Adding Plugins and/or VST's

Hi Tom

VST = Virtual Studio Technology - it's basically an umbrella term for a software application of a piece of hardware/standalone gear such as distortion, reverb, delay compression etc.

Plug In = A piece of VST software that can be literally plugged in to your project - in a track, a bus or a master out.

These terms now seem to be interchangable, e.g. you may hear of a 'flanger' plug-in, a 'flanger VST' or indeed a 'VST flanger plug-in'.

For GT3 to recognise these VST's and allow you to use them in a project they must first be scanned by Cakewalk's VST adapter.

As you've said you've placed some downloaded VST's to your Shared plug-in folder we'll try and get them working.

First off, if you've downloaded a 'zipped' plug-in, you'll have to unzip the compressed folder. If you haven't got WinRar, I'd recommend downloading the excellent and free Zip Genius - it can be downloaded from this page: CLICK HERE

With whichever unzipping program you use, from the options, choose to unzip the plug-ins to their own folder within the Shared Plug-in folder.

Now open GT3 and from the menu bar select Tools>VST Configuration Wizard - in the window that appears, click on Add and use the Explorer view that appars to navigate to and then open the Cakewalk Shared plug-in folder. Once inside, click on the folder of the plug-in you wish to scan and click OK - you'll need to repeat this process for all the plug-ins you wish to scan.

Once you've added all the VST folders you wish to add, click on Next - a list of your VST's will appear shortly, click on OK. Once you receive the message confirming the plugs have been added, click on OK.

Now you have to close GT3.

Re-open a GT project and switch to the Mix View, Right click inside one of the FX bins of a track with some audio in it and select Audio Effects>VST - you can insert any of the plug-ins that appear in this list by left clicking on it.

The VST will open - solo the track you have inserted it in and press play to hear the effect in 'real time' - you will be able to tweak the effect or change presets while your track is playing.

Once you are happy with a plug in effect just leave it where it is - the effect isn't permanently applied to your audio and you can change it whenever you want. If you mixdown your project, GT3 will apply the effect to the mixdown so you will get exaclty what you heard, still without changing your audio.

I've rattled through this a bit Tom, see how you get on - if you run into any problems or if I've gone too 'quick' just post back. You are going to be really glad you asked this question!!

Steve

That's strange Tom, but not unheard of.

It doesn't really matter if it doesn't show up in there, I find it much easier to use the VST Adapter [a more usual name for 'Configuration Wizard'] as a standalone application rather than have to open GT3 to use it; what is important is that it has been installed.

If you just clicked on all the default options when you installed GT3, you should be able to find it here:

Start > Computer > HDD > Programs > Cakewalk > Cakewalk VST Adapter 4

Open the VST Adapter 4 folder and inside you should see the Adapter icon:



Right click on it and select Send To > Desktop (create shortcut)

If all's well at this point, you should be able to open the VST Adapter from your desktop and scan your VST plug-ins as I outlined in my last post Tom.

If it's not there, try a search for Cakewalk VST Adapter 4 to find where it did install. If you still can't find it, you'll probably have to do an uninstall/reinstall of GT3.

Let us know how it goes Tom.

Steve

My copy of GT3 installs without the VST Wizard in the tools menu. Upon installing the 4.5.1 VST Patch Steve mentioned it will become available in the tools menu. I agree that it is easier to use the wizard without opening GT3 as then you don't have to restart it.

ORIGINAL: TomN

Sweet. That's why I come here. Thanks guys. Everything worked exactly as described. They all showed up in a folder named VST in the "Audio Effects" menu. And the wizard does show up in my tools menu now.
The only strange thing is some previous ones that were in their own Native Instruments folder got lumped into the same folder. But I think that is probably because they got rescanned with the new ones. No big deal.

To delete and remove any unwanted ones from the list do I just delete the effect and then rerun the wizard?

Also, now the inevitable. What are some good plugins to get and where should I go get them? Free ones and not free ones.

I should also add that I am primarily recording instrumental rock guitar based songs. So I don't need any effects or plugins for vocals.

Great news Tom - glad we got you going!

If you no longer wish to have a VST in your list, open the Adapter and from the main window click on Remove - now navigate to the folder the effect is in and select it. Click next and the effect will no longer appear in your list but will still be on your system should you decide to rescan it again later.

If there are more than one VST in the folder, bear in mind they will all be lost - that's why I create a separate folder for all my new VST's.

Here are a few sites to get you going on some great free stuff, I'm sure the other guys will add more:

* There are excellent resources at:
.......KVR:- http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php and at
.......Scott Garrigus's DigiFreq site:- http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/downloads.asp

* Antress:- http://antress.webng.com/ (the directory is here: http://www.gersic.com/plugins/hosted/antress/index.php)

* Audacity Plug-Ins:- http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=VST_Plug-ins

* Betabugs:- http://www.betabugsaudio.com/plugs.php

* Blue Line:- http://www.music-boss.com/freeware_plug-in_blue_line.htm

* Darkware:- http://www.gersic.com/plugins/hosted/darkware/darkware.html

* Don't Crack:- http://www.dontcrack.com/freeware/software.php/id/7037/audio/Plug-ins/platform/windows/

* Dream Vortex:- http://www.dream.vortex.btinternet.co.uk/8103/

* Fretted Synth:- http://frettedsynth.home.att.net/

* Gersic:- http://www.gersic.com/plugins/

* GVST:- http://www.gvst.co.uk/downloads.htm

* Jeroen Breebaart:- http://www.jeroenbreebaart.com/audio_vst.htm

* Kjaerhus:- http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/download.php

* MadTracker:- http://www.madtracker.org/plugins.php

* MDA:- http://mda.smartelectronix.com/

* Reaper:- http://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/

* Retrosampling:- http://www.retrosampling.se/vst.htm

* Shareware Music Machine links: http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/win95/PLUGINS_VST/

* SIR Reverb:- http://www.knufinke.de/sir/sir1.html

* Slim Slow Slider:- http://www.geocities.jp/webmaster_of_sss/vst/index.html#c3

* Sound Editor:- http://www.freesoundeditor.com/incageneng.html?VSTFiltereng.htm~main

* Soundclick Forum links: http://board.soundclick.com/viewtopic.php?t=126143

* Sweetboy:- http://rekkerd.org/sweetboy-vst/

* TAL (Togu Audio Line):- http://kunz.corrupt.ch/?Products

* Terry West Productions: http://www.terrywest.110mb.com/steady.html

* Tweakbench:- http://www.tweakbench.com/

* Voxengo:- http://www.voxengo.com/

* Wavosaur:- http://www.wavosaur.com/vst/compressor-plugins.php

For some really useful free mixing and mastering VST's, click on THIS LINK to go the a thread set up by myself and Legion - there are screenshots for all 25 VST's plus a link to the download page of each one.

Most of the VST downloads are compressed or 'zip' files; a great free and easy to use program which will uncompress or 'unzip' them is the excellent ZIP GENIUS

You are going to be really glad you asked this question mate - happy hunting

Steve

Tom, what I find works for me is this.

Create a brand new folder somewhere on your hard drive and call it 'Downloaded VST's' or something similar so you can find it easily enough.

When you download a zipped VST, use the explorer to browse to this folder and download [always click Save, not 'Run'] the .zip into it.

Use your unzipping program to unzip the VST into the same folder - with the excellent ZipGenius program I mentioned before this is a piece of cake.

The .zip will normally unzip to a new folder with the same name - inside this folder will be the actual VST itself, more often than not a .dll file. There may also be a readme file or even a user's manual!

Run the VST Adapter and navigate to inside the Downloaded VST folder. You can only tell the adapter to scan a folder, not the VST .dll itself - this is why only folders appear in the search. Click on a folder to select it and you will be returned to the main window; if you wish to add more VST's repeat this process, once you've selected all you want, press next and the adapter will scan them and make them available to GT3.

What you'll have is a very flexible system that allows you to add and delete VST's easily; another benefit is that should a VST become corrupt, you will still have the original .zip file in your main folder - delete the corrupted unzipped folder and unzip the original again!

One important thing Tom, the VST Adapter works by 'directing' GT to the address of the VST, not the VST itself - in other words, if you move the VST folders to another location, GT3 will not be able to find them and you'll need to scan the new location.

Also, another thing to remember, especially if your VST doesn't appear in GT after a scan - the Adapter only 'works' on the folder the .dll is directly inside, not sub-folders. You may find a suite of two or more VST's downloaded in one bundle unzip into their own folders within the main unzipped folder - in this case you'll need to scan each separate folder inside the main folder. Also, some zipped downloads only unzip the .dll [i.e. not into it's own folder] so scan the main Downloaded VST folder once in a while.

Steve

Hi Tom, as far as I know, GT3 doesn't allow you to do this - it will only list your VST's in alphabetical order.

The only way I can think of sorting them into categories is to spend a bit of time renaming all the VST .dll files with a prefix - for all your reverb plugs, type REV or something in front of the VST name, for comprssion plugs, type COMP in front etc.

If you don't plan on using too many I wouldn't bother!!

Steve

speaking of all these vsts/plugins Do I need to uprade the vsp adapter in GT Pro3 to the most current one (4.5.3.157) or do I need to install each upgrade till I've installed the lastest one? in order that they were released?

ORIGINAL: stratmanforever

speaking of all these vsts/plugins Do I need to uprade the vsp adapter in GT Pro3 to the most current one (4.5.3.157) or do I need to install each upgrade till I've installed the lastest one? in order that they were released?

I'm pretty certain Robert's right here Bill, the bumph says you can use the patch if your VST Adapter version is 4.4.0, 4.4.2 or 4.5.1.

Version 4.4.0 ships with GT3 I think and 4.5.1 is the previous patch so you should be able to update in one hit.

If you want to be absolutely certain, do the 4.5.1 upgrade first and then the 4.5.3.157 as this is the route most of us will have taken, we can vouch that it does work using this method!

ORIGINAL: Guitarhacker

To remove a plug in or VST just click ( or right click) on it IN the track's FX bin and select delete...presto...it's gone. Deleting it from a project DOES NOT take it out of your system...just the project....and you can plug it back in again if you need to.

NOTE: I always stop the playback before plugging in a new VST or FX.... not stopping can cause a crash...deleting can be done in playback w/o problems... usually.

You do not need to run the VST config thing every time you start... just set up the folders to be scanned on startup and when you add a new VST AND put it in that scanned folder, it will be scanned and will be available to you.

Actually what I am wondering is how to remove one from the available list. Not just the in use effects bin. Based on what I have learned over the last day or two I will have to remove the unwanted plug in from the scanned folder and rescan my plug ins. Then it should be out of GT. I think.

ORIGINAL: TomN

Actually what I am wondering is how to remove one from the available list. Not just the in use effects bin. Based on what I have learned over the last day or two I will have to remove the unwanted plug in from the scanned folder and rescan my plug ins. Then it should be out of GT. I think.

That's it Tom, if you think you might want to use it again at some time, just use the 'Remove' function in the Adapter and then finish the scan.

That's why I kept mine all in their own separate folders.

I say 'kept' because in my Cakewalk Home Studio 6XL, you have the exact option you were asking about to sort your VST's into folders - Cakewalk Plug-In Manager, and it is a brilliant feature!

Here's what it looks like:



Steve

Right Tom

Working down through your four images first:

Image 1

The Process>Audio Effects dialogue will only be available if you have some audio selected, in other words, when you've left clicked on at least one audio waveform clip in the Edit View.

Anyhow, this isn't a good method of using effects though Tom because GT will do exaclty what it says - it will process the audio, permanently changing it, this is called 'destructive editing' and once you've saved the changes and exited GT, you can never get the original recording of that part back, unless you've saved it under another project name.

Putting VST's and effects into the Effects [FX] bin of a track in the Mix View is far preferable, as the effects are added in real time to the audio without permanently changing it - this has the enormous benefit that you can change/remove the effect as many times as you like while preserving your original tracks; even when you mix your project down to a stereo wave file, GT will still 'add' the effects to you song while allowing you to change anything if you wish to do a re-mix.

The main limit on how many effects you can have running is how powerful and/or fast your PC is Tom - if a project starts dropping out because yopu have too many VST's for your PC to handle, this is the time you may want to consider applying some of the effects; I did this a lot on my older PC which was very slow, but I still saved a back-up version every time I processd some effects.


Image 2

This is the correct way to add one of GT's bundled effects to an FX bin.


Image 3

I'm not 100% sure why some effects are labelled as DXi's and not VST's - from my experience, most of the items in my DXi folder are MIDI software synthesisers I've downloaded since getting Home Studio, GT cannot use them as it doesn't support MIDI. These DirectX plugs were developed by Cakewalk in association with Microsoft so it's little wonder the option is in all of their products!

Anyway, others may have a far better explanation than mine.


Image 4

This particular Audio Effects menu is almost exacltly the same as the Process>Audio menu and will do exactly the same thing - it will permanently alter your audio - I would heartily recommend not using this as per my answer above Tom.

Notice you can only access it from right clicking on a clip - this is another similarity with the Process>Audio menu.


To access your downloaded VST's [i.e. all those listed in the Process>Audio menu] and insert them into the FX bin of a track, you need to use this pathway: right click in an FX bin and select Audio Effects>VST and then click on an effect to add it to the bin; this shot shows the path needed to insert my Otium Bass Lane VST:




Try that out and see how it goes Tom

Steve

Looking forward to hearing some of your stuff soon then Tom.

Keep the VST's is the FX bins and stay away from that Process button though!