Adding and Losing VSTs

[jazzmandan]

Ya, no specific question such a gripe today.

I love Reap, but this losing and finding VSTs is starting to ware me down. I add a VST and I lose 5 VSTs. Then I find four of the five and lose two different ones. I know I don't have good VST management on my computer. VSTs seem to go to any of at least a half dozen locations on my hard drive. Given a half hour or so I will be able to get them all back. But why does this keep happening???

I can live with the Reaper Take System but this losing VSTs is a real problem which I think should be fixed. But what do I know. Maybe there is a magic bullet to fix this? What say you expects.

[ivansc]

Originally Posted by jazzmandan

Ya, no specific question such a gripe today.

I love Reap, but this losing and finding VSTs is starting to ware me down. I add a VST and I lose 5 VSTs. Then I find four of the five and lose two different ones. I know I don't have good VST management on my computer. VSTs seem to go to any of at least a half dozen locations on my hard drive. Given a half hour or so I will be able to get them all back. But why does this keep happening???

I can live with the Reaper Take System but this losing VSTs is a real problem which I think should be fixed. But what do I know. Maybe there is a magic bullet to fix this? What say you expects.

I am not really an "expect" but have seen a bunch of this stuff on here recently. The vast majority of us don`t seem to have this problem, or if we do it`s relatively easy to track down the cause.
As an old fart, I tend to approach stuff like this slowly & methodically & generally find the answer.
A general rule of thumb when vsts go missing is that something is probably set up weird in your list of vst and vsti folder locations, plus as you mentioned above, some plugin devs like to decide for you where the plugins are going to be located.

One thing to watch out for is the old 32bit versus 64bit running order, which can affect thins for the life of me I can never remember which way round does what, but if you have both 32 and 64bit versions of the same plugin with the same name, it all depends on which version is listed first in the location file.
My best suggestion for you is when you install a new plugin, don`t be in a rush to get it installed and try it out. Read the windows that the installer puts up IF it is an installer version rather than just a "copy the .dll file" one. I generally enter my preferred VST64 and VST32 locations if the plugin gives me the option, otherwise I just follow what the developer has decided is right for him. Unfortunately this means a lot of them still living in the dark ages insist on using C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VST Plugins rather than C:\Program Files\VST Plugins & I have to confess that if the installer will let me I generally scrub out the Steinberg bit & have never had an issue with it.

Re-visit what you have been doing before and see if any of this could give you a clue. If not, there are other possibilities...

[jazzmandan]

Thanks for the feedback. Rest assured I read every word and appreciate the calm and sane advice.

All the plugs I found to be missing in this current project are now back. One thing I think I have concluded - Don't hit the "Auto-detect" button. Just "Edit" "Add", then close the project and open it and I think that is the safest way I have found to keep my plugs. I think when I accidentally hit Auto-detect when adding a new plug, it caused this mess. But like I said, 30 minutes later all is good again.

[nait]

ivansc: to your comment about which to put first, 32, then 64. I guess to remember it, remember it as in numerical order, perhaps. I think just the last one to load is what takes precedence, for cases where the 32 and 64 bit files are the same name, or something.

[ivansc]

Originally Posted by jazzmandan

Thanks for the feedback. Rest assured I read every word and appreciate the calm and sane advice.

All the plugs I found to be missing in this current project are now back. One thing I think I have concluded - Don't hit the "Auto-detect" button. Just "Edit" "Add", then close the project and open it and I think that is the safest way I have found to keep my plugs. I think when I accidentally hit Auto-detect when adding a new plug, it caused this mess. But like I said, 30 minutes later all is good again.

My turn to be embarrassed! I dont think I have ever used "auto detect" mostly because I have a bunch of installs all over the place forced on me by the plugin`s developer!
Glad you figured it all out.

[ivansc]

Originally Posted by nait

ivansc: to your comment about which to put first, 32, then 64. I guess to remember it, remember it as in numerical order, perhaps. I think just the last one to load is what takes precedence, for cases where the 32 and 64 bit files are the same name, or something.

Ha Ha! Apparently neither of us is certain & I just couldn`t be arsed to go look it up either in the User guide or Kenny`s videos!