Sort 3rd party plugins by categories

Question

Hi there,
If this has already been asked, my apologies, I haven't found an answer to it using the search engine.
Is there a way to sort 3rd party plugins by categories, like Logic's built-in plugs (Compressors, EQs, Delays, Reverbs, etc...)?
It would be much better to search the plugins by category than by manufacturer name, don't you think?
Again, sorry if this is an old question.
And thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The problem with organising your plugins into channel strips is that it works fine to load the complete channel strip, but obviously cannot be used to load individual plugins on a channel.
I would like to be able to organise/customise my plugin menu in the way that best suits me, including not having to scroll all the way down to the third-party list and so on - I agree that this way of loading plugins is pretty inefficient.
Unfortunately, while this is technically easier using a Mackie Control (because you can scroll through the plugins with a knob before clicking it to load that selected plugin) - it's also next to useless because the plugin list is seemingly random, meaning that each time you scroll to a new plugin, you have no idea whether this is going to be the one you want, or whether it will take another 53 knob turns before you get there.
The library is supposed to be the redeveloped solution for this, and while it helps to a degree I actually don't like wasting a quarter of the available screen space having it open, or hitting a key command to open and close it just to load plugins. But you can't load individual plugins from the library anyway - it's either channel strips, or plugin settings/instruments. There is no way to highlight the plugin slot and then see your plugin list - so we are back to the navigate through four sub menus dance to load a plugin.
So none of the current methods are particularly good, imo. I'd like to see something better. At the very list, a menu list of "Favourite Plugins" at the top of the menu list which you could organise and choose which plugins should go in there.