Wide Blue Sound has announced availability of the v1.1 update to its Audio Plugin Uninstaller, described as the easiest way to uninstall audio plug-ins on a Mac.
Two modes of operation are designed to make the app easy to use:
- Uninstallers mode works by reading the original installation receipts and reversing the process, making sure not to uninstall files used by other plug-ins; and
- All Plugins mode, which can delete any plug-in.
Additionally, All Plugins mode includes Filter by Plugin Format, a new drop-down menu that filters by a specific format, allowing users to remove the formats they no longer use, or simply monitor how much hard drive space they are using. Reveal in Finder — accessed by right-clicking on a plug-in — makes it easy to manually quarantine a plug-in while troubleshooting.
Audio Plugin Uninstaller is a standalone app that works with all audio plug-in formats — including AAX, AU, CLAP, RTAS, VST, and VST3 — and is currently available to download for free from the Wide Blue Sound website.
Ha! Was just in the middle of cleaning up some of my plugin installs. Got so many and they take so much space!
With all the “download/package/software managers” out there (several of which contain textbook examples of “dark patterns”), one would think that it’s easy to uninstall those plugins.
One would be wrong.
Can you believe a new uninstaller just dropped!! :O
Allowed me to save over 20GB, mostly by deleting AAX versions. (Thought I had deleted the whole AAX folder, before.)
Also deleted a bunch of VST2 plugins for which I also had VST3 versions. This is something I don’t really understand: why keep installing the VST2 version along with the VST3?
For instance, is there a recent system on which VST3 versions don’t work? Even then, why would those (crapware) software managers automatically install both?
Sure, there’s a few which offer options for which versions you want to install. They’re relatively rare. Especially among those apps used to update and maintain your plugin collection from a given manufacturer (NI, iZotope, Arturia, etc.).
It’s such a messy situation, honestly.
I think VST2 plugins are installed for backwards compatibility. If you have a project already using the VST2 version it can’t automatically update that project to VST3 because they have different signatures.
Use ‘Pacifist” to install only the stuff you want