plugin host that scans and previews all your presets?

[DeeDjay]

Does there exist a freeware or commercial VST3 plugin host that is actually built around preset management instead of plugin management? I mean: a host that can scan all your installed presets of different plugins (from different vendors) without any preset format conversion, allows for categorizing and searching presets based on tags / categories, and "previews" them based on a pre-recorded MIDI sequence. It would allow me to quickly search for the right sound for my composition, without needing to open each and every plugin and try to find the preset I want.

I know there exists e.g. Native Instruments' Komplete Kontrol and Arturia's Analog Lab, but Analog lab only supports Arturia plugins. Komplete Kontrol comes closer to what I'm looking for but still tied to NKS partners, you need to convert your presets to the NKS format, it doesn't automatically recognize newly created presets (except if you first convert it), etc.
In absence of one, I might think of developing myself such a plugin host, perhaps first supporting open source plugins like Surge XT, Vital, ...

Any thoughts, suggestions?

[BertKoor]

There is no single midi clip suitable to demo a large variation of synth patched.

There is one thing I know for sure is more complex than developing a VST plugin: developing a VST plugin Host.

[eLawnMust]

For the retro & actually is still available commercially is Making Waves but for VST2 & DX... When it scans plugs it turns any internal presets into it's own format, individual folder for each plugin scanned, you can add more by loading in a FXB into the plug then doing again...

Then choice is not by plug it's by preset as you click on any preset the plug will be loaded into the background & play said preset, if you like it then you double-click to track or drag...

[DeeDjay]

Making Waves: quite old indeed, and obviously lacks VST3 support. But as you mention "choice is not by plug it's by preset ", that's indeed what I'm looking for: I have gathered over the years tons of presets from various plugins and I'd like to easily look up the preset I once used long time ago but don't remember anymore the plugin it belonged to...
Will check it out further, thanks for the tip.

[JiggSaw]

Does there exist a freeware or commercial VST3 plugin host that is actually built around preset management instead of plugin management? I mean: a host that can scan all your installed presets of different plugins (from different vendors) without any preset format conversion, allows for categorizing and searching presets based on tags / categories, and "previews" them based on a pre-recorded MIDI sequence. It would allow me to quickly search for the right sound for my composition, without needing to open each and every plugin and try to find the preset I want.

I know there exists e.g. Native Instruments' Komplete Kontrol and Arturia's Analog Lab, but Analog lab only supports Arturia plugins. Komplete Kontrol comes closer to what I'm looking for but still tied to NKS partners, you need to convert your presets to the NKS format, it doesn't automatically recognize newly created presets (except if you first convert it), etc.
In absence of one, I might think of developing myself such a plugin host, perhaps first supporting open source plugins like Surge XT, Vital, ...

Any thoughts, suggestions?

PluginGuru Unify 2 (and "unified" libraries) is close to what you're looking for. It's not going to automatically add presets when you scan your plugins. However, downloading the unified libraries for plugins you have is a good starting point. Unify/Unified is close to Komplete Kontrol/NKS but it's way more flexible imo. It's easy enough to open a plugin, pick a favorite preset and then save/categorize/tag presets in Unify. Then you'll be able to search for all the guitar (or whatever instrument) presets you saved across all your plugins.

[Pepin]

For the retro & actually is still available commercially is Making Waves but for VST2 & DX... When it scans plugs it turns any internal presets into it's own format, individual folder for each plugin scanned, you can add more by loading in a FXB into the plug then doing again...

Then choice is not by plug it's by preset as you click on any preset the plug will be loaded into the background & play said preset, if you like it then you double-click to track or drag...

If it relies on FXB for import, then I don't understand what it achieves here.

FXB/FXP is already a plugin agnostic preset format readable by most DAWs
For VST3, the equivalent is .vstpreset

The issue OP is trying to overcome is that many developers ship plugins with their own proprietary preset formats rather than using the aforementioned, no? The goal is unified browsing without converting everything.

[eLawnMust]

It only relies on FXB to import via it's own wrapper... If the plugin has it's own browser with load/save then it can load in it's own native banks no matter what they are & MW will turn those into it's own format....

It is a VERY clever piece of code that has languished since the genius developer passed away in 2011 after being sick for years... The issue with it is plugin scanning which is done in a weird way & it's picky...

One that has passed everyone by is Sonicbytes Phrazor which can be brought into any sequencer or DAW as a VSTi or a VST & stable as hell whilst not as 'preset-centric' as Making Waves it does have a nice system for storing/recalling... it's 32bits though but the non-expiring beta is still available on the wayback machine & it's as stable as the release with just a few MIDI features missing plus the beta is portable, put the whole directory in your plugins directory no matter where it is, move it to USB no problem, reads relative...

[DeeDjay]

For the retro & actually is still available commercially is Making Waves but for VST2 & DX... When it scans plugs it turns any internal presets into it's own format, individual folder for each plugin scanned, you can add more by loading in a FXB into the plug then doing again...

Then choice is not by plug it's by preset as you click on any preset the plug will be loaded into the background & play said preset, if you like it then you double-click to track or drag...

If it relies on FXB for import, then I don't understand what it achieves here.

FXB/FXP is already a plugin agnostic preset format readable by most DAWs
For VST3, the equivalent is .vstpreset

The issue OP is trying to overcome is that many developers ship plugins with their own proprietary preset formats rather than using the aforementioned, no? The goal is unified browsing without converting everything.

Correct, FXB/FXP and .vstpreset are the 'preset standards' for older and VST3 plugins respectively, but as you mention, little follow these standards for their presets. And yes, it is all about unified browsing without conversions. I've been experimenting though with some open source plugins like Dexed and Surge XT (no .vstpreset format either) and you could reverse engineer the preset contents and convert that to a format the is understood by the plugin (using the VST3 interface), so doable I guess

[osiris]

I also think Unify is the closest you will get. We've been asking for this on the FL forum and they tell us it's not possible.

[DeeDjay]

I also think Unify is the closest you will get. We've been asking for this on the FL forum and they tell us it's not possible.

Any reason why they say it's not possible? Is it possible to forward me the link to that question in the FL forum?
After reviewing Unify, I agree it's probably the best alternative for what I'm looking for except for developing one myself

[osiris]

I think like mentioned above you could do fxp, but so many companies have their own unique preset extensions.

[martar1994]

Hey, I've been working on something like this actually. It's called ProducerGrid, started building it because I had the exact same frustration.

Right now it scans VST3, VST2, AU, AAX and CLAP, you can open any plugin standalone without a DAW (keyboard for synths, drag in audio for effects), and browse presets. The unified cross-vendor preset search you're describing is the hardest part honestly, every company does their own thing with preset formats, so it's a lot of reverse engineering.

Still very much a work in progress but if you want to try it: https://www.producergrid.com/

[Dexter US]

would be cool if I could color code a file name and it would automatically load in the vst and then load that file... Maybe waiting along time on that one but I do have alot of non vst stuff that have their own instrument formats.

[DeeDjay]

Hey, I've been working on something like this actually. It's called ProducerGrid, started building it because I had the exact same frustration.

Right now it scans VST3, VST2, AU, AAX and CLAP, you can open any plugin standalone without a DAW (keyboard for synths, drag in audio for effects), and browse presets. The unified cross-vendor preset search you're describing is the hardest part honestly, every company does their own thing with preset formats, so it's a lot of reverse engineering.

Still very much a work in progress but if you want to try it: https://www.producergrid.com/

Just checked it out briefly. Cool stuff! The preset scanning looks limited to fxp only? Will look closer to it tonight...

[lfm]

Since still have to categorize yourself according to what you find relevant, I think MediaBay in Cubase is rather close
- make own folders for categories you want
- create search paths to scan
- then dropping this onto arranger view or preview sounds rather easy as I recall, 8 yrs since running Cubase
- grade them with stars etc to help exclude what is listed

If wanting sub categories for various articulations of violins you can do that too.

I used MediaBay to categorize daw projects which state they are in
- embryo, recording, mixing etc

Studio One(Fender Studio Pro) has a rather cool VST instrument listing
- expand the instrument and all it's presets are listed under
- preview by selecting or drag-n-drop to create a track with it

To reverse engineer the internals of presets to automatically get more configured, good luck.

I don't even like VST3 groupings for audio effects, often have to look multiple groups to find what they decided it belongs to.
- so what one person/developer wants in a group may not be in taste of somebody else
- is a delay a delay or modulation plugin which is often is both, can't remember exactly

Same goes for stores that sell guitar pedals, what categories they belong to, often hard to find by category IMO

ProducerGrid seems cool though, probably helps a bit for many.