Plugin Manager

The Plugin Manager lists the Audio Unit (AU) plugins available to Fluctus and provides controls for scanning, enabling, disabling, and excluding plugins.

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Opening the Plugin Manager

Open the Plugin Manager from the application menu.

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Audio Unit Support

Fluctus hosts Audio Unit (AU) plugins exclusively — the standard plugin format on macOS. Other formats (VST, AAX) are not supported. The cDSP plugins shipped with Fluctus appear in the Plugin Manager alongside any third-party AU plugins installed on the system. Plugins are loaded into the inserts on the Plug Chain.

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Where AU Plugins Live on Disk

Audio Units installed on macOS live in two standard locations:

• /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ — plugins installed system-wide, available to all users.

• ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ — plugins installed for the current user only.

Fluctus scans both locations. If you add or remove a plugin from these folders while Fluctus is running, run Reset & Rescan from the Plugin Manager (or restart Fluctus) to update the list.

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Reset & Rescan

The Plugin Manager keeps a cached list of validated plugins so that Fluctus doesn't need to re-validate every Audio Unit on each launch. Use the Reset & Rescan button to clear the cache and re-validate every Audio Unit from scratch — typically after installing a new plugin or updating an existing one.

Validation runs each plugin through the macOS Audio Unit validation process (auval) before it becomes available in Fluctus. Plugins that pass validation are added to the Plugin Manager list and become selectable in the insert menu on the Plug Chain.

For automatic validation at every launch, enable the Plugin Validation option in General Preferences.

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Plugin Information

For each plugin in the list, the Plugin Manager displays:

• Name — the plugin's display name.

• Manufacturer — the vendor (e.g. cDSP, Apple, or a third-party developer).

• Type — Effect, Instrument, MIDI Effect, or other Audio Unit category.

• Version — the version number reported by the plugin.

• Status — Enabled, Disabled, or Blacklisted.

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Enabling and Disabling Plugins

Each plugin in the list has an enable/disable toggle. Disabled plugins remain validated and tracked by the Plugin Manager but are disabled in the insert menu on channels and the Master Section.

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Blacklisted Plugins

A plugin that crashes Fluctus during validation or during use is automatically excluded — added to the blacklist. Blacklisted plugins are skipped on subsequent launches and never loaded into a project, protecting Fluctus from repeated crashes caused by the same plugin.

If you have updated a plugin that was previously blacklisted (for example, to a version that fixes the crash), you can manually rehabilitate it from the Plugin Manager and run Reset & Rescan to verify it now passes validation.

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When a Plugin Fails Validation

A plugin can fail validation for several reasons:

• It crashes during the auval process. A common cause is incompatibility with the current macOS version.

• It depends on a missing component, framework, or licence file.

• It is not a valid Audio Unit (for example, an old 32-bit-only plugin on a modern 64-bit-only system).

• It has been blacklisted from a prior crash.

Failed plugins are excluded from the insert menu. If a plugin you need is failing validation, check that you have the latest version from the vendor, that it is compatible with your macOS version, and that any required licence or framework is installed. Then run Reset & Rescan from the Plugin Manager.

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Next Steps

Once your plugins are validated and enabled:

• Place a plugin on the chain. See Plug Chain for the per-project insert chain.
• Try the built-in plugins. Fluctus ships with a collection of cDSP Inserts that always pass validation.
• Auto-validate at launch. General Preferences controls re-validation behaviour on startup.

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