Studio One v3: Still can't organize effects and instruments in the browser?

[dwozzle]

One of the things that bothered me most about v2 was that you couldn't easily customize the organization of instruments and effects in the browser. I just want to make "folders", like these:
Instruments: Sampler, VA, FM, Wavetable, Modular, Hybrid, Drums, Bass, Other...
Effects: Compressor, Limiter, EQ, Reverb, Delay, Saturation, Distortion, Amp Sim, Channel Strip...

Want this for two reasons:
- Quickly see the available choices for the function I want
- Quickly find things

AFAIK, the only ways to do this in v2 were the ugly XML hack I won't touch, and this:
https://forums.presonus.com/viewtopic.php?f=153&t=215

That's not bad, and it saves the whole state of the plugin, which is cool. However, it takes two steps for every plugin instead of one, and worse, nothing is categorized by default, so new stuff doesn't show up anywhere until you put it there. I started to set that up in v2, but the job's nowhere near done, and it's kind of slow going.

Am I right that there's no change in this area in v3? (You still can't drag items in Studio One's file view to reorganize them either, but you can quite Studio One and do it directly in the file system.)

Anyone know if there's any way to script the creation of an initial preset for each plugin, so you could quickly organize them in the file system?

[aMUSEd]

You could try making a folder full of symlinks to the plugin dlls and point it to that instead of the actual plugins folder.

This is what you do http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/co ... -or-linux/

once you have created the symlinks organise them into subfolders the way you want and point the plugin path in S1 to them. You may need to delete any 'symlink' extension if it gets added to the filenames.

try softlinks first - on Mac at least softlinks work fine and in all hosts I have tried this with (unlike Aliases/shortcuts that only work with a couple of hosts). Hard links will definitely work but are a bit more complicated.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Isn't that exactly what the "Sort By - Folders" option in the browser does? I believe it would require you to organize your VST Plugins folder that way, but that's it.

So try this: organize your VST Plugins folder the same way you're describing. So you'd have something like:

C:\VST Plugins\Compressors\The Glue.dll
C:\VST Plugins\Compressors\Presswerk.dll
C:\VST Plugins\Reverbs\ValhallaVintageVerb.dll
C:\VST Plugins\Reverbs\ValhallaVintageVerb.dll
etc.

Then point to your VST Plugins folder, rescan, and change your Sort By view to "Folders" view in the S1 browser. I believe you should now see folders in the broswer for:

Compressors
Reverb
etc.

...with all the plugins appearing in those folders.

[qtheerearranger]

i assume its everyone but on mac i can just drag a plugin to the folder of my choosing in studio ones browser.

[aMUSEd]

Actually yes this does seem to be the case now, if you are in folder view, you can create your own folders and rearrange plugins how you want (even AU). There is also the option to hide unwanted plugins and create favourites.

[dwozzle]

So try this: organize your VST Plugins folder the same way you're describing. So you'd have something like:

C:\VST Plugins\Compressors\The Glue.dll
C:\VST Plugins\Compressors\Presswerk.dll
C:\VST Plugins\Reverbs\ValhallaVintageVerb.dll
C:\VST Plugins\Reverbs\ValhallaVintageVerb.dll
etc.

Then point to your VST Plugins folder, rescan, and change your Sort By view to "Folders" view in the S1 browser.

I wouldn't want to move the actual DLLs. Plugins couldn't update or uninstall themselves then, and they might not be able to find the resources they need to run.

[aMUSEd]

Am I right that there's no change in this area in v3?

No, you can arrange them completely as you like now.

[dwozzle]

Am I right that there's no change in this area in v3?

No, you can arrange them completely as you like now.

On Windows? Is there a trick to getting that to work? As noted in my earlier reply, I can't do that in the S1 browser.

[dwozzle]

You could try making a folder full of symlinks to the plugin dlls and point it to that instead of the actual plugins folder.

This is what you do http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/co ... -or-linux/

once you have created the symlinks organise them into subfolders the way you want and point the plugin path in S1 to them. You may need to delete any 'symlink' extension if it gets added to the filenames.

try softlinks first - on Mac at least softlinks work fine and in all hosts I have tried this with (unlike Aliases/shortcuts that only work with a couple of hosts). Hard links will definitely work but are a bit more complicated.

Hah, that's potentially brilliant, assuming there's no way to get this working directly in Studio by itself. I thought of making shortcuts or symlinks to presets, but you'd still have to create all those presets.

I didn't think of creating shortcuts to the actual DLLs, organizing those, and -- key point -- pointing Studio One's plugins location to my custom-organized shortcuts directory.

I'd rather use shortcuts than simlinks, because on Windows at least, simlinks have some super important major gotchas, but I think only when they refer to directories, so simlinks to the DLL files should be ok.

Re host compatibility, so far I'm only using Studio One (and experimenting a bit with Blue Cat PatchWork), but I'd like not to do anything that might not work in Reaper, which I'd like to check out some day. Given that, it sounds like simlinks are a better idea than shortcuts.


But uh oh, just thought of another problem: I think Waves (and maybe some other companies, though I don't know of any) doesn't have separate DLL files in the plugins directory. There are DLLs for each effect and instrument, but they're elsewhere. Don't see any way to make that work.

[aMUSEd]

Am I right that there's no change in this area in v3?

No, you can arrange them completely as you like now.

On Windows? Is there a trick to getting that to work? As noted in my earlier reply, I can't do that in the S1 browser.

No Mac, but I would have thought it would work the same on both platforms. Click the wrench icon to show/hide and favourite plugins. In Folder view you can create new folders and drag plugins between folders.

[aMUSEd]

You could try making a folder full of symlinks to the plugin dlls and point it to that instead of the actual plugins folder.

This is what you do http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/co ... -or-linux/

once you have created the symlinks organise them into subfolders the way you want and point the plugin path in S1 to them. You may need to delete any 'symlink' extension if it gets added to the filenames.

try softlinks first - on Mac at least softlinks work fine and in all hosts I have tried this with (unlike Aliases/shortcuts that only work with a couple of hosts). Hard links will definitely work but are a bit more complicated.

Hah, that's potentially brilliant, assuming there's no way to get this working directly in Studio by itself. I thought of making shortcuts or symlinks to presets, but you'd still have to create all those presets.

I didn't think of creating shortcuts to the actual DLLs, organizing those, and -- key point -- pointing Studio One's plugins location to my custom-organized shortcuts directory.

I'd rather use shortcuts than simlinks, because on Windows at least, simlinks have some super important major gotchas, but I think only when they refer to directories, so simlinks to the DLL files should be ok.

Re host compatibility, so far I'm only using Studio One (and experimenting a bit with Blue Cat PatchWork), but I'd like not to do anything that might not work in Reaper, which I'd like to check out some day. Given that, it sounds like simlinks are a better idea than shortcuts.


But uh oh, just thought of another problem: I think Waves (and maybe some other companies, though I don't know of any) doesn't have separate DLL files in the plugins directory. There are DLLs for each effect and instrument, but they're elsewhere. Don't see any way to make that work.

StudioOne doesn't support shortcuts or aliases though. Yeah you may have a problem with shell plugins and symlinks - can they go in their own little subfolder and just add that as a path in the custom plugin paths?

The 'major gotchas' is why I said try soft symlinks first, on Mac at least that seems to work fine in my other hosts (I actually haven't tried it in S1 as I find it is so unstable with VST2 plugins I turned off VST2 support - but then I can organise them directly now in S1 anyway) - hardlinks (junction points) have more complications and you have to be careful not to delete the wrong thing.

[aMUSEd]

Am I right that there's no change in this area in v3?

No, you can arrange them completely as you like now.

On Windows? Is there a trick to getting that to work? As noted in my earlier reply, I can't do that in the S1 browser.

No Mac, but I would have thought it would work the same on both platforms. Click the wrench icon to show/hide and favourite plugins. In Folder view you can create new folders and drag plugins between folders.

The manual doesn't say this is just a Mac feature:

Folders
The Instruments and Effects tabs in the Browser each feature a sorting method called Folders. In this view, plug-ins can be sorted into category-specific folders, making it easy to choose from all available plug-ins that specialize in the function you're seeking (such as Distortion or Delay effects, or Synth or Sampler instruments). A set of category folders are provided by default, and some plug-ins are placed into their appropriate folders by default. You can move plug-ins into whatever folder makes sense to you, and create folders of your own to suit your needs.

To move a plug-in instrument or effect into a folder, drag-and-drop it from the list to the folder of your choice. You can also move plug-ins from folder to folder in this way.
To create a new folder, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click in the Browser, and choose [New Folder...] from the resulting pop-up menu. If you [Right]/[Ctrl]-click on an existing folder, your new folder is created as a sub-folder to the selected folder. If you [Right]/[Ctrl]-click in the list of plug-ins below the list of folders, your new folder is created as a top-level folder. Enter a name for the new folder, and click [OK] to create it. To cancel, click [Cancel].
To delete a folder, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click the folder in the Browser, and choose [Delete Folder...] from the resulting pop-up menu. You will be prompted to confirm this deletion. Press [Yes] to delete the selected folder. Press [No] to cancel. You can also delete a folder by selecting it and pressing the [Delete] key on your computer keyboard. If any plug-ins are in a folder when it is deleted, they are moved to the list of non-categorized plug-ins below the folder list.
To rename a folder, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click the folder in the Browser, and choose [Rename Folder...] from the pop-up menu. Enter a new name for the folder, and click [OK] to rename the folder. To cancel, click [Cancel].

[dwozzle]

Am I right that there's no change in this area in v3?

No, you can arrange them completely as you like now.

On Windows? Is there a trick to getting that to work? As noted in my earlier reply, I can't do that in the S1 browser.

No Mac, but I would have thought it would work the same on both platforms. Click the wrench icon to show/hide and favourite plugins. In Folder view you can create new folders and drag plugins between folders.

I would think it'd be the same on both platforms too, surprised and disappointed if not.

And, um, WHAT wrench icon? Where? Don't see anything like that. You're talking about Effects > Folder, right? NOT Files view?

FWIW, I looked through what seemed like the relevant Groove3 content (sprung for the all-you-can-eat special during the holidays), and found no mention of reorganizing plugins in folder directly. Doesn't mean there's no such thing, might either not be covered on Groove3, or it's somewhere I didn't look. Which is a lot of places.

They did have a very clear and complete explanation of the Files tab presets-as-favorites usage pattern, which seems to be the state of the art. It's pretty cool actually, just takes a lot of time to get a crapton of plugs set up initially, and nothing keeps it updated with new stuff except you.

[dwozzle]

To move a plug-in instrument or effect into a folder, drag-and-drop it from the list to the folder of your choice. You can also move plug-ins from folder to folder in this way.

I can't do this. The cursor turns into the no-drop cursor, and releasing the item doesn't drop it or change anything in the folder hierarchy.

To create a new folder, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click in the Browser, and choose [New Folder...] from the resulting pop-up menu. [...]
To delete a folder, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click the folder in the Browser, and choose [Delete Folder...] from the resulting pop-up menu. [...]
To rename a folder, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click the folder in the Browser, and choose [Rename Folder...] from the pop-up menu.

Can't do this either. The only item in the right-click menu is Refresh.

I tried to screenshot both of these, couldn't get anything useful, but honest, I wouldn't be going on about it if it worked here.

This is weird. Manual says you can do these things, you guys do too, but no joy. If anyone thinks of any reasons why these actions might be disabled, let me know.

Thanks anyway. Think I'll post about this in the Presonus forum.

[dwozzle]

Mystery solved. As I said in another thread, I just installed v3 after having bought the upgrade deal when it came out. Turns out that the installer I had was 3.0, from back then. There's a 3.1 update available, installed it, and these new browser features must be part of that, because they're there now.

Looks very cool. If v3 gets me nothing but this, unlikely, I'm happy

Thanks again to all, sorry for the thrash, sorted.