Ableton 11.1 is here, and the VST 2 workaround...

[jestermgee]

Takes some attention and care but it is 100% possible to have your plugins installed into a single location with all content on other drives. I have about 500+ instruments and effects and all VST2 plugin files are in a single location "C:\ Program Files\VSTPlugins64"

Every installer has the option to set the VST location and data separate, there are a few that have a folder with settings included with the plugin, but not an issue.

I have even set vendor folders for every plugin :


The only plugin file I have had to manually more because the installer did not allow a path to be set is Waves and their actual tech notes suggest if you use a custom folder to simply move the waveshell file to your preferred location.

The only plugins I have also had issues when manually moving plugins around would be Native Instruments because they rely on registry paths to locate plugins for things like Kontakt libraries but this is a simple fix if required.

Most plugins will be fine to move but I always suggest to copy/paste the plugin and not move it. This was, when you do an update you can compare the date of the plugin in your custom location.

VST3 fixes all this because most users these days don't pay attention to installers and just blindly click next...next... to install things and then only after making a mess want a duct tape solution to fix everything. VST3 is now in a fixed location to solve this for users.

[Rivanni]

I see it as intended because the drop of support for shortcuts was mentioned months ago in the beta forum, yet Ableton released the update without fixing it.
Maybe Ableton sees it as a bug and will fix this in an update, but that's too late for such an important feature.

I got reply from ableton support and he say this is bug and will be fixed in next release.

but that's too late for such an important feature.

What "too late" ? Can you elaborate please.

Too late because some users are now confronted with this issue and now have to fix this if they want to use 11.1.
When they fix it in a proper way by using symlinks everything is future proof. Same for uninstalling and reinstalling everything to one single folder. Often plugins are moved to one location, but this can break the plugin and probably this step must be repeated after a plugin update.
Anyway, all these steps take time. A reason some users don't bother and roll back to 11.0 or even don't install 11.1 in the first place.
So for all users that use VST2 shortcuts, a (possible) bugfix is a (little) too late.

[Alphagem-O]

In addition to VST2 shortcuts failing after 11.0 --> 11.1, the "NoVstStartupScan" command in the Options.txt file (to prevent the VST scan at startup) also was not recognized anymore and yielded an error message that it will be ignored.

Downgraded back to 11.0, hoping that developers will fix the issues soon.

[Tarekith]

The "NoVstStartupScan" option has been removed and doubtful it will return.

[Alphagem-O]

The "NoVstStartupScan" option has been removed and doubtful it will return.

Thank you for the information! Is this documented anywhere? Could not find anything. Anything known about why they dropped it?

[Mark Williams]

No need for it to be documented, it wasnt an official nor supported feature anyway.

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... s-txt-file

[perrycomo]

I don’t understand why people don’t simply install all their plugins to a common folder. It’s simple to do and to change the path in each installer. If you forget, most cases you can simply move the plug-in or just reinstall it correctly. Makes things so much cleaner and easier to manage.

UAD don't allow you to!

[jestermgee]

UAD don't allow you to!

Then they are retarded as Waves. I have no UAD plugins but would assume, like Waves, you can just manually copy them to another location.

I guess i've been using plugins for over 20 years so have learned to self manage things for my own sanity. Especially if you use multiple programs, not all will follow symlinks and shortcuts, it is honestly just far easier to move things or just reinstall half the time than trying to remember a dozen different scattered folder locations

[VT2]

My solution fixed it easily... roll back!

I did the same immediately (to v11.0.12)

[Alphagem-O]

No need for it to be documented, it wasnt an official nor supported feature anyway.

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... s-txt-file

Fair enough. Thanks for pointing this out.

[MichaelAbletonForum]

I don’t understand why people don’t simply install all their plugins to a common folder. It’s simple to do and to change the path in each installer. If you forget, most cases you can simply move the plug-in or just reinstall it correctly. Makes things so much cleaner and easier to manage.

Because its not possible with all installers! VST3 solved this problem, because there should only one folder. The only DAW that i know that don't follow this Rule is Ableton Live (VST3 Custom Folder in preferences). Completely Senseless.

[jestermgee]

Because its not possible with all installers! VST3 solved this problem, because there should only one folder. The only DAW that i know that don't follow this Rule is Ableton Live (VST3 Custom Folder in preferences). Completely Senseless.

No, but as I pointed out it IS possible to manually move almost all VST2 plugins yourself if you need to. I have never had issues in 20 years doing this if needed but apart from a couple of retards in the industry who think setting a fixed location for VST2 is a good idea, 99% of installers DO have the option to set a VST2 location on install and this should be done by the user. VST3 is fixed because it was quickly realised (point and case in these threads) that some users don't do well with self management and tend to make a mess of things if given the chance.

If there is an installer that does not let you set the VST2 location AND the plugin refuses to work after you have manually moved it to where you would like it, i'd like to know what one it is so I can avoid it completely.

[MichaelAbletonForum]

Moving VST2 manually, is not a good idea. I’ve developed hundreds of software Installers and the concept of manually moving files by the user was never part of that. But if the operation manual allows this, ok why not. With all the upcoming it problems… ohhh no!

With VST2 it’s a Common Concept to have different Folders since years. Only Ableton Live has problems with that and a weak implementation (only 2 Folders) the rest of the DAW world can handle that.

And I don‘t know any Installer that allows to set a custom VST3 Folder, that’s the way to go!

[Tarekith]

Some of these issues are known to Ableton and will be addressed in an upcoming beta FWIW.

[RaadsKoen]

the discussion where to put your VST2 plugins, or discussion, it seems like a discussion, which makes it a strange discussion;

how you manage your programs, your files, is up to the user, to some point of course, the limitations (especially; preset location, but that is another topic) are there. but do what you want, place files on the desktop (i never do that, the horror! the horror!), personal data on the boot drive, etc.
you manage your own system.

so this thread is more about, place all in one plugin folder, the VST2 versions, than that are 2 options;

1. yes put them all in one folder, if it can be done... it can be done, but also a lot of overhead.
2. if you don't put your VST2 plugins in one folder, like me, i have 4, don't know why, but for me is how i like it.

for 2. there is workaround using symlinks:

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/c ... -or-linux/

as already mentioned.

and of course, it seems to be a bug, strange that it has been reported and still got into 11.1, while Ableton normally well, beta testing is quite good, nowadays.

there is a third option; go to the previous version.

creating symlinks is an easy task.

still wondering why Live never had the same solution as all other programs; multiple VST2 paths. well it does not matter the workaround works without problems.

and maybe symlinks are even a better solution...