Good morning, all!
 
So I've been mulling over how to make more efficient use of all these VST instruments that I have lurking in my computer - all the ones in Sonar, as well as Omnisphere, Komplete, and others - in a way that is more efficient. As many of you, I'm sure, also suffer from "too-much-software-and-too-little-time-to-master-it-all" syndrome like me, what suggestions so y'all have for pulling this all under one roof? For example, I need a string sound: I can pull up a dozen different VSTs and check them each out, which takes forever, or I could use "magic software program alpha" and type in "strings" and get 50 options across all of my VSTs that are installed. I had hope for the Akai Advance VIP software, but after the seemingly big splash it made a year ago, if I search for more recent updated reviews and opinion, the consensus seems to be that it's not quite ready for primetime. I can appreciate the difficulty in writing software such as this because I imagine the only way it really works the way I dream for it to work, is for a company to painstakingly catalog and tag every instrument in any collection out there. Probably the best example I can find of it being done well is with the NI Komplete Kontrol series of keyboards, but it's a pretty closed system as far as I can tell. Akai's VIP does integrate with Komplete to a fairly deep degree and gives one some control as well outside of that NI universe but it seems still not quite barking up the right tree. Moreover, the reviews on Akai's VIP are VERY mixed...
 
That being said, is there something that seems to fit the bill "best" that works great for Sonar users? I've filtered though dozens of posts about midi controllers and keyboards and such on these forums but there really isn't much of a consensus. I know that Nektar had a keyboard that maps to Sonar but I'm not so much looking for the mapping as much as being able to search through libraries across multiple different VSTs. In fact, I don't need the keyboard even as part of the equation, just some software would do the trick..... 
 
Any thoughts?

Deleted:  misunderstood your "master" reference...
 
 

Having too many choices goes way back to the advent of multi timberal sound modules that came with sometimes 1,000 patches. It's only gotten worse and there really is no other solution other than patiently auditioning them all.
 
Myself I only use traditional sounds like Piano's and Organs. On the odd occasion I did need a string or fuzzy synth patch I agree that the search becomes daunting. You have to insert each synth just to try the assigned patches.
Seems most of the synths are the same thing with just a different GUI.
So maybe a good upgrade to Sonar would be that say, Rapture will be the only synth we need and it would play every patch from every other synth.   

You kind of have to do it with your work habits.  I tend to think of certain VSTis as being used for the sound I'm going for.  I tend to steer clear of huge Swiss army knife collections that contain "every sound in the world." 
 
So, if I need a pad sound I usually start with Omnisphere.
 
For bass sounds I use Trillian.
 
For orchestral instruments I use VSL.
 
I also have the Arturia V Collection for classic synth emulation.
 
I have others that I use for certain tasks (vocal synths, specialized synths) but I stopped using things like SampleTank and Goliath a few years ago.  They are great places to start, but I found them lacking depth even though they had 1000s of sounds (or maybe because of it).
 
That doesn't mean I don't sometimes spend hours looking for the right sound in Omnisphere for instance, but at least I have narrowed it down to just one VSTi!  Most of the time I tweak the sound and layer multiple sounds anyway. One thing I like a lot about Omnisphere is the way they have everything organized and the descriptions of the sounds makes it easy to narrow down.
 
 

Yeah - I would gladly pay for such a product to come into existence - part of it is that a lot of the attributes of a sound are fairly subjective - like Funky Monkey might mean something quite specific to one person, but not to anyone else.  So, who would decide what sounds have which attributes, and how would each attribute be defined globally.
 
Bob Bone
 

I wouldn't worry too much about it. The part you play will always be more important than the sound you use. Because it's MIDI, you can replace the sound at any time. The string pad you thought was so important when you selected it might end up being at -15 dB when you mix, so you wouldn't hear any significant differences no matter which preset you used.
 
If while mixing or as the song progresses a sound doesn't seem to fit or rubs you the wrong way, then that's your cue to start looking for a replacement.
 
Also take advantage of the "favorites" option many synths have. Someday when you have nothing better to do, audition a bunch of presets and "favorite" the ones that sound interesting. Then at least you'll have a point of departure for next time you open the synth
 
 

Anderton
Also take advantage of the "favorites" option many synths have. Someday when you have nothing better to do, audition a bunch of presets and "favorite" the ones that sound interesting. Then at least you'll have a point of departure for next time you open the synth

great idea. for years I over looked this feature (Example: the star rating system used in Cakewalk sound center)
I can find my favorite 10 sounds very fast compared to when I used to just looked for the names.