Grow Your Knowledge
Audio, MIDI, Music Production, Live Performance general knowledge and tip & tricks
Grow Your Knowledge
- A Beginner's Guide To How Digital Audio Works
- What do VST, AU, AAX, and AUv3 stand for?
- What does USB Class Compliant mean?
- What is a DAW and what is a host? Is there a difference between the two?
- What is a plug-in in music production?
- What is audio latency? How do I fix latency issues while recording?
- What is Core Audio? What is ASIO?
- What is MIDI? What is CC?
- What is VST? What's the difference between VST, VST2, and VST3?
What do VST, AU, AAX, and AUv3 stand for?
When you’re starting out in music production, it’s normal to feel confused by all the different terms you’ll stumble upon. There are so many technical terms and acronyms, even experienced musicians don't always remember what they stand for!
VST, AU, AAX, and AUv3 are all acronyms referring to different formats of audio plug-ins. Which one of these you’ll use depends on your operating system and your host / DAW.
- VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology. It’s the most famous format for plug-ins. Both VST version 2 (VST2) and VST version 3 (VST3) work on Mac and Windows.
- AU stands for Audio Units and is a plug-in format used on Mac only. AUv3 is simply a newer version with additional features of the AU format for audio plug-ins on Mac.
- AAX stands for Avid Audio Extension and is a plug-in format specifically used by ProTools, both on Windows and Mac.