[linux-audio-user] ANN: JOST, a simple host for native VST

[Sampo Savolainen]

Quoting Michael Bohle <opendaw at jacklab.org>:

> Hello Paul,
> > native VST for linux has yet to produce anything concrete at all,
> > AFAICT. developers of VST plugins are *not* writing plugins for linux.
> > if you wanted to make native VST on linux easier, the sensible thing
> to
> > do is to implement VSTGUI on top of X11 and/or one or more
> contemporary
> > toolkits.
> 
> Native VST on Linux is real! it works and needed 3 mounth (Dec, 1st was
> the 
> first release of EnergyXT2/Linux)for around 50 plugins - Lucio is the one
> who 
> made the first VSTgui working on Linux! See his website.

Yeah, it might work, cool - but do we need native VST's? You can do
everything a VST or VSTi do with an LV2. Just look at the AZR-3 VSTi Hammond
simulator which has been very successfully ported to LV2 by Lars Luthman -
even before LV2 has been "officially" released. 

Are you aware of the licensing problems with VST? If Steinberg does not make
it's SDK license compatible with the GPL you will never get VST software,
not even linux-VST software, included in distributions. Ever. You will not
be able to distribute your software in binary form if you want to use GPL.
Ever. Every one of your users will need to build your software by
themselves, they need to navigate Steinbergs' website jungle to get the SDK.
The picture is not pretty.

Now, what would really be cool would be an alternative SDK for VST which
would turn existing VST sources into LV2 plugin sources, including the GUI.
This  would probably make a lot more of the DSP in the existing VST plugins
(we're really interested in the DSP, right, not VST itself?) available for
the Linux users. But even then it's a question licensing, licensing,
licensing... Not many VST developers are interested in open source ideals.

my 0,01€
  Sampo