[cw-discuss] Crossover - VST plugin support?

[Mark Knecht]

On 1/19/07, JJB <onephatcat at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Mark,
>
> VST Licensing is simple: you put "Made with Steinberg VST Technology"
> in the About box, and you don't use the tech in ways that would make
> Steinberg look bad, or hurt people. No licensing fees are necessary.
>
> http://www.steinberg.de/532+M52087573ab0.html
>
> That is why there are so many 3rd party VST plugins and VST is still
> the major standard.
>
>

Hi,
   You may be right but I think it's more difficult than that. To make
any program that interfaces to a VST the developer has to (or used to
have to) sign an agreement not to distribute the Steinberg VST
interfaces in source format unless the receiver was already a licensee
through Steinberg. This makes it difficult (impossible?) for a source
distribution like Wine to include the VST interface definitions under
GPL.

   It would be completely true, to the best of my knowledge, that a
company like Codeweavers could sign the Steinberg agreements and then
develop and distribute an app in binary format that allowed VSts to
work under Crossover or Wine in general. However doing it as source is
not, or at least was now, allowed.

   Again, you and I are on the same side here. Minihost, Savihost,
Kore - it wouldn't matter to me which one worked as long as it worked
well. I happen to like the NI applications as many of them run under
Wine anyway so it would seem their basic programming style is already
close to what's required.

Over and out,
Mark