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How can I tell whether a [vst~] has loaded a VST or an AU soft synth?

I'm trying to have a unified mechanism for loading/saving sounds and VSTs use the .fxp file but AUs use presets and before I go implementing a ton of bookkeeping to keep track of what's loaded, it would be much easier if I could easily detect what's loaded.

is-it-a-vst-or-an-au

I'm having a secondary problem because VST Parameter values are always between 0 and 1 but AU parameter values can be all over the place which complicates scaling of hardware (MIDI) inputs to the right range.

Can I control whether a VST or AU is loaded programatically (i.e, not using GUI and dialogs)? If so, how? Is there a prioritization, i.e, if you have a plugin in both formats, which one will be loaded?

Has anything been done to normalize AU parameter values?

In principle, having a single object handle both VSTs and AUs is very elegant but in practice it seems less, well, practical, because of the differences in the behavior.

Has anything been done to normalize AU parameter values? 

In principle, having a single object handle both VSTs and AUs is very elegant but in practice it seems less, well, practical, because of the differences in the behavior.


I've also found that the "unification" of VST and AU is not very useful in practice.

Well, that's my sense too --- I'd rather have had separate objects ---

https://cycling74.com/forums/controlling-whether-vst-or-au-is-loaded

Rick --- that thread was also started by me --- same question....got some answers, but nothing really definitive, and as I said there, I really don't want to start dealing with full paths.

I'm not at a computer right now, but can't you just append a .vst or .auinfo to the plugin name, to specify which version you want loaded? No full path necessary, I don't think.

I'm not at a computer right now, but can't you just append a .vst or .auinfo to the plugin name, to specify which version you want loaded?  No full path necessary, I don't think.


I use .vst already. What is .auinfo though......the files in the AU Plug-Ins folder have the extension "Component" and if you open up the packages to see the actual contents, the actual plugins have no extensions. So who is determining that .auinfo means to load an audio unit?

Certainly if I can distinguish 100% between the two formats using the extension, then I can at least try to deal with the parameter stuff better. However, it would be much cleaner if the [vst~] could do the normalization.

I use .vst already.   What is .auinfo though......the files in the AU Plug-Ins folder have the extension "Component" and if you open up the packages to see the actual contents, the actual plugins have no extensions. So who is determining that .auinfo means to load an audio unit?

Certainly if I can distinguish 100% between the two formats using the extension, then I can at least try to deal with the parameter stuff better. However, it would be much cleaner if the [vst~] could do the normalization.


Max goes through the .component files when it starts up, and stores all of the individual plugins they contain in .auinfo files. There is not necessarily a one to one relationship between .component files and .auinfo files - some .component files contain more than one AU plugin (Uhe's come to mind).

These files are stored in a separate folder (forgot exact name, but it will be obvious)) in the Max preferences folder.

Max goes through the .component files when it starts up, and stores all of the individual plugins they contain in .auinfo files. There is not necessarily a one to one relationship between .component files and .auinfo files - some .component files contain more than one AU plugin (Uhe's come to mind).  

These files are stored in a separate folder (forgot exact name, but it will be obvious)) in the Max preferences folder. 

Is it a vst or an AU