VST Plugins Paths

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valis
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VST Plugins Paths

Post by valis »

Having written this up for another poster, I'm going to replicate the information below and add a disclaimer to USE THIS INFORMATION AT YOUR OWN RISK. Scope doesn't support XTC mode in any of its current iterations, and so this information isn't really relevant to a Scope forum, but I'm loathe to spend several minutes doing something and not make future use of that time (if possible) so I'm replicating this information here for others who may need it:

First off, on 64bit versions of windows, you'll find 2 program files directories:

C:\Program Files\ << This is for 64bit (memory addressing range) binaries
C:\Program Files(x86)\ << This is for 32bit (memory addressing range) binaries

Unfortunately, there's no 100% standard for installing VST plugins. In years past, you would install them to your steinberg plugin folder (assuming you had a steinberg app installed) and then copy the ones that worked in other programs to that application's subfolder for vstplugins (Ableton Live, Renoise, Sonar etc). Then companies improved in terms of stability/compatibility with 3rd party VST plugins (there's many! lots to debug) and most added a feature to let you 'point to' an additional VST plugins directory.

At that point, it became common to 'look up' the plugin folder location in the registry at the key that Steinberg was setting. If this key didn't exist, it was created by most apps (including Sonar as you mentioned). Since companies presume you've already installed a bunch of content, when you come along later and now install some other DAW/Sequencer, it tends to continue to try to use that same registry key.

Ok so, now we know we can define a registry key and most installers MAY pick that up. However not all installers USE this path, which is why it's important as the computer operator to know your system and your common install directories for applications that are important to you. Many installers default back to something like C:\Program Files(x86)\Vstplugins in the absense of one defined by the Registry or when none exists. This is less than ideal, though usable. Generally speaking, as Steinberg created the VST plugin standard, I find it best to use their directories that get created when you install a Steinberg product like Cubase or Nuendo:

VST3 64bit
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3

VST3 32bit
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VST3

VST2 64bit
C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VstPlugins

VST2 32bit
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steinberg\VstPlugins

-------------

As of now, Steinberg includes their own 32bit to 64bit VST bridge in modern versions of Cubase (to bridge old 32bit binary plugins to work in 64bit Cubase), and also has a documentation page here that discusses this concern and your options. That page instructs "In all cases mentioned above, a logic and clean folder organization will allow you to reliably bridge where needed and get rid of the additional software when the need for a bridge no longer exists."

Properly organizing this requires understanding what Program Files folder structures are 64bit (as stated above), which are 32bit (the ones that add (x86) to the path), and where you are putting your plugins as well as which type of plugin you are installing (32bit and 64bit). Steinberg have also added some guidance in that last part, as they next link to a page (via "Read more...") called Instructions on how to organise 32- and 64-bit plug-ins separately .

In regards to BFD, FXPansion states:
Does BFD2 support 64-bit or other >4GB addressing schemes?
BFD2 versions 2.3.x and later are supplied in native 64-bit and 32-bit versions for Windows 7 and Mac OSX 10.5.8 or later.
All versions prior to 2.3.x are 32-bit only.
So presuming you have a version of BFD later than 2.3, you should be able to install it as 64bit directly without any complex workarounds.

Lastly, and this requires registry experience so I only mention it for others who may find this post later, I personally manually define the following registry keys on any Windows DAW before installing ANY software, so my plugin installations are consistent across all of my applications on that machine:

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VST]
@=""
"VSTPluginsPath"="C:\\Program Files\\Steinberg\\VstPlugins"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\VST]
@=""
"VSTPluginsPath"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steinberg\\VstPlugins"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VST]
@=""
"VSTPluginsPath"="C:\\Program Files\\Steinberg\\VstPlugins"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\VST]
@=""
"VSTPluginsPath"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steinberg\\VstPlugins"
You can paste the above text into a text editor, save as "VSTPluginsPath.reg" (with show file extensions enabled in your Explorer window Options, View tab) and then double click to add to registry automatically. However I do NOT recommend this for an existing install, as it will overwrite your existing plugin locations for all future installers! Know your paths, your binaries and your setup before using and use at your own risk.

I have created and attached this registry key to this post, please note that this will OVERWRITE any information already in your registry at these key locations so USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
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