Old 03-24-2019, 03:31 AM   #1
Happy
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Default VST Plugins Custom folders ?

At the moment ALL my FX plugins are sourced by Reaper from just one folder location on my drive. This drive is not the boot drive, but another one inside my PC.

The issue is that, it would be Extremely useful if each Type of FX could be given it's own folder, rather than them all lumped together in one. I know i can do that, BUT, i don't see a way that Reaper can be made to locate more than one folder for FX !

For eg.

Comp/Lim

Delay

Etc

Is it possible, & if so how do we do it ?
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Old 03-24-2019, 04:28 AM   #2
Cranky Emu
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy View Post
The issue is that, it would be Extremely useful if each Type of FX could be given it's own folder, rather than them all lumped together in one
Gidday!
First, your plan is going to be quickly defeated if you use plugins with installers, as some will install into their own (custom) folders.
That aside, there is nothing stopping you from installing straight out .dll VST's into various folders, it will soon get messy and tedious to maintain. I am not sure if this will be of any advantage to you either in respect to using Reaper. If you have all your .dll VST's in the one folder it is much, much easier to backup in case anything goes haywire.

Reaper can be set to search any folders you need it to. Just because you have plugins in different folders does not mean that is how it is going to appear in the FX viewer in Reaper.

To set plugin folders, go to:
OPTIONS > PREFERENCES
or CTRL+P
or Left click on the Audio device settings dialogue top right corner
What you are looking for lives in PLUGINS > VST, see below:


I am guessing you are using Windows since you said 'folders'.
Keep in mind plugins that have installers (some will not allow you to define a location) will install to a variety of locations.

Such as:
C:\Program Files (x86)\VSTPlugIns;
C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VstPlugins;
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3;
C:\Program Files\VstPlugins;
C:\Program Files (x86)\VST Plugins;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steinberg\VSTPlugins;

As said before, arranging plugins into folders such as Reverb, Compressors and so on won't make any difference to how they appear in Reapers FX browser. They won't get categorised according to your folder structure.
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Old 03-24-2019, 08:38 AM   #3
Calaban
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You can make custom folders within the plugin window.

Click the FX button, scroll down in the left pane until you see “My Folders”, right click on that and select “Add Folder.”

From there you can add a Delay folder or Compression or EQ or whatever you want. Place your plugins of choice within these folders. Then, when you want to add a plug-in to a track, right click the FX button and choose “Add FX”....you will see a list of your folders and when you mouse over say, the Delay folder, you will see all your Delay plugins.

You can also make these into “Smart Folders” which will automatically place plugins in the correct folder based on certain user defined criteria. I don’t personally use this feature so it’s possible I’m not understanding it correctly.

I haven’t updated Reaper in ages so maybe that whole process has changed but it still works here.
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Old 03-24-2019, 09:51 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cranky Emu View Post
As said before, arranging plugins into folders such as Reverb, Compressors and so on won't make any difference to how they appear in Reapers FX browser. They won't get categorised according to your folder structure.
If "VST folders" is enabled in FX browser it shows the folder structure as on the drive.
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Old 03-24-2019, 02:40 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nofish View Post
If "VST folders" is enabled in FX browser it shows the folder structure as on the drive.
My mistake, was not aware of that.
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Old 03-25-2019, 08:02 AM   #6
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Hi all, & thanks for responding.

Just downloaded the latest version to test.

I've posted 2 screenshots which show that even with this version, lots of plugins that come with it, don't get auto loaded & scanned etc. So they "seem" not to be able to be accessed & selected when i press the FX button.

I was able to add a new folder of my own in that area, but due to the above the same issue prevails !

Apart from my new folder, shouldn't Reaper come with ALL those auto detected from day one ?

How do we get Reaper to recognise them etc ?
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File Type: png All.png (18.0 KB, 229 views)
File Type: jpg FX.jpg (61.8 KB, 218 views)
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Old 03-25-2019, 09:38 AM   #7
domzy
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That is your JS plugins folder - the Stillwell etc. JS plugins are in the list of FX in the right hand pane, but i don't think they get categorised, in the same way as VST plugins, on the lefthand side
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Old 11-13-2023, 04:37 AM   #8
Oly Spart
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Calaban View Post
You can make custom folders within the plugin window.

Click the FX button, scroll down in the left pane until you see “My Folders”, right click on that and select “Add Folder.”

From there you can add a Delay folder or Compression or EQ or whatever you want. Place your plugins of choice within these folders. Then, when you want to add a plug-in to a track, right click the FX button and choose “Add FX”....you will see a list of your folders and when you mouse over say, the Delay folder, you will see all your Delay plugins.

You can also make these into “Smart Folders” which will automatically place plugins in the correct folder based on certain user defined criteria. I don’t personally use this feature so it’s possible I’m not understanding it correctly.

I haven’t updated Reaper in ages so maybe that whole process has changed but it still works here.
Do you know where the configuration of these custom folders is stored?

Edit: Found it, it's in C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\reaper-fxfolders.ini

Last edited by Oly Spart; 11-13-2023 at 05:04 AM. Reason: Found the solution
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