You can use VST Plug-ins in Live only while running Live as ReWire master or as a stand-alone application.

The VST folder under Mac OS X is located in the following folder: Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST. You place your VST Plug-ins in this directory.

Please go to the File/Folder Preferences and be sure you have selected the correct Path for your VST Plug-in Custom Folder. Live's default setting is the VST folder within your Live Folder, with the exception of OS X, which uses the OS X Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST folder. If you use an Intel Mac, please ensure that your VST Plug-ins are compatible.

Please be sure that the plug-in is actually a VST effect plug-in. If you are using Mac OS X, please be sure that the plug-in is not a Mac OS 9 effect. If you're using an Intel-Mac, please be sure that your VST is compatible with your system. If it is a indeed a VST effect plug-in, try holding Alt/Option while clicking on Rescan so that Live does a completely new scan of the directory.

In order to overdub automation data, make sure that the Arm Recording button of the track is NOT armed. Hit the Record button and then the Play button in the Control Bar to record the automation. If the individual track Arm buttons are enabled, Live will erase any previously recorded automation.

Waves VST is compatible with Live 7/8 from version 5.9.7. Please update to the newest version.

Live does not support Direct X Plug-ins. Live does support VST Plug-ins, however. Please see if there is a VST version of the plug-in you wish to use.

MIDI notes in Live are drawn into MIDI clips. If you do not already have a MIDI clip open, you can create one by double-clicking a clip slot in the Session View track containing your instrument. The MIDI Editor, which contains the piano roll and key tracks, is located in the Clip View at the bottom of the screen. It can be toggled with the Envelope Editor by clicking the title bars of the Notes and Envelopes boxes. If you do not see the Notes box, activate the round switch in the lower left corner with the note icon. With Draw Mode enabled, you can draw MIDI notes into the MIDI Editor and then disable Draw Mode to move them around. Zooming and scrolling in the MIDI Editor work the same way as they do in the Arrangement View, by clicking and dragging horizontally and vertically on the piano roll or beat ruler.

Set 'plug-in buffer length' to 'as audio buffer.'

If you experience a different sound from Live 4, set the 'plug-in buffer length' to '128.'

If the latency gets too high, try to set up the plug-in buffer sizes to a half, third, quarter, etc. of the audio buffer size. Do not round the value! it needs to be exact (e.g. if you have an audio buffer of 257 samples, don't select 256/128 as the plug-in buffer).

Live 8.0.5 (or newer) supports Cocoa user interfaces.

As Steinberg states, only VST 2.4 plugins are supported on Intel Mac computers. Please contact the plug-in developers for a VST 2.4 version of their plug-ins in order to use them on an Intel Mac.

For most VST and AU plug-ins, Configure Mode works without problems. Some plug-ins, however, don't correctly notify Live about their parameters. Here are some potential problems and workarounds:

1. Certain plug-ins (such as Reaktor and Omnisphere) use their own system of parameter configuration. In these cases, automatable parameters must be set up in the plug-in first and then can be automated in Live.

2. Certain plug-ins do not send specific messages (called 'BeginEdit' and 'EndEdit') to Live. In these cases, try adding this line to your options.txt file:

   -NoVstGesturesRequired

   Please note that with this option enabled, plug-ins may need more time when switching presets.

3. Certain plug-ins (such as BFD 2 and Guru) send no automation information to Live. In these cases, there is currently no way to automate the plug-in parameters in Live.

Note: in cases 2 and 3, the problems are caused by an incorrect implementation of the plug-in. Please contact the developer of any affected plug-in and encourage them to fully support plug-in standards.