Scanned VSTs are not added in Cakewalk

[David Wong]

I just installed Cakewalk today. I wanted to add a VST, Keyzone Classic by Bitsonic, to my Cakewalk. Under Edit>Preferences>File>VST, I added the Bitsonic VSTPlugin folder in the scan path, and then I did a manual scan. The scanning found more VSTs than listed under "Plugin". I turned off Cakewalk and got back into Cakewalk. However, the additional scanned VSTs had not been added to the "Plugin" list. The "Plugin" list showed 24 plugins, but the scanning had found 57 plugins.

How could I add the additional VSTs, which were detected in scanning, to the "Plugin" list?

[Nigel Mackay]

Go to Utilities -> Cakewalk Plugin Manager.

In the left-hand pane click on the bottom row, Control Surfaces. Those plugins are just there for Cakewalk to use if you plug a control surface in. You can't access them as a plugin. There's a bit more stuff like that. They all count towards the 57 total. The 24 you can access is all that you can access. (Until you add more.)

Don't worry, you are not being short-changed.

Edited November 22 by Nigel Mackay

[David Wong]

Nigel, thanks for the quick reply, which resurrected my confidence on Cakewalk.

I did want you said. In the left panel, "Plug-in Categories (11 found)", inside Cakewalk Plugin Manager, I saw "VST Instruments (VSTi)". So I clicked that, and sure enough I saw Keyzone Classic in the middle panel. "Registered Plug-ins (10 found)". Keyzone Classic is the plugin that I wanted to import and use in Cakewalk. so I highlighted "Keyzone Classic" and clicked "Add Plugin", the top rectangle under "Plug-in Menu Layout". Then I saw "Keyzone Classic" added to the huge panel under "Plug-in Menu Layout". 

So far so good. But when I clicked "Close" in the right lower corner of the Cakewalk Plugin Manager, a window popped up asking me, Save changes to current menu layout, "<Unnamed Layout>"? Because I didn't know how to answer the question, I clicked No. Then I clicked Start Screen near the upper left corner of Cakewalk, picked the 4-track choice, saw the 4 tracks displayed in the center, but the Plugins list still showed only 24 plugins and my Keyzone Classic was not in the Plugins list. 

With this failure, I was not deterred. I figured that perhaps my addition of Keyzone Classic was not saved.  So I repeated the above process of clicking "Add Plugin" in the Cakewalk Plugin Manager, and repeated the steps described above. The only exception is that I answered the question,  Save changes to current menu layout, "<Unnamed Layout>"?, by clicking Yes. A window popped up in the middle of the screen. The title of the window was "Save Plug-in Menu Layout". The Save in rectangle showed a folder with a name of "Plug-in Menu Layouts". Under that was a big rectangular window with two headings, Name and Date modified, but it stated "No items match you search" inside the big rectangular window.

Should I put in something in the "Display name" rectangular window underneath and also something else in the "File name" rectangular window, and then click Save? Below these two rectangular windows was the Save as type rectangular window, which stated "Plug-in Menu Layout (*.pgl)".

As a Cakewalk newbie, I am seeking assistance from experienced Cakewalk users like you. I want to strike when the iron is hot (keep going with my motivation to start using Cakewalk to play Keyzone Classic's pianos using my MIDI controller in my initial journey to learn to play piano).

[David Wong]

Two follow up queries from me (my nick name is Cakewalk newbie/piano newbie):

What should I put in the "Display name" rectangular window and also what should I put in the "File name" rectangular window before clicking Save?

[Nigel Mackay]

In the Browser, the Plugins button gives you these options: Sort by category, Sort by Manufacturer, Sort by Type. This gives you options for sorting plugins when choosing one. But you can also create your own sort orders. These are called Layouts. I have one for instruments, with entries Drums, Basses Acoustic, Basses Electric, Strings Violin, Strings, Violas, etc. I named this My Instruments.

I have another called My FX, with Entries Phasor, Compressor LA2A,  Compressor1176, etc. These then appear as optional Layouts.

You don't have much yet, but to get you started, click on Plugins -=> Mange layouts. This takes you to the Plugins Utility. Top right click on New. Nothing visible happens. In the middle section Click on New Folder. Rename it Strings. Click on it to select it and type New Folder. Rename it Section. With Section selected in the left pane select VSTi. In the middle pane select SI-String Section. In the middle click on Add Plugin. SI-String Section appears in The Section folder.

Ditto for Basses, with Electric and Acoustic as sub folders. Add the SI-Bass Guitar to both, because it has electric and acoustic presets. Top right click Save and choose My Instruments as the file name.

Back in the Browser click Instruments and then Plugins. Select My Instruments as your default. You will see your newly created list appear, so you cam choos whar you want on your own terms.

Go back and do the other instruments in the same way. Doesn't matter what names you choose, it can be changed any time. Just make sure you do all the instruments - VSTi, VST3i, DirectX. (TTS-1 is a sampler, GroovePlayer is exactly that.)

After a few months, when you have learned some things, you can create My FX and do all your FX.

As to learning, go to YouTube and search for Creative Sauce. Watch all his videos about getting started with Cakewalk. Never mind how old they are. And watch lots and lots of them.

[David Wong]

Thanks, Nigel.

At the moment, I am only learning to play piano, not doing any song production, sound mixing and synthesis.  I have never used any DAW before. Cakewalk is the first DAW I am using to play piano plugins I have downloaded into my laptop running Windows 11.  I will try what you taught me and rename my very first New Folder "Nigel", which will be used to hold piano plugins. Down the road, I would like to try writing songs. Perhaps then I would need to download some drum plugins and string plugins, and placed them in New Folders renamed as "Percussion" and "Strings", respectively. Anyway, tomorrow I will try what you said. Much appreciation of you. I will also look for Creative Sauce in YouTube, per your suggestion.

What surprised me is that, when I looked in the middle panel of the Cakewalk Plugin Manager, I saw that even Decent Sampler and Soundpaint were listed there. I thought Decent Sampler and Soundpaint are DAWs, not plugins, so the scan should have excluded them. Perhaps the Cakewalk Plugin Manager is not picky on what it would include.

[Nigel Mackay]

Decent Sampler is a sampler. You load it as an instrument and use it to play samples recorded in the decent format.

You load Soundpaint as an instrument. Select which sound you want and play it.

Why you think they are DAWs is because they can be used in standalone mode.  You connect a keyboard, select a sound and play a tune. But you cannot for example load Keyzone Classic into them. You cannot use them to mix multi-instrument music with them.