Tool to Scan for Plugins

[ClintGoss]

Is there a tool to scan for Plugins?

In particular, I’m thinking of a disk scan or a scan of a flock of top-level folders (rather than the usual places one finds VSTs). I thought I was pretty organized, but I’ve stumbled across some VSTs that seem to have been plunked down in odd locations (that are - gasp - not on my C4 search list). Unclear how they got there so what would really be helpful would be a list that includes:

• The plugin technology (VST2, CLAP, RTAS, …)
• The architecture (x32, x64, x128 … x4096)
• Relevant file dates
• Plugin version
• … and other useful info …

Seems like such a tool would be handy and must already exist …

[ClintGoss]

I came across this utility:

https://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/us/resources/vst_scanner/vst_scanner.htm

… but it was last built circa 2008, so it’s probably not up to the task of VST3x64.

[easteelreath]

I remember running that on a Win7 System, but could not get it to run on a Win10. It was only for VST2, also.

[JCollins]

Owl Plug? https://owlplug.com/

[cpaolo]

Not bad, but for a full scan I need to set the start folder to c:\

[ClintGoss]

@cpaolo

I need to set the start folder to c:\

That’s what I tried, for both VST2 and VST3. OwlPlug ran for ≈1.5 hrs and then crashed. Here’s the explanation when I re-launched OwlPlug:

It did seem to scan most of C:/ … but it cannot distinguish DLLs that are VST plugins from those that are not audio plugins. I’m guessing there is no definitive way to do that. So, only a small percentage of the “plugins” that OwlPlug lists when I scanned C:/ are bona fide audio plugins.

I also noticed that some presumably well-behaved plugins (SWAM VST3s, for example) show as “Unknown” for important parameters, such as Plugin Version, Manufacturer, Identifier, and Category (at least that’s what OwlPlug shows. This may be part of the issue in identifying which .DLL files are audio plugins.

I thought this would (should) be straightforward, but I guess it’s no such an easy task …