What purpose does the "type of plugin" menu serve, other than increasing the menu count?

 Insert > Soft Synth > (type of plugin) > (plugin)
 
Why must I know, or care, if the plugin is a directx, vst2, or vst3?
 
It seems to me to be another "Showroom display" "feature."
 
Anybody have a rational explanation?
 

I agree the type of plugin is not useful information. If you go into the plugin manager you can create your own lists of plugins that show in the insert menu (and browser) in place of the Sonar defaults. I created a list for soft synths that has all of my plugins alphabetized by name of the plug, and a list for Effects that has all such plugins grouped in folders based in their function (eq, reverb, compression, etc.). Works well for me. It's even possible to add a plugin to the list multiple times. This would be handy, say, for a multiFX plugin like the Percussion Strip that has eq, compression and more all rolled into one.

Bottom line: organize your plugins in the manner that is most accessible and efficient for you.

I'm not a coder, but I get the impression from this document that it's important for Sonar to differentiate internally between VST2 and VST3 plug-ins, so the menu separation is probably a natural result of this. I suppose it would be possible to add another layer and combine them into one big pile before it becomes public-facing, but as Bit points out, you might not always want that. Besides, you can create your own plug-in layouts to show whatever you want.

One mildly curious thing is:if I tick the"Scan VST3 Plugins by category",ONLY my waves plugins show.
This is not that helpful so I leave it unchecked,I just thought Cakewalk plugins would receive priority,but I guess not,or it could prove Iv'e blown way too much money with waves,even with the "only buying when there is a sale"
 
Some of their sales[often through Audio Deluxe et al] have had me thinking Iv'e saved thousands,when really I spent Hundreds on stuff I really didn't need,they have very good sales campaigning strategies.

DXi plug-ins have always been segregated from VST plug-ins in the Cakewalk plug-in menus. One of the reasons given for an extra level in the Cakewalk plug-in menus was to handle very large plug-in counts.

scook
DXi plug-ins have always been segregated from VST plug-ins in the Cakewalk plug-in menus. One of the reasons given for an extra level in the Cakewalk plug-in menus was to handle very large plug-in counts.

That is a very practical reason for the way plug-ins are segregated in Sonar's plug-in menu. I have customized my plug-in menu into plug-in types, some of which have large number of items, which is a lot cleaner than having all plug-ins lumped together.
 
I've never seen it as a "showroom feature" - Cakewalk had to start somewhere with the menus, and offer some sort of organized menu, and this is what they gave us. But as others have noted, the menus are customize-able so users aren't stuck with the standard view and you can change it to an organization style that works better for and looks better to you. I think that if "showroom" was Cakewalk's point, they wouldn't have offered the customization.

Thanks all the various thoughts.
 
Started with CW9, and then Sonar 1- x3.  Since my setup of 8.5.3 is heavily de-cluttered, I cannot refer to the default, out-of-the-box, plugin menus.
 
I use custom folders for ALL plugins, including the Sonar stuff. So I have had to modify the plugin layout, with each version of Sonar.
 
I was trying to figger if I should be doing something different.
 
The X3 plug menu seems more of a "decluttering" issue by adding one more menu segregation requiring users to pay more attention to the interface.  (A general sadness for me.)
 
I can understand the need to make sure new projects use the latest plugs, while keeping older plugs available, but not easily mistaken for the newer bits.
 
I still use many DirectX plugs. Including the "old" CW amp sim (Lots of hard harmonics).
 
Is it Reaper that identifies the type of plug as part of the plugin name? Seems a more reasonable approach than the user having to be sure to add plugins into specific folders, and then modify the menus,..... And it provides for quick sorting and filtering.
 
"Showroom Feature:" 
  Working at various audio equipment stores during the 80's we often lamented the baked on product descriptions (4 head, auto blending, dolby up and down,...) that were only useful for show and tell.  The expensive toys were less likely to have such.. (Conrad-Johnson)
 
For software, "Showroom" features help reviewers know what to comment on. "Oh look, Sonar's new plugin menu divides the "old" from the "newer" and the "newest."
 
This also seems to be a noob feature. Just strikes me as some other S-X series features. Such as the track height minimum is set to make sure a new user will always see the notes gadget. And not being able to scroll the tracks off the track windows so a new user will not call tech support wondering where the tracks went.   
 
Wish I could modify the command-ribbon as easily as fixing the plugin menus.
 
Now there would be a great feature!