2 version.
Sonic Maximizer	Windows	Sep.2007	VST-Bridge 1.1	not in Effect menu
SoundSoap2 (discontinued) (see also SoundSoap3)	Windows, OS X	2007 (various)	All	Audacity won't launch
Spectro	Windows	Nov.2014	2.0.7-alpha	No spectrum visible in plug-in window
String Studio	Windows	2007 (various)	VST-Bridge 1.1	Audacity won't launch
T RackS 3	OS X	Dec.2009	All	Audacity won't launch
VisualVOX VST	Windows	Jan.2008	VST-Bridge 1.1	No interface, just silences audio
Waves V5	Windows	Dec.2012	Audacity 2.0.2	Hangs Audacity on launch
Waves V8	OS X	Feb.2013	Audacity 2.0.3	Only tabular interface. Two entries (m) and (s) for each effect. GarageBand does not have either problem.(1)

(1) Audio Unit versions of Waves may cause Audacity 2.0.4 or earlier to freeze or crash on launch. In 2.0.5 or later, Waves Audio Units may cause a freeze or crash when the effect is chosen from the Effect Menu.

VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology. There are three types of VST plug-ins:

• VST instruments: These plug-ins generate audio and are either virtual synthesizers or samplers. Many VST instruments emulate the appearance and sound of famous hardware synthesizers. Popular VSP instruments include Massive, FM8, Absynth, Sylenth 1, Reaktor, Gladiator, Vanguard, and Omnisphere.
• VST effects: Effects process audio instead of generating it. VST effects function like hardware audio processors, like reverbs and phasers.
• VST MIDI effects:MIDI plug-ins process MIDI messages and send MIDI data to other VST instruments and hardware.

VST Plug-ins

Do Windows Vst Plugins Work On Macbook

VST plug-ins can be used within a digital audio workstation, in programs like Pro Tools and Logic. They’re frequently used to emulate hardware outboard gear such as compressors, expanders, equalizers, and maximizers. You'll frequently find these distributed to emulate certain models of hardware; there's some for vintage compressors, and you'll frequently find effects that emulate vintage hardware (both in instrumental and stompbox-like effects).

Think of VST plug-ins as really affordable ways to make your home studio sound like a really expensive commercial operation.

VSTi Plug-ins

Do Windows Vst Plugins Work On Mac Os

Aside from VST plug-ins, you'll also find VST-instrument or VSTi plug-ins. These can emulate really cool, but expensive, hardware (like Hammond B3 and Nord Electro). The quality of these VSTi plug-ins can vary from acceptable to really poor; it all depends on the quality of your system resources (RAM and scratch space on your hard drive, for example), and how well-sampled the instrument is. You also want to make sure that your VSTi plug-in offers true polyphonic content, meaning you can make life-like chords that don’t sound too artificial.

Quality

There are thousands of plug-ins available. Some only take a few hours to produce and are free, but the quality is terrible. Some are made by huge companies and sound amazing, but are expensive. VST plug-in developers try to recreate the sound as closely as possible, but the original instrument is probably always going to sound better than the plug-in. You might be trying to get the rich, full-bodied sound of an organ, for example, but who owns an organ? No one has access to every type of instrument, so a plug-in will have to do. The good news is that VST plug-in technology is improving, so quality can only get better with time.

VST Plug-in Standard

Created by Steinberg, a German musical software and equipment company, the VST plug-in standard is the audio plug-in standard that allows third-party developers to make VST plug-ins. Users can download VST plug-ins on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. The vast majority of VST plug-ins are available on Windows. Apple’s Audio Units are standard on Mac OS X (it’s actually considered a competing technology), and Linux lacks commercial popularity, therefore few developers create VST plug-ins for the operating system.

Where to Find VST Plug-ins

There are thousands of VST plug-ins available, both commercially and as freeware. The Internet is flooded with free VST plug-ins. Home Music Production and Bedroom Producers Blog have robust lists of VST plug-in recommendations, and Splice and Plugin Boutique also offer a ton of free plug-ins.