how to switch to VST plugins

[dewdman42]

I have a lot of plugins. In the past I was using the AU version for everything except for plugins which are only available VST or plugins with MIDI out that do better in VST. Recently I read some things here on this forum about VST perhaps being the better way to go in general, so I wanted to switch over all my plugins to the VST version, except for the ones which are only AU.

Is there a way to automatically make this switch? when I switched the preference to make VST the primary format, all the AU's get disabled. I don't actually want them all disabled, I only want the ones disabled that have a VST equivalent to use instead. The ones that are only AU I want to remain enabled. But I can't figure out how to make this change automatically and its extremely tedious to go through all of my plugins to figure out which ones are only AU.

Any suggestions?

[mhschmieder]

I faced this same issue recently, but then went back to AU due to its superior preset scheme.

I think, but am not positive, that if you trash your AU cache, all your plugins will realphabetize vs. being listed by the time stamp of when they were last validated (which can be affected by software updates).

Then, you could do a few screen shots while scrolling through the lists in the preferences window, and compare them to see which ones are AU-only.

Of course, you could do this with the install director ties too, except for that VST's often have a different organizational scheme (by default, at least) in that they usually organize under vendor-specific sub-folders.

At any rate, this approach might reduce the tedium, even if it doesn't automate the switch the way that you are hoping. maybe someone else has a solution that is more complete.

[bayswater]

I got confused by the same issue. So I made up a spread sheet by cutting and pasting the Finder plugin folder directory listings in to plain text format files, then into the spreadsheets. With some sorting, merging, and sifting you can get a view of all your plugins and their formats. It's easy at that point to see what exists only in one format. I also found load of old stuff I never use, and a lot of stuff I bought at no brainer sales and forgot about, and was better able to work out how to set up more useful user categories in the plugin preferences.