Virtual Studio Technology (VST)

VST is a plug-in format introduced in 1996 by Steinberg for integrating plug-ins with digital audio workstations (DAWs). The VST format has become a kind of a standard that allows third-party developers to create plug-ins that apply to numerous DAWs using the format. There are two main types of VSTs: Effects, sometimes designated as VSTfx, and instruments, designated as VSTi. VST2, VST3 and VST3.5 are updates to the VST plug-in standard introduced in 1999, 2008 and 2011, respectively.