First time DAW user issues. Need best practice advise.

[globetrotterdk]

As a first time DAW user and having had Tracktion Waveform 8 & 9 demo versions, as well as FL Studio and Ableton Live installed, I see that I need to get some things sorted out and implement some best practices.

In the attached files it is possible to see that I have two VST menu items in my registered copy of Waveform 9 (Win 7). Is this an artifact from having used Waveform 8 & 9 demo versions? There are no 32-bit plugins listed in the one, so I would assume so. The question is how to purge that one menu - do I need to uninstall Waveform 9 and reinstall, or is there something less invasive that I can do to solve this? Note that I have two more instances of the Collective plugin showing up in settings - plugins that I have hidden, to make things less confusing.

2018-11-24 08_32_06-Waveform.png

2018-11-24 08_33_57-Waveform.png

Also regarding VSTs, is installation best practice. I have things setup so that I install all of my VSTs in either C:\Program Files\VST Plugins or C:\Program Files (x86)\VST Plugins. Some of the Waveform 9 plugin installers were not very helpful with regards to being given the opportunity to install to a custom location, but I believe that I have sorted this out by copy - pasting to the correct locations C:\Program Files\VST Plugins\Tracktion and C:\Program Files (x86)\VST Plugins\Tracktion.

Next, also in reference to VSTs, is the issue of installing 32-bit plugins. I was unsure if I needed to install Waveform 9 32-bit VST plugins or not. I usually only install 64-bit (I can't remember what I did with FL Studio and Ableton), unless there is something specifically useful that isn't available in 64-bit, such as a free instrument or effects plugin that I like. What I have installed of 3rd. party plugins appear to work (I haven't tried the listed Waveform plugins), but I did get the following error after having included the 32-bit VSTs in path.

2018-11-24 09_03_38-Waveform-plugins.png

Lastly, moving on to the location for Waveform 9 loops, it appears in settings that W9 loops are expected to be install in C:\Users\user\samples (or Music, or Tracktion\Music), however, Tracktion-drum-loops-sanfilippo-win was installed in C:\ProgramData\Tracktion\Loops not a biggie, but curious.

Anyway, any help on these issues would be appreciated.

[Peter Widdicombe]

2 quick ones - Waveform 9 can't use 32-bit plugins at all (unless you have a 3rd party "plugin bridge" installed like JBridge), so don't install them.

The plugins showing up are presumably part of the last project you worked on. By default, Waveform shows the last project you were working on, and you can select the/one of the last edits for that project.

[globetrotterdk]

2 quick ones - Waveform 9 can't use 32-bit plugins at all (unless you have a 3rd party "plugin bridge" installed like JBridge), so don't install them.

The plugins showing up are presumably part of the last project you worked on. By default, Waveform shows the last project you were working on, and you can select the/one of the last edits for that project.

Thanks for the info about Waveform 9 and 32-bit plugins. I also discovered the "settings - plugins - remove any plugins whose files no longer exist" option, which has sorted out my confused menu situation

[NTO]

For the loops dirs...
The first is where your creations go.
The other for distribution content.

[globetrotterdk]

Thanks