Organizing the VSTPLUGINS folder

[fabi]

you guys have too much time on your hands?

no, that's the point.

[> DiGiT <]

why do you need to look in the folder at all? other than maybe to find a preset?

[John Vulich]

why do you need to look in the folder at all? other than maybe to find a preset?

[sarcasm mode]Shits and giggles?[/sarcasm mode]

[Muzik 4 Machines]

not_having_scren_long_of_alphebeticaly_sorted_plugins,_maybe?(in_the_host)

[james0tucson]

too many plugs is the problem

I have two folders, c:\fx and c:\vsti, and then every plug under those in its own folder. I only keep 15 VSTis for the sake of productivity. The fx folder has some subfolders like "classics", "mda" and "G" among some 120 folders.

That violates the spec and won't work at all in several very popular hosts (unless, gods forbid, your vst folder is "C:")

[> DiGiT <]

why do you need to look in the folder at all? other than maybe to find a preset?

[sarcasm mode]Shits and giggles?[/sarcasm mode]

im not sure if your code is displaying properly man...

[> DiGiT <]

not_having_scren_long_of_alphebeticaly_sorted_plugins,_maybe?(in_the_host)

i take it you dont want to be searchable?

[hoffy]

"..\Steinberg\Cubase SX\vstplugins" for cubase sx plugs, then:

"..\Steinberg\Cubase SX\vstplugins\3rd Party" for plugs i use in cubase and other hosts.

By editing the registry, you can change the default VST plug-ins path that some installers will look for...

Anyway. inside my "3rd Party" i have 3 sections: Synths, Effects and Temp. Synths subdivided by Developer, Effects subdivided by type (modulation, delay, dynamics etc.), and Temp is for all the freeware bullshit and demos i download every week.

Temp is great because if it reminds me to try out demos without having to remember i've installed them and navigate to find them, and its a good place to dump freeware because its a pain in the ass making a neat directory structure for a crappy synthedit VST when its only installed for 10 minutes at most

I also have a shortcut set up to the 3rd party folder for maintenence.

i don't care what you've got, my system is the best.

[Muzik 4 Machines]

not_having_scren_long_of_alphebeticaly_sorted_plugins,_maybe?(in_the_host)

i take it you dont want to be searchable?

no
spacebar
died
an
horrible
death

[> DiGiT <]

not_having_scren_long_of_alphebeticaly_sorted_plugins,_maybe?(in_the_host)

i take it you dont want to be searchable?

no
spacebar
died
an
horrible
death

thats excellent humor! you really had me laughing. thanks, i needed a laugh!

[G&L_player]

I have mine organized into functional categories... It's not a perfect system, as it's sometimes tough to decide which category a plug should go into.

I started doing this, which actually makes th most sense. However, I reailized that I needed a category for manufacturer within the functional category, as many manufactures havine a few different types of plugs (e.g. ccompressors). It's a lot easier to find Kjaerhus compressors in the compressor category if they're grouped together.

Having an image-based backup system is a must... Even though 90%+ of VSTs seem to work fine when simply copied onto a new system from a file-based backup, that 10% is a real PITA -- not so much the installing as the going through your VST folders & checking every plug. That took me days last time.

Yeah, most of them do fine if the .dll is simply picked up by the sequencer when it starts up. This is one of the beauties of using .dll's from a programming standpoint.

[G&L_player]

not_having_scren_long_of_alphebeticaly_sorted_plugins,_maybe?(in_the_host)

i take it you dont want to be searchable?

no
spacebar
died
an
horrible
death

Duuuuuuuude, that's like picking on a disabled person in cyberville.

[G&L_player]

inside my "3rd Party" i have 3 sections: Synths, Effects and Temp. Synths subdivided by Developer, Effects subdivided by type (modulation, delay, dynamics etc.), and Temp is for all the freeware bullshit and demos i download every week.

Hmmmnnn...not bad. It's similar to the way I've reorganized. I definitely group the synths by manufacturer, now. I didn't think to run an effects parent group, though (I like it, I like it!). However, the temp doesn't do it for me, but I understand your reasoning for setting it up. I actually set up a "..\synths\Synthedit" subdirectory, and then organized all of this sh*t, by manufacturer. These little bastards were like tribbles. After examining my vstplugins directory, I learned that half of my problems could be solved by setting aside the the synthedit stuff, which I don't use much anyway.

Temp is great because if it reminds me to try out demos without having to remember i've installed them and navigate to find them, and its a good place to dump freeware because its a pain in the ass making a neat directory structure for a crappy synthedit VST when its only installed for 10 minutes at most

K, I'm working through your response and just got this one, after respondonding (above). Yeah, "temp" is functional, but you still have some house cleaning to do in reverse order. If you have a lot of good stuff in there, you'll be trying to strip out the bad stuff, and will still have to move the good stuff...all depends on how long you go with things in "temp". The "...\Synths\synthedit" subdirectory is a must for me. I have no idea why I carry so much synthedit plugs around. Maybe I'm hoping that I'll find a good one or two. Some of the effects aren't bad, though. There are some great Synthedit developers out ther, though, so chances are...

i don't care what you've got, my system is the best.

Preferences, preferences...

[soulata]

Most used go streaight into \Steiberg\Vstplugins dir (no subdirs), the others are sorted by manufacturers (I hate subdirs when browsing through the plugins).

I don't think I have more than 8 vsti and a couple of fx (+Uad1 which has its own directory). I've disabled most of the cubase plugins and uad demos (even unexpired) in the cubase plugin manager thingy.

k

[.jon]

too many plugs is the problem

I have two folders, c:\fx and c:\vsti, and then every plug under those in its own folder. I only keep 15 VSTis for the sake of productivity. The fx folder has some subfolders like "classics", "mda" and "G" among some 120 folders.

That violates the spec and won't work at all in several very popular hosts (unless, gods forbid, your vst folder is "C:")

Aik! What spec? All plugs work perfectly (so far?!?) with eXT and Tracktion... IMHO all proper hosts let you define the VST folder(s) yourself.

I wish not to be a violent person, not even towards mr spec