System Requirements for our Plugins

Plugins/Software
1

64-bit plug-in. Requires a 64 bit CPU and operating system.

Hardware

Minimum System :computer::
Memory : 4 GB RAM, we recommend at least 8 GB.
Free disk space for installation :minidisc:: ~25MB

Operating Systems

  • Mac OS 10.12 and greater (M1/Apple Silicon processors are compatible)
  • Windows 10 (other versions untested, probably runs on older Windows too, but the installer would need to be adapted. Since we don’t have any other Windows than 10, you would need to get in touch and help us with testing and feedback)
  • Linux (64 bit Intel/AMD processors, built on Debian stable and tested in Ubuntu 22.10. There shouldn’t be a reason why it wouldn’t run on any other distro/version)

Plugin Hosts

Any VirtualStudioTechnology v3 instrument or AudioUnit compatible plugin host should work. We have tested:

  • Ardour 6.5 and greater
  • Bitwig 3.3 and greater (earlier versions untested)
  • MOTU Digital Performer
  • Cakewalk by BandLab (PRO version: see below how to configure Cakewalk)
  • Cantabile
  • Steinberg Cubase
  • Ableton Live 10.1 and greater
  • Apple Logic Pro and GarageBand
  • PlogueBidule (user reported it working)
  • Reaper 6.28 and greater (earlier versions untested)
  • Other DAWs or plugin hosts which support VST3i plugins should work but are not tested. Reports are welcome.

Known issues

The audio sidechain of the PRO version is not working due to an incomplete VST3 support in

  • Samplitude
  • Presonus Studio One

Tracktion Waveform has issues when scanning the plugin
Universal Audio LUNA (Mac only DAW) has issues finding the Plugin. (User report)

There seems to be an issue when the blocksize of the host is set below 64 samples.There will be no output. Workaround seems to be to set it to 64 or higher, then once the plugin initialized you can try to set it lower again. This issue was reported for Cubase and Reaper on Windows, but may exist in other hosts and OS. Some DAWs allow arbitrary buffer sizes. In some cases this will lead to artifacts in the audio. Solution is to stick with buffer sizes multiple of 64 (64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 are safe choices).

2

For Cakewalk by Bandlab to load the plugin (PRO version), it must be configured this way:

Cakewalk
Cakewalk1432×809 111 KB

3

Hello. Have anyone been able to run EXC!TE Snare Drum on Maschine 2?
I’ve installed the latest version on my Windows Machine and can’t make Maschine to show it.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

4

Hi @kidogodub If I understand this right:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/maschine/production-systems/maschine/specifications/
Machine 2 is a hardware device on which you can load VST2 plugins (not VST3) but you can use the hardware with a software with the same name which itself is a VST plugin in a host.
That’s a shame, since VST2 is deprecated and it’s impossible to write VST2 plugins without violating Steinberg’s License Agreement these days. NI should update their specs, I don’t see a technical reason why the Machine hardware would only be capable of running VST2, not VST3.
On top of that confusion, Machine seems to support AudioUnits, so I wonder if there is a way to install our AudioUnit on the hardware but from a Windows host? As a last option I found that someone has made a free VST3 wrapper to VST2and people say it works with Machine (but is it the hardware, or the sofware?)

5

Thanks for the quick reply Max! I’ve found that Maschine Software supports VST3. There are even some NI VST3 already installed in C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 but not all of them are shown/dectected by Maschine.
I’ll try the VST3 wrapper you propose I didn’t know that was possible. I’ll report back if I succed so it vacan help someone in the fure.

Thanks again.

6

Ah, so the issue is not about the Machine hardware, but about the Machine software? The website claims it supports VST3, therefore our plugin should run.
Do you get any error message or something? Which version of Machine 2 are you running? Is there an update from NI?

7

Yes this is related to the Maschine Software. I’m running the latest version 2.14.7 I installed the free VST3 wrapper available here: https://www.xlutop.com/buzz/zip/vst3shell.zip
and after that I was able to see EX!TE SNARE available in the plugin list.
My guess is that the problem is on the NI side because I also had trouble finding other VST3 only plugins before.
Now at least it works.
Thanks for your support.

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