In Cubase you can organise your VST plug-ins, by making a subfolder stucture on the HD. This is then reflected in Cubase’s Plug-in menus (at least as far as VST2 plug-ins are concerned). Unfortunate, WL/WLE doesn’t recognize this structure.
However, in the Organize tab in the Plug-in Settings window, all the plug-in are shown in a folder structure (that looks like it’s copied from Windows. Youch!). It appears the they could be organized by dragging and dropping. However that is just an illusion!
Why is this bad. Well, most of the categories (Dynamics, EQ, Modulation, etc.) has a couple, mostly VST3, plug-ins in them. Then there is the “Other category”, where WL/WLE dumps everything that it doesn’t know where to but. This folder (and menu) has more plug-in in it that all the other combined! The vast majority, which belongs to the other categories (Dynamics, EQ, Modulation, etc.).
If I were to to look for an EQ, say. I have to look in two places; EQ and Other category. And to make matters even worse, the latter subfolders are sorted by vendors! This means that it takes forever to find anything!
Steinberg should immediately implement one (or preferably both) of the following:
a) Make WL/WLE recognize subfolder structures on the HD (like Cubase does)
b) Let the user organize the plug-ins in the Organize tab, by dragging and dropping.
You can already achieve almost any tree structure with the current WaveLab implementation.
Concerning your point b)
The current implementation is even easier than drag and drop, which can be a bit tricky when you have big trees. For instance, the menu that opens on the “Custom category” column, allows you to assign a custom category (or even sub-category “MyCateg/MySubCateg” to all the selected plugins in one click. There is nothing wrong with this implemention IMO.
What in world are you talking about PG. There is no “Custom category” column in Plug-in Settings Organize tab.
I’m not interested in creating any custom categories. I want to move the EQ plug-ins that WLE put in the “Other categories” folder to the EQ folder/menu, the dynamics plug-ins that WLE put in the “Other categories” folder to the Dynamics folder/menu, the pitch shift plug-ins that WLE put in the “Other categories” folder to the Pitch Shift folder/menu, etc.
What’s wrong with using the folder structure on the hard-drive? It has worked just fine in Cubase for more than a decade.
What in world are you talking about PG. There is no “Custom category” column in Plug-in Settings Organize tab.
I was speaking about WaveLab, not WaveLab Element.
What’s wrong with using the folder structure on the hard-drive?
This is outdated. This was about ok at the time of VST-2, where each plugin was represented by one DLL (although this did not work eg. with plugins with a Shell (eg. Waves plugins)).
Nowadays, with the VST-3 starndard, a single DLL could contain multiple plugins of different kinds. That means that you are not able to sort them in custom categories thanks to the file system hierarchy.
So, why did you give me that advise, then? My profile clearly states that I use WaveLab Elements!
It’s no such thing! There are still thousands of VST 2.4 plugins out there, from large to small manufacturers. It’s mostly these that WaveLab is incapable of organizing and dumps in the “Other Category” menu.
So once again… What’s wrong with using the folder structure on the hard-drive? It has worked (and still does) just fine in Cubase for more than a decade. Even if you deem it outdated, it’s sure beats denying us users to organize the plug-in at all, hands down! With the mess that that causes.
The denying of user organization of plug-in is actually a huge drawback of the VST3 format, but that is a topic for another time.
It may be technically possible, but I have yet to see a single manufacturer (apart from Steinberg) who does this. They are all single vst3 files.
By the way, why all the talk of DLL files. My profile also clealy states that ose the Mac OS. Can you, please, tell me where I find DLL files on that?
And a very poor example indeed. Waves has always been a special case and has never had their plug-ins as separate entities. They always been “hidden” in a shell. This has nothing what-so-ever to do with VST2.4 or VST3.
You have to do a lot better.
No they are not! dll is a PC extension that don’t exist on the Mac! Period!! Same as as exe on the PC. On the Mac they have the extension vst and vst3. If are going to try to help with Mac questions, one would at the least expect that you learned the correct terminology. If not, you are only confusing things.
This whole board been a mess since the separate Mac and Windows threads were merged! I just wonder how long it will take you guys to realize that this was the worst idea you’ve ever had.
Also, it’s interesting how you keep sidestepping the real problem here. The mess that results from WL/WLE’s inability to organize plug-ins. For the third time. Cubase have done it correctly for decades!!! Why this stubborn refusal to acknowledge that, and implement something that is proven to work? What does it take to make you guys talking to each other?
I think you don’t get my points. I will summarize the facts:
WaveLab 8 has superior sorting capabilities than WaveLab Elements 8, thanks to custom categories.
WaveLab 8’s custom categories allow more possibilities than WaveLab 6 (limited to a single subfolder depth) and more possibilities than relying on the plugin’s file location in a folder tree (because WaveLab 8 can manage all cases: VST-2, VST-2 shells, and VST-3 multi-plugin sets). Therefore it’s the most complete approach (without even mentioning other sorting possibilities that WaveLab 8 has).
I use WLE8 and find the plugin search easy. And I list by the manufacturer/developer. And Waves actually lists plugins in the sub catagories, EQ, Delay, etc… It is Steinberg that does not.
Anyway, this is such a minor thing to me. I can find the plugin I need.
Ok, can’t test this custom categories, because the demo is no longer on my pc. During demo test, I’ve seen there is no longer drag 'n drop in the plugin list and my first thought was, oh no! What was bad with the old system? Single subfolder depth is enough for organizing plugins. I’m not a fan of sub, sub, sub+ … menus, because, if your mouse loose the focus of the next sub, sub+ menu, the menu window collapses and you start all over again.
It doesn’t matter. Mastering in Nuendo is much more easier meanwhile. Fast switch between reference - master track, automation, loudness track, clearer effect chains and routing, parallel processing and not to forget a clear gui …
If Wlab is more intuitive again in next versions, I’m back maybe.
edit for mr.roos
You say it right, you must SEARCH your plugin. In old version I know where it was …
I don’t think you get my (or dare I say ours, since I don’t appear to be alone, in this) point. Here are the facts.
Yes, WL should have vastly superior organizing capabilities, since WLE has none! Spreading plug-ins that belong to specific categories in then’s (or more) submenues is not acceptable. This stubborn refusal to take your customers views seriously is amazing.
WLE is a mastering application that, because of this and other reasons, can’t be used for mastering! Had I been responsible for it’s development, this would have been appropriate description of what I would have looked like.
I’ve been recording for about 40 years, and during all those years I have not once come across a situation where I said to myself "I think I need a processor from ‘Brand X’ here. I always think “I need an (ex.) EQ here.”
Therefore, sorting by vendor is utterly useless. And so is having wading through numerous submenues in the “Other Category” menu. Especially when there is an EQ category available.
Having the plug-ins correctly sorted is such a basic feature that it’s, more or less, an outrage that the WLE programmers have screwed this up. Maybe, with WLE 9, we won’t be allowed to open audio files. Who knows?
P.S.
If you have access, as a moderator, would you mind fixing the typo in the title of this thread?
As displayed on this picture:
WaveLab Elements have sorting capabilities that don’t depend on the manufacturer name, but on the plugin type. The vast majority of plug-ins declare a category.
You can even remap them:
When ultimate sorting capabilities are needed, they can be found in WaveLab.
You must be joking. Are you seriously asking us to buy the full version of WaveLab, in order to get something as basic as proper sorting of plug-ins? Jeez. That’s unbelievable.
I wonder how many customers Steinberg has lost, by reading this thread?
I am not asking you anything. I just described that WaveLab Elements has some good plugin sorting capabilities (I understand they don’t suit you), and that the best capabilities are found in WaveLab, i.e. in the professional version.
Please describe them (without involving WL)! I am at a loss to find any at all.
Please describe how I move all the plug-ins (EQ, Dynamics, Reverb, Modulation, etc) that WLE has dumped in the “Other Category” menu the respective menus (EQ, Dynamics, Reverb, Modulation, etc) where they belong.
Have you selected this option?
If not, press the button “Show changes” afterwards.
If there is still a folder called “Other category”, that means these plugins don’t declare to belong to a category, something yet recommended by the VST standard. And at this point, I am afraid you are going to complain…
Apart that, there is a “Favorite” folder you can feed.
And there is also the “Recently used” folder where the most recent used plugins will appear.
