• SONAR
  • Plugin Inventory (p.10)
2014/12/11 18:51:27
DRanck
Dave -
 
107 worked perfectly on Studio! Thanks for sharing this and for updating it for Studio!
 
- Dave
2015/03/14 11:31:40
Tunerman
This is GREAT!! I'm in to process of sorting out multiple scan paths I currently have and simplify things. Also clean house of 32bit VST's to go (mostly) all 64bit with Platinum. 
 
There ought to be a sticky for this.
 
Thank you bitflipper!
2015/03/14 14:12:15
Keni
bitflipper
I have uploaded my VST inventory tool to dropbox, so anyone who's interested can grab it here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0zmzbgxhbjyvbfc/VSTInventory105.zip?dl=0
 
There is no installation or setup required, just unzip the exe and run it. You do, however, have to have Excel installed on your machine. I plan to make a text-out version when I have time, so that Excel will not be a mandatory prerequisite.
 
It's a 32-bit application so it should run on any version of Windows. I've run it on XP 32, Win 7 32 and Win 8.1 64. Others have successfully tested it on Win 7 64. It should be compatible with Vista.
 
No guarantees that it won't blow up on ya (not much error handling or bullet-proofing in there yet), but it can't do any harm if it does. Worst-case failure mode would be dying while creating the spreadsheet, in which case you could have an orphaned instance of excel.exe floating in application purgatory. If that happens, just go to Task Manager and kill any instances of excel.exe you see listed there.
 
Known limitations:
  • Excel is required
  • Works only with SONAR Producer Edition (32- or 64-bit)
 
Both of these shortcomings will be addressed the first day in January that I don't have a zillion other things to do, or if I'm killing time in some airport departure lounge.
 
Let me know if there's any additional information you'd like to see added to the spreadsheet (e.g. file datestamps, DLL header fields such as modified-date, language or copyright notices, CLSIDs, whether it's a SynthEdit creation).
 
Also let me know if you see any blank fields such as missing vendor names or file versions. There are DLLs in the registry that aren't VSTs, such as runtime libraries for plugins (e.g. iZone4.dll) that the program has to remove from the report, and I only know about the ones I happen to have.
 
Next up: revisit my project scanner program that I'd put on hold because it was just too damn slow. That one lists all your projects and enumerates which plugins were used in each. But it's a chore pulling that information out because the SONAR project file format has never been documented, necessitating a brute-force text search.


Thanks bitflipper...

I just got turned onto this thread and your program...

I really like the other idea you're working on to list the plugins of a project... That would be very helpful as well...

Keni
2015/03/15 05:40:42
GregGraves
A list is just the beginning ... what does Ohmboyz do?  Hmmmm. 
 
I found it much more useful, and not a waste of my already wasted life in the wasteland of rock-n-roll, cheap women, and booze, to painstakingly create a Word document that details what all my plugins actually do, with plugin-specific notes regarding the peculiarities thereof (i.e., where to click to do or get whatever).  This obviously took some time.  I also gathered up all the manuals for each plugin and placed them in a folder on my desktop ... quite cleverly named "Manuals".  In the end it allowed me to place plugins in groups (i.e., compressors, gates, EQ), and to rank those plugins into 3 categories:
 
1.  Great plugins I will turn to time and again
2.  Good plugins that do cool stuff I might want to use, maybe, maybe not
3.  Plugins I am likely to never use, but am too lazy to delete, knowing that once I delete them I will go "OH crap!!" since that was exactly what I needed and now it is gone 
 
As I use plugins, and figure out some useful intricacy, I put those notes in my document which has now become my cheat-sheet.  Useful indeed.
2015/03/15 12:05:48
jbow
When I took the Braintree survey I made a suggestion that CCC be given the ability to scan any DAW for all plugins and make a global list that will show up as a list in CCC, perhaps in a subfolder sort of way. I tend to forget things I got with S2 S7 or some third party plug that I haven't used much, if as all. Also when learning I had a bad tendency to allow programs to install here, there, and everywhere... so on my laptop I have a long list of folders to scan and I'm still not sure I have everything but I think I do.
I think CCC could be used for more than downloading and updating. It should list everything that is listed in My Account and the aforementioned ability to make a list from another DAW and keep in globally would be a huge help when setting up a new DAW. I have a handwritten list in the other room next to a Studiocat. It is workable but a PITA that makes me a little bit uneasy.
OK, now I will read the thread.. LOL. Good luck!
Maybe, if you take the Braintree survey.. suggest that they expand the abilities of CCC to more than just downloading and updating. Ideally, Cakewalk would work with third parties like IK, BFD, and others to get them to make a way for third party plugins to be able to be reinstalled or updated using CCC, at the very least the ability for CCC to show that "such and such" plugin has an update. Maybe an extra tab on CCC. Why not?
2015/03/15 12:35:07
Keni
I used to be on constant search for more plugins as I wasn't satisfied with the workings of what I had...

This is really no longer the case for me as the included/bundled plugins handle the jobs with ease and elegance...

Much as back in the days of analog... Most studios had the onboard EQ and a handful of compressors/eq/ddl in rack... For the most part tracks were done this way... Now as we have unlimited iterations of each device, I find less need for an abundance of plugins... Not that it hurts to have, but not necessary for me anymore. I spend more time on the music and less time fussing with plugin selection...

Yes, there is something to the character of each device and I don't mean to cast any negative thoughts on thise with these large collections... It can't hurt to have... But once I gave a choice of unlimited copues of each of a handful of styles, I find no need...

I'm now feeling so comfortable with the PC plugins bundled and one or two extras, that I rarely gave need of anything else...

Maybe that's why my music is such a failure? If I used more unique plugins, would my music suddenly be more successful?

;-)

Keni
2015/03/15 23:10:08
bitflipper
2015/03/16 12:18:32
WallyG
bitflipper
Here's the current download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ulmt0wg458485lx/VSTInventory107.zip?dl=0
 
 




Thanks!
 
Walt
2015/03/20 22:07:40
SmkyBlues
This is fantastic! Appreciate the effort to put this program/capability together. Thanks Bit...
Rob
2015/03/21 09:08:29
Grem
bitflipper
Here's the current download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ulmt0wg458485lx/VSTInventory107.zip?dl=0
 
 




Yep, it works great! Thanks Bit.
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