Blue Cat Audio

SeeingInMidi · Post by **SeeingInMidi** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 1:05 am

So I tried out Patchwork and MB-7 Mixer at a friends house and they both felt very solid and intuitive. But what destroyed my workflow was when it came to selecting a plugins in both Patchwork and MB-7 Mixer... I had to go searching through a number of sub folders in order to find the plugin I was looking for. A lot of time was wasted just looking for my plugins since not every company lets you install it's .dll at the root of it's installation folder.

So here's my suggestion.

Add a button exclusively for adding/replacing plugins. (the cross in the box beside the "No Plug-in" box).

when choosing a plugin, a menu comes up instead of windows explorer. In here you can add plugins via Windows explorer. This menu will remember your collection of plugins for easier and faster access.

Can we see something like in a future release?

Blue Cat Audio · Post by **Blue Cat Audio** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 7:15 pm

Thank you for the feedback. A complete plug-in manager will indeed probably be added in the future, but I cannot say when for the moment (the todo list is quite long!).

SeeingInMidi · Post by **SeeingInMidi** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 6:53 am

Blue Cat Audio wrote:Thank you for the feedback. A complete plug-in manager will indeed probably be added in the future, but I cannot say when for the moment (the todo list is quite long!).

Glad to hear!

ninox_rufa · Post by **ninox_rufa** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 2:44 am

OS X user here so not familiar with windows. My solution is to create aliases of the .vst and .au files (I assume .dll's in your case?). The aliases are added to different folders (even multiple aliases of the same plugin so you're free to have all sort of categories) and the folder shortcuts are added to the browser window sidebar (if you've got too many folders just add a single shortcut to their location). Surely you can do something similar in Windows?

This is proving to be way faster than the fancy mess that was Kore 2. It's dead simple and faster than drop down menus. IMHO it gives the devs time to focus on more important features and it means less bloat and bugs.

Blue Cat Audio · Post by **Blue Cat Audio** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 7:16 am

This sounds like a pretty good idea to sort the plug-ins without moving stuff around. Can you maybe post or send us some screenshots and a summary of the method so that it can be reused as a tutorial for others?

ninox_rufa · Post by **ninox_rufa** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 12:39 am

Sure. I'm still setting it up. Will post soon.

ninox_rufa · Post by **ninox_rufa** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 5:07 am

Organise your Plugins on OS X:

1. Create two new folders somewhere convenient on your system. I’ve created them in my Music folder in my Home directory (~/Music).
2. Label the new folders as “1 Synth Plugins” and “2 Effect Plugins”.
3. Drag them into your Sidebar Favorites section to make them available as shortcuts.
4. Go to your VST and/or AU plugin folders (/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST or /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components)
5. Right click on each plugin you want and choose “Make Alias”.
6. Move these aliases to your new folders.

In the screenshot below I’ve started creating categories inside the Effects folder. Of course this is just an example. You're free to mix VST's and AU's together and create multiple aliases to place in multiple folders. Aliases can be renamed too. All clear I hope?

Organise your plugins.png

Blue Cat Audio · Post by **Blue Cat Audio** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 7:32 am

Nice! Do you mind if we post this on our blog too, so that other people can use this to streamline their workflow.

Note that you can also use the Finder categories to display different colors for your plug-ins btw

ninox_rufa · Post by **ninox_rufa** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 8:05 am

Nice! Do you mind if we post this on our blog too, so that other people can use this to streamline their workflow.

Post away.

Blue Cat Audio · Post by **Blue Cat Audio** » Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:07 pm

It's now live on our blog. Thanks again!

http://bluecataudio.com/Blog/2014/10/21 ... ns-on-mac/

SeeingInMidi · Post by **SeeingInMidi** » Mon Dec 08, 2014 5:24 pm

I just came up with an idea that would be more convenient than a vst browser. How about support for drag and drop? similar to how some sampler vst's support drag and drop for sound files from the DAW itself. Dragging a vst from the side panel of studio one, fl studio, ableton, ect.. Into the vst slot in patchwork or mb-7 sounds like a major workflow improvement imo. Would such thing be even possible?

ontol · Post by **ontol** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:40 pm

Blue Cat Audio · Post by **Blue Cat Audio** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 9:57 am

It would indeed be nice, but unfortunately there is no standard for drag and dropping plug-ins. So unless each application is reverse engineered, we cannot implement such a feature.

By the way, have you tried the classification & shortcut method above to access the plug-ins faster? It also works on windows, You can modify icons for folders and plug-ins on Mac too (we plan to update the tutorial to show this too). It only takes a few minutes to do it and it is a real time saver...

Blue Cat Audio · Post by **Blue Cat Audio** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:42 am

A new tutorial that shows how to use custom icons and images for your plug-ins on Mac is now available. That's how it can look like, using the cover view inside Blue Cat's PatchWork:

Do you still want a menu for plug-ins?

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:35 pm

Blue Cat Audio wrote:Do you still want a menu for plug-ins?

Im afraid so. With the windows explorer, by default, its a double-click to go down one folder layer, and another click (on the 'up' button) to go back up one level (although that will vary depending on which version of windows you're on etc.), so eg navigating up 3 levels and down a different one becomes about a millionty-one clicks just to find your way round.
Its got powerful features, but its not immediate.

contrast that with eg Bidule's plugin menu, which is a hierarchic dynamic flyout menu that doesnt need -any- clicks to see what's in the next layer down or up, its all hover-triggered instead of single-/double- clicks, and finding one's way around is instantaneous.

much nicer, much, much faster.

and consistent across operating systems/ OS versions...

Blue Cat Audio

KVR Audio

What's keeping me away from purchasing Patchwork and MB-7 Mixer (Suggestion/request)