Is it possible to sort VST instruments by manufacture but still have audio effect inserts sorted by type? I love being able to see all my compressors in the “dynamics” folder for example, but would prefer to have my VST instruments sorted by manufacturer.
Also, is it possible to assign custom labels to plugins? For example, break up the dynamics folder into “compressors, gates” etc? Or maybe within these bigger type folders like dynamics, then have it organized by manufacture, so for example I can have all my Universal Audio in a sub folder within the “dynamics” folder?
The VST-Plug-ins preference gives us Sort VST Plug-ins Menu by Vendor.
Beyond that, you can manually create folders within each vendor folder in your VST Plug-ins folder, then drag the plug-ins to those respective folders. You can even nest folders e.g. Limiter, Compressor, etc within a broader Dynamics folder.
Or you could create more specific folders Limiter, Compressor, Tape, etc. that are not nested in a broad category folder.
If you take the time to organize the visual arrangement of your plug-ins, then it makes sense to take screen shots of the contents of each folder as the process of updating plug-ins will not honor your organizational structure. This became an issue every time I updated UAD plug-ins. The screen shots were a quick visual reference of what went where.
This is how we’ve organized plug-in for decades. Unfortunately it no longer works with VST3 plug-ins. With these you are stuck with the vendors decisions and the mess that these cause (they seem to be totally incapable of agreeing on some kind of “system”).
There is a request for a proper plug-in manager here:
Exactly! If I had the ability to organize my presets I would spend the time doing it. Just give me that ability! Though I must admit the ability to search plugin by name is AWESOME and how I load plugins 90% of the time, but sometimes I want to see my options for a particular type of plugin instead of going with the first one I can remember the name of.
