# JUCE 5.4.1 and VST3
**URL:** https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398
**Category:** Audio Plugins
**Created:** [November 16, 2018, 9:35am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398 "2018-11-16T09:35:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rory](https://forum.juce.com/u/rory)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2018, 9:35am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/1 "2018-11-16T09:35:25Z")
I’ve been following the thread about support being dropped for VST2, and thought I could update my VST2 plugins to VST3 by simply checking the VST3 checkbox, and unchecking the VST Legacy check box?
I’ve also replaced the old VST\_SDK global path with the VST\_SDK/VST3\_SDK one. But I still get errors about “pluginterfaces/vst2.x/vstfxstore.h” not being found?
Any ideas?
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### Author:  [@t0m](https://forum.juce.com/u/t0m)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2018, 9:38am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/2 "2018-11-16T09:38:56Z")
> [@The removal of JUCE’s embedded VST2 SDK](https://forum.juce.com/t/the-removal-of-juce-s-embedded-vst2-sdk/29994):
>
> Hello JUCE users, Following Steinberg’s announcement that they are removing the VST2 components from the VST3 SDK [https://www.steinberg.net/en/newsandevents/news/newsdetail/article/vst-3611-sdk-now-available-4906.html](https://www.steinberg.net/en/newsandevents/news/newsdetail/article/vst-3611-sdk-now-available-4906.html) the JUCE team is also removing the VST2 header files from the JUCE repo. As of this commit [https://github.com/WeAreROLI/JUCE/commit/a3566b8c1edac29997490143982cd2b2eb089ffa](https://github.com/WeAreROLI/JUCE/commit/a3566b8c1edac29997490143982cd2b2eb089ffa) it is no longer possible to create VST2 plug-ins using JUCE’s embedded VST2 SDK. If you are an existing…
[https://github.com/WeAreROLI/JUCE/blob/master/BREAKING-CHANGES.txt#L36](https://github.com/WeAreROLI/JUCE/blob/master/BREAKING-CHANGES.txt#L36)
> [@Plugininterfaces/vst2.x/vstfxstore.h not found](https://forum.juce.com/t/plugininterfaces-vst2-x-vstfxstore-h-not-found/30301):
>
> Hi guys, I finally tried to clean up my project and add the VST3SDK and JUCE as submodules, instead of having them in global folders… Unfortunately I’m not getting the error plugininterfaces/vst2.x/vstfxstore.h not found. I’m only building a VST3 and if I add the files vst2.x folder manually everything builds perfectly. It’s just silly to base everything on a submodule and then manually altering the submodule. All submodules are on the newest master, as I just initialised them. I somehow t…
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### Author:  [@rory](https://forum.juce.com/u/rory)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2018, 9:52am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/3 "2018-11-16T09:52:52Z")
Thanks @t0m for the speedy reply! I did read through those. But I find the whole thing a little confusing. In one thread you suggest:
> [@Plugininterfaces/vst2.x/vstfxstore.h not found](https://forum.juce.com/t/plugininterfaces-vst2-x-vstfxstore-h-not-found/30301/2):
>
> The VST2 SDK can be obtained from the vstsdk3610\_11\_06\_2018\_build\_37 (or
> older) VST3 SDK or JUCE version 5.3.2. You should put the VST2 SDK in your
> header search paths or use the “VST (Legacy) SDK Folder” fields in the
> Projucer.
In another thread, a day later, I read this:
> [@Hosting VST2 with AudioPluginHost from JUCE 5.4.1](https://forum.juce.com/t/hosting-vst2-with-audiopluginhost-from-juce-5-4-1/30317/9):
>
> Please bear in mind that you can’t legally use those Steinberg VST2 SDK files unless you have a license from Steinberg that explicitly allows you to do so.
So what gives? I just want to drop support for VST2 at this point and move to VST3, why would I need the VST2 SDK? Surely I don’t have to create new projects for each of my existing plugins?
And on a side note, can people continue to build VST2 plugins for as a long as they like if they just stick with JUCE 5.3.2?
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### Author:  [@t0m](https://forum.juce.com/u/t0m)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2018, 10:00am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/4 "2018-11-16T10:00:03Z")
> [@Rory](#):
>
> why would I need the VST2 SDK?
Have you investigated the `JUCE_VST3_CAN_REPLACE_VST2` preprocessor flag? It’s explained in much more detail in those links.
> [@Rory](#):
>
> And on a side note, can people continue to build VST2 plugins for as a long as they like if they just stick with JUCE 5.3.2?
No. The JUCE license and Steinberg’s VST2 license are different things.
> [@Steinberg closing down VST2 for good](https://forum.juce.com/t/steinberg-closing-down-vst2-for-good/27722):
>
> “From October 2018 onward we are closing down the second version of VST for good. While the VST 2 SDK has been unavailable, and so have maintenance and technical support, the subset within the VST 3 SDK will also be omitted.” - Steinberg. [https://www.steinberg.net/en/newsandevents/news/newsdetail/article/vst-2-coming-to-an-end-4727.html](https://www.steinberg.net/en/newsandevents/news/newsdetail/article/vst-2-coming-to-an-end-4727.html)
> [@The future of VST2 support in JUCE](https://forum.juce.com/t/the-future-of-vst2-support-in-juce/28077):
>
> Steinberg is promoting VST 3 and deprecating VST 2, and there’s been some unofficial discussion on the forum, but we wanted to let you know what that would mean for your active JUCE projects that use VST 2. Here’s a summary of what we’re planning to change in JUCE, to give everyone a heads-up how it might affect your projects (spoiler: not very much!) Step 1: add VST 3 and VST 2 headers to the develop branch (today) We’ll push a new version of JUCE on the develop branch, in which: We remove…
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### Author:  [@rory](https://forum.juce.com/u/rory)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2018, 10:13am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/5 "2018-11-16T10:13:20Z")
> [@t0m](#):
>
> Have you investigated the `JUCE_VST3_CAN_REPLACE_VST2` preprocessor flag? It’s explained in much more detail in those links.
I have. Enabling JUCE\_VST3\_CAN\_REPLACE\_VST2 still gives me build errors about the VST2 headers not being found.
Are you saying that in oder for me to drop support for VST2 in my plugins, and move to VST3, I still need the VST2 SDK? I can’t just enable VST3, disable VST2 and regenerate my project?
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### Author:  [@t0m](https://forum.juce.com/u/t0m)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2018, 10:23am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/6 "2018-11-16T10:23:08Z")
> [@The removal of JUCE’s embedded VST2 SDK](https://forum.juce.com/t/the-removal-of-juce-s-embedded-vst2-sdk/29994/1):
>
> A `JUCE_VST3_CAN_REPLACE_VST2` configuration option has been added to the Projucer. This defaults to `1` , meaning that existing projects will be unaffected by this change (aside from requiring a VST2 SDK), but this option will be set to `0` for new projects. When this option is set to `0` then the VST2 SDK is not required to build VST3 plug-ins (which will work out-of-the-box with JUCE) but plug-ins built in such a way will not be able to “override” VST2 plug-ins. Changing the `JUCE_VST3_CAN_REPLACE_VST2` option changes the form of the plug-ins saved state, so any previous state saved in a host by an older version of the plug-in will be incompatible. This means that hosts will fail to load the new version of your plug-in on an existing track. Therefore, leave this flag unchanged if you want to maintain backwards compatibility.
You need to set `JUCE_VST3_CAN_REPLACE_VST2` to `0` if you don’t want a dependency on the VST2 SDK. This will, however, break compatibility with previously released VST3 plug-ins.
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### Author:  [@rory](https://forum.juce.com/u/rory)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2018, 10:28am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/7 "2018-11-16T10:28:17Z")
Thanks @t0m. That did the trick. I was setting `JUCE_VST3_CAN_REPLACE_VST2` to `1` because I thought I needed to _enable_ the replacing of VST2 with VST3…? Anyhow, it’s all good now. Thanks again for the prompt support 😉
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### Author:  [@t0m](https://forum.juce.com/u/t0m)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2018, 10:37am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/8 "2018-11-16T10:37:10Z")
The “can replace” in that name means that a host could transparently transition from using a VST2 version of your plug-in to a VST3 version. In Cubase, at least, this means that you won’t see _both_ YourPlugin.vst and YourPlugin.vst3 in a list of available plug-ins (you’ll just see the VST3). This also means that if you have previously used YourPlugin.vst on a track then you can use YourPlugin.vst3 instead. If you don’t enable `JUCE_VST3_CAN_REPLACE_VST2` then the VST2 and VST3 will not be interoperable.
If you’re migrating from VST2 to VST3 it feels like this would be useful…
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### Author:  [@Rachmaninov](https://forum.juce.com/u/Rachmaninov)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/9 "2018-11-26T15:19:39Z")
Hello,
Do Juce users need an agreement from Steinberg for VST3, or is it “included” in the Juce VST3 support? (5.4.1)
Thanks
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### Author:  [@bwall](https://forum.juce.com/u/bwall)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/10 "2018-11-26T15:35:41Z")
Using either VST2 or VST3 requires a license with Steinberg. Please note, however, that the deadline for getting a VST2 license has passed (I think it was October 31st), so it is no longer possible to get a VST2 license.
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### Author:  [@Rachmaninov](https://forum.juce.com/u/Rachmaninov)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/11 "2018-11-26T15:38:35Z")
Thanks for your answer but I would wait for an official ROLI answer. Yes, I was talking about VST3. In this case, what isn’t it stated anywhere in the code? I mean, for ASIO for example, it’s clearly stated…
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### Author:  [@t0m](https://forum.juce.com/u/t0m)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2018, 3:46pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/12 "2018-11-26T15:46:13Z")
>
JUCE has a special agreement with Steinberg that allows us to distribute the VST3 SDK, but people using the SDK are still bound by the terms of its license.
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### Author:  [@Rachmaninov](https://forum.juce.com/u/Rachmaninov)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/13 "2018-11-26T15:50:48Z")
Thanks for the answer. But why not indicating it in the projucer or somewhere visible, in the FAQ maybe? I mean, we work with Juce since 2 years and we never knew that …
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### Author:  [@t0m](https://forum.juce.com/u/t0m)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/juce-5-4-1-and-vst3/30398/14 "2018-11-26T15:58:54Z")
Yes, making all the differently licensed parts of JUCE more obvious is something we’ll do soon.