Starship Krupa Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 (edited) Hidden in plain sight, I guess, but I only discovered it today after using Cakewalk for 4+ years. A slip of the mouse and I had it. We all know about how you can sort plug-ins in the Browser by Manufacturer, Category, and Type (which means you see them sorted into VST3, VST2, and DXi folders, and then by manufacturer within those folders). Ever wanted to see them sorted by where they are in the Windows file system? Read on. All you have to do to see this is click on the "Plug-ins" tab at the top of the Browser, then whatever sort method it's set to, move your mouse to it and click. You'll see something like this: It's not sorting by manufacturer, it's showing where my .VST3 files are in the VST3 directory. As you can see, it winds up being a combination of folders that the manufacturers' installers created and then plug-ins that were installed at the root level of VST3 or whatever folder you use for VST2's. The possible use for this that I can see is plug-in organization: you can have folders for manufacturers and then categories (which Meldaproduction already does) or even put it the other way around. I supposed there's not much you can do with it that you can't do using plug-in manager, but who knows. It might be good for helping track down where a plug-in's DLL actually is. It uses the friendly names from inside the file rather than the filenames. Caveats: if you decide to try using this to organize plug-in lists, sometimes plug-ins don't like being moved from their original install location. Also, plug-ins that load via a unified shell, like Waves' or Presonus', will might not appear in this view. Note: this sorting view also switches in the FX rack and instrument menus. Edited July 16, 2022 by Starship Krupa 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaus Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Nice catch, thanks! FWIW, my Waves plug-ins (VST3) do appear in this view, too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 2 hours ago, Klaus said: FWIW, my Waves plug-ins (VST3) do appear in this view, too. Hmm, maybe I missed something.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xoo Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Interesting and potentially useful. It does dump all DX into one list, which makes sense in a way, and merges 32 and 64 bit VST2s into one hierarchy, which also makes sense I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 3 minutes ago, Kevin Perry said: 32 and 64 bit VST2s Are you using 32-bit plug-ins on new projects? I kept a few around for a while for legacy projects, but I think I finally got them all weeded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xoo Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 I've got 2 or 3 that I still use - not often, but I can't find anything that replicates their sound. And they won't get updated (or in one case, the 64 bit equivalent is buggy as all hell) ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVSX Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 Lol, one of my most used compressors is still Golden Audio Compressor by a dead company, cause its vesatile and the sound is good. ? As long as it works i'm fine with this. This shows how good Cakewalk deals with the different formats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaus Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 (edited) 20 hours ago, Starship Krupa said: Hmm, maybe I missed something.... Waves' plug-ins are sorted just alphabetically in this view, they are not in a dedicated folder. Look at your "Berzerk Distortion" Mono / Stereo plug-ins. ? Edited July 17, 2022 by Klaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 4 hours ago, Klaus said: Waves' plug-ins are sorted just alphabetically in this view, they are not in a dedicated folder. Look at your "Berzerk Distortion" Mono / Stereo plug-ins. ? LOL, of course, we all have multiple licenses for these due to giveaways! Yep, there they are. I got rid of the Presonus shell thing, it was taking years off my life waiting for it to enumerate, and just not worth it for the sake of one good vintage analog delay emulation and a channel strip containing vintage hardware workalikes duplicated elsewhere. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 2 hours ago, Starship Krupa said: Yep, there they are. I got rid of the Presonus shell thing, it was taking years off my life waiting for it to enumerate, and just not worth it for the sake of one good vintage analog delay emulation and a channel strip containing vintage hardware workalikes duplicated elsewhere. Yep, that's not a bad idea. That PreSonus shell scan is annoying as hell. And so is Waves, but a few of those are indispensable! I'm not likely to ever use the PreSonus plugs outside of Studio One, nor even likely to in Studio One. They are probably very good if you are just starting out with a DAW, but I have my own collection of go-to plugins now. I Installed the PreSonus Hub plugins out of curiosity, but have never really used them. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Fogle Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 @Starship Krupa, have you alerted or contacted @Morten Saether about your find? I believe Morten creates help and reference content for Cakewalk. I looked at pages 729 & 730 of the Cakewalk Reference manual and did not see any information about this fourth view. It would be nice for your find to be included in the official documentation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted July 20, 2022 Author Share Posted July 20, 2022 5 hours ago, Jim Fogle said: I looked at pages 729 & 730 of the Cakewalk Reference manual and did not see any information about this fourth view. I think it's the very definition of "undocumented feature." ? I have some other corrections/addenda, so I will mention it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Kelley Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) Browser? Got it. Never called it a browser. Edited July 25, 2022 by Terry Kelley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted July 24, 2022 Author Share Posted July 24, 2022 9 hours ago, Terry Kelley said: Browser? That list-y pane that should pop up on the right side of the Cakewalk UI when you hit "B" on your keyboard. You didn't recognize it from the screenshot? Among other things it does, it provides you with a list of installed/recognized plug-ins. Which may be organized in 3 official ways and one undocumented way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Phillips Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) On 7/15/2022 at 6:53 PM, Starship Krupa said: Hidden in plain sight, I guess, but I only discovered it today after using Cakewalk for 4+ years. A slip of the mouse and I had it. We all know about how you can sort plug-ins in the Browser by Manufacturer, Category, and Type (which means you see them sorted into VST3, VST2, and DXi folders, and then by manufacturer within those folders). Ever wanted to see them sorted by where they are in the Windows file system? Read on. All you have to do to see this is click on the "Plug-ins" tab at the top of the Browser, then whatever sort method it's set to, move your mouse to it and click. You'll see something like this: It's not sorting by manufacturer, it's showing where my .VST3 files are in the VST3 directory. As you can see, it winds up being a combination of folders that the manufacturers' installers created and then plug-ins that were installed at the root level of VST3 or whatever folder you use for VST2's. The possible use for this that I can see is plug-in organization: you can have folders for manufacturers and then categories (which Meldaproduction already does) or even put it the other way around. I supposed there's not much you can do with it that you can't do using plug-in manager, but who knows. It might be good for helping track down where a plug-in's DLL actually is. It uses the friendly names from inside the file rather than the filenames. Caveats: if you decide to try using this to organize plug-in lists, sometimes plug-ins don't like being moved from their original install location. Also, plug-ins that load via a unified shell, like Waves' or Presonus', will might not appear in this view. Note: this sorting view also switches in the FX rack and instrument menus. Thanks for this. It's interesting but I'm having trouble understanding what I'm seeing. Here's a screenshot showing my Browser VST2 folder and the Folder holding the Pitchproof plugin which is in the pink box in the VST2 Folder in the Browser. In the Browser Pitchproof isn't in a VST2 subfolder but it is in Explorer. However the Acon Digital and AirWindows plugins are shown in subfolders as expected. What's this telling me? What am I missing? Thanks. Edited July 24, 2022 by Bill Phillips Correction and better example Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now