CHANGELOG:

V1 Initial Release Jan 2026

V.1.1 Update Feb 2026

New Features:

User Notes and Links – user enterable fields on a per plugin or selected plugins, text fields and link fields are available. Link suggestions available from internal database (offline) links to manufacturer site or download page.Bulk suggestions option on Settings Page

Data export enhancements to include or exclude these,

Compare Groups and System export files – App generated txt files can be loaded and compared against each other, Filter and flip options allow you to work out missing plugins, or plugins available but unused on a reference system txt . Then create a report of this comparison or create a Group of the missing plugins to import on a second computer. 

Export copy .AAXPLUGIN Files – access through Group menu. Useful for archiving older plugins off drive rather than deleting , or using the new compare features to make a Group of missing plugins on a second system and export the actual files. Although no preset files, serials or licensing backend is transferred with this operation, you may find this is a quick way to get Ilok based plugins working on a second rig.

Computer Name: Individually name the computer you’re on, useful for multi computer setups and adds clarity to exported data.

Settings Page has quick view for PT Active, Unused and Cache Folders (2023.12+)

UI / GUI changes:

Update to Group and Tag bar size and more space for group names

Settings page retains page position on switching

Tags and Notes checkbuttons show or hide information to persist in collapsed or expanded view

More readable settings page design and text clarity

Other small enhancements

Plugin Metadata and database:

“C” and “O” small badges to denote caches found

Improved extraction of plugin IDs

Integration with V1 database and transfer to v1.1

Acustica Plugins – special mode for these non standard plugins to allow free movement within Groups and accept duplicate warnings.

Fixes and amendments

Fixed reset messages missing startup message

Clarified default folder usage and moved towards danger zone as for 99% of users doesn’t need to be altered.

New shared shell “Acustica” section appears on Settings Page if these plugins found and given user permissions.

Changes to legal/privacy sections 

A FULL PDF COPY OF THE MANUAL IS AVAILABLE AFTER PURCHASE – 

WELCOME TO THE 

AAX PLUGIN

MANAGER 

Manual v1.1a

by Diagonal Music

Designed to help with creativity, workflow and organisation, troubleshooting and potentially eliminate P.A.S (Plugin Acquisition Syndrome) this App lets you Group, Tag and Move Plugins, Filter and Sort using many options, Activate and Deactivate Groups or single AAX plugins with one click to get the best out of your Pro Tools™ rig and plugin collection. Bonus features for Universal Audio UAD™ and WAVES™ plugin users (experimental) allow you to manage their AAX plugins within the Pro Tools™ environment.

This app only works with AAX Plugins used by Pro Tools™ in the ProTools™ Ultimate and Pro Tools™ Studio editions, not VSTs or Audio Units. This App is not endorsed by Avid®, the makers of Pro Tools™ and we’re not affiliated with them, or any of the 3rd Parties mentioned. We’re just Pro Tools™ users who’ve wanted to be able to manage their AAX collections more efficiently. This App only runs on MacOS 12+ “Monterey” and later. It is a Universal app running on Intel or Silicon Macs. It’s been tested to Tahoe 26.2 at the time of writing.

SETUP: QUICK START GUIDE

Install and Licensing:

After purchase download the DMG file, mount it by double clicking the DMG and as indicated drag the App over to the Applications folder. When it’s finished copying over – double click that folder or go to Applications, and double click the App icon to launch. You may be asked to give permissions to access the plugin folders depending on your setup, if so please grant those for the App to be able to function 

On first launch you’ll see the activation instructions, enter your name and license code that you received in and activate. You should see confirmation and you’re good to go. This is a one time internet based activation, once activated the App doesn’t do security checks and operates offline unless you deactivate it. There are 5 activations per license available, deactivating the license (on the Settings Page) adds it back to your pool. Contact support if it’s all gone wrong.

UPDATING (v1.1 and higher)

As a precaution please backup your Groups and Tags and export a complete data backup, but the App is designed to simply replace the App in Applications and retain the backend and licensing. Make sure you’ve closed the running existing Plugin Manager and mount the new update DMG as above and drag the new into Applications. You will be asked to confirm replacement of the older App, confirm and relaunch the new version. 

PLEASE RESCAN ON UPDATING – a message will appear once asking you to do that, the v1.1 App is collecting extra Plugin metadata to add to the database and run smoothly. You won’t lose any information.

NOW JUMP IN….. 

RECOMMENDED QUICK START STEPS

1: Launch the App. On the main page, press the Scan Folders button. Wait for the spinning indicator to stop. A message will appear to create an Active Plugin Snapshot Group of your current Active Folder plugins. This is highly recommended – see below how to export this information for extra safety! Why ? Well when you’re experimenting you may move your plugins out of active and you’ll want to get back to this first state. 

You can also create this Group at any time by selecting the ALL checkbox in Active Folders view and creating a new Group but this is easiest. Done? Great – You should see numbers next to the folders on the left hand side, this is the number of plugins in each folder. A Group will also have been created on the left hand panel if you did this recommended setup. 

You may see a message appear bottom left about Permissions. Certain Plugins may require you to fix their permissions before they can be moved, as that’s what this App does. There’s an option to Fix and View the plugins there and then, or skip it if you leave the message unanswered – more on permissions later…

You may also see a critical message if you have duplicate Plugins in the Active Folder – if you do see the duplicates section of the manual for a solution. If you have Acustica Plugins with duplicate errors also check here and here

2: The top left side folders are the main plugin reference lists for this app – Click on each to view their contents in the main list pane – the top “All Plugins” selector shows you a list of all the plugins in both your Active Plugins folder plus the Unused Folder (Inactive). The number shown is the total number of plugins together. ( Say “Wow. I have a lot of plugins”). This is not an actual folder on disk, just a way of showing all of your plugins.

3: Next down: “Active Folder” – this shows all plugins currently in the main active Pro Tools™ plugin folder, set to the Pro Tools™ default folder install position on your computer. Anything within this folder, Pro Tools™ scans when loading and will be available in Pro Tools™ . Anything in the Unused Folder, shown below it, it won’t. These show the current folder contents on your computer after you have scanned. 

4: Of course you made the first snapshot Group, didn’t you?! To export your first Group: on the horizontal 3 dot menu next to this Group select “Export Group File”. It will create a text file of that name and you can save it to your computer. This Group file can be reimported later into an empty or already populated Group (overwrites it)  – so what we have done is create a safe startup snapshot state, clicking ONLY on the menu will move all of these back into the Active Folder, and all the current Plugins Active Plugins out – so if you move plugins around you can return to the state your Pro Tools™ active plugins folder was before you messed up – sorry, started experimenting. 

Good practice is to do the same for the Unused Folder, select ALL when viewing the folder and create a Group called “Unused all” for example, and export this. The actions you do to the Groups dictates what is in the Pro Tools™ folders and therefore what Pro Tools™ can access when running, see below for more detailed information on Groups and what you can do with them.

Important!…

You can use this App whilst Pro Tools™ is running, but for any operations that move Plugins out of the Active Folder it’s recommended you quit first to avoid possible crashes. Newer versions of Pro Tools™allow adding Plugins whilst running , PT rescans – but it’s also recommended you don’t for example add a huge amount at one time as that can often result in hangs!  Please check which features your version supports.

For earlier Pro Tools versions best advice is to only operate the App when Pro Tools is closed for any operations.

THE REST OF THE MANUAL

The power of this app is in the Groups and the Tags but let’s first have a look at what you can see when loading the App.

MAIN PAGE overview

1. The Main List: (centre, with lots of plugins listed)

The ever changing list showing your plugins in whatever folder , or Group, or however tagged, or filtered or however it’s sorted! In the collapsed view there’s a small green dot if the plugin is currently in the Active Folder, a grey dot if it is not.

2. Scan Folders button: 

This performs a scan of both the Active Folder (on disk the folder “Pro Tools Plug-ins”) and Unused Folder (Inactive) “Pro Tools Plug-ins (Unused)” on disk. The button indicates it’s scanning with a spinning icon, wait until it’s finished before doing more actions for database accuracy. Plugins are added or removed from the database and appear in the lists in the window. The App uses both the metadata within the plugin and the Pro Tools™ generated plugin cache files to tag some useful data onto the plugins – Category, Version, Architecture. 

 It’s recommended you’ve launched Pro Tools™ at least once with your Active Folder plugins as their presence on Pro Tools™ loading is needed to generate the cache files. This app will try to incorporate new found plugin information from these cache files on later scans. It’s recommended after installing new plugins to rescan the directory to keep the app database up to date or if there’s been other changes to the folders on disk. TIP: do occasional scans over time when you’re up and running to keep your database accurate.

3. Dark and Light Mode: 

The sun/moon toggle button top right switches between the two modes. 

4. Settings: (Gear Button) 

Access Settings page for more advanced functions – details later in the manual.

5. The All Plugins, Active Folder and Unused Folder (Inactive) 

The main lists of your scanned plugins on the computer that you can view, group, tag or action. All Plugins is not a folder on disk,  just a combined list of Active and Unused, your whole collection – whereas Active and Unused are the actual Pro Tools™ folders on disk, and should always be set to the default Pro Tools locations in settings, this should happen automatically.

6. Main List: Plugin 3-Dot Menu (right side of card)

Action options change depending on context and whether you’re viewing a Group or one of the Folders – , and will also react to multiple checkbox selections allowing actions to be performed to more than one plugin at a time – the display will update with (x) the number of plugins. Options Include:

 

Remove from this Group (Not in Folder View Options)  – removes the plugin just from the listed Group shown, or multiple plugins if selected. Not removed from disk.  

Move to – removes selected Plugin from this Group or location and Moves to a selected Group or folder , a list of destinations are displayed after selection. If you use Move to in the Folder view it simply makes a reference on the chosen Group and does not disappear from Active/Unused.

Add to Group / Create / Duplicate – plugin won’t be moved from the current Group – a list of destinations are displayed after selection or another way to create a new Group which you can create with the bottom option. 

Show in Finder – opens a finder window to show you the plugin on disk 

Move To Trash – proceed with caution obviously, but a quick way of doing cleanups of definitely unwanted plugins. Note this App doesn’t delete anything itself for safety reasons – the worst it can do is move to the trash (retrievable by user) or move plugins around as designed. 

Show Expanded View – opens the view showing more information for this plugin, or use the overall expanded view button (10)  to open all. 

Edit Tags – opens the Tag editing menu – can be performed to all check box selected plugins – more details in the Tag section 

Edit Notes and Links (new in v1.1) – opens the Notes and Links window, can be performed to all check box selected plugins. More details in the Notes and Links section.

Remove Missing Plugin from database (only appears on Missing plugins)

Missing plugins indicators (red tag displays “Missing”) appear when a Plugin featured in a Group is not found in either the Active or Unused Folder. These indications of Missing Plugins may be useful to keep in ceratin scenarios – for example in a Group you’ve exported for a certain project knowing there were Plugins used that are no longer available in the Folders, or if you import a Group similarly you can see what you don’t have on your system and install. 

 Sometimes they might get annoying if you’ve had a major clearout of old plugins – to remove an individual missing plugin – an option “Remove Group Entry from Database” appears ONLY on plugins with a Missing tag – or see the Settings Page for a more complete solution to remove many at once

7. Search Text Bar

Type to search, will filter out as you are typing. The powerful feature is that if you’re in a folder view or Group view (selected on left side) it will only search in the items in that folder or Group, and as you move through your choice of those the list will change as the search text is kept. Small x to clear the text. This is searching for plugin names, for Tag search we use the Filter, or work in combination with filter and text search together.

8. Filter:

Lots of options – first select the Group, or overall folder for the plugins to be filtered, then add text in the text search bar if required and click the filters needed – the filter will work through that plugin selection. The folders and Groups selection can be altered by clicking on another,  and the filter will re-filter through the new selection quickly. Multiple filters can be applied at the same time. 

Click the x in the text bar or select the “clear option” to reset the Filter. Filter is coloured to show filtering is happening, just in case your search is not returning what you think it should.

Show Active Only – useful, as with a Group there can be both status plugins within it.

Show Unused Only – as above

Show Missing Only this refers to when a Group has a plugin in the Group list which is no longer present in the Active or Unused Folders, this can happen when a user has deleted a plugin or a Group file is imported into a computer without the same plugins installed.

User Tags Search – the names of any created Tags show up in the list here.This is the place to search for Tags in an additive way, the quick search Tags on the left side only shows exclusively the plugins with those Tags, if you wanted to show “Cool FX” + “Best Reverbs” this is the way you would do it. 

Categories: All the App Generated tags for Plugin categories extracted from the metadata will appear here, see disclaimer in the App generated tags section about accuracy! This search is additive as it didn’t make much sense the other way round eg – delay and reverb selected will give you all delays and all reverbs in your list selection, not a delay that is also a reverb – a bit niche. If incomplete it maybe your PT version hasn’t scanned that plugin yet, also older versions of Pro Tools do not have the full cache metadata available (2023.12+ is when it was introduced), also occasionally some metadata can be a bit inaccurate from the plugin.

Manufacturers: Again as extracted from the metadata, there have been some corrective backend tweaks where manufacturers have slightly differently presented names for each of their plugins and they are grouped but inevitably there will be outliers here. 

Architecture:

Showing silicon / intel / Universal status of the plugins.  This links to a occasional problem, Pro Tools™ sometimes will not show a newly installed or added Plugin in its menus for use – the user knows it is in the Active Folder. It’s often Pro Tools™ running on Silicon build which is now default, and needing to be launched in Rosetta mode for certain older Plugins. Thankfully becoming less of a problem as we go forward.

Duplicate Status:

Show Newest Version Only – where you have a version of a plugin in the Active and one in Unused folders, or 2 or more in Unused (this is safe to have as Unused is not accessed when Pro Tools is active and can contain various versions) 

Show Older Duplicate Only – these are the older copies of duplicates, often a quick way to dump unwanted versions, move to trash etc 

Show Copy Names Only – comes into use with the Active Folder duplicates problem when the App identifies them, plugins that are a duplicate and have the word “copy” somewhere in the title 

Show Byte-Exact Duplicates Only – comes into use with the Active Folder duplicates problem when the App identifies them, hash compared plugins that are the same but with different names 

Show Only Problems – this is only used when there are two plugins the same in the Active Folder – not allowed – and is the “quick option” button link to if you ever get that message.

9. Sort:

Changes the order the Main list is shown

Name – most logical search

Status: Active First – so when you’re viewing big Groups handy to see this order.

Date Added: quick way when you’ve just installed new plugins and scanned the app to get them at the top of the list for Grouping etc

Date Created: quick way to find those Dark Ages installed plugins

10. Collapsed/Expanded view toggle.

Defaults to collapsed view to save screen space. Expanded view shows the App generated tags (version/architecture/category) etc , plus the user generated tags if any. Also shows the disk path and file name. Other tags you may see are “Newest In Folder” – this means there is another version of the Plugin in the Unused Folder and this is the newest version of the two. “Older Duplicate” is the older, try using this filter on the Unused Folder view. 

Expanded view can also be accessed on a single plugin basis through the vertical 3 dot menu. 

SELECTING PLUGINS AND THE QUICK MOVE BUTTONS:

Click a checkbox or checkboxes to allow operations to those selected plugins, the dot menu adapts to allow bulk operations. When any plugin is selected the quick move buttons appear at the bottom (14) – Green “Move To Active” and Red “Move To Unused (Inactive). Click if needed or use the further menu options. App logic shouldn’t let you move plugins where duplicates would be created, or moving a plugin to where it currently is.

11. GROUPS: (appear on the left hand side when created)

The powerful part of this app! With Groups you can manage your AAX plugins easily, to help with session organisation, or system troubleshooting, and many different creative setups. Each Group is a list of plugins that you can further organise or action – ideas at the end of this manual for Groups. A Group can have both selections from the Active Folder and the Unused Folder at the same time, as it’s the ability to pull plugins from each location to make a new Active set that’s the power of the App. In each Group’s horizontal 3 dot menu you’ll see the following 

ONLY This Group’s Plugins in Active Folder 

This action moves all the named plugins to the Active Folder, and moves all the plugins that are not in this Group to the Unused Inactive folder. Think of this as a function to activate exclusively the Group – you want those plugins and no others. Can be powerful, so good that you followed the original advice in the manual to create a Group of your current Active Plugins so you can always get back to that state… you did that, right? 

The exception to the “ONLY” command is the Pro Tools™ Factory Plugins, which are installed by Pro Tools™ on startup and recreated if they are not there. This app will always prevent these being moved from the Active Folder with performed operations, you will notice if you add a Group to the Active Folder the count will always include the Factory Plugins (currently 31 plugins). The user can open the Mac Plugins folder and remove them but Pro Tools™ will recreate and you’ll probably end up with duplicates and problems, so don’t bother. On the Settings page there is an option to allow these to be moved within the App operations, in case of Pro Tools™ version differences, but really, just leave that alone!

ADD This Group’s Plugins to Active Folder 

This adds the Group to whatever else is in the Active Folder – nothing is moved out, and the App will intelligently avoid creating harmful duplicates if this Group contains any already active, so for example you can throw a “Favourite Effects” Group at the Active Folder and it will only add what might not be there already from another Group. 

MOVE This Group’s Plugins to Unused Folder (Inactive) 

You may find yourself moving plugins individually but this is a quick way of removing a specific set of perhaps session specific older plugins, troubleshooting plugins, review or beta versions etc out of the working Active Folder. 

Duplicate 

Creates a copy of a Group but is completely independent of the original for ease of further list tweaking and thinning out. Option to name and recolour when duplicating. 

Rename / Colour 

As expected, also useful when you import a Group as the name is changed to the name of the Imported Group so can be renamed for clarity. 

Export Group File 

For backup, or moving your Group information to another computer. In text format so user readable,  it will also include useful information on versions/tags etc. Also see Settings Page for bulk export. 

Import Group File 

You can only reimport a Group File you’ve created to a Group, it will overwrite the current Group so be aware, or create a new empty Group to import into. 

Clean Up Orphaned Plugin ID’s 

On rare occasions where there may have been user movement of Plugin’s outside of the App you may find a scenario where a Group’s number of items doesn’t seem to match what’s on the list. This would be the time to use this option. The App tries to keep track of wherever a Plugin is within the Active and Unused Folders, and also within any manufacturer or user generated folders therein, so sometimes this can happen if it loses track of one through external user factors. This cleans the database references in Groups. 

You may come across a Group where the number is different to the amount of items on a list – When outside of the App delete or uninstall a plugin, your Groups may still contain references to that plugin’s ID – and this is what happens. This tool scans each Group and removes any plugin IDs that no longer exist in the database. If you use the App to remove plugins it handles this in the database better. For example: You had “FabFilter Pro-Q 3” in a “Mixing EQ” Group, you uninstalled Pro-Q then the Group still has that plugin’s ID saved (it just shows nothing or an error). This tool removes those references

Copy .aaxplugins  (New in v1.1)

This will open a MacOS window and allow the user to choose a destination, then the App will copy the aaxplugins listed in the group to a new folder, ready for archive (keeping various versions for a specific project)  or moving to a second computer for quick install. No Plugins will be moved or deleted from the Plugin Folders – copy only.  The provisos for this are: no licensing back end support or serials used by these apps will be copied, no .tfx preset files. You may find you have to reinstall or reauthorise on another computer, but you may equally find that Ilok plugins just work on Pro Tools boot. If you come across permission problems use the App on the second machine to fix these – sometimes caused by transferring files over portable drives or the network.

12. USER TAGS: (appear on the left hand side when created)

Tags are another useful way to find your plugins and help with workflow, independent from Groups. As well as the (uneditable) App generated tags created by the App scanning the plugins and cache files , a number of user created Tags can be added to any plugin. 

When on the main list view in either the folders or a Group, click the vertical 3 dot menu next to the chosen plugin and select Edit Tags. You are presented with a text box, here you can create a new Tag and press the blue + button. The tag is then added to the box below. If you’ve any existing tags you’ll see an option to click those to add to the tags on this plugin with “+” or remove them from the plugin with “x” buttons. Save Tags to exit this page. Here you can also delete Tags from the database, clicking the “Delete Tags From Database” button enables this mode –  and clicking the Tag names will remove. Confirm after checking the dialogue as it will remove Tags from all existing Plugins.

Note: multiple selections are possible when editing tags, simply select the checkboxes of the plugins you want to edit first, when you click the menu you will see the number of plugins the tags will be added to. 

On the left hand side of the main page you’ll see a list of all created tags. Click on any and the list view will change to display all the plugins with that tag. The display is not affected by the folder or Group you are in, wherever the tagged plugins are they will be shown exclusively. Only Tags which are attached to a currently existing Plugin are shown.

If you wish to filter by tag – for example only find the user tagged “Cool FX” plugins in a Group or a folder, select Group or Folder first and use the filter drop down menu – all user tags appear as an option there. Tags are also shown in expanded view lists on the main page. You can export a list of tags and reimport, good for setting up another computer. The app will attempt to reattach the tags to updated plugins of the same name.

13. USER TAGS / USER NOTES display (new v1.1)

Check the boxes to display either or both Tags and User Notes in the main collapsed and expanded views. Uncheck for a less cluttered display

14. QUICK MOVE BUTTONS

When any plugin or plugins are selected the quick move buttons appear at the bottom – Green “Move To Active” and Red “Move To Unused (Inactive). Click if needed or use the further menu options for more operations. App logic shouldn’t let you move plugins where duplicates would be created, or moving a plugin to where it currently is.

A note on App Generated Tags

The App will attempt to find all the metadata it can on the plugin and add to the database. When in the expanded list view you can see the information retrieved. This is not user editable, add your own tags for this. Some of the data is taken from the Pro Tools™ cache files generated when Pro Tools™ boots up and scans all the plugins so it’s recommended that you’ve at least launched Pro Tools™ once before you scan using this app, which would most likely have happened if you’ve a working rig. A small green “c” appears (v1.1) to indicate a cache has been found, a yellow “o” if the data has been obtained from the .plist in the plugin (internal metadata)

On future scans any further information found will be added to the database. It is noted that researching this there is a large variety of differences in quality of metadata and some of the older plugins store metadata differently, some plugins are missing correct version numbers or have multiple spellings of the same manufacturer. For this reason use this as a guide only, the categories in the Pro Tools™ menus seem to be worked out ok. TIP: occasionally check for Rosetta only cache files to make sure you’re up to date with older plugin caches

Notes and Links (new version v1.1)

Another way to add useful information is to add it as a Note or Link. Tags are generally designed for numerous Plugins to show the same information eg Favourite FX  (although you can use as you wish). Notes are for keeping more specific information perhaps on a single Plugin, or a number of Plugins from the same Manufacturer. One scenario for this was keeping serial numbers or login information for that plugin easily accessible. The information is stored locally in the Mac Database offline, but be aware if you are on a shared computer.

Access the Notes and Links editing window through the 3 dot menu on the left of the Plugin information strip in the main page – the option marked “Edit Notes and Links”

Text can be input into the text box, or copy and paste a link to a website, or write a link address e.g  www.website.com and the App logic will make it into a link. When you’ve entered your chosen information click the blue “+Add” button and Save to exit and save the note to the database. If you don’t press Add and Save, the information will not be saved on exit. 

When exiting , if the view Notes click option is ticked on the info pane, you’ll see the notes or links you’ve made displayed. Click to turn off if you need less information taking over your screen.

Click a Note in this view to copy the contents to clipboard, useful for serials etc. Double click on a non-link Note will go straight to the editor. Clicking a link note will open your default browser and access the linked page. To edit links go back through the 3 dot menu. 

In collapsed view you may not see all notes due to space restrictions, all notes are shown in expanded view.

Back in the editor you can reorder the notes with the dot icon , the order being shown on the Plugin info strip. You can click the pencil to edit that particular note back in the text box. Make sure to Save any changes.

Link Suggestions: The App has an internal database of some manufacturer pages (thanks to Julian at Macupdater for the help with this) – clicking this will examine the plugin and suggest a link, homepage or product specific. It’s offered as a quick fix, but you can easily edit it to get it to point to your specific login or account or other. Please bare in mind some errors are expected with this, there are so many Plugins! Also check the new feature in settings for suggestions of link notes for your entire database.

APP LINK Notes are another variation , super useful for if your Plugin Manufacturer installs from their own App- click on the Select App and find the App you want to launch. Click to confirm and a new App Link path appears. Make sure to Save this. Now when displayed on the Plugin strip, clicking this will launch that App , quicker for updating and installing. Apply this using the multiselect and you can select that App for all a manufacturer’s products. 

Depending on your settings on your Mac there is a chance you may need to allow the App to do this (all it is doing is launching the App) – follow the privacy message that appears if so to enable.

DUPLICATES in the database:

There are three types of duplicates you’ll come across using this app (if you indeed do have duplicate plugins) Firstly, and worst-ly, duplicates in the Active Folder are not tolerated! These have proven to be a source of mysterious crashes or behaviour in Pro Tools™. This can happen when you’re manually reorganising plugins, or reinstalling an old AAX plugin file directly rather than from a pkg or DMG. 

There seems to be a couple of common duplicate scenarios we found so on every scan the App checks for these. If you immediately came across a duplicate warning when you started on stage one this is what you need to know. All plugins are scanned and hashed to aid comparison –  so if you have “pluginorange.aax” but also the same plugin that’s somehow been renamed “pluginlemon.aax” this app will alert these as exact duplicates. It will also raise a warning if plugins are found with similar names appended with “copy” where you have a similar plugin named without for example “pluginorange.aax” and “pluginorange copy.aax”. 

These seem to be the most common of the duplicate problems, there may be others caused by manufacturers installers or user behaviour so keep an eye out for those as you work with the lists, especially when searching by text input through the All Plugins folder – but you are guided to address the serious ones in Active  immediately.

 If you get the warning the easiest way to do this is to select the Show Problems button, this will reduce the list to the problem plugins, there will be the original and the copy/duplicate and it’s up to the user to decide what shouldn’t be there. Leave the desired plugin, select the rogue plugin and move to trash, the Unused Folder or manually open finder and move to your backup location. Rescan and the warning will not reappear if the duplicate has been removed successfully . The settings page will show a little more information about the duplicates found. The warning box should identify the problem plugins.

The second type of duplicate is where you’ve an older version in the Unused Folder that maybe you’ve been keeping for session recall – sometimes older plugins are needed for architecture compatibility or newer revisions have broken backward compatibility or even sound different. No problem , if the plugin is in the Unused Folder that’s ok, and the app will attempt to label this as an “older duplicate” meaning inversely you’ll see a “newest in folders” tag on the active version. 

This is not an alert to tell you there is a newer installer available for this plugin, this app doesn’t do any manufacturer version monitoring currently – the version tag is generated from the plugin’s own internal data or Pro Tools™ cache. Sometimes you’ll want to move a plugin from Active to Unused where there already is an identically named plugin – if this is the case the app will append a unique number to the end of the plugin name – eg pluginorange_ 175362728.aax. This doesn’t affect plugin functionality and the app tracks these changes and when moved back to the Active Folder will be stripped back to original.

 In some scenarios where the user has changed the folders you may find a plugin retains it’s unique id in the filename despite the app moving it as requested, no problem, first try the “remove orphaned file ID’s” option, or just manually remove this appended number if not. The plugin is not altered in any other way than its name, Pro Tools™ uses the internal plugin data to operate so this is not an issue. Use of the duplicate filter is a good way to start getting rid of older plugins you probably don’t need.

DUPLICATES (Acustica Plugins Only and Acustica Information ) New v1.1

The third type of duplicate you may encounter is with Acustica Plugins. 

Acustica Plugins work differently using a shell, where different plugins appear identical in size and hash (how this App marks duplicates). This causes the user to be faced with a lot of duplicate warnings if Acustica Plugins are being used. V1.1 and upwards will show a special Acustica warning box alongside the message with a check box. Checking the box will allow the App to treat Acustica plugins as any other plugin, freely moving as expected.  Otherwise the App will try to disallow what look like duplicate plugins being moved.

 When the user has approved and activated this feature a checkbox (usually hidden) will appear in the settings page, leave this checked and it will allow the free operation, uncheck and back to the duplicate problem!

Acustica also installs a large amount of support files for its plugins inside the Active Folder. This App does not move any of those, only the shell aaxplugin itself. Use the Aquarius uninstaller or manually clean up those files if you do not want to use Acustica. You need to leave them in the Active Folder for the plugins to function. They are “safe” if left without the parent plugin,for example if that has been moved to Unused by the App.

Recommended setup for Acustica: Make sure all Acustica are installed and in the Active Folder rather than in unused and that Pro Tools has booted once in both SIlicon and Rosetta modes to create the cache files for these plugins, some older Acustica are Rosetta only so be aware the cache may need to be created., Ideally no Acustica Plugins will be in unused before scanning. 

Then launch the App and scan , dismiss any snapshot messages for now- when you see the duplicate warnings the Acustica checkbox should appear. Select and it will dismiss, rescan and then all should be as normal plugins. You can create a snapshot now if required. An alternative is to use only one of the Acustica plugins per group (the ones that share the same hash).

SETTINGS PAGE: (updated in v1.1)

Accessed via the wheel button (4), return via wheel button or click any folder or Group. More advanced features you might not need every session. This section has been reorganised and clarified since V1.0 so please have a read through.

Scan Folders button: Same functionality as main page 

Computer Name (new v1.1): Allows you to assign each computer an individual name, used to label export and helpful for identifying files for the new Compare feature. So use it!

Quick View in Finder  (new v1.1): Click to look at the main folders the App uses –  using the native MacOS finder window.

Plugin Tags Management: This creates an overall text file of which tags you’ve assigned to which plugins, and an import option. When reimported the app will attempt to match up the plugins in the database with the ones in your tag file. Useful for setting up a second computer and keeping a backup of your tagging work. 

Plugin Notes and Links Management  (new v1.1): When you’ve added all the links and text to your Plugins via the Edit Notes and Links menu, backup here (export) and install on a second computer or 

save for archive. Import Notes and Links will attempt to add them back to Plugins found in the database.

Groups: Export all the Groups as both a backup and a quicker way of exporting than the one by one saving from the Group 3 dot menu. New in v1.1 You can reimport multiple Groups and they will reappear, and populate if the plugins are found.  The Export All Groups option zips up all your groups individually – you can then import any required into an empty or existing group on a second computer if you need to use the Group 3 dot menu.

Data Export: Again a readable document of everything in the app database for backup or troubleshooting. There’s no import for this because of the possible changes to the plugins in your system, or second rig, so this is a reference list only, useful for documenting what you were running at a certain time for a certain project etc. V1.1 The exports can now include Notes and Links or not, if the contents want to remain private. Either of these options can be used in the new Compare Group Files or Data Exports.

Compare Group Files or Data Exports (New v1.1): A new feature to compare 2 txt outputs of the same type against each other, either 2 Data Exports (whole plugins) or 2 Groups. Click to expand the window and then you can load a Reference and Comparison txt file into A and B slots. You can quickly switch the roles with the middle arrows to change comparison. 

Once identified and validated you can click the Compare button and a list of filters and options appear. Clear to choose different files. Export Full Report gives a readable breakdown of the changes between the two txt docs, highlighting which plugins are present , but in the Unused Folder, or not installed. 

The more instant way of getting the information you need is by using the coloured filter buttons that appear. By default the first two light up, “Missing from (comparison computer) needs Install” (these Plugins are NOT found in either folder on the Comparison Computer or “In Unused on  (comparison computer) needs move” i.e these Plugins that are in the Reference Computers Active Folder are present on the comparison computer but in the Unused Folder – so simply moving them to inactive will correct this, rather than need to install (if you need specific versions to match then read on!)

These two factors seemed to be the most common scenario needed – basically getting your various computers Active Folders the same.

Other options comparing Folder position, Version differences between the txt files are available – click to Export the view you wish, Manufacturer listing can also be helpful to identify bundles to install rather than individual plugin names. With all these filters plus the Export Report there should be enough data crunching to assist in getting your computers in sync – sorry we can’t automate this, it’s still a manual slog.

To assist further – notice you can create a Group of the selected filtered Plugins, so for example create a Group of the “in Unused” plugins, move this to the comparison system and import – it should populate then click ADD to Active on that system and should move all those at once. 

Or if you need to install multiple plugins, create a Group of the missing (not installed) and install on the new computer – this should slowly go from missing status to found as you reinstall. 

There is another way to speed up potential installs , this comes with a bit of a caveat but… – create the Group and import into the reference computer ,i.e the computer that has the plugins on you need. The Group should be fully populated when you look – then in the Group 3 dot menu, go to the red  “Copy .aaxplugins” files – this will open a window and allow you to make a copy of the actual plugins within that group. Put it on a usb key or transfer to the new computers Active Plugin Folder , load Pro Tools and see what happens – for here is the Big Caveat – you may find Ilok licensed plugins work happily , other serial licensed or app linked plugins may not – no license , serial or background apps are copied, or .tfx preset files  – just the aaxplugin asset. 

Of course you will be using your App to scan the updated Active Plugin folder – always good practice after a new install. This can also help in case of permission problems which can happen moving the plugin assets via network or portable drives etc.

If you’re finding this new feature helpful or have other suggestions drop support a line !

Waves™ Plugin Management: (Experimental) partial disclaimer!

This is marked as experimental as we’ve found the variation in Waveshells and versions and updates, Caches used by Pro Tools and Waves™, and the sheer numbers of Plugins and different OS’s has made this not super reliable – mainly when you want to return the plugins to use after disabling them (moving to unused). Unlike the AAX Plugins individual Waves Plugins™ are in Applications/Waves/versionx. This App can move them outside their default folder to a new “Unused folder” created in Applications /Waves/Unused versionx and moved back when reset or enabled again in this section of the App. 

The idea was a way of thinning out the plugins that may appear in the Pro Tools menu but with options to return to default. We’ve found that returning to default mostly works but occasionally Plugins don’t rescan the first time in Pro Tools. Often clearing the specific Waves Cache is enough, there is a button for this, and this section of the App automatically deletes the Waves caches only –  for rebuilding next boot – , but we’re working through a more reliable way to do this. Worst case you may need to reinstall an errant plugin via Waves Central™. We’re offering it to users as an experimental basis so please send experience through to support if it’s useful, or fully working on your systems. 

Rebuilding the cache as Pro Tools reloads can take some time

Waves™ section – open arrow for functions.

This section will not show if Waves™ is not detected on your system. This is only for Waves v15 and upwards users, useful if you want to thin out the amount of Waves™ plugins in your system appearing in Pro Tools™ menus but recommended to leave unmanaged for simplicity – also if you use an additional DAW as it affects all apps that use Waves™ . Waveshells are the AAX plugins that Pro Tools™ uses, you may have one or more than one in your Active Folder. Each of these reference a folder outside of the set Pro Tools™ Folder in /Applications/Waves /versionx which contains all the individual Waves plugins. 

You can’t add or manage individual Waves Plugins™ to Groups like you can with other plugins – if you want to use them in Pro Tools™ you need a Waveshell in your Active Folder – so this section of the App is just for convenience and will move the Waves plugins™ in and out of a newly created “Unused” folder. This action will affect all other DAWs on your system and the WAVES™ plugins will not be available in those until restored/rescanned. 

Scan the Waves Folder and it should give a list of all Waves™ plugins when you expand the list. You may see for example v15 / v16 versions of the same plugin but the Waveshells themselves handle the appearance of the correct versions in Pro Tools™. Selecting via the checkbox you can enable or disable individual plugins that on the next Pro Tools™ startup will or won’t be in the plugin menus. Any action here removes the Waves cache for rebuild

“Return Waves™ Plugins To Default” moves all the Waves™ plugins back to the folders from any Waves unused folders. 

If you want no Waves™ plugins in Pro Tools™ in certain setups, just remove the single Waveshells from the Active Folder, or do / don’t include them in a Group you’ve made, that’s the simplest way to manage. It’s recommended that if updating Waves™ make sure all plugins are back in their default positions to avoid duplicates and Waves Centra™l problems. 

UAD™ Plugin Management: 

This is only for users of the hardware/DSP UAD™ plugins, the native version UADx™ plugins are not included in this management area as they can be treated as any other plugin. Unlike the Waves™ plugins above you can treat each UAD™ plugin as a normal plugin adding to Groups, tagging etc 

When UAD™ is updated the installer adds the whole library of current UAD™ plugins, and excellent as they are, you may not want all of those in your menus especially if most of them are unlicensed on your system. Here you can view all the UAD Plugins installed and manually move plugins to the Universal Audio Unused folder in the main Pro Tools Unused Folder to thin out your list, or you can try uploading the UADsystemprofile your UAD™ console generates and this app will try to match your licensed plugins. This will tick the ones you haven’t got authorisation for and then you can quickly choose to disable them (which moves them to Unused) by pressing the button.

Unlike other UAD™ plugin managers this one manages only the AAX versions so all other DAWS use a different set so will appear as normal –  and also does not delete anything, just moves them to unused. If you need to save disk space create a Group from the Unused UAD and use the dot menu to move (all) to trash. Manual moving of UAD™ plugins is recommended for total accuracy or when new plugins are released, or plugin names changed by Universal Audio. The App currently selects the plugins you do not have ready to move to Unused so should cover these events – but keep an eye out in case things change.

You can of course leave this unmanaged (default) and just treat UAD plugins authorised or not as any other plugins using the main page and moving / Grouping as you wish

Manual / Webpage Link / Diagnostics / Legal 

Congratulations on reading this manual. Links to current website. 

The Diagnostics is just a sample of cache files and permissions, used for troubleshooting. 

Legal information etc

License section:

Displays your name, Deactivate to return your license to the Pool. You have 5 licenses. If you deactivate your license the database and your info will remain on the computer ready to be reactivated. 

Plugin Folders: These default to the original Pro Tools™ folder locations and really there’s no need to fiddle with these. There is a possibility you may wish to have the Unused Folder somewhere else , or the Pro Tools™ default location or name may one day change hence the options – but it’s strongly recommended you leave these as they are.  

Danger Zone: 

Proceed with caution!

Purge Missing Plugins

Missing Plugins are tagged with a “Missing” red tag and appear in the database if a Plugin is not located in either the Active or Unused Folders – for example Moved to trash or moved by the user outside of this App. The database isn’t automatically cleaned of these as it can be a useful archiving tool, or when you import a Group from another computer or collaborator you can immediately see what you are short for that project or session. This button removes them completely from the database AND if they are in Groups that are loaded. 

If you’ve got exported or saved groups and you reimport the “Missing”  will reappear (intended behaviour) so make sure you are backed up before using this if you want to keep that information.. Mainly for use if you’ve cleared so many old Plugins to trash so there’s a lot of Missing Plugins showing. This option will give you a list of those on clicking through – a chance to check before you remove.

 

Reset Database: Back to a blank state ready to scan again, only removes the databases not the plugins. Option to remove Groups as well.  You lose all database data so caution, use as a last stage troubleshooting step.

Delete All Groups:  If you’ve been experimenting and they’ve got out of control! 

Delete All Notes and Links: (new v1.1) All these will be deleted from the plugins, does not affect Tags.

Apply Manufacturer Links To All Plugins (Experimental) (new v1.1)

The link suggestions button in the Edit Notes and Links menu looks at an internal database to try and match the chosen plugin with a manufacturer homepage or download page. This button goes through ALL your plugins in the database and gets the best suggestion and creates a website link note on each. These are suggested linked and there is an Undo for these if it’s too much! It works, the caveat being some data might not be accurate , but the user can always edit any of these notes. It is experimental due to the database and as it’s not controllable currently, it’s all or nothing. For a smaller number of targeted suggestions you can multiple select plugins and use the Edit Notes and Links to generate suggestions for those. 

Reset Dismissed Messages: Get back the warnings you’ve ignored!

Backup Database:  (new v1.1): The App compiles a SQL database for all the metadata collected and the users tags/notes/groups etc. This simply copies it as a precaution for backup. More user friendly methods are to use the export groups/notes/tags features, however this may be useful in rare  troubleshooting circumstances. Do it occasionally for peace of mind. The database usually lives at ~/Library/Application Support/aax-plugin-manager/

Fix File Permissions: 

You may come across this early into using the App as shown in the quick start section, via a notification message. You might also come across this later, after installing new Plugin updates,  if when moving plugins in and out of the Active Folder, some don’t get moved and others do – a warning may appear suggesting Permissions with an option to Fix and View. This is the same destination as when you click that Fix option.

You may have seen similar behaviour when on your computer moving plugins out of the folders asks for your password before allowing movement. Some plugins are set like this, or become like this, so you need to reset the permissions. This doesn’t harm them. 

If you have a permissions problem the affected Plugins will be listed here and it’s recommended you action the command so the App can work as intended. 

Clear Pro Tools Cache  (2023.12+ versions only)

These are the files that Pro Tools™ creates when reading the Plugins in the Active Folder  located in the Shared/Pro Tools folder. This App reads the data in these to add to the database. Cache clearing is an accepted troubleshooting method – This is safe to action. – only when Pro Tools™ is closed . Pro Tools™ will rebuild the cache next time you open it. Note the potential for the 206888 error which is when you have so many plugins Pro Tools™ crashes on first time reloading and rebuilding the cache –  until you’ve completed restart a few times – a Pro Tools™ issue which recently has been fixed, older versions still may have this. You probably don’t need to trash these, just a troubleshooting measure sometimes recommended if you’re having unexpected loading issues. 

Check Quarantine Status 

Very rarely you may need to use this. MacOS adds quarantine flags to files downloaded from the internet or if some apps move Plugins from their original location. These aren’t necessarily harmful but some recent versions of macOS have increased security around these flags. If Pro Tools shows “corrupt” warnings for previously working legitimate plugins, you may need to remove quarantine flags via Terminal. 

You may also get similar warnings if a new version of Pro Tools is installed and there is a mismatch with the cache files. The App is not making it super easy to action this deliberately ! – but if needed you will see if plugins are affected and you will need to  copy and paste the command into Terminal. If you are getting “not permitted” errors in Terminal it may be because you haven’t given Terminal Full Disk Access.Go to Apple menu / System Settings/ Privacy / Full Disk Access – and click Terminal, or if it’s not on the list press the  “+” button , locate it in Applications/Utilities and add from there.

Clean Timestamped Duplicates:

This cleans the actual plugin filenames in the Unused folder if they’ve been appended with a Timestamp.When moving plugins to the Unused folder, the app sometimes adds timestamps to prevent overwriting when there are duplicates (e.g., “MyPlugin_1699999999999.aaxplugin”). These name changes to the file don’t affect the use or the name of the plugin in Pro Tools™ – that’s set by the metadata. 

Over time, you can accumulate multiple timestamped versions of the same plugin. This tool scans the Unused folder for timestamped plugin files then Groups them by base plugin name the keeps only the newest version, moving the older timestamped duplicates to Trash Eg Unused folder has: “Compressor_1699000000000. aaxplugin”, “Compressor_1700000000000.aaxplugin”, “Compressor_ 1701000000000.aaxplugin” this tool keeps the newest (1701…) and moves the older two to Trash 

Factory Plugin Protection Override 

Open this and you can unlock the factory plugins from the default App behaviour – the default is not to allow them to be moved. Maybe there’s a plugin that’s not with your system or version, be aware Pro Tools™ regenerates these every startup so this App is designed around that inevitability. Probably don’t mess around is best and leave it as set.

FURTHER APP INFORMATION AND TIPS:

Folder Structure in the Plugins Folders

 Some manufacturers install their Plugins into a manufacturers folder rather than the folder root. Installers often look for these folders for updating purposes. This App makes a record of the structure and tries to preserve it – so moving plugins to Unused will possibly create a manufacturers folder there rather than move individuals  into Unused root. This does solve some of the organisational chaos of the Plugin Folders. This will explain why if you’ve done a lot of moving of plugins you may find empty manufacturer folders, this is expected behaviour and not a cause for concern. Plugins are found and used by Pro Tools in subfolders.  This App’s scan accepts where the plugins appear in the folder structure as the default origin point and will return them to there if it can.

Realtime Activation of New Plugins in Active Folder

Recent Pro Tools™ allows you to add a plugin whilst running (removing is NOT RECOMMENDED) so when you move a Group or single plugin to the Active Folder within a short period of time they will appear and be usable. This is great for missing plugins, also keeping a lean plugin Active folder and only adding the ones you need when you need them. If you open a session and are faced with a number of missing plugins quickly search the Unused Folder for them, create a Group called “Track X etc” and then ADD to the Active Folder – they should be scanned and you will be given an option to activate them on the tracks that use the missing plugins.

Generally you don’t need to worry about duplicates being created by adding/moving Groups or plugins around as the App backend will stop duplicates being created, and you will see messages telling you if plugins have been skipped during a move or an Add because there’s already the plugin in that position .

Missing Cache Files and Rosetta

Later versions of Pro Tools default to Silicon mode which mean Plugins that would normally run only in Rosetta Mode are not loaded into Pro Tools. It also means if you’ve installed or moved various plugins whilst in Silicon Mode you may find missing or incomplete metadata in the app, because silicon mode Pro Tools will also not generate cache files for non-SIlicon plugins booting up. The solution for completeness is to occasionally boot PT in Rosetta and generate cache files for those plugins. In Mac finder locate Pro Tools and Get Info, (command + i) and switch on “Open With Rosetta” . Note: Particularly important with Rosetta only Acustica Plugins as if you don’t have the cache files the App will have difficulty resolving the Acustica duplicate problem.

REMOVING THE APP COMPLETELY:

1. First deactivate to return your license to the pool (Settings → License section)
2. Delete the app from /Applications
3. Delete the database folder: ~/Library/Application Support/aax-plugin-manager/
4. Optionally delete logs: ~/Library/Logs/AAX Plugin Manager/

Your Plugins folders are not affected. You will lose any Groups, Tags, and settings not backed up.

WHAT GROUPS COULD I MAKE ? 

Some real world suggestions…

*As with this manual’s 1st recommendation – make your whole Active Folder list into a Group, then make a duplicate – this is knockout stage one! Really need all those plugins? No! So thin it out. Duplicate again and make it really ruthless, only the ones you really need. Great for efficiency, reducing the chance of plugin issues and screen and menu clutter. Move (the ONLY option) to your Active Folder or return to the whole original set when needed with one click. 

*Recalling something from years ago and getting the missing plugins dialogue in Pro Tools™ ? Create and name a new Group for your track , search through your Unused Folder by the missing plugin names – if they’re in there add them first to this Group rather than straight to the Active Folder. Any missing plugins not in your Unused Folder you need to reinstall for this track? Install, then scan again and search the Active Folder using the Recently Added menu option – see them there? Add to this same Group. If you’ve got them all ADD these to the Active Folder. Recent Pro Tools™ will scan them (whilst play is stopped) and give you an option to activate, but always make sure you’ve a saved copy of course. As sometimes these older plugins can cause compatibility problems, after Pro Tools™ closes and you’ve finished this recall, find this track Group and MOVE all to unused, nice and neat. Export the Group information text for archiving.

*A Group of plugins of only those that your collaborator/mixer has also got installed – make these (ONLY) exclusively active after your production session and bounced virtual instruments, do your mix with this Group and know that whatever you’re working with can be opened by them without problems. 

*A Group of iLOK Cloud and machine / serial licensed plugins only – for making music , or editing, or quick mastering and you don’t want to use or take the physical iLok with you, or you’ve forgotten it before you went to the coffee shop but at least you can run something to work with. If you’ve the Pro Tools app itself on cloud licensing you can work like this on a Wifi network.

*Lot’s of ATMOS or specialised mixing tools that you’re just not using in everyday work? A Group for these is easy to move in and out of the Active Folder. 

*A Groups Of UAD™ Plugins – as well as using the settings page to move UAD™ Plugins you can still still have either a “best of” or making a Group of all your authorised also lets you move them with one click if you don’t have the UAD™ hardware connected, and back again when you do.

*A Group of plugins aimed solely at music production, – a larger Group of all my instruments and favourite effects, and create a duplicated Group which can then be stripped further into a super efficient desert island favourites list. A Group designed just for dance music production, or band mixing, or writing session essential tools, or podcasts, or with all your immersive mixing tools. 

*A Group of under used plugins that have been secretly sitting there unloved, bring a selection together and activate , maybe use these before buying more?! 

*Help your production and laptop Macs keep in sync – on the main computer create a Group for Active, export this and reimport into Mac 2, check the list – see the missing plugins and reinstall these for unity. 

*Loads of free AAX plugins to check out but not sure If they are useful or even stable? Install them all then rescan the folders, go to the (SORT BY) and select newly added. You should see them all there, select them, create a Group” FREE PLUGINS” and you can keep an eye on them – any proving indispensable? – easy then to move all or single plugins back to inactive with a click.