As shown some time ago for the Mac, today’s tip shows you how to organize your plug-ins on windows, in order to find and load them quickly into Blue Cat’s PatchWork or MB-7 Mixer.

As you will see, It’s no rocket science, and this will greatly improve your experience and reduce the time to load your plug-ins.

Spending Too Much Time Looking For Plug-Ins?

Some people have been asking for the capability to load the plug-ins directly from the menu instead of having to open an Explorer Window. While this may be added in the future to our software, be aware that it may never beat what you can already do today with the Windows Explorer or Finder, as you will see below…

Ableton Live makes it possible to utilize plugins stored in different folders on the computer. To do this, create a Mac OS or Windows alias of the folder where additional VST Plug-ins are stored, and then place the alias in the VST Plug-In Custom folder (or in the VST Plug-In System folder on Mac OS X) selected in Live's File/ Folder Preferences. Just right click on a plugin dll and then click 'create shortcut'. Place this shortcut file in a new folder and adjust the custom folder path in ableton preferences to this new custom folder. Ableton will also scan the subfolders in it (that would be your categories) I'm pretty sure there is a way to do this on mac, too.

1. If you want all unique devices to appear separate from amalgamated-device-racks, add an underscore prefix to the name (Example: Save “Generic Analog Compressor VST” as an Effect Rack called “Compressor Analog Generic” or save “TAL Bassline” as an Instrument Rack called “Synth Bass TAL Bassline”).
2. Instead, Ableton Live scans a customised plug-in folder for any VST plug-ins already installed on the computer. Install VST plug-ins by creating a folder for VST plug-ins, then copying each VST into this folder.
3. This product should run on any host supporting 64-bit VST, AU, or AAX plugins. XLN Audio actively tests on the host applications listed below: Ableton Live 9 & 10; Apple Logic Pro 9 & 10; Avid Pro Tools 11 or later (Pro Tools First is not supported) Cakewalk by Bandlab; Propellerhead Reason 10.3 or later; Reaper 4 & 5; Steinberg Cubase 8 or later.

How To

On Windows, whatever you do, your VST plug-ins folder will probably quickly look like a huge mess, unfortunately…

There is however a very simple way to overcome this issue and organize your plug-ins properly: it will just take you a few minutes!

To quickly access your plug-ins, without modifying the original install locations (for optimal compatibility), just do the following:
1. Create a new folder somewhere convenient on your system. For example in the ” My Documents” directory.
2. Label the new folder as “Plug-ins”.
3. Drag it into your Sidebar Favorites section to make it available as a shortcut there.
4. Go to your VST plug-ins folder.
5. Right click on each plugin you want and choose “Create shortcut” (multi-selection works too).
6. Move these shortcuts to your new folder, and create sub-folders to organize them.

Here you go! You can now access plug-ins quickly using the shortcuts, inside the appropriate folders:

VST Plug-Ins organized into subfolders, directly accessible from the Favorites Sidebar

Additional Tip: You can also choose to add several folders to the favorite bar instead of a single one, to access directly the mostly used plug-ins that you use most of the time.

One More Tip: It is possible to add a shortcut to the same plug-in in different folders, as it may be valid for several categories.

Not Fancy Enough? Add Some Icons!

Once you have properly organized the plug-ins thanks to shortcuts and linked to them from the favorites bar, you may want to add some colors to it and change the icons. You can set a different icon for each folder, and even for each plug-in:

Plug-Ins Folders with Custom Icons

With custom icons, it is even easier to find the plug-ins: a glance will suffice to pickup the right one!

Free Search Included!

Vst plugins that cause viruses. And one more thing… Did you know that you can then use the standard windows search feature to find the plug-ins? Just type in a name and you’ll get it instantly!

VST Plug-In Search Included !

Conclusion

Simply using the Windows Explorer properly and taking the time to organize things will greatly improve the plug-in loading experience. There are even features that are not available in most host applications (how many do provide custom icons and search?).

How To Organize Vst Plugins In Ableton Plugins

Do you still need an included plug-in menu? Please discuss below!