File - VST Settings

Figure 492. The VST Settings section

The VST Settings section lets you manage VST effect and instrument plug-ins.

The VST Settings section contains the following settings:

VST Scan Folders

This window lists the folders that are scanned for VST plug-ins. “Scanning” a VST plug-in means adapting the plug-in’s file format so that the plug-in works in SONAR.

To add folders, remove folders, or set defaults for the listed folders, use the following buttons:

Add. This button opens the Browse for Folder dialog box, which allows you to select a new folder to be scanned.

Remove. To remove a folder from the to-be-scanned list, first select the folder, and then click the Remove button.

Folder defaults. Click this button to open a dialog box of folder options. These settings will set options for all the VST plug-ins in all the folders listed in the VST Scan Folders list. For more information, see To set options for all plug-ins in a folder.

VST Scan Options

This group of commands controls the following options:

Scan for VST Plug-ins On Startup. If this option is checked, the folders listed in the VST Scan Folders window are searched for new plug-ins whenever you start SONAR. Any previously unscanned plug-ins are then scanned. Checking this option causes SONAR to search for unregistered VST plug-ins on startup. If you prefer to run the VST Configuration Wizard manually, you can disable this option.

Re-scan Failed Plug-ins. Checking this option causes any plug-in(s) that didn’t scan correctly to be rescanned during the next scan.

Re-scan existing plug-ins. Checking this option causes plug-in(s) that did scan correctly to be rescanned during the next scan. This is a way to implement any changes you’ve made to the Folder defaults settings.

VST Scan

The commands in this section control the following options:

Scan VST Folders. Click this button to immediately scan the folders listed in the VST Scan Folder(s) list.

Reset All VST Plug-ins. Click this button to remove all scanning records and settings from all your VST plug-ins. Use this button if you want to completely start over.

BitBridge Server Configuration

Note: BitBridge server configuration is only available in SONAR Producer.

Cakewalk’s BitBridge technology allows you to use 32-bit VST effects and instruments when using the x64 version of SONAR.

32-bit VST effects and instruments are loaded into “servers”, and each server can address up to 4GB of RAM. BitBridge supports up to 32 independent plug-in servers, and each server can address up to 4GB of RAM, allowing access to a massive 128GB of RAM. This allows SONAR x64 to address all available RAM in your computer.

By default, SONAR manages memory automatically, and will allocate and allow access to all available RAM dynamically as plug-in's are used. This is done by dynamically creating new BitBridge servers only when necessary, up to a maximum of the available RAM.

Server loading is either automatic or customizable, giving you full control over which server to load plug-ins into. To enable automatic server loading, select Automatic (Based on available RAM). To manually manage BitBridge servers, select the server that you want plug-ins to be loaded into.

After a specific server is selected, all plug-ins subsequently loaded will be loaded into that specific server, bypassing SONAR's automatic memory management. This also applies when you load a project that contains VST plug-ins.

Tip: To more optimally use your available memory, assign memory hungry VST's to their own private BitBridge server. The actual memory consumed by a server instance is shown in the server list, allowing you choose which server you may want to load into.

Custom server assignments are saved with the project file.

Note: Server management is common for all loaded projects. If you have multiple projects open simultaneously, you can potentially overflow the 4GB capacity of a server if the projects reference the same server. Under this condition, a plug-in may fail to load. If this occurs, close the current project before opening another project.

 

See also:

Preferences dialog

File - Folder Locations

File - Audio Data

File - Initialization File (Advanced)

File - Advanced (Advanced)