How to organize VST plugins in logical folders

I love that I can finally use the vast amount of VST plugins in SONAR. The thing that gets me is that all of the plugins are in 1 giant folder named VST. The Cakewalk plugs get their own folder as do Sonitus and Lexicon. Mty question is how can I organize my plugins a little better with folders for example:

Effects->Reverb
Effects->Dynamics
Effects->Dynamics->Compressors
Effects->EQ
Effects->Delay
Effects->Voice

Instruments->Drum&Perc.
Instruments->Synth->Analog
Instruments->Synth->Bass
Instruments->Sampler


Is this possible???


This would be ideal as I wouldn't have to sift through a ton of plgins to get to a specific one; when I want a reverb I look at my available reverb choices. I thought that if I put them in seperate folders under my main VST folder the Cakewalk VST plugin adapter would organize plugins under the folder names. That didn't happen; the adapter just looked in a nother location for the .DLL. Anyone have any thoughts, ideas or experience making this happpen?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

Nope. That would be way too practical LOL!
You will most likely have to pay for it in a future Sonar release.

Hopefully the "Bakers" will see that this is a VERY IMPORTANT MISSING FEATURE & spin it into a 4.1 update.

Please Cakewalk Please!

Stich

ORIGINAL: wwwill

I love that I can finally use the vast amount of VST plugins in SONAR. The thing that gets me is that all of the plugins are in 1 giant folder named VST. The Cakewalk plugs get their own folder as do Sonitus and Lexicon. Mty question is how can I organize my plugins a little better with folders for example:

Effects->Reverb
Effects->Dynamics
Effects->Dynamics->Compressors
Effects->EQ
Effects->Delay
Effects->Voice

Instruments->Drum&Perc.
Instruments->Synth->Analog
Instruments->Synth->Bass
Instruments->Sampler


Is this possible???


This would be ideal as I wouldn't have to sift through a ton of plgins to get to a specific one; when I want a reverb I look at my available reverb choices. I thought that if I put them in seperate folders under my main VST folder the Cakewalk VST plugin adapter would organize plugins under the folder names. That didn't happen; the adapter just looked in a nother location for the .DLL. Anyone have any thoughts, ideas or experience making this happpen?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

I don't think your idea works - as you found out. Have you tried to rename your plugins according to your naming standards? That may help but it could also create other problems if the original names are necessary by some subroutines or presets.

Ignore Stitch, since it's entirely possible now.

If, either within the VST Adapter or later in Cakewalk's Plug-in Manager, if you give a group of plug-ins a common prefix, they'll all get sorted onto a folder together. This applies to both VST and DX plug-ins too (if you rename the DX ones in the Plug-in Manager).

So, if you ensure that the *name* (not the directory location) is set correctly, they plug-in will get sorted with its similarly named fellows.

eg.

Reverb Waves
Reverb Cakewalk
Reverb Sonitus

You'll get a Reverb folder created.

There is only one layer though.

Try Subsonar by Whyterabbit.

http://www.whiterabbitdesign.co.uk/main/stuff/tools/subsonar/index.html

It works great.....
(the docs say something about probs with XP SP2 but it works fine for me...)

Where exactly is the "Plug-In Manager"? there is no mention of it in the Sonar 4 manual, and even when search the forum, I see reference to it in several places.. but never how to access it... When we use the term Plug In Manager are we simply refering to the VST adapter pages that allow us to config the various plugins? If that's the case, I tried renaming the plugins using the VST adapter and every time, I got an error, and the VST Adapter closed down and sent Cakewalk and error report..?
Craig

The Plugin Manager and the VST Adapter are two seperate items. The Plugin Manager should install by default. Go to Start>Programs>Cakewalk and see if the Plugin Manager is listed. Or, in Sonar, look under Tools and see if the Plugin Manager is listed. HTH.

I don't seem to have the Plug In Manager installed! It's not in my Tools or in my Cakewalk directory under the Windows programs.. ???I guess I will have to go back and check the original SONAR 4 CD perhaps I missed installing it?
Craig

Thanks for the tip.. I just found it and installed it... now I can get my plugin's organized!! woo hoo.. Thanks.
Craig

ORIGINAL: kp

Ignore Stitch, since it's entirely possible now.

If, either within the VST Adapter or later in Cakewalk's Plug-in Manager, if you give a group of plug-ins a common prefix, they'll all get sorted onto a folder together. This applies to both VST and DX plug-ins too (if you rename the DX ones in the Plug-in Manager).

So, if you ensure that the *name* (not the directory location) is set correctly, they plug-in will get sorted with its similarly named fellows.

eg.

Reverb Waves
Reverb Cakewalk
Reverb Sonitus

You'll get a Reverb folder created.

There is only one layer though.

Ok fair enough, but is this documented somewhere?

IMO it seems like a super painfull & tedious task to rename every plug-in I own just to be able to organize them into specific folders. I think a feature update where you can just drag the plug ins into folders that are custom name-able & will map into Sonar is more in line here. Don't ya think? Or is this already the case.

I'm not about to rename every plug-in I own. What will my other Audio apps do if I screw with their names?

Stich

fair enough, but is this documented somewhere?

It's just making use of standard Windows functionality.

It would be great if Cake gave us more options with a multi-layered folder structure.

jbraner,

Thanks for the SubSonar tip. I'm checking into it.

M

M quoth

jbraner,

Thanks for the SubSonar tip. I'm checking into it.




If you have problems with it, please let me know...

Names are totally ephemeral and won't affect other applications.

You can find SubSonar here
http://whiterabbitdesign.co.uk/main/stuff/tools/subsonar/index.html

edit: i think i answered my own question.

if you give a group of plug-ins a common prefix, they'll all get sorted onto a folder together.

I use this method. It works well enough. Sure, you have to rename every plugin when you install it. However, I am very careful about what plugs I use, maintain the original down load, readme, etc.; taking another moment to rename the dll isn't all that bothersome. Granted, if you already have a hundred vsts, that could be an hours worth of work.

Another vote for prefixing, works just fine for me. After first getting S3 w/the adaptor, I went on a frenzy of downloading (possibly all, sure seems that way) the neat vst stuff out here. About a year later, I'd come to know what I was - and wasn't - using.

Dumped the unused stuff, took a little while and ran through the survivors adding prefixes - "Delay", "EQ", "Modulation", etc. Cleared the adaptor and re-scanned - and everythings been neat and tidy ever since.

Simple and effective.