+- The Plugin Manager serves two purposes. Primarily it is used to - control the display status of plugins. It can also be used to find and insert - plugins into the - Processor Box. It is - displayed either by a double-click in the Processor Box or by - choosing New Plugin > Plugin Manager… from the - Processor Box context menu. + The Plugin Manager provides a convenient interface to various + operations on plugins and is the primary troubleshooting tool when something + goes wrong with plugins. It works on both plugin files and the plugins index.
+
+- Displayed for each plugin is the status (normal, favorite, hidden), - name, type, category, creator (author), and the number of audio and MIDI - connections. The plugins can be sorted by clicking on a column header. + For each type of a plugin (e.g. VST3 or AU) there are pre-configured paths + where these plugins are located. Every time Ardour runs, it re-scans plugins + in these paths and recreates an index â a kind of inventory of available + plugins. Whenever you open the Plugin Selector + dialog, Ardour reads the list of available plugins from that index and + displays them for you to pick.
-
-+ Re-scanning paths is important because it's common for plugins to change on + the disk (e.g. when you installed a newer version) or get removed (when you + don't need a plugin anymore). Sometimes plugins get corrupted due to + a hardware failure. Indexing them often helps identifying issues early on, + and the Plugin Manager helps reviewing the general state of affairs with + plugins. +
+ ++ Ardour also treats LV2 plugins slightly differently and scans them on startup + unconditionally. You can disable the scanning of VST2, VST3, and AU plugins + entirely in the Preferences dialog. +
-| Status | +Ardour will displays the status of every plug-in file. See below + for more information | +
|---|---|
| Ign | +Do not load this plugin file at all | +
| Fav | +Set or unset the Favorite status for a plugin | +
| Hide | +Load this plugin file, but do not show it in the Plugin Selector | +
| Type | +The name of the API this plugin has been built with: + VST2, VST3, AU, LADSPA, LV2 | +
| File/ID | +Displays the file name for LADSPA, VST2, and VST3, as well as + the ID for LV2 and AU | +
| Name | +User-visible name of the plugin | +
| Creator | +Developer of team of developers who created the plugin | +
| Tags | +Metadata that classifies the plugin by type, + e.g. 'instrument|synth' or 'analyzer' | +
- Click on a Fav(orite) or Hide radio button to change a plugin's display status. - Clicking on an already selected radio button will cancel it, returning the - plugin to the normal display status. Plugins marked as a favorite show up in - the Processor Box context menu under - New Plugin > Favorites. Setting the hide - radio button on a plugin will keep the plugin from showing in the - Processor Box context menus - New Plugin > By Creator or - New Plugin > By Category. + The Status field specifically has the following options:
-| OK | +The plugin file has loaded without any issues and the information + in the cache about it is up to date | +
|---|---|
| New | +The plugin file has just been discovered and successfully loaded + for the first time | +
| Updated | +The plugin file changed on the disk, the plugin cache has been updated + accordingly, the plugin file loaded successfully | +
| Concealed | +A VST2 plugin will be hidden from Plugin Selector, if a corresponding + VST3 plugin exists. The same applies to LV1 (LADSPA) and LV2 | +
| Error | +There was a problem loading the plugin file | +
| Stale | +A plugin changed on the disk but hasn't been re-scanned + by Ardour yet | +
| Incompatible | +Scan the plugin failed. Typical reasons are 32/64-bit mismatch, + attempt to load a .dll on Linux or a .dylib on Windows | +
- The middle of the Plugin Manager is used to filter the listed - plugins. Typing into the text-box will filter the plugins based on the filter - mode selected by drop-down box. Clicking Clear - empties the text-box. + The Plugin Count section in the sidebar provides + basic information on available plugins: how many plugins of every supported + type are available through Ardour in total, how many failed to load, and + how many are missing.
-- The bottom half of the plugin manager shows plugins that have been selected - for insertion into the Processor Box. A plugin can be added by - either double clicking the plugin entry in the top half, or, if already - selected in top half, by clicking Add. + You can search for a specific plugin or a group of plugins. Simply place the + cursor inside the input text box in the upper left corner and type. Ardour + will search in the index +
++ By default, Ardour will search through plugin names, makers, and file names. + Additionally, you can search through Type, Tags, and Paths. +
+ +- Plugins can be removed from the bottom half with a double click, or, if - already selected, by clicking Remove. + This section of the sidebar contains commands that operate + on the plugins index.
+| Discover New/Updated | +This will run a full scan on all known paths to plugin of all supported types | +
|---|---|
| Update Index Only | +This will check which plugins were updated without scanning them | +
| Re-scan Selected | +This will re-scan plugin files selected in the main part of the window | +
| Re-scan Faulty | +This will only re-scan plugins that previously failed to load | +
| Re-scan All | +This will re-scan all currently known plugins | +
| Clear Staled Scan Log | +This will remove all entries from the index on plugins that changed + on the disk but haven't been re-scanned | +
+ This section of the sidebar allows settings paths to VST2 and VST3 plugins, + as well as quickly open the Preferences dialog + on the Plugins page where you can set various options + for scanning plugins and controlling their default behavior. +