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steinberg vst id registration - a must do?

Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:55 pm
by Nubeat7
http://service.steinberg.de/databases/plugin.nsf/plugIn


Some one know if, when you release a vst, this id registration have to be done by the developer?
if yes only for commercial use or also for free use software?

and what about the vst logo?

Re: steinberg vst id registration - a must do?

Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 1:20 pm
by trogluddite
Interesting - never seen that before.

My guess is that it's probably of little use - the "legal notice" button is just a dead link, which suggests that it's something Steinberg aren't very bothered about. Presumably, the idea is that they could inform developers of ID clashes if users reported a plugin that was giving them problems. But they have a bit of a reputation of not being very helpful to small plugin developers - IIRC, they wouldn't even give Malc review copies of their software to help him with checking host compatibility for SM/FS.
Even if their intentions are (were) good, by now there must be so many unregistered free plugins that I can't see how such a system would ever work. Any big developer that got a clash reported would most likely just say "screw you, small developer", and tell their users to never use 'amateur' plugins alongside their shiny, expensive stuff.

The logo would certainly be subject to international copyright law - so you would have to get Steinberg's permission to use it. Although VST is an open standard, if you check out the SDK etc., you'll see that it is still the intellectual property of Steinberg.
In reality, of course they would mostly turn a blind eye to what us little guys are doing - no point in hiring expensive lawyers to sue people who have no money! But, I'll bet that if your plugin was a huge hit, and was a bit like one of the official Steinberg plugins, you be hearing from them very quickly!

Re: steinberg vst id registration - a must do?

Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 10:55 pm
by Nubeat7
trogluddite wrote:The logo would certainly be subject to international copyright law - so you would have to get Steinberg's permission to use it...


oh that sounds better for me because i thought that if there is VST (steinberg) inside you have to label it, and wasn`t shure about that.. you also get the vst logo when downloading the sdk... just got interested because i found the id registration site while taking a walk thru the kvr forum to see what others think about the suppport end of vst 2 sdk..

so there are no must have licences for asio, vst or what ever to make official vst releases?