do you have one general VST plug-in folder?

Cubase
1

Hi,

I have Cubase Studio 5 64bit installed and for some 32bit plugins that may not work here, I still have Cubase Essential 4 on my PC.
Right now I have (almost) all of my VST plugins in one general plugin folder.

Would it be better to have seperate folders: one ofr the 32bit plug-ins and another one for the 64bit ones?
I’m considering changing this, but that would mean I have to un-install and re-install my plugins. (and in general I don’t like uninstalling and reinstalling software, I’m a bit paranoid about traces left in the registry that at some point might lead to system instability?)
Also, I’m not sure if tihs would make tihngs easier.
Hence, I’m asking for other opinions on this. Any kind of feedback/advice/opinions would be very much appreciated!

Thanks,
Lars

2

anybody?

3

32 bit programs/plugins usually reside in the C:\program files(x86)\steinberg\VSTplugins folder by default and x64 ones go to C:\program files\steinberg\VSTplugins



MC

4

Cubase itself allways searches two VST2 plugin folders:

Cubase x32:

“c:\program files (x86)\steinberg\cubase 5\vstplugins” (cubase internal vst2 x32 plugins)
“c:\program files (x86)\common files\steinberg\vst2” (steinberg vst2 x32 plugins like HALionOne)

Cubase x64:

“c:\program files\steinberg\cubase 5\vstplugins” (cubase internal vst2 x32 plugins AND VST2 x64 plugins)
(there are quite a few cuabse internal vst2 plugins that aren’t native x64! Desser, Tonic, Embracer, Monologue…)
“c:\program files\common files\steinberg\vst2” (steinberg vst2 x64 plugins like HALionOne)

No way to have cubase NOT to search the relevant folders…

I use Cubase 5 64bit, my Initial setup is as follows:

In addition to Cubase two default vstplugin folders, I have a VSTPlugins folder on a different HD “Music:” which itself contains three subfolders:

  1. “Music:\Library\VST2 Plugins\Native”

contains two subfolders:

a) “Music:\Library\VST2 Plugins\Native\VST2 x32” (which each and every vst2 x32 plug get installed into, even when a x64 of that plugin ins available) and
b) “Music:\Library\VST2 Plugins\Native\VST2 x64” (in which all vst2 x64 plugs get installed into).

I have one folder for VST2 plugs, that shall be available to cubase only:

  1. “Music:\Library\VST2 Plugins\Cubase 5 64bit”

a) I jBridge all my plugins in “Music:\Library\VST2 Plugins\Native\VST2 x32” to x64 (without adding .64 to the name) into this folder first.
b) after that, I the copy the complete folder content of “Music:\Library\VST2 Plugins\Native\VST x64” into that folder.

This will overwrite any x32 plugin that was jbridged to x64 with its native x64 version, if existing.

This way “Music:\Library\VST2 Plugins\Cubase 5 64bit” only contains vst2 x64 plugins, either native, or jbridged from x32

I use a Novation SL25MkII and use Automap, too.

So, I run the Automap Plugin Manager, point it exclusively to Cubase two default search paths and my own x64 plugins:
a) “c:\program files\steinberg\cubase 5\vstplugins”
b) "c:\program files\common files\steinberg\vst2
c) “Music:\Library\VST2 Plugins\Cubase 5 64bit”
and I enabled every plugin in these folders for automap.
This creates a “xxx (Automap).dll” vst2 x64 plugin for each vst2 x64 plugin.

Then I trash Cubases plugin cache (mainly vst2xplugins.xml, the blacklist.xml etc.) and run cubase.

As I trashed the Plugin Cache, Cubase rescans it’s two default search paths (see above). I add my path “Music:\Library\VST2 Plugins\Cubase 5 64bit” to Cubases search path, quit cubase and restart it.
Cubase scans my x64 plugins.

After that, I quit Cubase and manually edit cubases plugin cache: vst2xplugins.xml
It is important, that the values of the four tokens “cid”, “editorCid”, “name” and “vendor” of a “xxx (Automap).dll” entry EQUALS the values of the non-automapped “xxx.dll”. Otherwise, it is possible that 1) the non-automapped plug and the automapped plug both show up in cubases plugin list, when adding a VSTi for example and 2) vst3presets, that were made with non-automapped plugs (HALionOne) can not be found for an automapped plugin.

Doing as I described results in automapped plugins, that show up in cubase with their non-automapped name, “HALionOne”, instead of “HALionOne (Automap)” for example, with working vst3presets for the automapped HALionOne :wink:

Well, I have a “Music:\Library\VST2 Plugins\Kore 2” folder, too, that cotnains plugs tzhat are only available in “Kore 2”, there, I go the other way, copy nativ x32 first into that folder, then jbridge native x64 to x32 into that folder which overwrites a x32 plug with a jbridged x64 plug, if existing (so I use x64-plugs in x32 Kore2), then automap this folder. Plugins are shown as “xxx (Automap)” in Kore 2, but are fully interchangeable with systems without the automap version!

After this initial set up, I install plugins allways to their corresponding native folder (x32 or x64) and manually do the steps above for a single plugin.

needs some organization, but, to me, is the only manageable solution to using x32 plugs in cubase AND use automap to control all plugins, and use x64 plugs in Kore2 AND use automap to control these within Kore 2 too.


Oh dear, this is too much information I guess. I just wrote it down for myself, I guess, as a manual for myself, to keep in mind what I was doing the last days and what has to be done, when I’ll install a new plugin :wink:

Sorry for the confusion, I hope that clears everything :smiley:

5

Some VST which I use, specifically say upon installation that 32-bit and 64-bit plug-ins should be kept in different folders. However, I have ONE folder that is called “plug-ins” and then inside that one I have a separate folder for each plug-in… works fine.