How to Manage Plugins in Reaper

Quick Reaper Tips - Plugin Management

Today we're going to learn how to manage plugins in Reaper's FX window.

Watch the Video Below to Learn More

Full Transcript Below

00:00 hi i'm anita potter from anita potter

00:02 productions and today we're going to

00:03 talk about plug-in management

00:13 now when you start working in any kind

00:16 of daw you're going to want to get

00:19 plug-ins

00:20 if you want to supplement

00:22 your stock plug-ins and reaper has a way

00:25 to

00:26 organize them so let's get stuck in

00:28 i'm going to add a new track by double

00:30 clicking and i'm going to hit the fx

00:32 button

00:33 and move it down so we can see what

00:35 we're doing and i'm going to click add

00:38 now i have new plugins that i need to

00:42 maneuver you can right click anywhere in

00:44 the empty space

00:46 and you can add well you can add a

00:48 developer if you want to

00:51 or you can click right click anywhere in

00:53 here and add folder

00:56 so i have a few folders i've added in

00:59 here

01:01 to organize and sort

01:04 it's like i have

01:06 things that are amp bass guitar

01:09 things that are channel strips

01:10 compressors delay de-esser drums so on

01:13 and so forth i put my um

01:16 instruments

01:17 in there as well

01:19 and i have some new plug-ins that i need

01:22 to organize

01:23 do i have i do have a folder for

01:26 mastering

01:28 but you would if you needed to add a new

01:29 folder

01:30 right click

01:32 add folder and then you can give it a

01:35 name

01:36 i haven't used the smart folder function

01:41 on here but i just move them to us like

01:44 whatever

01:46 plug-ins where they go so i'm just gonna

01:48 just i'd type in mastering but i'd have

01:50 already gotten one

01:53 so you can just type a name in there and

01:54 press ok

01:56 then you have your plugins

01:59 i'm going to right click on this plugin

02:04 and add to folder

02:07 and i'm going to select mastering and

02:09 i'm going to do the same thing with this

02:10 one down here

02:11 since it's a vst3

02:15 uh where'd it go add a folder

02:19 mastering and it should show up i also

02:21 need to

02:22 maneuver these QRanges into my eq

02:26 folder add folder

02:28 eq

02:32 and you just right click

02:37 i keep losing it add folder

02:41 click

02:44 i gotta remember where it is

02:47 eq

02:48 so i'm gonna go and check the eq i have

02:50 quite a few

02:52 different eqs

02:53 that i've downloaded

02:56 and moved into here you can see the

02:58 QRange is right there and then i'm

03:00 gonna go over to my mastering folder

03:03 and

03:04 the

03:05 ones that i got today

03:08 are in there

03:09 now there's one plug-in manufacturer

03:11 that i know of specifically that if you

03:14 put them into folders once you update

03:18 they'll disappear out of your your um

03:20 your personal folders and that's waves

03:23 every time waves hasn't had an update it

03:26 would completely disappear and i would

03:27 add them back in

03:29 but then it's like it would do it every

03:31 time so once wave central updates or you

03:34 update your plugins they move themselves

03:37 out of your specific folder so i usually

03:39 just go

03:40 to developers if i need a waves plugin

03:42 and scroll all the way down

03:45 and

03:46 get it that way

03:49 that's the one that i know that does

03:50 that i don't know about any of the other

03:52 ones that have like their own um plugin

03:55 managers

03:57 so

03:58 and that's basically how you manage your

04:00 plugins now

04:03 if you're like me you have a tendency to

04:05 ooh a plug-in let me go grab that i'll

04:07 forget to do this so i know i'm gonna

04:09 have to sit there

04:11 and go through

04:15 all the plugins

04:17 figure out which ones i downloaded and

04:20 make sure that they're either in the

04:22 folder already or if they're not in the

04:23 folder i wish there was a way to um

04:26 filter it by um

04:29 like date added that would be kind of

04:31 cool that way

04:33 i'd know

04:34 but you just sit there and you go

04:36 through all of your plugins yes there's

04:39 quite a quite a bit

04:41 other than the stock reaper plugins that

04:43 i have there's a lot of js plugins too

04:46 that come standard with reaper

04:48 and that's

04:50 all there is to adding a new folder

04:54 putting your plugins in there they'll

04:56 still show up under like

04:59 um categories

05:01 or at least they should

05:03 and you could like certainly do it that

05:05 way but i like having all my uh

05:07 plugins that i download into a folder

05:11 that way i can grab it quickly it's like

05:13 oh i need that one plugin i can't

05:14 remember the name of it but i know it's

05:16 for bass i can click on base

05:18 and then it's right there

05:21 as long as i

05:22 put it in the folder

05:24 so you have to be vigilant on doing that

05:26 and i i haven't been i know it's going

05:28 to take a little while to uh

05:32 get that done

05:34 so how do you manage your plugins do you

05:36 use the folders inside the fx

05:40 or do you have some other

05:42 way that you do it let me know in the

05:43 comments section below and i'll see in

05:44 the next video bye bye for now