Plugin Cataloguer Free

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boggg1
Posts: 94
Joined: 11 Jul 2015
Location: England

11 Jun 2020

I wrote a program for myself to find plugins on my Windows PC so I could sort out the mess of VSTs on my computer.
Well, one thing led to another and I added more and more facilities to it.
Then I started to wonder if anyone else might find it useful.

The program will catalogue rack extensions, VSTs (as Reason sees them) and refills and you can download the lists into Excel.
If there is interest then I will develop this further (and in particular develop some help files) but there is no point in expending effort if no one is interested. It does what I want already but there is lots I could do to make it more friendly for others.

It will automatically find Reason's data files if you use default installation locations but you can redirect it if you want. Press settings to point it at your custom location and also to point to your refill directory - it scans to unlimited folder depth to find refills but you have to tell it the top level directory name.

It writes a settings folder in its home directory (eg if you download to desktop then the Settings directory will be created there)
Windows only, sorry.

It is situated here and it is free (and virus free):
http://gofile.me/2pClx/splG77ol9
:reason: :record: :refill: :re: :ignition: :PUF_balance: :refillpacker: :rt:

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ThatKevinHanleyGuy
Posts: 18
Joined: 30 Mar 2019

28 Jun 2020

I don't personally have a need for this *at the moment*, but what you've put together is really nice and well done. If I eventually do have a need for it, the feature set as-is works perfectly. Cool idea, and thanks for sharing it with the community!
soundcloud.com/thatkevinhanleyguy

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MarkTarlton
Posts: 795
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: Santa Rosa, CA

28 Jun 2020

This is a nice idea, and thanks a lot for sharing your work!

I tried it on a mac running under wine, and unfortunately it had an error. "failed to find rack extension folder - aborting operation error number 5Error description rack extension folder"

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boggg1
Posts: 94
Joined: 11 Jul 2015
Location: England

29 Jun 2020

Thanks for kind words, both

Mark
Hmmmmmm, no experience of Windows under Wine but I'm not surprised it does not work. The file structure it assumes is still a Windows structure whereas you are still fundamentally operating a MAC but operating it from a Windows style interface.

The offer I made still stands, I will develop it if people want it. If you tell me the MAC file structure then I can easily offer a search in those locations.
Press "Settings" then have a look at where it is looking for rack extensions. Let me know where it should look under Wine.

Goodness me, I have received enough free from others, I'm happy to contribute to this happy little forum in the best way I know.
I do use the program and I have identified lots of VST mess that I am gradually clearing up for the good of all my music programs.

A search and sort facility is next on my list to do.
:reason: :record: :refill: :re: :ignition: :PUF_balance: :refillpacker: :rt:

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MarkTarlton
Posts: 795
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: Santa Rosa, CA

29 Jun 2020

boggg1 wrote:
29 Jun 2020
Thanks for kind words, both

Mark
Hmmmmmm, no experience of Windows under Wine but I'm not surprised it does not work. The file structure it assumes is still a Windows structure whereas you are still fundamentally operating a MAC but operating it from a Windows style interface.

The offer I made still stands, I will develop it if people want it. If you tell me the MAC file structure then I can easily offer a search in those locations.
Press "Settings" then have a look at where it is looking for rack extensions. Let me know where it should look under Wine.

Goodness me, I have received enough free from others, I'm happy to contribute to this happy little forum in the best way I know.
I do use the program and I have identified lots of VST mess that I am gradually clearing up for the good of all my music programs.

A search and sort facility is next on my list to do.
I started thinking about it and realized exactly what you mentioned above in terms of windows file structure. Thanks for looking into this, and if it's too much trouble don't sweat it.

/Users/yourName/Library/Application Support/Propellerhead Software/RackExtensions

/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components

/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST

/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3

Marc64
Posts: 741
Joined: 24 Jan 2015
Location: Sweden
Contact:

30 Jun 2020

Pretty nice alltough when looking in the nvalid vst's tab it shows vst's that I have had installed there before but not anymore.

Also when clicking on Vendor, Name, Location etc. would be nice to sort on what you click :)

Top stuff so far :)

User avatar
miscend
Posts: 1955
Joined: 09 Feb 2015

01 Jul 2020

Thanks for making this! It's a very useful utility to have.

gbuck
Posts: 106
Joined: 21 May 2017

01 Jul 2020

Thanks, but I use Word Perfect/Quatro Pro and the utility seems to only output to excel. Too bad it didn't output to a text file.

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boggg1
Posts: 94
Joined: 11 Jul 2015
Location: England

02 Jul 2020

Version 1.1.0

gbuck
Now offers .csv (effectively text) download. This format should load in any reasonably modern spreadsheet.
Go to Settings to set where you want them downloaded (file location). Leave it blank to save where the .exe is located

Marc64
Now does sort on column click
Also now reports whether an "invalid VST" is also absent

Invalid VSTs include or VSTs which will not load in Reason (faulty licence, bad code, Reason limitation etc)
As reported:
Invalid VST - Reason has an invalid VST in its database and the VST (.dll) is located where Reason thinks it is
Absent VST - Reason has an invalid VST in its database but the VST (.dll) does not exist where Reason thinks it is

I have found no Absent VSTs so far but hundreds of invalid VSTs (my system). Are you sure the VSTs you mention are not still in location even though you thought they were deleted ?

The searches are based on Reason's database. They search for plugins that Reason has identified at some point. If Reason never saw a plugin then nor does this software.

Other minor updates.
Next task: filter on name and Wine compatibility.
:reason: :record: :refill: :re: :ignition: :PUF_balance: :refillpacker: :rt:

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boggg1
Posts: 94
Joined: 11 Jul 2015
Location: England

02 Jul 2020

I should have said, if you want to sort by two columns, press the column names in the reverse order.
To sort by Vendor then RE name, press RE Name column header then Vendor column header
:reason: :record: :refill: :re: :ignition: :PUF_balance: :refillpacker: :rt:

NDKay
Posts: 287
Joined: 04 Jul 2018
Location: Suite 11

02 Jul 2020

boggg1 wrote:
11 Jun 2020
I wrote a program for myself to ......


May i ask you something "offtopic" ?

Context:
A Reinstall of the HD changes the the path of where other samples (than the FSB aso) are saved on the HD.
(To be exactly, the reason path could change too, but reason will "find" the FSB samples anyway)


Now when i open my "old projects" it (reason) tells my that samples are missing ( because they are not from the FSB). I have them, but the path has changed from "when it was made" . I start the search and ( a felt eternity) later there are all samples found. :puf_unhappy:

So.....

Is there the possibilty of creating a programm that

1. Opens reason song files from a folder.
2. Searches for all missing samples on the HD.
3. Saves again under the same name with all samples found ( or the new path to be exactly).
4. Opens the next song file from the folder and repeats from 2.


So one could open the programm, put in the folder which s/he wants, "start" the programm and leave the computer for hours to work.

.... but then its done. :D


Sorry for bothering while you already share a useful tool for free ;-)
This is a SmartAss. Really nothing more than that !

User avatar
boggg1
Posts: 94
Joined: 11 Jul 2015
Location: England

02 Jul 2020

NDKay
In the RE database there are offsets which guide you to the next item (next RE or next VST). In database-speak, the records are not of fixed length.
You have to know how those offsets work and be sure you know every offset on every occasion if you want to re-write a Reason file. I failed to work out how some of the offsets work in the RE and VST database and I do not know the significance of much of the encoded characters within the RE and VST database. This is in the relatively simple fixed format serialised database that stores RE and VST data for Reason. So far I have worked out enough to write a useful program but much is still unreadable to me.

Reason itself has anything but a fixed format. Its flexibility is indeed its very reason for existence. A song file is basically a database but its format (due to Reason's flexibility) must be VERY complex. To replace text locations would be feasible but to guarantee offsets and other encoded data are correct without insider information would be a life's work. And even then you could get it wrong and rewrite the file with some subtle error which would only show up when you go to use it in some slightly different way. How would you even begin to test such a program ?

Sorry, but I don't think this is feasible.

Reason can do the searching for you (it can search huge areas), the problem is you have to do it song by song.
:reason: :record: :refill: :re: :ignition: :PUF_balance: :refillpacker: :rt:

NDKay
Posts: 287
Joined: 04 Jul 2018
Location: Suite 11

02 Jul 2020

boggg1 wrote:
02 Jul 2020
NDKay
In the RE database there are offsets which guide you to the next item (next RE or next VST). In database-speak, the records are not of fixed length.
You have to know how those offsets work and be sure you know every offset on every occasion if you want to re-write a Reason file. I failed to work out how some of the offsets work in the RE and VST database and I do not know the significance of much of the encoded characters within the RE and VST database. This is in the relatively simple fixed format serialised database that stores RE and VST data for Reason. So far I have worked out enough to write a useful program but much is still unreadable to me.

Reason itself has anything but a fixed format. Its flexibility is indeed its very reason for existence. A song file is basically a database but its format (due to Reason's flexibility) must be VERY complex. To replace text locations would be feasible but to guarantee offsets and other encoded data are correct without insider information would be a life's work. And even then you could get it wrong and rewrite the file with some subtle error which would only show up when you go to use it in some slightly different way. How would you even begin to test such a program ?

Sorry, but I don't think this is feasible.

Reason can do the searching for you (it can search huge areas), the problem is you have to do it song by song.
thats the intention of my question.

So then it goes like it is, and was, and ever will be.

Maybe RS will do something about that. I´m sure not the only one with this "hassle".

thank you for thinking about it! :thumbs_up:
This is a SmartAss. Really nothing more than that !

User avatar
miscend
Posts: 1955
Joined: 09 Feb 2015

29 Oct 2021

Is this still working with Reason 12?

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