VST Preset Tagger/Organizer 2020

[paulm12]

It seems like recently, tag-based sample editors have become popular (probably in part thanks to Splice); hence things like Loopcloud, ADSR Sample Manager, and (my personal favorite) Samplism since it supports cloud syncing. However I don't know an equivalent one that can use to organize and tag presets for VSTs/AUs.
The closest thing that there is right now (currently supported) is something like Komplete Kontrol, which unfortunately only supports certain instruments, doesn't really make it easy to make your own previews for sounds, and adds CPU overhead since you are running a plugin within a plugin. It works great for NI's own products, but for 3rd party instruments that do not support nks it is not ideal.
Some DAWs, like Bitwig and even FL Studio, allow for these things to be created and categorized in an easy way. However I'd prefer a way to store presets (and a reference to their associated instrument) DAW-agnostically.
Are there any programs that support this (similar to BigTick's Zen which is unfortunately discontinued)? I am hoping that the new .vstpreset format also stores enough information about the instrument that it allows DAWs to pull up the associated VST/AU unlike .fxp.

[antic604]

Perhaps Akai VIP?

https://www.akaipro.com/vip

[paulm12]

Perhaps Akai VIP?

https://www.akaipro.com/vip

Interesting; hadn't heard if it before (probably because I thought it was bundled with the keyboards). Any idea if there's any CPU overhead to using it?

[antic604]

Perhaps Akai VIP?

https://www.akaipro.com/vip

Interesting; hadn't heard if it before (probably because I thought it was bundled with the keyboards). Any idea if there's any CPU overhead to using it?

I'd imagine no - it just catalogues your VSTs, presets, tegs them and assigns to controller, sort of like Komplete Kontrol does. So even if, it's very minimal. But I've not used it, so can't be certain.

[oneway]

Komplete Kontrol

Akai VIP (you can buy it separately somewhere or an unused license on KVR)

Nektarine (you have to own a Nektar product)

I gave them all a fair shot and wasn’t really happy with any of them.

The CPU load of all of them seemed pretty negligible on my computer, but Komplete Kontrol did take the longest to load by far.

The best option for me was making presets in my DAW. They haven’t got around to making tagged global presets in Studio One yet but it’s not a big deal, I just do a little section or bank of presets each week.

When I’m working with someone I find immediacy counts for a lot and a massive bank with tags I didn’t choose is surprisingly cumbersome. A small curated bank with my own tags has proven much more productive.

[Orbit-50]

Komplete Kontrol

Akai VIP (you can buy it separately somewhere or an unused license on KVR)

Nektarine (you have to own a Nektar product)

I gave them all a fair shot and wasn’t really happy with any of them.

Same here. Akai VIP is the best, but it's a dead product which needed some issues addressed. Nektar blows across the board, and Komplete Kontrol was made specifically for NI's keyboards, and not for the customers that supported them throughout the years through purchasing their software who don't own their over priced proprietary use controllers.

[yellowmix]

Bought Akai VIP hoping it would solve the issue. It was a great attempt, they provided a ton of presets for various synths. But Akai has to do it which is simply insurmountable when you factor in third party presets. You could do it yourself, assuming the synth exposes the presets/parameters properly, but it's very tedious, you have to transfer each patch one by one. If you're cool with that then is probably the best solution for you.

Komplete Kontrol is the best current solution for me (it works even if you don't have one of their keyboards) and probably the only one with any real hope. NI took on partners and convinced them to supply NKS with their products and more are getting on board each day. That is the necessary link VIP was missing. Unfortunately we need a market behemoth to encourage/coerce plugin devs and preset designers to add the value.

The tags aren't the greatest and honestly nothing would be (Omnisphere 2 came close but people still make their own tags) but it's plenty good enough for general use. A major problem though is there is no VST3 version or a way to load VST3s into it.

[aMUSEd]

The first, and still best product for this was NI Kore, all others follow in its wake, but sadly, like VIP and ZEN, this is also a dead duck. Komplete Kontrol can be made to support third party VSTs with a little work and is the solution I use (although I do still use Kore for some things) - there are a lot of plugins mapped now for Komplete Kontrol as well as instructions on how to roll your own here:

https://www.native-instruments.com/foru ... ry.262959/

[starflakeprj]

Akai VIP is the best, but it's a dead product...

What?! Noooo, InMusic Brands would never let a product die....

[oneway]

Komplete Kontrol can be made to support third party VSTs with a little work and is the solution I use (although I do still use Kore for some things) - there are a lot of plugins mapped now for Komplete Kontrol as well as instructions on how to roll your own here:

https://www.native-instruments.com/foru ... ry.262959/

It’s definitely the strongest choice overall for the moment and is still headed in a positive direction. The keyboards and their chord/scale/arp capabilities are nice and fairly priced, too. If they can continue integrating NKS with other devs, decrease the load time of the wrapper, and make it easier to setup your own maps the way the Controller Editor used to work, then I think it’ll be fantastic in a few years.

inMusic/AIRs strategy doesn’t really seem to be compatible with VIP becoming either a widely accepted standard or a popular user-driven solution. As long as it works well enough for most of their keyboard owners that’s probably OK.

As a Studio One user, I just found it more productive at present to use Control Link and their internal preset format with a controller a little better setup for general 3rd party control. Control Link is truly fantastic.

[paulm12]

Komplete Kontrol can be made to support third party VSTs with a little work and is the solution I use (although I do still use Kore for some things) - there are a lot of plugins mapped now for Komplete Kontrol as well as instructions on how to roll your own here:

https://www.native-instruments.com/foru ... ry.262959/

It’s definitely the strongest choice overall for the moment and is still headed in a positive direction. The keyboards and their chord/scale/arp capabilities are nice and fairly priced, too. If they can continue integrating NKS with other devs, decrease the load time of the wrapper, and make it easier to setup your own maps the way the Controller Editor used to work, then I think it’ll be fantastic in a few years.

inMusic/AIRs strategy doesn’t really seem to be compatible with VIP becoming either a widely accepted standard or a popular user-driven solution. As long as it works well enough for most of their keyboard owners that’s probably OK.

As a Studio One user, I just found it more productive at present to use Control Link and their internal preset format with a controller a little better setup for general 3rd party control. Control Link is truly fantastic.

Yeah I’m with you here; KK seems to be the most promising. The problem is (and the big Achilles heel of the whole thing) is that if you’re a user who wants to save your own presets of VSTs not supported by NKS, it’s very difficult to do so. I’ve spent hours trying to get Spire to show up in KK with the artworks and previews and everything and it works on one of my computers and not the other one.
The sad thing is this is a problem that basically all DAWs have solved to an extent: FL Studio has .fst, Live has .adg, Logic has .cst, and Bitwig basically has its own KK built in. With these, the presets are DAW specific but have the plugin and associated settings contained inside.

[oneway]

Yeah I’m with you here; KK seems to be the most promising. The problem is (and the big Achilles heel of the whole thing) is that if you’re a user who wants to save your own presets of VSTs not supported by NKS, it’s very difficult to do so. I’ve spent hours trying to get Spire to show up in KK with the artworks and previews and everything and it works on one of my computers and not the other one.
The sad thing is this is a problem that basically all DAWs have solved to an extent: FL Studio has .fst, Live has .adg, Logic has .cst, and Bitwig basically has its own KK built in. With these, the presets are DAW specific but have the plugin and associated settings contained inside.

Have you checked out Jason’s stuff over at Freelance Sound Labs? Or are you trying to install his preset packs and it’s not working out? If you just want tags his stuff is super helpful. I wanted tags, control, and speed and decided to give up tags.

Re: other DAWs solving this (to an extent), solving an old problem in a new way or with new hardware will definitely seem a little primitive in a few departments compared to others at first. Even though it might eventually overtake the other options. The Maschine DAW is a good example. The hardware was incredible from the jump. The software took a while.

[waltercruz]

Maybe PluginGuru Unify? It's not made exactly for tagging, but I think that it fits well.

[paulm12]

Yeah I’m with you here; KK seems to be the most promising. The problem is (and the big Achilles heel of the whole thing) is that if you’re a user who wants to save your own presets of VSTs not supported by NKS, it’s very difficult to do so. I’ve spent hours trying to get Spire to show up in KK with the artworks and previews and everything and it works on one of my computers and not the other one.
The sad thing is this is a problem that basically all DAWs have solved to an extent: FL Studio has .fst, Live has .adg, Logic has .cst, and Bitwig basically has its own KK built in. With these, the presets are DAW specific but have the plugin and associated settings contained inside.

Have you checked out Jason’s stuff over at Freelance Sound Labs? Or are you trying to install his preset packs and it’s not working out? If you just want tags his stuff is super helpful. I wanted tags, control, and speed and decided to give up tags.

Re: other DAWs solving this (to an extent), solving an old problem in a new way or with new hardware will definitely seem a little primitive in a few departments compared to others at first. Even though it might eventually overtake the other options. The Maschine DAW is a good example. The hardware was incredible from the jump. The software took a while.

I've checked them out and a lot of them work pretty well for me. The thing is I like doing my own sound design and mainly want to tag all my own presets so I can build up a library of "custom" sounds. You can always make your own presets once you have the interface for the synth (I believe) but many things like previews for custom sounds don't work unless you want to record a .wav with your DAW and name/place each one correctly.