Host compatibility notes¶

If you loaded Grainsmith in your DAW and it's not where you expected (missing from the instrument list, or sitting in the effects list but not receiving MIDI notes), this page covers why, and what to do about it. Reason 13 is the most common case, but the same mechanics apply in a few other hosts too.

Update to 1.1.1 or later

Builds before 1.1.1 tag the main Grainsmith VST3 plugin as a plain effect. Some hosts that split their browser into separate Instrument and Effect lists, Reason among them, filed it under Effects only and wouldn't route MIDI notes to it there. 1.1.1 fixes this. Grab the current installer from plasticfactory.com, reinstall, and let your host rescan (quit and relaunch, or use its plug-in rescan command) before checking again.

What changed in 1.1.1¶

Before 1.1.1, both Grainsmith plugins (the main MIDI-controlled version and the plain Grainsmith FX variant) declared the same VST3 subcategory: a plain effect. That was correct for Grainsmith FX, which never takes MIDI. It was wrong for the main plugin, which does.

As of 1.1.1, the main Grainsmith VST3 plugin declares itself as Fx|Instrument, Steinberg's own category for a plugin that's an effect but can also be loaded and driven like an instrument. That tells a host it's safe to offer Grainsmith in an instrument context and route notes to it, without changing anything about the plugin itself: it's the same identity, same audio inputs and outputs, same file format. Projects you saved with an older Grainsmith open exactly as before. This only changes where a host lists the plugin and whether it offers to send it MIDI by default.

Grainsmith FX didn't change and doesn't need to. It's a separate plugin (its own file, installed alongside Grainsmith) built for tracks where you just want to process audio with no MIDI involved, and it still shows up as a plain effect everywhere.

Host by host¶

Reason 13¶

Confirmed working as of 1.1.1: a Reason 13 user on macOS updated and had Grainsmith show up correctly with MIDI reaching it. Reason's own documentation doesn't spell out exactly which plugin metadata drives its Instruments-vs-Effects palette split, so treat this as a confirmed real-world result rather than a documented mechanism. It's confirmed all the same.

If you're still on an older build, or something still isn't working after updating: Reason lets you force MIDI into any effect-slot plugin manually. Right-click the device, choose Create Track for [device], then right-click the new track and choose New Note Lane. This works regardless of Grainsmith's version and is a good fallback if you ever hit a similar issue with the FX build (which is a plain effect by design and won't move to the Instruments palette).

Cubase / Nuendo¶

Fx|Instrument makes Grainsmith loadable two ways in Cubase and Nuendo: as a normal insert effect on an audio track, or dropped directly onto an instrument track/rack.

Steinberg's own documentation is explicit that loading a plugin as an instrument (the second path) does not enable its audio input bus. That's how Cubase handles instrument slots for any plugin, not a Grainsmith bug. So:

Insert on an audio or FX track if you want to granulate live audio input. This path keeps the audio input active.
Use the instrument slot if you're fine with MIDI-triggered, sample-only playback and don't need live audio in.

Pro Tools (AAX)¶

Pro Tools lists Grainsmith under Instruments, not AudioSuite or the Inserts effects menu. This is deliberate: the AAX build is categorized as an instrument specifically so it lands next to other MIDI-controlled plugins in Pro Tools, matching how Logic files it.

We haven't tested whether Pro Tools disables audio input for instrument-track plugins the way Cubase does. Until that's confirmed, if you need to granulate live audio input in Pro Tools, insert Grainsmith on an audio track the way you would any effect plugin, rather than relying on the Instruments menu placement.

Logic Pro¶

Unaffected by any of the above. Logic has always filed Grainsmith correctly. Apple's AudioUnit format has its own built-in category for a MIDI-controlled effect (a "music effect"), and Grainsmith has declared itself that way from the start. This isn't part of the VST3 change; it's a separate plug-in format with its own mechanism that already worked.

Ableton Live¶

Live loads Grainsmith as VST3 or AudioUnit. On macOS via AudioUnit, it gets the same built-in music-effect handling as Logic. Via VST3, we don't have a confirmed report either way for how Live buckets Fx|Instrument plugins specifically. No functionality should be lost (this is a menu-placement change, not a rewiring of the plugin), but if you can't find Grainsmith where you expect in Live's browser, check both the Instruments and Audio Effects categories.

Other hosts¶

Reaper, Bitwig, and Studio One aren't documented as treating VST3 category metadata strictly for MIDI routing. Reaper in particular has a reputation for letting you route MIDI to any effect plugin regardless of its declared category. Nothing about the 1.1.1 change should make Grainsmith harder to find or use in these hosts.

FL Studio is the one to watch: there's a historical report (FL Studio 20.6–20.9.2, several years old) of Fx|Instrument-tagged VST3 plugins showing up under FL's Generators/Synth list only, not also under Effects. We haven't confirmed whether this still happens in current FL Studio. If you use FL and can't find Grainsmith in the effects browser after updating, check the Generators list instead.

Why Grainsmith needs effect-style plugin infrastructure at all¶

Grainsmith isn't just a MIDI-triggered sample player. It granulates whatever audio is already on the track, live, in addition to a loaded sample. That's why both Grainsmith and Grainsmith FX declare a full stereo audio input and output, the same as any insert effect: the live-input path needs somewhere for track audio to come in.

MIDI control sits on top of that. Grainsmith adds MIDI note input to trigger and pitch grains, but the underlying plugin is built as an effect because that's what running on live audio requires. That's also why 1.1.1 uses Fx|Instrument rather than a plain instrument category: the VST3 spec defines a plain "Instrument" tag as generator-only (a sound source, not an insert), which is exactly the wrong signal to send hosts, since it would suggest Grainsmith has no meaningful audio input at all. Fx|Instrument is the category built for a plugin that's genuinely both.