bkshepard

1. If I send a message: (plug <plugin name>) to a [vst~] object and have both AU and VST versions of <plugin name>, which one gets loaded? How can I tell?

2. Is there a way to tell whether a plugin is a virtual instrument or an effect?

3. I've been working with the "channel_plug.maxpat" file from the vst~ help file which returns a huge number of results with multiple duplicate names. Is there a way to whittle that down to only show one name and, hopefully, only show the ones that are virtual instruments?

1. If I send a message: (plug <plugin name>) to a [vst~] object and have both AU and VST versions of <plugin name>, which one gets loaded? H

vst~-questions

but this of course only works _after loading them one by one.

the only solution for knowing before could be that you sort your stuff otherwise.

e.g. move all instruments in a subfolder, or name the files all with "i " at the beginning.

my instruments are in an instruments subfolder since ever.

but this of  course only works _after loading them one by one.

Hmmm, I get really inconsistent results. When I send a "get 7" message to the vst~, almost everything, whether it's a synth or an FX produces a 0 from the vst~ 4th outlet. The situation I'm working on won't allow the plugins to be put into different folders. Thanks for the suggestions, though!

Does vst~ load the vst or au version of a plugin by default when both exist?

oh sorry yes minus. i didnt know the number by heart and looked it up in the online reference- there it says "get-7" (!)

oh sorry yes minus. i didnt know the number by heart and looked it up in the online reference-  there it says "get-7" (!)

your next question will be how to know when the loading of plug-in has finished. no, there is no flag for that. best practice is to check for the "get" messages you want every 1 second or so - until you get an answer.

So, not knowing exactly what it is you want to do as your final goal, still thought this might be worthwhile to mention:

A lot of programs I use (I'm thinking mostly of Soundminer, here) have a 'scan plugins' function. Basically, it goes through a semi-arduous process of sequentially loading each plugin in your plugin folder, checking if they're valid, etc (if you have an iLok-protected plugin that you don't have the license for, it'll pop up a window asking for it - if you decline it won't put that plugin in the list). It then keeps a... I guess I'll call it a cache of plugin names, and I assume the location of that plugin on the drive.

My point is, you could probably relatively easily implement a function like that - load every plugin you've got, store them all as a dict or a coll, and then instead of making the user browse files, or search a plugin folder, you'd just use your cache. Users could then rescan if necessary (in soundminer, if you add a new plugin, you have to rescan everything, it's annoying), or give an option to just 'add a new plugin to the dictionary' one by one. You could then save any relevant information ("is this a soft synth?" "is this AU or VST?" etc) into your cache, so you can then sort and do whatever.

Long story, but I'm essentially trying to create a controller for VST and AU soft synths that people can use without having to use a DAW. I'd like to populate a menu with the list of available VIs on the user's computer. There's the getplugs.js script in the [vst~] help file, but it returns a huge list with multiple redundancies when you have the same-named plugin in different formats. If you click the plug-ins icon on the left toolbar, or select "Files" from the little yellow triangle on the left side of the [vst~] object, you get nicely organized and formatted lists of available plugins. I'm wanting to create a nice user GUI that accesses the same information in a patcher that is in presentation mode and doesn't have toolbars.

vst~ questions