Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Mayfield
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Even though OS X / macOS has a smoother and (in my experience) more reliable audio+MIDI system, and I prefer using OS X over Windows, there are definitely more free plugins available in VST format for Windows than there are in AudioUnits for Mac.
It's possible, though extremely technical and a huge pain, to run some Windows VSTs on Mac (or Linux) under Wine. I tried this on OSX many years ago and got a couple to work, but it wasn't worth the trouble compared to just finding new plugins.
Edit: One site I used to go on a lot to find new plugins was KVR Audio. At least as of 2011 or so when I was more actively looking for new plugins, they were good about sorting them based on free, paid, and OS compatibility.
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I'm pretty sure there are more free VST format for OSX than AU format for OSX as well. I don't see any superiority of one over the other. (Just like both VST & DLL formats are usually fine in Windows.)
Paid plugins will have installers/versions for both OSX & Windows.
If it was a couple/few years ago and you just threw out the OSX installer and you can't find the emailed authorization code... call and whine.
Anyway...
A good rule of thumb is if a plugin is only ever written in VST format for Windows, it's probably not a very serious (or stable) piece of code. And there's almost certainly a better and more professionally written choice (still for free). There are an awful lot of "Hey, look at the cool GUI I made! It looks just like a real plugin!" offerings out there is what I'm saying. This appears to be more of a Windows phenomena than OSX.
That said, I know there will be a few exceptions. There always are. And someone will probably start listing them in response right now!
