Keni Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 OK... This has bothered me before but starting off on a new machine I'm hoping I can learn to manage this before it becomes an issue... If I want to remove plugins from my list, do I simply remove the dll's (store for safety) and re-run vst scanner set to re-scan all? <sheesh>.... I hate re-scanning things already working.... I'd be ok except for one slip (so far) with BlueTunes... Somehow when I installed them, it also installed a load (more than twice as many as I own) of demo versions of their other plugins.... That's all I'm really trying to get out of vst library/list... Any info would be appreciated... Thanks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 (edited) 29 minutes ago, Keni said: If I want to remove plugins from my list, do I simply remove the dll's (store for safety) and re-run vst scanner set to re-scan all? <sheesh>.... I hate re-scanning things already working.... If the plugins came with an installer, it's best to run their uninstaller [Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features]. Installer based plugins are likely to have more loose ends, beyond just the .dll files. For example, plugin support and content (presets, etc.) folders here and there, plus registry entries. The .dll file is just the part that the DAW sees, but more is likely buried in various places in your hard drive (tip of the iceberg). But if all you did to install a plugin was drag and drop a .dll into your plugins folder, by all means all you need to do is remove that. But most plugins today are not that simple anymore. You can also go into "Utilities > Cakewalk Plug-in Manager" and exclude the plugins that you don't want to see. This is probably easier, and you are less likely to break something than trying to manually remove a bunch of plugins. They are also easier to restore that way, by simply reversing the exclusion. Edited: for clarity. Edited April 20, 2023 by abacab 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted April 20, 2023 Author Share Posted April 20, 2023 8 minutes ago, abacab said: If the plugins came with an installer, best to run their uninstaller. There are likely to be more loose ends with them, beyond just the .dll files, for example plugin support and content (presets, etc.) files and folders here and there, not to mention registry entries. The .dll file is just the part that the DAW sees, but more is likely buried in various places in your hard drive (tip of the iceberg). But if all you did to install a plugin was drag and drop a .dll into your plugins folder, by all means all you need to do is remove that. But most plugins today are not that simple anymore. You can also go into "Utilities > Cakewalk Plug-in Manager" and exclude the plugins that you don't want to see. This is probably easier, and you are less likely to break something than trying to manually remove a bunch of plugins. They are also easier to restore that way, by simply reversing the exclusion. Yeah, as I suspected.... I would love to simply run the uninstaller but I don't wantit to remove any that I actually use/want... and there doesn't appear to be any way to specify such during an uninstall unless I'm mistaken... ...but I like the exclude list method. That will suffice for sure... Thanks abacab 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Just now, Keni said: I would love to simply run the uninstaller but I don't wantit to remove any that I actually use/want... and there doesn't appear to be any way to specify such during an uninstall unless I'm mistaken... Right, as each product with a bundle would likely be all or none. Installers for a single plugin shouldn't be an issue though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 8 hours ago, Keni said: I would love to simply run the uninstaller but I don't wantit to remove any that I actually use/want... and there doesn't appear to be any way to specify such during an uninstall unless I'm mistaken... If what you're concerned with is not having Cakewalk scanning unnecessary demo plug-ins from a bundle and then displaying them in the Browser, you can delete (or move to an unscanned folder) the DLL's (including the .VST3 DLL's). I do this with IK Multimedia T-Racks, which installs every T-Racks plug-in regardless of which ones you have licenses for. I have a folder named TRacks and just drag the .VST3 files I don't want to the folder after installation. If all you care about is just not having them show up in Browser, then what abacab said about using Plug-In Manager to exclude them from view is the ticket. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 23 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said: If what you're concerned with is not having Cakewalk scanning unnecessary demo plug-ins from a bundle and then displaying them in the Browser, you can delete (or move to an unscanned folder) the DLL's (including the .VST3 DLL's). I do this with IK Multimedia T-Racks, which installs every T-Racks plug-in regardless of which ones you have licenses for. I have a folder named TRacks and just drag the .VST3 files I don't want to the folder after installation. If all you care about is just not having them show up in Browser, then what abacab said about using Plug-In Manager to exclude them from view is the ticket. Thanks Eric... That's what I had done in the past, but thought this time maybe a better way for me. The exclude list perfectly suits the bill for my needs. I use a number of ik plugins. I like them a lot and have had good experiences with the few times I needed to contact them. But I ababdoned the rack stuff due to that methodology. They do the same for amplitube as well. All the amps, cabs, stomps, mics are installed but not unlocked. A bit of a storage waste/hog and still hoping they one day change this approach. I see it as a week point, not a sale incentive as they hope. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 7 minutes ago, Keni said: I abandoned the rack stuff due to that methodology I've become resigned to the fact that I'll have to clean up after some installers, ones that install AAX and so forth. To me, at least, the T-Racks products I have licenses for are worth the trouble of moving the ones I don't have licenses for. Especially their Fairchild 670 emulation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 56 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said: I've become resigned to the fact that I'll have to clean up after some installers, ones that install AAX and so forth. To me, at least, the T-Racks products I have licenses for are worth the trouble of moving the ones I don't have licenses for. Especially their Fairchild 670 emulation. Ha! That's funny! It so happens that one of the two Waves plugins I'm having my issues with them about is their Puigchild 660/670 which I like a lot. My main need from them though is by far the Abbey Road Studio 3 plugin... It has raised the bar on mixing in headphones for me and while I know there are some other companies including Slate who are offering plugins to do this... None use the Abbey Road Studio 3 Room and Monitors. The million dollar room with $100k Quested Mains is now MY room! I don't want to give that one up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Phillips Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 On 4/20/2023 at 11:55 AM, Keni said: Yeah, as I suspected.... I would love to simply run the uninstaller but I don't wantit to remove any that I actually use/want... and there doesn't appear to be any way to specify such during an uninstall unless I'm mistaken... Some, like ToneBoosters have more flexible installers that support Install/Uninstall and changes in the plugins installed. I just finished uninstalling ToneBooster plugins I installed by mistake and installed the older versions which are free using The ToneBooster installer and found it handled partial installs and uninstalls pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted April 23, 2023 Author Share Posted April 23, 2023 11 minutes ago, Bill Phillips said: Some, like ToneBoosters have more flexible installers that support Install/Uninstall and changes in the plugins installed. I just finished uninstalling ToneBooster plugins I installed by mistake and installed the older versions which are free using The ToneBooster installer and found it handled partial installs and uninstalls pretty well. yup... Some do but sadly not all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JnTuneTech Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 On 4/20/2023 at 6:38 PM, Keni said: It so happens that one of the two Waves plugins I'm having my issues with Not sure if it will help: Recently, -but before this month's Waves licensing debacle... I had some issues with the Waves Central installer and my Cakewalk plugin listings. Waves Central has its own settings section, some of it applies to cleaning up older versions, etc. -In my case, since I am not always (and forgot to change when trying the cleanup) logged on to the PC as a local admin, Waves had an issue trying to clean some registry settings they put in for older versions, so I have some "ghost" entries in my VST3 list in Cakewalk that I need to fix now. I've been ignoring it. As I say, for me, that issue was related to using the installer without local admin permissions, which is something only a few VST installers seem to have much problem with, and is usually not hard to avoid (I simply forgot to do things right for the way I set up my system). -But I will say that otherwise Waves hasn't littered my system with things I didn't want, and they do ask where I want things. -Usually, setting up VSTs with associated libraries, and ones that won't give setup choices, are the toughest to clean up after, or reconfigure after install. -Some of the vendors make little effort to mention in advance that you can change install preferences before downloading, and installing, from their licensing interface, that also gets irritating. -Once in a while, I may dig into the temp folder after a lousy install, and see if the installer left an identifiable log file, and go from there. But rarely does that happen when they don't follow standards anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted April 24, 2023 Author Share Posted April 24, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, JnTuneTech said: Not sure if it will help: Recently, -but before this month's Waves licensing debacle... I had some issues with the Waves Central installer and my Cakewalk plugin listings. Waves Central has its own settings section, some of it applies to cleaning up older versions, etc. -In my case, since I am not always (and forgot to change when trying the cleanup) logged on to the PC as a local admin, Waves had an issue trying to clean some registry settings they put in for older versions, so I have some "ghost" entries in my VST3 list in Cakewalk that I need to fix now. I've been ignoring it. As I say, for me, that issue was related to using the installer without local admin permissions, which is something only a few VST installers seem to have much problem with, and is usually not hard to avoid (I simply forgot to do things right for the way I set up my system). -But I will say that otherwise Waves hasn't littered my system with things I didn't want, and they do ask where I want things. -Usually, setting up VSTs with associated libraries, and ones that won't give setup choices, are the toughest to clean up after, or reconfigure after install. -Some of the vendors make little effort to mention in advance that you can change install preferences before downloading, and installing, from their licensing interface, that also gets irritating. -Once in a while, I may dig into the temp folder after a lousy install, and see if the installer left an identifiable log file, and go from there. But rarely does that happen when they don't follow standards anyway! I feel like some info here is crossed? In this thread I was looking to learn about removing some demo versions of plugins I don’t use. This has nothing to do with waves at all. My issue with waves is a different forum topic. But regardless, Thanks for pitching in. I found my solution with the use of the exclude option. The files themselves are small enough not to matter to me as long as I don’t see them in my list... Edited April 24, 2023 by Keni 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 Waves is a "special" problem child that deserves its own discussion for sure, LOL! 🙄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno de Souza Lino Posted May 5, 2023 Share Posted May 5, 2023 (edited) Waves does their plugins like that because that's how ProTools has its tracks. As per usual, they're still stuck in 1995, where plugins had to be specifically built to be either mono, stereo or convert mono to stereo as separate processes. There's only a single dll of each plugin though. They just appear like that because of Waves witchcraft. Edited May 5, 2023 by Bruno de Souza Lino Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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