Vst Plugin Locations

Posted on 22.12.2020by admin

Plug-in Locations. A VST 3 plug-in should be installed at specific folder location, the following tables specify these predefined locations for different operating system. VST 3 does not require a plug-in registration like it is used with DirectX. Links, Symbolic links or Shortcuts could be used from these predefined folders. On Windows and Mac OS X, Audacity is a 32-bit application so won't see 64-bit versions of VST plug-ins, even on 64-bit operating systems.; On GNU/Linux, 32-bit systems will have 32-bit versions of Audacity which won't see 64-bit VST plug-ins. 64-bit systems will have 64-bit versions of Audacity which will see 64-bit VST plug-ins but won't see 32-bit plug-ins. Third Party VST integration is not supported with Studio One Artist. In order to be able to utilize additional plugins, you would need to either upgrade to Studio One 3 Professional or upgrade your Artist version by purchasing the VST/ReWire Add-On; which allows for the use of additional non-bundled Third Party VSTs as well as adding ReWire Support in Artist. Go to view - plugin manager; in the plugin manager window, on its toolbar, click the right-most icon 'configure VST' in the VST configuration window, click Add, and then browse to the folder you wish to add, for me this is D: VSTs; click Scan; click OK; assuming your VSTs are working, you should now see them in Acid. The other thing to bear in mind is that many plugins will require up to five destinations: 1. The plugin file itself, that goes into your choice of vstplugins folder.

You install some VST plugins, you do stuff, re-install your DAW, maybe change DAW, and one day you realize that you haven’t got a a clue where your precious plugins are installed.

It took me a while to 1) understand that there are two types of VST plugins (VST2 and VST3), and 2) where I should look for them. Or maybe 3) if you count that plugins can be 32 or 64 bits.

VST2

The VST2 standard is old (the latest 2.4 spec is from 2006 and Steinberg discontinued maintenance in 2013) but there are still many plugins around. You recognise the VST2 plugin by the file extension .dll.

The VST2 standard does not have a dedicated installation folder. VST2 plugin installers usually let the user select an installation path. But VST2 plugins can also have a fixed installation path predefined by the manufacturer. In this case, only the documentation can tell you where to find the plugin.

Ableton Live requires you to do this manually, like so Go to the 'Options' menu and select 'Preferences'. Under 'Preferences', select the 'File Folder' menu. Click the 'Browse' button next to 'VST Plug-In Custom Folder'.

Here are some common VST2 plugin paths:

VST3

The VST3 standard was introduced in 2008, but since VST2 worked fine, it has taken time for manufacturers to switch to VST3 (if they have at all). Since 2013, Steinberg have stopped maintaining VST2.4, but this is not a big problem, your DAW will support it for many years still.

The VST3 plugin has the extension .vst3. The VST3 format has a dedicated installation path all VST3 plugins must comply with, so all your VST3 plugins should be installed here:

References

VST plug-in locations on Windows https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/115000177084-VST-plug-in-locations-on-Windows

VST 3 Locations / Format https://steinbergmedia.github.io/vst3_doc/vstinterfaces/vst3loc.html

VST 2.4 vs. VST 3.0 – Who Cares? You Should. (Craig Anderton) https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/vst-2-4-vs-vst-3-0-who-cares-you-do/

Free quality plugins 2020

The price of software plugins has dropped a lot over the last 10 years. The market is flooded and the amount and quality of free plugins have never been higher. Today almost all audio plugin developers use some of their marketing budgets on downscaled versions of their products for promoting the brand and plugins.

But can you make 'professional' sounding mixes with free plugins? The answer is yes!

What makes a good free plugin:

It does not sound 'free'
It is competing with expensive plugins on at least a few features
CPU usage not too high
- Free plugins might not be as optimized as selling plugins
VST 3 format is a plus but not a must

Here are a few of the best free high-quality plugins that we have tested for this article:

Valhalla Supermassive from Valhalla DSP - NEW plugin
Voxengo SPAN
OrilRiver Reverb
Softtube The Knob
TAL Chorus LX
Xfer Records OTT Multiband Compressor

The plugins explained

The plugins are list in random order and not by rank. They are all good plugins for different sounds and mixing purposes.

Valhalla Supermassive

Valhalla Supermassive is a new free reverb plugin from Valhalla DSP. It is a new design with delays and reverbs and has a unique Warp feature for interesting sounds. It has fewer controls than the plugins from Valhalla for sale.

Valhalla Supermassive delay and reverb plugin

This is quality-algorithms for free! Try it.

This plugin is built on valuable knowledge and probably a tested framework used in the products for sale which gives the user a lot for the zero money.

Like in Vintageverb and Room the modes have names

OrilRiver Reverb

This is one of the better sounding free reverbs. No low quality ringing and it has a nice diffusion. It does not quite have the pro feel of Supermasssive but still a good free tool for a good reverb.

The GUI looks ok though 'free' but it still easy to dial in what you want.

The early reflection and variations- and reverb variation names are just 'Variation x'. In Supermassive at least they have names.

Voxengo SPAN

This is one of the best free metering plugins there is. It is frequently updated and has the metering you need for a modern music production setup.

Voxengo SPAN free analyzer and metering plugin

This metering plugin has all the basics:

Analyzer display
RMS
Peak
Correlation
MS spectrum analyzer
Crest factors
Different scales like K-12 and K-14

The contesters on the expensive pro-market are:

Izotope Insight 2
Flux Pure Analyzer
Steinberg Wavelab

The Knob saturation plugin

The knob is a simple one-knob saturation plugin with 3 modes. It creates pleasant saturation to distortion for different kinds of material.

Softtube The Knob plugin

This is a loud plugin and an output control would have been nice but like most free plugins, there often is a nag. The missing output control can be overcome with a trim plugin after in the plugin chain.

Xfer Records OTT Compressor

ITT is a different plugin. It is a multiband upward / downward compressor.

Xfer Records have more free plugins here

An alternative to this plugin is Waves MV2 which also has upward and down compression and limiting.

TAL Chorus LX

TAL Chorus LX is a plugin emulating the famous Juno 60 chorus from the vintage analog Roland synthesizer. A defining effect from a hardware synth.

Download the free TAL LX and get a high-quality effect.

The plugin

This plugin has a sweet wide sound. It is simple with 2 mode buttons and a stereo width control giving it 3 stages of effect. 1, 2, and both 1 and 2.

Free TAL Chorus LX/ultrabeat-free-vst.html.

Other Juno 60 chorus units

TC Electronics JUNO-60 pedal
- A hardware pedal from TC Electronics
Oblivion Sound LAB
- Another free hardware chorus emulation VST
- Down load it here

IZotope Ozone Imager

Izotope has released a simplified version of the imager component from the full Ozone mastering plugin. This is probably part of the marketing budget collection website profile members and setting focus on the full mastering plugin.

Free Ozone Imager from Izotope website

Faking stereo always has a downside so do not overdo it. but it can make the individual sound more interesting or widen a whole mix a but.

Flux Stereo Tool

A free stereo imaging and analysis plugin with a nice GUI.

The free Flux Stereo Tool

Features:

Input gain for left and right channel individually
Pan
Phase inverse
Vector Scope Display
Parameter morphing between presets

CPU usage

The CPU usage is not directly comparable since the processing is very different but here is a list:

As shown in the CPU usage table only Saturation knob and OTT Compressor has latency and most of them have insignificant CPU load. Supermassive has surprisingly low CPU usage.

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