V-Stack

V-ST ACK
1 – 8 Introduction
Welcome!
Thank you for purchasing V-ST ACK !
Since Steinberg introduced the VST 2.0 plug-in format a few years back,
there’s been a rapid development of VST Instruments – software synthe-
sizers and other sound sources played and controlled from within a host
application. There is now a huge number of VST Instruments available,
ranging from simple synthesizers and drum machines to exact software
replicas of vintage synths and extremely advanced sound modules with
no equivalent in hardware.
VST Instruments can often be more flexible than hardware synthesiz-
ers, allowing for total recall and full automation of all parameters, patch-
ing and mixing in the digital domain, graphic interfaces and solutions
that wouldn’t be possible in hardware, etc. However, any computer can
only play so many VST Instruments at a time – and typically, the more
advanced a VST Instrument is, the more processing power it requires.
Enter Steinberg’s VST System Link! This revolutionary system makes
it possible to have several computers working together as one large
system, with no other requirements than ASIO compatible audio inter-
faces with digital audio connections. Computers connected via VST
System Link will freely exchange audio and MIDI data, all in perfect
sync, creating a digital audio network system.
This provides an excellent solution to the problem of CPU-hungry VST
Instruments: let one computer play audio and MIDI tracks and dedi-
cate another computer to running VST Instruments only, taking full ad-
vantage of all available processor power!
V-ST ACK is the perfect application for this: a stand-alone VST Instru-
ment host, supporting up to 16 VST Instruments with full mixing capa-
bilities and VST effect support. The VST Instruments are controlled via
MIDI over VST System Link or from a regular MIDI interface (e.g. for
live use) and the audio can be freely routed to any outputs on your au-
dio interface. Since there is no editing, event handling, etc. all pro-
cessing power can be focused on VST Instruments and effects!
We hope you will enjoy working with V-ST ACK !
Your Steinberg team.