Free plugins with exe installer that can be made portable

[VSTadapter]

For us the clean system or portable junkies

Thank god the most free vst's are only a dll but there are also many wonderful plugins that have .exe installers.

Some of them can be extracted with universal extractor some not.
Some write to registry some not
Some use program files some not

lets make a list with all the free software that use an exe installer but can be fully working 100% as a portable! ... (after using uni extractor or the classic method "install/copy dll/uninstall")

Tested and working great so far!


### Solid State Logic - LMC-1

### iZotope - Vinyl

### OhmForce - Frohmage
(you have to copy the folder Ohm "Force/Frohmage VST2" to the same location of the .dll) or install / copy dll and folder / uninstall

### OhmForce - Ohmygod!
(you have to copy the folder Ohm "Force/Ohmygod VST2" to the same location of the .dll) or install / copy dll and folder / uninstall

### Brainworx - Cleansweep

### Brainworx - Dynamic Range Meter

### Brainworx - Solo

### Sonalksis - FreeG

### Camel audio - CamelCrusher
(you have to copy the "CamelCrusherData" folder to the location of the .dll as well)



### Test with Flux - Stereo Failed!

[Shy]

Are you really that paranoid? You think VST plugin installers are evil or mess things up? Why don't you just use one of the many programs that can track, allow/disallow any disk and registry changes, revert things, etc.? I'm sure you know about those. Install, selectively select or later undo registry changes and disk writes, leave only the files you want, and see if the dll still works at all by itself. You know, by the way, that dynamic link libraries can execute installer-like activities themselves upon first run. Better play it safe, don't run VST plugins.

[VSTadapter]

Think before talking ... here are the seasons, is not only a clean system

1. I can take all the folder to a usb stick and copy it to an other computer without losing any settings or presets.

2. I can update any plugin just by copy and replace the .dll file

3. My registry will be always clean

4. I can copy my vst .dll folder to an other location and have an instant drag'n'drop back-up.

5. With a portable daw i can make music from any computer without spending a second for installations-settings etc

6. If i have to rebuild my system i will not need to install 40-50 software one by one and re-apply the settings for each one. (think if my 40-50 dll plugins = 40-50 installers)



If you dont care about any of these reasons, respect from me, but please leave this topic. Some people (inc) die for portability and for everything else mentioned

[Compyfox]

O-PLEASE! Not again.


BTW:
The Dynamic Range Meter is from the "Pleasurize Music Foundation", or better said a collaborative work of Algorithmix and Tischmeyer Technology, not brainworx (though they are involved in the whole deal).

[VSTadapter]

what not again!?? :p does any related topic exist? lol

didnt make it to offence the plugs that use installers

i did it to make a list with plugs that use installers but can be portable as well

for the job, for the uni for camp in friends laptop, for the net cafe ... blabla for everywhere.

[Compyfox]

The Elysia Niveu Filter thread startet all this...

*shakes head*

[eduardo_b]

For us the clean system or portable junkies

I'm not sure an executable installer can ever be "portable." Portable apps are application exe files that don't need to be installed or need keys in the registry. Even plug-in dll files aren't truly portable -- they still need a host.

Installed plug-ins cannot be memory-stick portable unless all folders are together. Many plug-ins, by default, install a folder for everything but the dll in one place (which usually can be changed) and then install the dll in the vstplugins folder unless told otherwise. And some plug-ins are hard coded to look to the registry for path information, so a "clean" registry is not possible.

It's true that many simple, self-contained dll plugs don't actually need an installer, and I'm not sure why devs wrap them in one.

[phreaque]

Think before talking ... here are the seasons, is not only a clean system

1. I can take all the folder to a usb stick and copy it to an other computer without losing any settings or presets.

2. I can update any plugin just by copy and replace the .dll file

3. My registry will be always clean

4. I can copy my vst .dll folder to an other location and have an instant drag'n'drop back-up.

5. With a portable daw i can make music from any computer without spending a second for installations-settings etc

6. If i have to rebuild my system i will not need to install 40-50 software one by one and re-apply the settings for each one. (think if my 40-50 dll plugins = 40-50 installers)



If you dont care about any of these reasons, respect from me, but please leave this topic. Some people (inc) die for portability and for everything else mentioned

After many years of music production, yestrtday I faced one of those stay-awake-till-morning challenges. That is I had to prepare 4 laptops with daws and more than 40 vst plugins.
Tried lots of cloning methods, but that's eufi / oem stuff
So yeah, I was thinking about having sort of portable music production content to keep the registry intact and hassle-free.

[baaz]

I always try to install VSTs "portable", i have around 300(mostly free) vsts in my vsts folder. Whenever i have to upgrade to a new windows build like latest Redstone 4, after clean install all i have to do is backup and drop the vsts folder and stuff from documents and program data folder and that's it. No need to use 300 installers on a clean windows machine which means less start menu entries and uninstaller entries and more stable system.

Here are some from top of my head that use installers but work just fine if you copy vsts along with stuff in program data/documents folder...
Audiothing
Boz Digital
CableGuys
DDMF
DMGaudio (have to backup some registry entries)
OverToneDSP
Voxengo
Valhalla

i'll update the list as soon as i access my vsts folder

[chk071]

What you have to keep in mind is that, for most people, installers will be the right thing, because they don't want to mess with folders on their hard drive. At least that's the experience i made with less "sophisticated" computer users. I prefer the installer less option as well, but, when a plugin comes with additional data files, and maybe even assumes those in the documents folder (the free OBXd synth is such a case), you have to move the different files to different folders. And, also, when you have the user files in some user folders, and uninstall the plugin/software, you won't have to set it up again next time you install it, because all the user data is left on the hard drive, which should also be a matter of convenience.

So, i think that using installers surely has a point, because it makes life easy for the users. Even easier when you have a lot of plugins by a company, and they offer a software manager, which lets you set up files paths, and you can install a whole batch, without having to care about the correct folders anymore. The downside being that, if every company does that, you will be left with a whole bunch of software managers bloating up your system. Of course, some companies also use the software manager to authorize the plugins, so you'll have to use them anyway.

BTW, 300 plugins is excessive. How do you ever use all those? 100 would be massive already. I couldn't ever imagine having 3 times that number installed.

[phreaque]

I always try to install VSTs "portable", i have around 300(mostly free) vsts in my vsts folder. Whenever i have to upgrade to a new windows build like latest Redstone 4, after clean install all i have to do is backup and drop the vsts folder and stuff from documents and program data folder and that's it. No need to use 300 installers on a clean windows machine which means less start menu entries and uninstaller entries and more stable system.

Here are some from top of my head that use installers but work just fine if you copy vsts along with stuff in program data/documents folder...
Audiothing
Boz Digital
CableGuys
DDMF
DMGaudio (have to backup some registry entries)
OverToneDSP
Voxengo
Valhalla

Image-Line plugins and standalones
U-He Zebra2, Hive
Sches Diversion & Thorn
Reveal Sound Spire
Lennardigital Sylenth1
Cakewalk Z3ta+/Z3ta2
Full Bucket plugins
I think KV331 plugins can be also included*

Considering that adding the license files within the folder for above plugins.
i'll update the list as soon as i access my vsts folder

I will add some to the list if you don't mind

[FabienTDR]

Some of them can be extracted with universal extractor some not.
Some write to registry some not
Some use program files some not

Installers primarily write 2 types of registry entries:

1. The location of the deinstaller (you know, the thing that cleans up )
2. Personal VST paths, memorized from previous a run, or using standard default paths.

(We only install the manual, changelog and deinstaller under program files. Plugins binaries go where they belong.)


In both cases, I'd call these handy and reasonably entries. A few dozen bytes for a lot better usability and potential of keeping the system clean (because you don't install stuff at weird places, you don't have to mess with hidden directories and you don't have to remember if and where there's the deinstaller).

We offer both. But installers are more portable imho, and cleaner at the end of the day.
IMHO, most of the paranoia comes from the black-box appeal of most installers. Maybe it's worth documenting what exactly they are doing. Or keep hand off non signed installers.

[Boone777]

I always try to install VSTs "portable", i have around 300(mostly free) vsts in my vsts folder. Whenever i have to upgrade to a new windows build like latest Redstone 4, after clean install all i have to do is backup and drop the vsts folder and stuff from documents and program data folder and that's it. No need to use 300 installers on a clean windows machine which means less start menu entries and uninstaller entries and more stable system.

Here are some from top of my head that use installers but work just fine if you copy vsts along with stuff in program data/documents folder...
Audiothing
Boz Digital
CableGuys
DDMF
DMGaudio (have to backup some registry entries)
OverToneDSP
Voxengo
Valhalla

i'll update the list as soon as i access my vsts folder

What is your experience with Valahalla on portable install ?

For me it works but I have to manually put the presets in my documents on a portable Reaper Install.

[baaz]

Or keep hand off non signed installers.

Isn't really an option rn since 50% of developers including big boys(u-he, IK Multimedia etc), still are not signing their stuff which is a shame. It makes sense for free plugins to be distributed with unsigned binaries but there should be no excuse for commercial stuff that is not signed and requires elevated privileges in 2018. Governments around the world have started bundling spyware(with the help of ISPs) with legitimate downloads, only ISP we have in our area is injecting ads and all sorts of js code in unencrypted HTML traffic, it makes me feel like i'm rolling the dice everytime i run unsigned code with elevated privileges(installers mostly). And with the rise of supply chain attacks, Signed code is only way to tell if an executable is not tampered with. Any company getting paid for software shouldn't be allowed to ignore security risks involved with distributing unsigned code. Those who don't want to pay CAs should at least consider self signing and making public key available on downloads page.

[baaz]

I always try to install VSTs "portable", i have around 300(mostly free) vsts in my vsts folder. Whenever i have to upgrade to a new windows build like latest Redstone 4, after clean install all i have to do is backup and drop the vsts folder and stuff from documents and program data folder and that's it. No need to use 300 installers on a clean windows machine which means less start menu entries and uninstaller entries and more stable system.

Here are some from top of my head that use installers but work just fine if you copy vsts along with stuff in program data/documents folder...
Audiothing
Boz Digital
CableGuys
DDMF
DMGaudio (have to backup some registry entries)
OverToneDSP
Voxengo
Valhalla

i'll update the list as soon as i access my vsts folder

What is your experience with Valahalla on portable install ?

For me it works but I have to manually put the presets in my documents on a portable Reaper Install.

I Only have frqecho from valhalla and it works just fine without any installers.

you can check what an installer is doing by extracting it's content using universal extractor, it can extract script files for inno and nsis installers(90% of installers are one of these).