It’s the format that changed software music making forever: the VST plug-in format turns 30 this year. Steinberg is giving away updated versions of Neon, CS-40, Karlette, VB1, and LM7 — some of its earliest plug-ins — to celebrate. And that means you can run these vintage instruments (plus one tape delay) on your modern Mac or PC.
Okay, first: it has been 30 years since 1996. Second, with that bombshell out of the way, let’s talk plug-ins.
Steinberg’s format is so ubiquitous that saying “VSTs” has become synonymous with just meaning software instruments and effects, let alone plug-ins. (You’ll even sometimes hear “it’s a vee-ess-tee” when people mean DSP!)
And now we’re just getting a summer of media archaeology, software preservation, and music-making on vintage stuff. I’d argue that it’s not about nostalgia — least of all when some users are returning to tools that were made before they were born. It’s a rejection of the idea that only what’s new is better, or that even software has to be disposable. And why not? We already had to go back and rescue modular and analog synths from literal trash bins. It turns out people can love software years and decades after its creation.
Here’s what you get free from Steinberg today:
Neon (1999, Cubase 3.7) subtractive synth.
VB-1 Bassist bass with pickup and tone controls — already a free favorite after it was re-released as freeware; now updated.
CS-40 (early 2000s), polysynth.
LM7 sample-based drum machine.
Karlette tape delay.
Some of these are free or floating around, but this also means compatibility with machines that couldn’t run the earlier versions — and Steinberg has been generous with compatibility on the Mac.
All the plug-ins are updated for 64-bit on both platforms, both Intel and Apple Silicon on Mac, and VST3, plus Steinberg’s updated license activation. (I wish they’d skipped the license activation and supported Linux, too, but hey, they’re free.)
Windows 10 21H2 / Windows 11 2H1H2 are the minimums for PC, with macOS support for macOS Big Sur 11 and later — meaning NVIDIA Intel macs are supported, too. (I’m saying “modern” systems, but these are also candidates for some 2013 machines, too!)
I, for one, welcome the vintage software renaissance. Due credit to Missing Music and Obsolete music software — and Roger Helfers, Paulee Alex Bow, and Suren Seneviratne (My Panda Shall Fly)!
Go grab them:
https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/steinberg-classics