Reaper Adding Vst Plugins

Installing a VST without the aid of an executable file is easily enough done, if you know how.

New Reaper user here. I've been doing some home recordings for the past few months, and everything seems to be going great. I love the layout and functionality of reaper and find quite a few of the preloaded plugins to be adequate. That said, I would love some advice on where to find some cheapish beginner plugins to experiment with. Underneath you can see there are plugins for VST, VSTi, AU, AUI, Js etc. If you know specifically the type of plugin then you could probably go into the that folder. As you can see from the screen shot, in the ‘Filter List’ I have typed ‘had’ and this has brought up all my UAD plugins. I’m looking for a specific plugin called the CS-1. With luck you will have a folder somewhere called 'VST plugins' or similar into which you have put the VST.dll files, or into which you've unpacked zipped VSTs. It doesn't matter if they are in a different folder. You thne just have to got to the VST options and tell Reaper to add that folder.

If you’ve ever downloaded a file in zip or rar fromat or as a *dll file and not know what to do then this guide is for you.

I’m taking the presumption that you do not know what a zip or rar file is just for the benefit of those that don’t.

This little guide should ring true for most DAWs, In this case I know it works for Sonar, Reaper and Cubase.

For each VST instrument or effect that you install Sonar and Reaper require that you scan afterwards to find knew plugins. Cubase I’m not sure about.

[—-Tools—-]

Winrar is a small software program that allows you to uncompreess files, most VSTs come in *.zip or *. rar format winrar can open both types of file and it’s very easy to use. Download it here.

[—-Where—-]

Once you’ve installed winrar you’re next job is to locate your VST folder, if you’ve installed Cubase then it’s almost definitely C:Program FilesSteinbergVstplugins

Go to my computer, click on C: drive and navigate to that folder and see if it’s there, if not then see if there’s a VST Plugins folder in C:Program Files.

Vst

These are the two standard places to look.

[Tip:If you have two hard drives or partitions it’s an idea to create a folder here and add it to your DAWs vst folder list.]

[—-Install VST—-]

Hopefully you have a VST plugin instrument or effect that you’ve recently downloaded from the internet.

This file if downloaded as a zip or rar file should now be opened with winrar.

Step 1: Winrar: Select file to extract,

Winrar: Click Extract to Button,

Destination path: If you know your destination folder then you can type that here, example;

C:Program FilesSteinbergVstplugins,

If you’re not sure then use the navigation window to locate your plugins folder,

Click ok,

You should now have a nice new VST plugin extracted to your VST folder.

Fire up Sonar, Sonar will automatically scan your vst folder for you.

Reaper should do the same.

[Fini]

Adding Vst To Reaper

If you’re not sure how to use VSTs then the following articles may be of some help,

Midi and Vst Instrument Setup(sonar)

How to add Vst Instrument(sonar)

Setting Up A Drum VSTi Reaper

Install VST – Reaper

Reaper – VST fx setup – Insert

Organize Reaper VST folders

It’s good practice to organise your plugins – well it is for me.

You can always filter and search for a plugin, but sometimes the amount of plugins you have can mean that you overlook certain plugins that are within your arsenal.

So let’s get organised.

First you’ll need Reaper up and running.

Next add a track and click on the ‘FX’ button.

Click ‘Add’

This will open up the Reaper FX browser.

Scroll down to ‘My Folders’.

Using the right click on your mouse you can create your own folder.

As you can see I already have some folders created.

Let’s create a new one.

The new folder will now be ready for plugins.

You can also organise these folders by moving them up and down, to the top or to the bottom.

Once you have your new folder you can start to add your plugins.

You can search for plugins either by the browser or if you know it’s name or a search word then you can use the filter feature.

Before we start we need to move out of ‘My Folders’ to the top of the folder list to ‘All Plugins’

Free Reaper Vst Plugins

Underneath you can see there are plugins for VST, VSTi, AU, AUI, Js etc.

If you know specifically the type of plugin then you could probably go into the that folder.

As you can see from the screen shot, in the ‘Filter List’ I have typed ‘had’ and this has brought up all my UAD plugins.

I’m looking for a specific plugin called the CS-1.

Add Plugins To Reaper

Use the right click on your mouse, this will bring up and option to ‘Add to’ and then you have a choice of your plugin folders.

As this particular plugin is a chorus effect I’m going to add it to my newly created, ‘Modulation’ folder.

Vst Plugins Install Reaper

Once done we can check that it has moved over successfully. Go to the ‘Modulation folder.

Hopefully all being we’ll you should now see the plugin in that folder.

Ah, did you see, I forgot to clear my ‘filter list’ – not that it matters but hey t’s something that you need to be careful of.

You cannot make sub folders – which is a shame but not the end of the world.

Reaper Adding Vst Plugins Free

And there it is.