Here's a tool that I've written for my own use with SAWStudio and Software Audio Console (SAC), but will make available to everyone.

(To recap, this tool and the original tool both scan a list of folders looking for installed VST's and VSTi's and create the appropriate *.ini files required by SAW and/or SAC to list them in the FX Choices windows of the program(s).)

The need to have an alternative tool arose when trying out Microsoft Windows 7. The 1^st VST INI Tool (thank you John Talbert!), which I've grown quite accustomed to using for several years, no longer works... complaining, as some SAWyers might, about requiring the .NET Framework. SAWyers like to keep their systems clean, so I figured as painful as it would be to do, I'd try writing my version of the tool for SAW and SAC in the form of a batch file.

Because it's a batch file, there's no slick GUI. It's very 80's. That means if you decide to use it, you'll have to edit a text file to maintain some settings... It's no big deal, but it may not be for everyone.

I'm also not much of batch file coder, so there may be some shortcomings and inconsistencies (bugs!) found... which I'll fix if I can... but so far this 1.0 version has worked fine on my Windows 7 and XP machines.

So here's what you need to do if you want to try it / use it:

• Download the two files below and put them in a folder somewhere on your SAW / SAC system.
• Edit in Notepad (or some other text editor) your copy of SAWSACVSTINIToolConfig.bat that you just downloaded.
  • Change the value of SAWStudioPath to be the folder where you have SAW installed.
  • Change the value of SACPath to be the folder where you have SAC installed.
  • Change the value of VSTSrcPaths to be a comma delimited list of paths where you've got your VST's and VSTi's installed.
  • Save your changes. You'll only need to change this file again after you've got it set up correctly if you move SAW, SAC, or want to add or remove VST/VSTi paths.
• Execute your copy of the main batch file, SAWSACVSTINITool.bat, which will use the values that you just saved above in SAWSACVSTINIToolConfig.bat. To do so:
• Open a Command Prompt window, change directories to the downloaded location (cd <bat file path>), and type in SAWSACVSTINITool.bat, or...
• Using Windows Explorer, find the SAWSACVSTINITool.bat and click or double click it to launch it.
• You can also create a shortcut on the desktop to run this by right clicking on your downloaded copy of SAWSACVSTINITool.bat and selecting Send To >> Desktop.
• Note: If you're running Vista or newer (ie. Windows 7), and you've installed SAW and/or SAC under the Program Files folder structure, you'll need to run this with "Run as administrator", either by launching SAWSACVSTINITool.bat directly, or if you use the Command Prompt method, by launching the Command Prompt window with "Run as administrator". I don't think there's a way around that other than maybe turning off UAC. This does not seem to be necessary if you take the default SAW / SAC installation path(s).
• In all cases, you will be given some instructions and asked some questions... essentially letting you double check the paths that you've defined.
• Run again as needed. If there are program changes/fixes, you should only need to download SAWSACVSTINITool.bat again. SAWSACVSTINIToolConfig.bat is owned by you - it has your settings. So if you download my copy of it here again, you'll overwrite those and you'll need to re-edit it.

Disclaimers (Sorry - but just in case) & Tips:

• Back up your VST_Plugins folders under SAW & SAC first. The last thing I want to have happen is to have this accidentally "damage" or change your system in in a way that you can't easily recover from if things work differently on your systems than on mine.
• In that this is freeware and something I wrote for my own use, I cannot provide ongoing support for everyone. I'll help out as much as possible via the SAWStudio & SAC forums.
• In that this is a batch program, you can edit it to your liking. Feel free to change your copy if you need to or just want to, but again, I cannot provide help with that.
• I tried to add plenty of comments in the code. There's also a log file created each time this program runs - it is SAWSACVSTINITool.log and will be created in the same folder to which you've saved these files. If you experience problems or unexpected results, you can look there to maybe see what's going on.

Anyway... Enough blabbing! Here are the files: