This thread started as a question, but is now turned into a Feature Request. The idea would be to be able to update your Custom Collection of plugins in the Plugin Manager by dragging and dropping and or copying and pasting from the Default Collection, or perhaps something like a “Update Folder/s from Default Collection” option in the Custom Collections. That way you don’t have to create a bunch of new folders and do a bunch of searching and dragging and dropping of individual plugins, but rather drag full folders or auto update existing folders if you got new plugins from an existing manufacturer. It can be a laborious process by switching back and forth between Default and Custom since everything moves around when you do that. Maybe a right click after selecting a handful of plugins with a “Put in new folder to custom collection” or something like that. Perhaps the team or someone else can think of something clever I haven’t thought of, but the OP is below.
Hello! I was wondering how you manage updating a plugin collection when you get new plugins?
Ideally, it would be awesome to just drag and drop a whole folder from the DEFAULT collection into your own custom collection. That way, you don’t have to create a whole new collection and drag your favorites over one by one, or you don’t have to search the list and track down everything, create a new folder, and then drag those in it.
Is there an easy way to update a custom collection quickly to add new plugins and their respective folders in a simple and fast way?
I’m hoping someone will chime in and offer a solution haha If it can’t be done easily, it would be a welcome feature to make this easier, like looking at unused plugins that are new and being able to drag the whole folder of them in like the folders you have from the DEFAULT collection.
I don’t think there is an easy way to do it. After installing new plugins, I filter the Plugin Manager list by vendor. Usually, I have a pretty good idea about the new plugin’s names. If in doubt I click on a plugin and see if it lights up somewhere in my collection. If it doesn’t I drag it over into a folder if I want it to be part of my collection.
If you are okay with the way Cubase organizes your plugins into folders and you use all of them, well, that would help for sure. In my case, I would not want it. For example, UAD plugins: Firstly, I don’t need all of them. Secondly, I have a different folder structure.
In my case, it would help a lot if there was an additional column that orders plugins by date of installation. This way you wouldn’t have to go through all old plugins that you didn’t want to include or see in the first place.
Got ya! I just like the idea of having access to all of my plugins because the ones I don’t use often get typed into the search to find them faster. In my own collection, if they aren’t there, they don’t show up. I suppose I COULD edit the DEFAULT collection though so that anything new that gets installed would just populate there, no?
The only editing I do is similar to Pro Tools where you can have a favorites list at the very top of all of your plugins where if I wanted say 15 plugins that I use frequently, they’ll just be at the very top. That could be a workaround by editing the DEFAULT I suppose, no?
I’m afraid it doesn’t work this way. The default collection is always up to date whenever new plugins are detected. The downside - you can’t edit this collection. You would have to copy the whole default collection and create a new customizable collection.
I forgot to mention a little trick that might help as well
At the top of the Plugin Manager, you can filter results using “Show only plugins which are not in the active collection”. This way, it is a bit easier to detect the new ones.
I use this all the time. I’ll just add another trick ..
You can select and drag multiple plug-ins by holding down shift or control when you select.
I often create the folder first (example delays) and then do the dragging into the folders.
I don’t use the default collection, it doesn’t work for me.
Another thing a lot of folks aren’t aware of is that in your custom collections you can include the same plug-in multiple times. So I have Folders for all the different vendors - Steinberg, UAD, etc. where all the plugs I have from that vendor are available. Then I also have folders for different types of plugs - Dynamics, Reverbs, Delays, etc. So every Plug is gonna be listed in at least 2 locations. Then at the top of the page not in a folder are my top 15-20 go-to plugs.
Additionally I have a few ‘special interest’ sub-folders. For example the Dynamics folder has all my compressors & limiters. But it also has a sub-folder named “With Mix Control” and if I’m looking to do parallel compression that’s the folder I’ll head to.
The pic below is from my office PC & not DAW and doesn’t have any 3rd party stuff on it, but you get the idea.
It might sound like a little thing but I absoultely love these lines which have been introduced with Cubase 15. It makes it so much easier for the eyes to spot the correct folder.
But to make that work, I have to ensure that any plugins I’ve deprecated from use in new projects are still somewhere in my collection.
So I’ve made a folder called something like “Unused”, where I punt all of the stuff that’s still installed (to open older projects), but I don’t really want to see when choosing plugins for new projects.
I do that, too. In my case, this also serves as a memory crutch. So for example in my Piano folder I not only have dedicated Piano plugins like Keyscape and Piano V, but also list HALion, Kontakt, MSoundFactory and other sampler/library platforms with good piano libraries. So when I go hunting for pianos I don’t forget to also check multi-instrument plugins, that have some of my favourite piano libraries.
In addition, since I’ve been hoardingcollecting plugins for a pretty long time, I also categorize plugins into folders
my first choice plugins go into a relevant root folder (e.g. Reverb) and
second choice plugins go into a subfolder B in the main folder (e.g. Reverb B as subfolder of Reverb). So my favourites are easy to distinguish and only the rest take an extra click to get there.
I have just created a feature request about adding date as an additional column to the Plugin Mananger. Since there hasn’t been a dedicated feature request, yet, I thought this was a good idea. If anyone has a spare vote left feel free to vote for that request.
Hi,
you might as well turn your exisiting thread into a feature request. Hover over the title of your thread and you should see a pencil icon on the right. Click on it and add the tag “feature request”.
In this case it would be helpful to change your title to something like Plugin Manager - Option to Drag and Drop Folders From Default Collection Into a Custom Collection
Or you can start from scratch and open a new thread with the tag “feature request”.
Cubase will never qualify as “new” for me (as per the topic title). So that’s my get out!
But, seriously, I’m in the position of “acquiring a new plugin means removing a plugin I like which I’m loathe to do”.
?