Plugin Menu Editor Thread

[K Roche]

IMO simply allowing creating user defined custom folder's in the inserts dropdown, would solve tons of organizational and search issues

[Electronic1982]

Just came across this post on Avid Link and suggestion about "Pro Tools plugins list organization capability" by a Pro Tools user called C. Pacini. I thought I should post it here as it was another good reason why the Plugin Menu's need to be personalised:

By C. Pacini:

I have been a Pro Tools user for decades and currently also have an Avid S4 console. As a composer and music producer, I appreciate the dedication and attention you have been putting into Pro Tools updates lately, bringing tools more focused on music creation. But I would like to ask for special attention to the Pro Tools Plug-in Browser. Instead of just separating them by Type or Manufacturer, you could allow the user to create custom folders and categories, thus adapting them to their needs. This is already common in other DAWs. I know many fellow producers who would like to do the entire creative process in Pro Tools, but for reasons like this they end up preferring to use other workstations. AND ALSO, IN PRO TOOLS, INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS ARE ALL MIXED IN THE SAME LIST. Just like me, it is normal for music producers to have hundreds of plugins, sometimes thousands! When you open the insert list to search for an effect or instrument, you come across a very long list, which ends up wasting time and losing your creative focus. I think this would be an emergency fix, and you could consider including this next year, after all it is not such a complex feature. Because a Recording or Mixing Engineer ends up using a few plug-ins, but a music producer who needs greater diversity ends up leaving Pro Tools to produce on another station, where he can organize this large list by category, by sonority, by similarity, etc., etc., etc. Thank you!

[massivekerry]

Originally Posted by Electronic1982

Just came across this post on Avid Link and suggestion about "Pro Tools plugins list organization capability" by a Pro Tools user called C. Pacini. I thought I should post it here as it was another good reason why the Plugin Menu's need to be personalised:

By C. Pacini:

I have been a Pro Tools user for decades and currently also have an Avid S4 console. As a composer and music producer, I appreciate the dedication and attention you have been putting into Pro Tools updates lately, bringing tools more focused on music creation. But I would like to ask for special attention to the Pro Tools Plug-in Browser. Instead of just separating them by Type or Manufacturer, you could allow the user to create custom folders and categories, thus adapting them to their needs. This is already common in other DAWs. I know many fellow producers who would like to do the entire creative process in Pro Tools, but for reasons like this they end up preferring to use other workstations. AND ALSO, IN PRO TOOLS, INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS ARE ALL MIXED IN THE SAME LIST. Just like me, it is normal for music producers to have hundreds of plugins, sometimes thousands! When you open the insert list to search for an effect or instrument, you come across a very long list, which ends up wasting time and losing your creative focus. I think this would be an emergency fix, and you could consider including this next year, after all it is not such a complex feature. Because a Recording or Mixing Engineer ends up using a few plug-ins, but a music producer who needs greater diversity ends up leaving Pro Tools to produce on another station, where he can organize this large list by category, by sonority, by similarity, etc., etc., etc. Thank you!

Preach!

[noiseboyuk]

Just adding my voice for the need for a manager / editor.

Has anyone from Avid ever said anything publicly about this?

[Electronic1982]

As one of the most requested features for more than 10-15+ Years,
here's hoping for the difference an STG / Avid combination will make to bring this long awaited feature to reality as part of the customer-based focus towards growing the Company.

[Electronic1982]

Bumping this up in the hope NAMM 2025 might show something about this much requested feature.

[Electronic1982]

With todays vast choices, it is essential to personalise plug-in menu.

[Electronic1982]

Adding a note here from another thread in relation to how long awaited for features (when implemented) brings joy to the userbase:

Originally Posted by Guy McDude

(about Folder Tracks)
....more organizational.....I love them, and have replaced all subgroup auxes with folder tracks, as all members can be easily hidden or displayed.

Originally Posted by Electronic1982

Agreed, it just goes to show what a difference long asked for features can make, it took a long time to get Folder Tracks into Pro Tools,
I think the userbase would benefit from some pace added to much requested features,
for example, the same joy would be seen by many if the option to organise the Plugin Menu was there, this is too, another much requested feature from a decade+

[Electronic1982]

Amazing
In Avid Link, for Feature Requests,
The 3 of the Top 5 most liked requests are related to the Plugin Menu


This feature is, by far, one of the most requested features.
I've attached a screenshot from Avid Link Feature Requests to show this.


https://ibb.co/ZpmRgmKN


Plugin Editor Manager Popular Request.jpg

[James Steele]

Be careful what you wish for! I'm a Digital Performer user for decades now and DP probably has one of the most flexible plugin manager capabilities of any DAW, allowing you to completely customize the pop-up plug-ins list withe folders and categories, etc.

Now here's the downside. I use my S3 with Digital Performer and it's virtually impossible to add a plugin via the control surface. When you select a track and then choose "Inserts" and hit the Config button, the user is dumped into a root level "bucket" of EVERY PLUGIN INSTALLED ON YOUR SYSTEM. There's no hierarchy at all. Imagine paging through over 1,000 plugins, 16 at a time!

Now I can't prove it, but I suspect that one of the reasons it's like this is that because DP is so flexible with plugin lists, it's made it much harder to get that to reflect them EUCON. I've suggested to MOTU that at the very least they just hardwire that function to at least show Manufacturer first, which would at least be an improvement.

Anyway... just mentioning this. I could be wrong.