# Scanning Multiple VST folders in Ableton Live 10



## starise (Jul 31, 2018)

I have been using Ableton Live 10 to play backing tracks for awhile now. I'm still getting the hang of how some of it works. I am now using it for the first time as a serious daw on a project I'm building. I'll admit the lack of a rewind button had me curious until I discovered the speaker function that almost works like a scrubber.

There seems to be a huge difference in the way Ableton deals with vst plugins as compared to some of my other daws. For instance in Cakewalk by Bandlab I can select multiple folders for a plugin scan. It also has sandboxing in addition to seeing both 32 and 64 bit plugins. Another nifty feature is it can save scanned folders and launch very fast the next time.So long as I haven't bought a new plugin that daw doesn't scan every time I launch.
Ableton Live 10 OTOH seems to only allow one scan location which seems very odd to me. To begin with it only accepts 64 bit plugins which isn't a deal breaker for me, however, I could only select one folder. I selected the folder my Waves plugins were in and in doing so omitted about half of my collection. I have plugins in at least 5 or 6 folders.
Anyone else using Ableton here? Can you tell me if there is a workaround?


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## kitekrazy (Jul 31, 2018)

Nope. One plugin folder is only available in Live. Most plugins take up very little space. You can copy them and create a new directory.


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## starise (Jul 31, 2018)

Thanks kitecrazy. 

It isn't what I wanted to hear but that's they way it is. Some plugins are really finicky about being moved. I have a ton of plugins...oh well.Thanks again.


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## paulmatthew (Jul 31, 2018)

kitekrazy said:


> Nope. One plugin folder is only available in Live. Most plugins take up very little space. You can copy them and create a new directory.


Not entirely true. You can also check the custom folder option and setup an additional folder as well. I have done this after creating aliases on Mac and sorting plugins in a custom folder by types in different folders such as reverbs , eq, compressors etc . Helps keep things more organized


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## starise (Aug 1, 2018)

I seen the custom folder which I selected and Ableton found it.However on my windows computer it only shows one folder.
I have no idea why they didn't design Ableton to scan more than one folder.


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## chrisphan (Aug 1, 2018)

You can try creating shortcuts to your other plugin folders and put those shortcuts in the main folder that Live scans


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## starise (Jan 16, 2019)

Long time getting back to you @chrisphan
Thanks for this information!


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## Solarsentinel (Jan 24, 2019)

Create a new folder called "Ableton vst" for example. Then inside this folder create another folders with names of the company vst you own. Finally copy the dll of each vst 64bits you want in each coresponding folder. And choose the "Ableton vst" folder as your main folder in the options and you're ready!! Of course if you have a lot of plugins it take some time to copy the dll, but don't forget to do the same operation with each new plugin you add on the future, and it will work well. Again don't forget to copy the new dll when you ll have any update plugin.


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## starise (Jan 25, 2019)

Thanks for this reply. I was attempting to do this by adding links to my vst folders within folders. I had some success with that. I like this method. 
Another thing I noticed is Ableton doesn't seem to differentiate between 3rd party instruments and effects. Not sure how to this all sorted. I really want to use Kontakt In Ableton. So far no luck.


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## Rasmus Hartvig (Jan 25, 2019)

Copying DLLs is a mess. Updating with multiple copies of DLLs is an even bigger mess. Instead create a custom folder and in it, create junctions (if you don't know how, Google it) to your main VST folders. That way updates will still work without having to copy stuff again.


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## starise (Jan 25, 2019)

This is what I have been doing is copying "junctions" as you call them. I had the same thoughts as you. Some vst companies insist the .dll remain in the same folder.
I'm still missing a lot of my vsts . Must have missed a few. It works. I don't feel it works nearly as well as simply letting the DAW scan the folders, but then, we don't live in a perfect world.


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## TheSteven (Jan 27, 2019)

This is the system that I currently use for managing my VST plugins in Windows.
It optimizes scanning, simplifies updating, eliminates almost all dupes and it works across multiple DAWS.

```
C:.
├───Audio
│   ├───VST32
│   │   ├───32Main
│   │   └───Has 64 bit version
│   └───VST64
│       ├───64Main
│       └───Has VST3 version
```
For Ableton my scan path is:
C:\Audio\VST64

For Cakewalk my scan path is:
C:\Audio\VST32\32Main;
C:\Audio\VST64\64Main
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3

For other DAWS just select the appropriate paths.

Re: Some vst companies insist the .dll remain in the same folder.
There's only a couple of plugins where this could be an issue but they're not a problem if you install them in your designated folder instead of moving them afterwards.
Since none of my VSTs (except VST3s) are in system folders this setup also eliminates the need to run any of my DAWs in Admin mode.


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## Rasmus Hartvig (Jan 27, 2019)

starise said:


> This is what I have been doing is copying "junctions" as you call them. I had the same thoughts as you. Some vst companies insist the .dll remain in the same folder.
> I'm still missing a lot of my vsts . Must have missed a few. It works. I don't feel it works nearly as well as simply letting the DAW scan the folders, but then, we don't live in a perfect world.



It sounds like - and excuse me if I got that wrong - that you aren't using junctions but shortcuts. Check out this article on junctions ("symlinks"). Shortcuts will often not work because it will actually seem like the plugin is in another folder. Junctions, on the other hand, are invisible to whatever is accessing them.
I imagine you could do something like this:


```
C:.
├───All VSTs
│   ├───VST32
│   │   ├───Plugin folder 1 [junction link to a "real" plugin folder somewhere else]
│   │   └───Plugin folder 2 [junction link to a "real" plugin folder somewhere else]
│   │   └─── ...
│   └───VST64
│   │   ├───Plugin folder 1 [junction link to a "real" plugin folder somewhere else]
│   │   └───Plugin folder 2 [junction link to a "real" plugin folder somewhere else]
│   │   └─── ...
```

Then setup Ableton to scan either C:\All Vsts\VST64
That way you have only one copy of each .dll, and updating will not require you to re-copy stuff.


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