Can't use VST plugins despite showing them on the Plugin Manager and letting me organize them in a custom Plugin Layout file

[gabrielgga]

As per the title. I've been using said plugins in another DAW with no hiccups, but Cakewalk refuses to show them in the plugins tab even though when I click "Manage Layouts" they show up and I can assign them to folders while editing the Plugin Layout. So now I have an empty folder where there should be some plugins according to Cakewalk's own Plugin Manager. What should I do?

[user905133]

I can't diagnose your issue, but I was playing with Surge XT a day or two ago and have some preliminary questions that might or might not be relevant:   (1) Does Surge XT show up if you select the Instruments tab in the Browser?  (2) Do you have the Surge XT Effects plug-ins installed (dll and/or vst3)? (3) Do the other instruments we see listed under Favorites in the Plug-in Manager show up in the Browser when you selected Instruments (instead of Audio FX)?

29 minutes ago, gabrielgga said:

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by User 905133
grammatical and other changes for the sake of clarity

[Canopus]

You have the Audio FX tab selected. Nothing under your Favourite Instruments folder is an effect, that's why they won't show. Hence, you would have to have two custom layouts; one for Audio FX and one for Instruments.

[gabrielgga]

Oh wow, it was so simple. I would have thought I could see both Audio FX and Instruments at once, or at least they would show up when I searched, despite having the Audio FX tab selected.

Incidentally, is there a way to show both Audio FX plugins and Instrument plugins at the same time?

Edited December 10, 2023 by gabrielgga

[Canopus]

22 minutes ago, gabrielgga said:

Incidentally, is there a way to show both Audio FX plugins and Instrument plugins at the same time?

Not that I know of.

Besides, as your number of plugins increase over time, you will start to appreciate that you only see effects or instruments, and not both. Also, I personally keep my Instrument custom layout structured by developer, while my Effect custom layout is structured by type of effect. That works well for me.

 

[user905133]

48 minutes ago, gabrielgga said:

Oh wow, it was so simple. I would have thought I could see both Audio FX and Instruments at once, or at least they would show up when I searched, despite having the Audio FX tab selected.

Incidentally, is there a way to show both Audio FX plugins and Instrument plugins at the same time?

Glad you were able to figure out the solution.

Why do you want to see all plugins at the same time?  Is it to choose what to insert somewhere within Cakewalk? Or is it to take an inventory of your plugins?  If the latter, there is a tool available called VST Inventory (part of scook's CbB Tools).

[gabrielgga]

Thank you for the valuable advice! I guess I'm used to a different kind of owrkflow, it's just gonna take a while to get used to this new way of doing things. But it does make sense they are separate!