A plugin format is the contract between a plugin and the DAW that hosts it — how audio, MIDI, parameters, and the editor window pass across the boundary. A handful of formats have shaped three decades of software instruments and effects. Here's what separates them, and where CLAP, the open newcomer, fits. Filter the cards to compare on one axis at a time.
CLAP (CLever Audio Plug-in) was released as 1.0 in 2022 by Bitwig and u-he. Two frustrations drove it: the older formats are controlled by single companies with licensing strings attached (Steinberg's VST, Apple's AU, Avid's AAX), and none expose polyphonic modulation cleanly — the ability to modulate any parameter per individual note. CLAP answers both with an MIT license, community governance, a stable C ABI, and a core-plus-extensions design: a tiny stable core, with optional capabilities negotiated by name, so the format grows without breaking compatibility.
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CLAP won't unseat VST3 soon — VST3 has fifteen years of momentum and universal hosting — but its open, no-license-fee model is drawing developers, and the plugin catalogue (Surge XT, u-he, FabFilter, TAL and others) keeps growing.
Next: Note Expression & MPE → · the format standards themselves — CLAP spec ↗, Bitwig's announcement ↗.