Converting 32-bit VST3 plugin to 64-bit for Cubase 11

Audio Plugins
1

Hello everyone,

I’m new to audio plugin development and I’m currently working on a VST3 plugin using JUCE. I’m targeting Cubase 11 as my host DAW, which is running on a Mac with an M1 chip (ARM64 architecture).

I’ve managed to build my VST3 plugin successfully, and I can see that it’s being recognized and loaded by Cubase. However, I’m running into an issue where Cubase is reporting my plugin as a 32-bit binary and is blocking it from being used. I need to figure out how to build my plugin as a 64-bit binary so that it’s compatible with Cubase 11 on my system.

Here are some additional details about my setup and what I’ve tried so far:

  • I’m using JUCE 7.0.11 and Xcode 15.1 for development.
  • My Xcode project is set to build for the “arm64” architecture.
  • I’ve verified that the plugin binary inside the .vst3 bundle is a 64-bit ARM64 executable by running file on it.
  • I’ve tried cleaning and rebuilding my project, as well as updating to the latest version of Cubase.
  • I’ve tried on different host(Reaper) and it worked fine.

Despite these steps, Cubase still reports my plugin as a 32-bit binary and won’t load it.

I’m wondering if there are any additional settings or configurations I need to change in my JUCE project or build process to ensure that my VST3 plugin is built and packaged correctly as a 64-bit binary for Cubase 11 on ARM64 Macs.

Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your help!

2

Does the VST3 work in other hosts? It would be good to rule out whether the VST is the problem or whether Cubase is.

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3

Thank you for the advice. I’ll first check if it works in the other hosts.

4

I confirmed that the vst3 plugin works fine on Reaper. If the problem is related to Cubase, I wonder what the issue is…

5

This is a complete stab in the dark but what if you remove the manifest file from the VST3 bundle?

6

The 32 bit remark in Cubase is not a report about your plugin, that is just a text “in general”.

The plugin probably does not pass the Vst3 validation, I advise to start testing with Pluginval and the Steinberg Vst3 validator.

7

Cubase 11 was released before Apple announced the switch to its own processors. So Cubase 11 is running in Rosetta mode on these machines and you need to compile your VST for the Intel architecture.

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