Scan path confusion

[mark skinner]

I am opening Ozone  in a   32bit  Sonar LE8.5  program.  My .dll files and documentation are in showing up in  x86 / Common files /vst3.    I have No x86 /common files/ listed in my scan path. There are other x86 files listed , like vst, stienburg, etc..  How is this daw finding this vst??    I can't get it to load on a different pc and unsure of the scan path issue. We've been around the block with this one on an earlier post , but it was never resolved .  I don't like to move on until I really understand something. Thanks for any help.  mark

[scook]

IIRC, scan paths in SONAR 8.5 were maintained in the plug-in manager.

Keep in mind VST3 compatibility started with X3. Older DAWs will not be able to load VST3 plug-ins.

[mark skinner]

Scook , I found another .dll file in my x86 scan path. I wrongly assumed there was only one .dll per application. Telling me vst3 was not supported in this daw made me look further.  I found the plugin in the plugin manager , clicked it and it showed me the file location.  Are there different .dll files for vst , vst2 , vst3.? or are they copies of the same file ?  Thanks.. mark

[scook]

VST3 plug-ins use the extension .vst3 instead of .dll. They are in fact dll files but with a different file extension.

There is no easy way by inspecting the file names other than the hint provided by the extension to tell if a plug-in is a VST2 or VST3.

 

The VST3 spec calls for all VST3 plug-ins to be installed in either

C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3

or

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VST3

 

The VST2 spec is silent regarding install paths. There are a couple of common locations such as

C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VstPlugins

C:\Program Files\Vstplugins

and their X86 equivalent paths

 

The VST2 default in CbB/SONAR is

C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins

and the x86 path

 

This is one reason most installers provide a way to specify where to put VST2 plug-ins.