Plugin Inventory

A command-line tool that scans your Fender Studio Pro (formerly PreSonus Studio One) .song and .project (mastering) files and tells you which third-party plugins each one uses — and whether those plugins are still installed on your system.

Useful when you're migrating to a new computer, cleaning up old plugin installations, or just want to know which plugins you actually use across your songs and mastering projects.

What it does

1. Recursively scans a folder for .song and .project files
2. Reads each file's plugin references (instruments and effects)
3. Scans your system for installed VST2, VST3, and AU plugins
4. Cross-references the two lists and reports:
   • Which plugins are matched to an installed plugin
   • Which plugins are missing (used in songs but not found on the system)
   • Which installed plugins are unused across all scanned songs

Results are displayed in the terminal. You can optionally save a styled HTML report.

Prerequisites

Plugin Inventory requires Node.js (version 18.17 or later). Node.js is a free, open-source runtime that lets you run tools like this one.

Installing Node.js

1. Go to https://nodejs.org
2. Download the LTS (Long Term Support) version for your operating system
3. Run the installer and follow the prompts — the defaults are fine
4. To verify it installed correctly, open a terminal (Terminal on macOS, Command Prompt or PowerShell on Windows) and type:

   node --version

   You should see a version number like v20.x.x or higher.

Usage

No installation needed — just run this command in your terminal:

npx plugin-inventory

This downloads and runs the tool automatically. The interactive mode will walk you through the setup, asking:

• Which folder to scan for .song and .project files
• Whether to save an HTML report
• Whether to enable verbose mode (shows warnings for files that couldn't be parsed)

Command-line mode

You can also pass options directly:

npx plugin-inventory /path/to/your/songs

Options

| Option | Description | |---|---| | /path/to/songs | Folder to scan for .song/.project files (defaults to current folder) | | -o, --output <file> | Save an HTML report to the specified file | | -v, --verbose | Show warnings for files that couldn't be parsed |

Examples

Scan your Songs folder:

npx plugin-inventory ~/Documents/Studio\ One/Songs

Scan and save an HTML report:

npx plugin-inventory ~/Documents/Studio\ One/Songs -o report.html

Supported platforms

| Platform | VST2 | VST3 | AU | |---|---|---|---| | macOS | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Windows | Yes | Yes | N/A |

How plugin matching works

The tool uses a three-tier matching strategy to link song plugins to installed plugins:

1. Exact match — case-insensitive name comparison
2. Normalized match — strips format suffixes (VST, AU), architecture tags (x64), and version numbers before comparing
3. Fuzzy match — uses string similarity to catch minor naming differences between formats

Native plugins (built-in EQ, compressor, etc.) are excluded from the report since they're always available.

Known issues and limitations

• Plugins are only detected in default installation directories. If you've installed plugins to custom locations (e.g. a secondary drive), the tool won't find them. The default locations scanned are:
  • macOS: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/, VST3/, and Components/ (plus ~/Library/ equivalents)
  • Windows: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST2, C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins, C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3
• Linux is not supported. The tool only knows about macOS and Windows plugin paths.
• Only Fender Studio Pro .song and .project files are supported. Project files from other DAWs (Ableton, Logic, Cubase, etc.) cannot be scanned.
• Files are read-only. The tool never modifies your .song or .project files — it only reads plugin metadata from them.
• Fuzzy matching may occasionally produce false positives or misses. Plugins with very different names across formats, or plugins with very similar names to other plugins, may be matched incorrectly. Check the report if something looks off.
• CLAP plugins are not detected. Only VST2, VST3, and AU (macOS) formats are scanned.

License

MIT