Any program that can open a VST can be considered to be a "host".

A DAW is designed around recording what you play on to multiple tracks which can be played back, edited and mixed to create a final song. You can typically record either audio or MIDI data. When you use the latter, the MIDI data can drive VST plugins or other external MIDI synths. You typically deal with one song at a time.


A live performance application such as our Gig Performer will host plugins but the focus in on, well, performing, rather than on recording/editing. The needs of a performer on stage are generally very different than what's needed in a recording environment.

If you're a guitarist, you might use Gig Performer along with a collection of effects plugins (e.g., TH3, BIAS, S-Gear, numerous amp/cab modelers) instead of carrying around pedal boards and amps. A vocalist might use compressors, reverb/delay, EQ and so forth. Keyboard players will typically use synth plugins and effects. But in live performance, the requirement is the ability to switch instantly from one set of sounds to another, turn on/off effects on the fly, switch from a piano to a piano partially layered with strings with perhaps a lead synth on the top octave and then back to a Rhodes piano a moment later, perhaps while still sustaining notes from the previous sound.

Very often, you're following a setlist and so you need to be able to switch from one song to another instantly, there's no time to load a new "session" with a different configuration.