working with plugins

[catfingers]

hey I'm about to work through my VSTs in T5 (latest version) 64-bit/OSX Mavericks:

a) to try & eliminate the bad-old-days instant Tracktion crash behaviour (now - always when closing a plugin window) that's started up again recently
b) find out how to suppress the display of every damn plug & reduce to a usable subset.

I have Waves gold 9 bundle/a few IK multimedia/ & couple of NI & FabFilter VSTs.

Anyone have initial ideas for general rules of thumb:

* should I try & exclude Tracktion scanning VST2-formats in favour of VST3 ?
* any quick way to exclude T5 scanning VSTs in the settings screens (or physically move plugins out of the system/waveshell folders so they can't be found maight be better idea).

Like most people - I actually only use a small subset for tracking & mastering

Will report back

A

[theoldguy]

any quick way to exclude T5 scanning VSTs in the settings screens (or physically move plugins out of the system/waveshell folders so they can't be found maight be better idea).

Like most people - I actually only use a small subset for tracking & mastering

Creating a new folder called PARK and dropping every plugin I didn't want to scan in the new folder worked for me so I think you are on the right track. Or you can put the ones you want to use in a new folder and only scan that folder, whichever is easier.

If you ever want to unpark some of the plugins you can just copy and paste them into the folder you are currently scanning. Then if you decide you don't really need them you just delete them from the scanned folder. You don't have to drag them or save them back to PARK because you still have the original in the PARK folder.

It saved me a lot of waiting at scan time and it uncluttered the plugin menu.

Regards,

theoldguy

[catfingers]

ahah thanks - something like that - but tonight I just scanned everything & then 'remove selected plugin from list' - I multiple-selected everything I wanted to exclude & they were then successfully hidden. The plugin menu is still a mess but that's not Tracktion's fault (it will be organised by metadata in the VSTs).

& remember to only use the VST3 version of Melodyne

OK all good - now to determine which plugins cause the classic 'instant crash' - Running 5.4.3 in 64-bit on OSX 10.9.5 - all the usual plugs in the * Waves Gold bundle, * NIs Supercharger/Solid Bus & Replika (yeah all freebees, heh) & * Loudmax (well-written freeware, yes it works).

A couple of IK Multimedia plugs (CSR room reverb & classic EQ): if I click the close button in the plugin window they explode & make Tracktion instantly disappear - I'd say that's because I'm in 64. I can live with that...

OK, maybe I can keep on using Tracktion into an 8th year...

A

[dRowAudio]

FYI guys, there's some new stuff in the beta builds of T6 (soon to be full release) that should help with plugin organisation.
You can individually hide plugins so they don't show in the menus and also create your own custom menu/tree grouped how you like it.

Having an option to hide plugins means they'll still be present in the 'master' list and won't be scanned again. This should mean you don't have to mess around with moving folders on the hard disk.

[klangbastler]

thanks for the info!

good to see some improvement on that side!
will check that asap.

[aMUSEd]

I just never do a full plugin scan, instead I drag and drop onto the plugin screen only the plugins I want to use and know are stable in Tracktion. Faster and makes for greater stability.

[catfingers]

hmm OK - is the new T6 stuff different (ie. better) from the existing 'remove from list'? The ability to make a custom menu would be a big time-saver when working in sessions.

aMUSEd - yeah I used a mix of scanning & drag & drop to build what I have now. Good idea.

[Kang]

hmm OK - is the new T6 stuff different (ie. better) from the existing 'remove from list'? The ability to make a custom menu would be a big time-saver when working in sessions.

Yes it is better, and the current beta version allows exactly that, custom menu's. Great new feature, if only I wasn't so used to my stock menu.

[aMUSEd]

The new custom menu is fantastic, best implementation I have seen in any host.

[dupont]

It will be difficult here on OSX to make a directory for the working plugins as they are almost all buggy : lazzy UI, poof crashes, arpegiator sync in loop mode broken, unresponsive UI ...

[gigazaga]

hey I'm about to work through my VSTs in T5 (latest version) 64-bit/OSX Mavericks:

I have Waves gold 9 bundle/a few IK multimedia/ & couple of NI & FabFilter VSTs.

Anyone have initial ideas for general rules of thumb:

* should I try & exclude Tracktion scanning VST2-formats in favour of VST3 ?

On OS X with Waves, you will get the best results with AU. VST2 works somewhat and VST3 doesn't work.

** Update: I am having trouble with Waves AU plugins not retaining settings from session to session so VST might be the best choice. I know that Waves plugins that resize like the new DBX plugin get stuck if you try to resize them. Most Waves plugins don't do that however.**

FabFilter works solidly for me for AU, VST2, and VST3.

In general, I have a lot more trouble with VST3 plugins in T6 than with AU and VST2.

With the new custom menu and plugin tag views, you can organize your favorites anyway you like!

[Kang]

Same here, VST2 all the way. The main reason for me is that they all transfer fine between Mac and PC, while some VST3's don't.

[klangbastler]

there is a nice new feature i requested not too long ago in the newest t6 beta now.

rightclick in the master plugin area and choose "add new plugin"
it's small but makes me really happy ...

[gigazaga]

there is a nice new feature i requested not too long ago in the newest t6 beta now.

rightclick in the master plugin area and choose "add new plugin"
it's small but makes me really happy ...

I'm glad you requested that, I already used that about three times!

[whyterabbyt]

The new custom menu is fantastic, best implementation I have seen in any host.

Its very good indeed compared to most, but Im used to Sonar's which is more flexible/powerful still.

Starting from scratch, I'd say that the most immediate issue is that (unlike Sonar) it doesnt seem to let you 'import' a category/location/manufacturer structure into a custom menu, ie it seems that the custom menu has to be built completely from scratch.

Sonar's is also more flexible in that it allows on-the-fly switching between multiple menu sets, treats the effects and synths menus separately, and (probably less relevant here) also lets you define different active menus in different places where you'd insert plugins.

It would also be useful to edit the actual string displayed in the menu for each plugin, as Sonar allows, and to sort plugins and groups automatically within a Group (eg alphabetically)

So my FRs for extending this to a best-in-class implementation would be:

1) option to prep-populate a custom menu structure from Category, Location, Manufacturer, or Tag
2) ability to rename the 'name' of a plugin as its displayed in a custom menu
3) Automatic sorting (eg alphabetic) within a Group
4) Loading and saving of custom menus, with on-the-fly switching between them
5) Independent custom menus for each of 1) the main plugin 'insert' function, 2) in racks, and 3) in the Master plugin section.