I’m trying to use, where I have both VST 2 and VST 3 versions of the same plugin (in the case of Roland Cloud stuff for example), to use the VST 3 versions, in order to remove the VST 2 ones.
However, I have quite a lot of old Cantabile songs and racks that still have the VST 2 versions of the plugins in them. Is there an easy way to migrate the presets that I’ve created with the VST 2 versions and have them work in my songs the way I’ve got them set up now?
Or should I just leave both versions installed and not worry about it?
If the plugins are the same, such as the same version, you should be able to just replace the vst 2 with the vst 3 within the rack, and maybe within a song, but may affect your settings. Would be easy to test though, before you take the plunge. I keep all my vst 2 plugs as they are, and make anything new out of a vst 3. For the most part, they work the same. I really don’t like dialing in twice, just to use a vst 3. Just saying…
Thanks for the reply. I tried saving the Cantabile Bank in the VST2 version then tried loading that into the VST3 version, didn’t work… Cantabile says that it’s a different plugin…
You could try using Copy Program instead of bank. Actually I think you could use Plugin Snapshot. Haven’t tried it. My laptop is loading a huge file right now, or I would test it. Maybe someone will have the answer soon. If not, I will test it later.
In my memory - as I have tried - with snapshots it does not work either
One possible way would be to copy and then edit a VST2 rack file and make a VST3 version. Somehere in the rack file (you can edit with a text editor such as notepad) are written the lines (example):
“pluginPath”: “C:\Program Files\VSTplugins64bit\Applied Acoustic Systems\Lounge Lizard EP-4.dll”,
“pluginId”: “4c4c5a34”,
They would need to be replaced by the VST3 name and path, and I guess another ID as well.
But not sure if that works, would be (too) good to be true. I’d hope one day Brad or somebody in the forum would manage some kind of automated conversion, as we do not know how long VST2 will survive…
Actually, I just tested my suggestion with a Pianoteq VST2 Rack containing 55 states (single presets in my case) and converted that within 1 minute to a VST 3 rack
Procedure
make a ‘dummy’ VST3 rack of your plugin of interest with 1 state and save it
in a text editor (search for ‘vst’ or something similar to find the two lines with the plugin vst3 path and the vst3-id number)
copy the VST2 rack of interest to a new VST3 rack (normal Windows operation from file manager)
edit the new VST3 rack with a text editor and replace the VST2-path and the VST2-id with the VST3-path and the VST3-id, and save the result
dunno, works with me, at least for this Pianoteq example…
UPDATE: I tried for 2 Arturia VST-s but that did not work. So it seems plugin dependent
That is good to know, but there is surely another way. If not, maybe @brad can come up with a solution. Since there are more VST3s, and lessening VST2s, I would think there would be a way to move favorite settings to VST3. It is not an emergency, but I see where someday it would be helpful. Now, of course, if the versions are different, it would require a new setup. That is the case with B5 organ. Version 3 is a new build, and parameters are much different from version 2.
Choose “upgrade plugin” (it’s the 4th selection down for me)
And it will replace it with VST3 if you have it installed already. The rack settings still worked for me after I did this. It was really quick and easy.
Don’t use “replace plugin” - it doesn’t save your settings this way. use “upgrade.”
Seems that my earlier method worked for Pianoteq, but not for two Arturia VST2’s. So it apparently depends per plugin if that works. Will try Paul / bartok2112 advice.
The “Update Plugin” (from VST to VST3) works well for cases where my complicated method works as well (works for Pianoteq and Waves plugins for example), But I found out that for example for Arturia plugins, none of the above methods work to convert from VST2 to VST3…
Yes. All My VST2 are under one VST2 directory, with brandnames as subdirectories. Same for VST3
While attempting upgrading Arturia VST2 to VST3 inside racks, I get the error message:
“Failed to load because it was in the incorrect format (error 13002)”
Waves and Piaoteq for example work upgrade ok. Others I have not tried yet
Currently Cantabile only supports the upgrade VST 2 to 3 plugin approach.
Digging a little deeper, it seems like I could add an option to VST 2 plugins to save the bank as a .vstpreset which compatible VST 3 plugins should be able to load (but not all plugins support this).
Would that help?
To clarify this further: Steinberg define a way for a host to convert an FXB to a .vstpreset file that the VST 3 equivalent plugin should be able to open. However, plugins need to be coded specifically to support the converted .vstpreset file and not all plugin support it. (eg: the Arturia plugins mentioned by @adderoo above). For these plugins neither the Update Plugin to VST 3, not converting via a .vstpreset file will work and you’ll need to refer to the plugin docs or support channels for info on how to upgrade your presets.
I have not come across yet a VST2 where your .vstpreset would be an option to convert to VST3, but as you suggest, it might help with some. I cannot estimate how much time that development for you is, but it might help some of us.
As for the Arturia racks at least in the racks I had the preset names, so that helps me to repair the VST3-converted rack a little faster. Converted 3 racks yesterday.
I was actually aiming to save some diskspace by deleting the Arturia and Waves VST2, and keep the VST3 only (saves me 1.5 Gb in total on my precious SSD, which is already pretty full), which worked out well.
I have not converted any of my Arturia plugs. I seem to remember some complaints about Arturia’s Vst3 plugs, but I can’t remember what. You would need to hunt down that info.