VST plug-in Management Question

[gtrm8kr]

Hi all,

I'm a Pro Tools guy, but just got Bitwig and am new to VSTs. I did a bad job of organizing the VST versions of plug-ins up until now, and now I'm having trouble telling Bitwig where to find them. So, I'm going to reinstall all the VST plugs.

Question - Can I create one c:\VSTplugins folder (C: is my system drive) and install them all there? Or should I go ahead and install them in the default locations recommended during install?

Thanks!

[dsan@mail.com]

You can do as you suggest; however, unless Bitwig is your only DAW, I recommend making an x32 VST folder and an x64 VST folder. VST3's need to be placed into your folder on the C drive though.

The reason why for the multiple folders, or versions; if you have Live and are running x64 and have both versions of the VST in one folder, the first version scanned (x32) may not be permitted (x64 - you recall) and the next version (x64) will be skipped.

The version of Live determines the version of the VST it can/will use. BWS does not have this limitation as it will scan and use both x32 and x64 VST's.

Sometimes too the VST is named the same for the x32 and the x64 version. So if one gets written and the other comes along it will replace the first. Then you have no idea which version is in the folder and may not be able to open it in a particular DAW.

I suggest C:\VST. Inside add x32 and x64. Inside each add a folder for the specific VST (Spectrasonics\Stylus RMX), etc. etc. then drop your VST in.

You can also copy or move the VST .dll's to other folders any place on your system as long as you point your DAW to find them.

Rather than going through all the re-installs you may just want to create a folder for Bitwig, COPY those .dlls to it and point BWS to that folder to scan your VST's.

DO NOT move the libraries from their original installation location though. The .dlls in the new folder will find them just fine. (Disclaimer: There may be a rare exception to this but it is unlikely.)

I install the sound libraries to a different HDD than either my OS drive or VST drive (I keep these off my OS drive too but my system is a bit complex and I don't want to confuse you.)

HTH

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[Dean Aka Nekro]

I do it like this for the sake of simplicity and like yourself I came into vast, expansive and awesome land of the VST/VSTi plugin format from only using Pro Tools so not having to worry about the location of much, Then the VST To RTAS adapter by FXpansion twisted my arm into using some of the great plugins which were not available in RTAS format and by Ableton Live 5 I was head over heals in love with a totally different way of doing things which complemented Pro Tools really damned well (and still does to this day)

VST2 32-Bit/x86 - C:\Program Files (x86)\VSTPlugIns\Developer Name\PlugIn Name
VST2 64-Bit/x64 - C:\Program Files\VSTPlugIns\Developer Name\PlugIn Name
VST3 32-Bit/x86 - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VST3\Developer Name\PlugIn Name
VST3 64-Bit/x64 - C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Developer Name\PlugIn Name

That works well for my needs and is quite easy to maintain, The only other folder I have which houses any VST.dll files is the VSTPlugIns sub-folder in the FXpansion VST To RTAS Adapter folder in my C:\Program Files (x86)\ directory

dsan's advice is in far better depth and detail than mine but I hope it gives you an idea of how you might want to go about it in the most painless of ways

All the best

Dean

[Mivo]

Bitwig will look for the VSTs where you tell it to, and you don't have to stick with the default. I sold my Bitwig license, so I can't check where the setting is, but it is there. You don't need to reinstall anything.

Personally, I have two VST folders (on my D: drive), one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit versions. I don't sort them by manufacturer/etc, since the DAWs I use do the sorting in their browsers.

[highkoo]

C:\VST

I put everything there.
Any extra crap they might install with, I force there.
Basically, each Dev has a folder, and I let that contain any chaos.
I also have a hardlink (?) in there to another \VST on another drive, but thats another thread...

[gtrm8kr]

Awesome. Thanks all.