Different Plug-in Standards

Different plug-ins use different standards to communicate with the host software which can make things a bit confusing when it comes to choosing new plug-ins. Which software uses what standards? Which standards are supported by PC or Mac? Where did they all come from? To make things easier for you we have prepared this guide to the different standards.

 The five commonly used plug-in standards are:

VST: A standard developed by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, the creators of Cubase and Nuendo. This standard works with PC (Windows) and Macintosh (OS-X) based computers. Some of the different DAWs available that support VST plug-ins are Steinberg Cubase and Nuendo, Ableton Live, Cakewalk Sonar and ImageLine FL-Studio.

AU: A standard developed by Apple Inc, and is a plug-in architecture provided by Core Audio within OS-X on Macintosh computers. AU is not supported by PC based systems. Examples of DAWs that support AU plug-ins are Apple Logic and Ableton Live.

DX: The DX or DirectX plug-in standard was developed by Microsoft Corporation, and is a component of the overall DirectX system. DirectX plug-ins are not supported on Macintosh systems. Examples of DAWs that support DirectX plug-ins are Cakewalk Sonar and ImageLine FL-Studio.

RTAS: The RTAS plug-in standard was developed by Digidesign, and is supported by software including ProTools LE and ProTools HD on both PC (Windows) and Mac (OS-X) based systems

TDM: The TDM plug-in standard was also developed by Digidesign, however unlike the standards mentioned previously TDM plug-ins are processed using proprietary Digidesign hardware rather than the computer's CPU. Software that supports TDM plug-ins includes ProTools HD (PC/Mac) and Apple Logic (Mac).

The VST logo is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
The Audio Units logo is a trademark of Apple Inc.
The DirectX logo is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.
The RTAS logo is a trademark of Avid Technology Inc.