Blue Cat Audio have just announced that their plug-in hosting plug-ins PatchWork and MB-7 Mixer now officially host VST3 plug-ins in Pro Tools.

You can now load VST3 plugins right next to VST2 plug-ins or Audio Units in the same session, so your favourite VST3 plug-ins can now be hosted in Pro Tools as well as a number of other DAWs.

How Can I Get The Update?

As usual, the update is free for existing customers. It can be downloaded from the same location as the original full version and you can use the link that you have in the email you got from Blue Cat Audio when you bought the plug-in.

Should I use Only VST3s Now?

Blue Cat Audio's advice is definitely not! When they released VST3 versions of their plug-ins they explained that the VST3 plug-in format has some limitations that may not fit your workflow. Also, after a couple of months testing third party plug-ins and hosts, their experience is that VST2 or AU versions of the same plug-in are often much more stable than their VST3 counterpart. This may be because VST3 is quite new compared to VST2, and so many manufacturers are still improving it…

All in all, VST3 support is going to be most useful for the most recent plug-ins that may not have been released as VST2 (or AU). So when trying to load a new plug-in, we advise you to try the following formats, in order:

• VST2
• VST3
• Audio Unit

Why VST3 as number 2 despite what was said earlier? Simply because it can be loaded on both Windows and Mac (and Audio Units are Mac-only). So if you intend to share your projects or reuse your presets on another platform, Blue Cat Audio recommend that you are better to use VST2 or VST3.

Reviews Of The Blue Cat Audio PatchWork and MB7 Hosting Plug-ins

Russ takes a look at the Blue Cat Patchworks plug-in. It offers the chance to host multiple VSTs, parallel processing, channel strip saving and multi synth hosting in two different formats. Find out how it works and what he thinks.

Mike from Pro Tools Expert gives a full show and tell of the Blue Cat Audio MB7 version 2 plug-in.