Steinberg says that it’s time to retire your old 32-bit plugins. From their next major release onward, they’ll only be supporting 64-bit software.
Here’s the text of their announcement:
Dear customers,
As announced earlier, we would like to remind you that from next major release onward we’ll only be supporting 64-bit software, as this is the current technology guaranteeing the best possible performance and user experience. As a consequence we are discontinuing the Steinberg VST Bridge, which was meant as an aid for the smooth transition from 32-bit to 64-bit.
For all of you interested in using legacy 32-bit products there are third-party products like jBridge that can help. To ensure a stable and optimal system we nevertheless strongly recommend using 64-bit and VST 3 software only. Please contact third-party plug-in developers to learn more about latest product updates and when 64-bit/VST 3 versions will be released, should they still be unavailable.
The March of Time has us driving over these spike bars from time to time. Both hardware and software makers periodically have to break with old standards and it can be somewhat painful (i.e., expensive, and inconvenient). Though some plugin developers will provide updates to the new standard; often a beloved plugin is left in its last-best version.
This can mean that we have to keep a “Legacy Boot” volume– with the last combination of OS/DAW that will work with the plugin or VI. This can be especially important, either with abandonware or software with a prohibitive update-price.
For developers and users, the move to 64-bit is logical and practical. The shuffling off of bridging products to third parties is perhaps the most unfortunate– but it sounds like an attempt to direct development resources.
As long as 3rd party bridges are actively developed and working for people, it is a reasonable compromise. For example, jbridge is inexpensive and has been pretty well-received.
I was glad to see the MOTU continues to include their 32/64 mode switch for DP9 (the current version)
It’s fairly outstanding that these guys supported 32 bit for as long as they have. There has been more than enough time for users to work out and implement a transition strategy.
32 bit plugins have such a huge library though of free indie vsts- it would be sad to see them go away in favor of 64 bit commercial plugins- that is unless synthmaker and synthedit can create a conversion tool, host or some such for legacy plugins
This is a non-issue: 32 Lives by SoundRadix does already support 32-bit VST plugins in 64-bit hosts in the most recent 2.0 beta. So no need to worry. As a Logic user, I can tell you that this plugin is worth every cent, because there are no replacements for many old 32-bit plugins. Being able to still use them is a blessing. So check it out and let Steinberg keep saying you need to retire you plugins …