I am running Ableton Live Suite 10.1.30 on a 2016 MacBook Pro. After I installed Scaler 2 I wasn’t finding any plug ins. I don’t know if this happened immediately after installing Scaler 2, I only noticed it later. I have also submitted a support request with Ableton.
When I looked for the VST folder (at Macintosh HD:/Users/[My Username]/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/) the VST folder was gone, completely missing. It was not in the trash, I could not find it anywhere, it had vanished.
I created a new VST folder at that path to try some things. Before restarting I wanted to throw that folder away (just in case my plug ins reappeared after restarting, I didn’t want this empty folder to create an issue.) The system software wouldn’t let me delete that folder. There must be something about the hidden Library folder for each user that Mac system architecture treats in a special way.
So then how did my folder in that location with all of my VST2 plugins just disappear? Is this a known problem with Scaler 2? Fortunately I have a backup that I can get these plugins from. And, if something weird is going on, or might come back, I want to know.
Definitely sounds like a system problem. I would look into doing a Time Machine restore if you have one. If not it might be time to clone that drive as a complete backup and reinstall the OS. What OS are you running!
Your system VST folder doesn’t live at user level, hence it’s empty. Look at parent level. Library/Audio/Plugins
Not sure how this is related to scaler.
Ableton Live can be set to use a custom plug in folder, and Ableton themselves say that some plug ins will try to install themselves into that folder. In fact, Ableton will let you store and use plug ins both at the parent and user level.
I have (or did have) plenty of plug ins living in that folder, so it was not empty for the reason you mention (still plenty of VST3’s in another folder in the same location.) The folder had disappeared.
I wasn’t sure if the problem may have been related to the installation of Scaler 2, which was done right before the folder disappeared. It seems like it was a fluke of timing.
I’m running Mojave (couldn’t go up to Catalina because I had one final 32 bit app that I needed to use, but am now about ready to put out to pasture.) I will just grab the plugins from my Time Machine, like you say.
Seems like it was just weird timing to happen soon after installing Scaler 2. The folder was completely deleted though, which concerns me for what might be going on for my computer. When I created a new folder called ‘VST’ at that location, the MacOS won’t let me delete it, move it, or even rename it. Any other test folder I created (call it ‘VST Replacements’ or literally anything else) and I can move it, trash it, just like any other folder. So the fact that this folder got trashed with no trace has me a little worried.
Time to schedule more frequent backups, that’s for sure!
I have hundreds of plugs and never once has a VST tried to install at user level. Strange that you have many there. I would avoid it there is zero need and will only cause problems like you encountered.
I was wondering why I had some there, and I think it’s because some years ago I lost a lot of important (non-music related) data because it was stored at the System level and not the User level. I was doing an erase-and-install of the OS to fix some issue, and was only told to back up my User data. So I got in the habit of putting things in my User folder. Current backups include System data, so yeah I should just have everything live in the same place. Maybe Ableton includes the option for a Custom folder for plug ins because of people that like to put that stuff on an external drive.