NOLAGuy Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 Seeking advice. I have too many plug-ins (900+) that clog up folders and load at startup! They are currently stored in several different folders,( e.g. VST, VST3, Steinberg, Cakewalk). I want to move plug-ins that I seldom use into a folder that I can move plugins into or out of as needed. That way I can exclude loading that folder from my DAW and also from other software like Cantabile which loads plugins at startup. Using Cakewalk or Sonar, I realize I can use the Plugin Manager utility to "exclude" plugins, but that doesn't help the non DAW software plug-ins issue. Is there an available Plug-ins utility that folks have used to move plug-ins from one location to a seperate file and back again if needed? I saw there is OwlPlug, but can't find user feedback on the product. Or... if I just copy a plug-ins folder and then go and delete the plugins I don't use from that folder will I be screwing up some Windows Registry issue? Any help from somebody that has found a good way to manage their plug-ins would be greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bapu Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 (edited) 1 hour ago, NOLAGuy said: Seeking advice. I have too many plug-ins (900+) that clog up folders and load at startup! 900? I have 4400+. Full rescans can take 20+ minutes. Good thing I'm just a hobbyist and don't have clients asking if they are paying for scan times if a reboot is needed. ? Most of the DAWs I own (12) only do a full scan if something changes in the plugin locations. If I haven't opened Studio One in a day or so it typically takes 5 minutes if nothing has changed in the plugin folders. If I close and re-open it typically takes < 1 minute (with no folder changes between usage on the same day). 1 hour ago, NOLAGuy said: Or... if I just copy a plug-ins folder and then go and delete the plugins I don't use from that folder will I be screwing up some Windows Registry issue? I refrain from that kind of activity. It would be overridden by version updates anyway. I do wish someone would invent a tool that truly does what you want as a front-end to any DAW plugin scanner. Probably would require some agreement from all developers on how that front-end would be hooked in to their DAW. One can dream, can't one? Edited July 5 by Bapu 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOLAGuy Posted July 5 Author Share Posted July 5 Thank you for the info Bapu. Maybe someone will come along with something that worked well for them... and I can unabashedly pirate the same for my needs!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted July 6 Share Posted July 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted July 6 Share Posted July 6 Even using the Cakewalk Plug-In Manager doesn't stop them from being scanned, it just keeps them from being displayed in the Browser and other lists within the program. The first thing I do to keep things clean is make sure that my music and video programs aren't scanning anything they don't need to. Only install VST3's, and since plenty of manufacturers' installers install unneeded formats anyway, I manually go into my VST2 folders and delete things that are already installed as VST3's. For tidiness' sake, I also go into my C:\Program Files\Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins folder and delete anything I find in there because I don't run Pro Tools. I don't do it as often as I once did because fewer and fewer vendors seem to be scattering clutter around. Every so often some installer will also dump something in C:\Program Files\VstPlugins or C:\Program Files\Steinberg, and I just delete whatever I find there because I have custom folders for my VST2's. Other than that, it's harder to do with VST3's because there is a canonical standard location for them, but it is possible to disable them just by moving them to a different folder. I do this with all of the non-purchased T-Racks plug-ins that IK Multimedia's installer puts in my VST3 folder. I have a folder called C:\Program Files\Common Files\T-Racks where I drag all of the .VST3 files that I haven't purchased. This could also be done for others that you just don't want to scan. I've been doing these things for years and have yet to run into any issues regarding registry entries, although anything is possible. I'd say just make a subfolder of your VST3 directory called VSTNO or whatever where you will put the plug-ins you don't want to scan every time. Then drag that folder out of the VST3 folder tree when you don't want to scan for those plug-ins and drag it back when you want to use them again. The only problem there is that installers will just happily put the latest versions of their VST3's in the top level and you'll wind up with 2 of them, maybe even different versions, being scanned. There's also this, which I'm kind of surprised I don't see anyone talking about on this forum. I haven't tried it so I don't know if it would serve your purpose: https://www.kvraudio.com/kvr-studio-manager 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitekrazy1 Posted July 6 Share Posted July 6 Best advice that even I don't follow is to delete many of them. The plugins don't really take up a lot of space. The space they use up is their presets and other stuff found in those odd Windows folders like app data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grem Posted July 6 Share Posted July 6 3 hours ago, kitekrazy said: is to delete many of them. What is "The Bapu's" opinion on this topic!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bapu Posted July 6 Share Posted July 6 1 hour ago, Grem said: What is "The Bapu's" opinion on this topic!? (leave 'em) Installed! ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gswitz Posted July 6 Share Posted July 6 This makes me want to count. Why don't I have a problem? Probably spend too much on hardware. Just got an eccos pedals that is fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted July 7 Share Posted July 7 On 7/5/2024 at 2:48 PM, NOLAGuy said: I want to move plug-ins that I seldom use into a folder that I can move plugins into or out of as needed. This will work fine and won't break anything. Maybe it's a personal flaw, but I am reluctant to delete anything. 'Cause, you never know, ya know. So the stuff I never use goes into a separate folder that isn't in the scan path. But preserved, you know, just in case. My active folders contain only about 300 plugins, which is easily three times what I need. A normal rescan takes 10 seconds. A full reset/rescan with logging takes a little over 4 minutes, so it's probably time for another culling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
57Gregy Posted July 7 Share Posted July 7 5 hours ago, Grem said: What is "The Bapu's" opinion on this topic!? On 7/5/2024 at 6:45 PM, Bapu said: 900? I have 4400+ I think you have your answer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted July 7 Share Posted July 7 Bapu doesn't get a vote, for the same reason John Hinkley doesn't review Jodie Foster movies. 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Screed Posted July 7 Share Posted July 7 On 7/5/2024 at 5:45 PM, Bapu said: One can dream, can't one? yes, but it does not come without it's dangers re 1968 and 1980 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gswitz Posted July 7 Share Posted July 7 There is an interesting discrepancy between how many plugins the browser shows vs how many the scanner finds. I think the scanner found 390 or something and the browser shows 273. Hmmm. ? My guess is 2 versions of the same plugin get counted twice when scanning and once in the browser. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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