Why do some companies secretly install Pro Tools plugins on my system?

[MogwaiBoy]

Serious question. Is there a reason why?

Is there some kind of legal agreement they have with Avid? Is there some kind of technical reason for an Avid folder to exist on my non-Pro Tools PC?

"If you don't like it, just delete the folder" is not the answer - I'm genuinely interested in the 'why'.

I have tried to remove said plugins and sometimes they cause crashes, ie a plugin installer app says there's an issue with my installations and needs to re-install (and put the AAX versions back in the Avid folder, like removing them somehow BROKE my installation) - or whenever I update those plugins the AAX's come back anyway. So they are very deliberately populating that Avid folder without my consent, and it's just filling up my boot disk for no benefit to me. Is there a benefit to them? What's the point?

I don't get it.

[MogwaiBoy]

I have 4.72 gigabytes worth of Pro Tools plugins in:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Avid\Audio

Name and Shame - The Offenders:
- Arturia
- KIT Plugins (somehow I need a 70mb AAX version of the VST I bought from them. I don't remember being asked in the installation)
- Softube (the biggest offenders - can't remove as they just come back with updates/breaks the installation and 'fixing' it just reinstalls AAX)
- SSL (shame on you )
- Spitfire Audio (why...)
- Soundtoys (700mb of AAX I will never ever use or need - tempted to delete and see what happens)
- XLN Audio (installer app bugs out if you remove the AAX versions. Suddenly there's a problem that needs fixing - whatever)
- UVI (love Thorus so much but I don't even need both VST2 AND 3, let alone a "secret" AAX version)
- Waves (Not surprised - Waveshell"1","2" and "3" AAX for V9.92, 10, 11, 12.7, 13, 13.1, 14)

Very much welcome developer input on why this occurs.

You should probably give me Mac AU versions too, just in case

[pough]

Holy sh*t. I never thought to check. 700MB+ of AAX plugins that I never consented to... Maybe it's time for a little performative revenge by cluttering up their support with questions about why the AAX plugins won't work, ending up with the admission that Pro Tools isn't now and never has been installed on my computer.

[dayjob]

a lot of plug in installers allow you to select the formats you want to install.. also, nothing is stopping you from deleting the folder with all those AAX plug ins in it. i've deleted it from my mac more than once. it's irrelevant and nothing will miss it.

sometimes i forget to uncheck the "AAX" format in the installer.. no big deal. just delete them after.

[MogwaiBoy]

a lot of plug in installers allow you to select the formats you want to install.. also, nothing is stopping you from deleting the folder with all those AAX plug ins in it. i've deleted it from my mac more than once. it's irrelevant and nothing will miss it.

sometimes i forget to uncheck the "AAX" format in the installer.. no big deal. just delete them after.

Where do I tell Waves and Softube apps not to install AAX? Any help much appreciated. SSL installer never gave the option (it's not user error).

[revvy]

The reason is connected to 5G. I can’t say anymore about that.

[jamcat]

Just updated my Arturia plugins on my Mac and had to do the ritual garbage collection of AU, VST2, and AAX.

ASC doesn't let you choose your format(s) on Mac. Why?

2GB of AAX plugins total since the last time I trashed my uninvited Avid folder.

[dayjob]

a lot of plug in installers allow you to select the formats you want to install.. also, nothing is stopping you from deleting the folder with all those AAX plug ins in it. i've deleted it from my mac more than once. it's irrelevant and nothing will miss it.

sometimes i forget to uncheck the "AAX" format in the installer.. no big deal. just delete them after.

Where do I tell Waves and Softube apps not to install AAX? Any help much appreciated. SSL installer never gave the option (it's not user error).

_some_ installers let you pick what get's installed. you click "customize" on a mac once you get to that screen and then it shows what's being installed and you can deselect the formats you don't want to install. it'd be nice if they all allowed this but they don't so the only option it to delete the contents of that AAX folder once in a while if space is an issue or whatever reason.

[kidslow]

Serious question. Is there a reason why?

For their convenience, is it not obvious?

As has been pointed out already, conscientious developers allow the customer to configure which formats are installed.

[phreaque]

Add to the list:
Native Instruments
Spectrasonics

[kidslow]

Just updated my Arturia plugins on my Mac and had to do the ritual garbage collection of AU, VST2, and AAX.

ASC doesn't let you choose your format(s) on Mac. Why?

My Preferences > Advanced > [uncheck] Silent install

In Finder, I have the folders all color coded like a trail of breadcrumbs to quickly find my path to that Avid AAX plugins folder. Thinking maybe I should just write a shell script to delete the contents and run nightly.

[kidslow]

Where do I tell Waves and Softube apps not to install AAX? Any help much appreciated. SSL installer never gave the option (it's not user error).

There is no option to tell Waves what formats to install. I have never encountered a problem manually removing the waveshell formats that I do not want.

[MogwaiBoy]

Serious question. Is there a reason why?

For their convenience, is it not obvious?

As has been pointed out already, conscientious developers allow the customer to configure which formats are installed.

I don't see the convenience for them - if anything it creates more problems from people like me distracting their support about unwanted Pro Tools plugins filling up their harddrives. I'm curious to know the reason why so I will contact some of these devs. I don't see the convenience, sorry - if you could elaborate on it a bit more please, to help me understand.

[MogwaiBoy]

Where do I tell Waves and Softube apps not to install AAX? Any help much appreciated. SSL installer never gave the option (it's not user error).

There is no option to tell Waves what formats to install. I have never encountered a problem manually removing the waveshell formats that I do not want.

Correct, and they pull a handful of each plugin out of those shell files anyway (mono/stereo/VST2/VST3/32-bit/64-bit) even just on the regular, so Waves of all developers should be more careful than most in not creating bloat.

I will delete the AAX Waveshells and hope nothing breaks.

[kidslow]

Serious question. Is there a reason why?

For their convenience, is it not obvious?

As has been pointed out already, conscientious developers allow the customer to configure which formats are installed.

I don't see the convenience for them - if anything it creates more problems from people like me distracting their support about unwanted Pro Tools plugins filling up their harddrives. I'm curious to know the reason why so I will contact some of these devs. I don't see the convenience, sorry - if you could elaborate on it a bit more please, to help me understand.

My assumption is two-fold: (1) You are the exception, and for every one of you there presumably are 2 or 3 ProTools users who would call in and complain that AAX is not working. Judging just from this thread, for every one of you complaining directly to the developers there are multiples of customers silently deleting the plugins and moving on. (2) The packaging tools that most devs use seem to have evolved to allow more granular installation choices in the past x years (not sure what the value of x is), and conscientious developers have updated and offered the choice to their customers. I don't know it it's a toolchain thing or an assumption about what gets installed thing, but I have seen an evolution over the 3-4 years I've been paying attention.