Agitated State has announced an open beta of the upcoming v1.1 release of MenuMagic. The beta is fully functional - the only difference between the beta and the registered version is that the beta will only run for seven days once installed.

MenuMagic enhances the functionality of Cakewalk's Plug-in Manager to give you the power tools to control how your VST and DX plug-ins will appear within Cakewalk's Instrument and Effects menus. MenuMagic currently supports the current versions of Sonar and Project5 as well as any older Cakewalk DAWs that are capable of using the Cakewalk's VST Adapter (this includes Project5 v2 and Sonar versions 3 thru 5).

With the new MenuMagic v1.1 you can:

• Detect and Disable Duplicate plug-ins. The new Dupe Fixes identifies your duplicate plug-ins, displays their property information (file date, size, version#, and if desired VST info), and lets you disable the ones you choose.
• Instantly find new plug-ins that have been added to your system. No more hunting. With MenuMagic identifying any new plug-in is instantaneous and assigning it to the menu of choice is quick and easy.
• Assign your new/modified plug-in layout menu to be the default menu for special Sonar 7* menus such as SynthRackSynths, TrackAudioEffects, TrackSynths, etc. Make multiple assignments at once - for example you can save your new layout to be the default plug-in menu layout for ALL plug-in menus. You can do this while Sonar 7 is running and the changes take place immediately. * Works the same with Sonar6.
• Enhanced control and optimization of the VST scan folders list. Modifying your VST scan folders is fast (10 seconds vs 3 minutes on our test system) and easy. When saving your settings MenuMagic identifies and with your permission eliminates duplicate & recursive paths so that your scan list is optimized for the fastest processing.
• Cleanup and control how your plug-in appear in the menus with sophisticated plug-in name managements tools such as:
  • Cascading find and replace options that can operate globally or on selected plug-in names.
  • Modify the name based on plug-in type. For example prefix or suffix plug-in names based on whether or not the plug-in is a VST, VSTi, DX, or DXi.
• If you have multiple Cakewalk DAWs on your system you can save time by synchronizing your plug-in settings between them. Your versions of Sonar and Project5 can have the same plug-in layout menus (menu names and any name changes/edits) with no extra work.

Version 1.1 will be released on or before October 1st, 2008. Up until October 15th you can purchase MenuMagic at the discounted price of $29.99.