Griping about add-ons and plug-ins installation

[Rangler]

I just hate how whenever you install one of these things they install or create folders in weird places, sometimes in the user directory, other times in the administrator's directory. Sometimes files are created in the app folder or the document folder or the parent folder or the audio folder within new folders.

There's no standard.

I have too many add-ons and plug-ins installed that it would be a nightmare to track down and reinstall everything if I ever needed to.

I like things in logical, predictable, and orderly places.

[RDBOIS]

It would be nice.

It's not really all that random. Some plugin developers like their apps to unpacking in specific folders named after their line of products.

I've noticed Steinberg plugins going to a specific folder, for example. I also noticed that some 32bit vsts are toss in folders inside the Program File(x86) folder. When I download ZIP or .DLL files they all go to my Download folder, thereafter I unzip and move to a VST dedicated folder. The plugins that come in EXE files have instructions asking you which folder they will be installed, but it seems that by default I'm often getting the Steinberg BSTPlugin Folder. I'm not computer geeky enough to know how to change that default to the Reaper Plugin Folder, but that would save the hassle.

One nice thing about Reaper is that you can go in the PREFERENCE Menu, find the VST plugin section, and then tell Reaper where to look for VST plugins. You can choose as many folders as you want. SO... You can add the Steinberg VSTplugin folder and all other locations you find things tend to un-package to. That way you don't have to worry about moving things around so much.

Then again, it's not like I have thousands of VSTs, nor do I plan on installing many more. So organizing things is not that big a burden.

One day we'll have more Artificial Intelligence running the show in our daily lives, perhaps then you won't have to worry about about telling the PC where to install things. But then again, you probably won't have a say in anything else for that matter, nostalgic about the days you had to do thing manually, at your choosing... hehehe

[DarkStar]

It's down to the plug-in developers thinking that they know best or not wanting to spend the extra effort or being lazy.

PS Do not use the Reaper Plug-ins folder for third-party plug-ins; that is intended fro Reaper's own plug-ins.