PlugRail guide

Type a few letters, press Enter, and the plug-in is on your track.

On this page: Getting started, Searching, The window, Common tasks, Preferences, Shortcuts, Requirements.

Getting started

Open REAPER's Actions list, type PlugRail, select Script: YH-M_PlugRail.lua, click Add... and press the key you want.
Select the tracks (or items) that should get the plug-in.
Press your key. PlugRail opens at the mouse pointer, with the cursor already in the search field.
Type part of a name. The best match is selected first.
Press Enter to insert it on every selected track. Press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on macOS) to insert it as take FX on the active take of each selected item.

By default the window stays open for the next plug-in; Esc closes it. PlugRail is free but asks for a free licence key: see Licence key and trial.

Searching

Initials work: pq3 finds Pro-Q 3, vr finds ValhallaRoom.
One wrong letter is forgiven in words of five letters or more, when fewer than ten other plug-ins match: valhala finds Valhalla.
A space means AND, a comma means OR, a leading minus excludes: reverb -plate.
The best match comes first; among equal matches, the plug-ins you insert most often come first. After you insert a plug-in from a query without commas or minus words, the same query puts it first next time.
A plug-in installed in several formats shows once, in the highest format of your format priority.

The window

Title bar: The search field. The gear opens Preferences; the cross closes the window.
Sidebar: All and Favorites (your tags are listed under it), then the TYPE, CATEGORY and DEVELOPER filters, which combine with the search text.
List: A star, the name, and pills for tag, developer and format. With an empty search, RECENT comes first, then ALL.
Below the list: CURRENT FX and FX CHAINS, then a bottom line that says what Enter will do and, after an action, shows its result.

Common tasks

Favourites, tags and recent picks

Click the star at the left of a row, or right-click and choose Add to Favorites. Choose Favorites in the sidebar to see only those. A favourite carries one tag: right-click it, choose Tag..., then an existing tag or + New tag.... Remove tag clears it. Inserted plug-ins also go to RECENT, shown while the search is empty.

Tracks and take FX

Every selected track, the master track included, gets the plug-in at the end of its FX chain. Items get it on their active take. Right-click a plug-in for Insert -> Track FX and Insert -> Item FX, or hold Ctrl (Cmd on macOS) while double-clicking to insert on items.

FX chains

FX CHAINS lists the .RfxChain files in REAPER's FXChains folder, subfolders included. Your search filters them too: NAME MATCH for words in the name or folder, PLUGIN MATCH for words in a plug-in inside the chain. Initials and the wrong-letter rule do not apply.
Click a chain to see its plug-ins in a small window beside PlugRail. The pencil next to COMMENT adds a note.
Double-click a chain to load it on the selected tracks; hold Ctrl (Cmd on macOS) to load it on the selected items. In the small window, Enter and Ctrl+Enter do the same. The right-click menu has Load -> Track FX, Load -> Item FX and Delete file, which asks first.
To save the selected track's FX as a chain, click the save icon on the FX CHAINS heading, type a name and press Enter. An existing name asks before it is replaced.

CURRENT FX

Shows the FX on the first selected track, or with no track selected, on the active take of the first selected item. Click a name to open its window. Click the marker at the left, or Shift+click, to bypass; a bypassed FX shows an outline. Alt+click (Option on macOS) removes it. The right-click menu has Bypass, Open floating and Remove [Alt+Click].

Two optional behaviours

Both are off by default, in Preferences > General.

Insert onto what is under the mouse: where the pointer is when you press the shortcut chooses the target. Over a track, the end of its FX chain. Over an item, the end of its take FX. Over a plug-in in the track panel or mixer, right after it. Over an FX chain window, right after the selected plug-in. Anywhere else, the selected tracks. The selection is not changed, the bottom line names the target, and chains load there too. Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter) still inserts on the selected items.
Keep ready in the background: closing the window only hides it, and PlugRail starts hidden with REAPER, so the shortcut shows it without loading the plug-in list again. REAPER starts it through one marked line in Scripts/__startup.lua, removed when you turn the setting off. To stop it, right-click the title bar and choose Quit (stop keeping PlugRail ready).

Preferences

Open it with the gear in the title bar.

General: Close the window after inserting, Insert onto what is under the mouse and Keep ready in the background, all off by default.
List: How many recent plug-ins show (0 to 30, default 10). Forget what PlugRail learned clears the learned searches. Fold duplicate plugin names into one (on by default). The format priority, reordered with arrows (VST3, CLAP, VST2, AU, JSFX by default).
Appearance: Theme (Dark or Light), accent colour, and Show the panels on the right side (off by default), which moves CURRENT FX and FX CHAINS to a column right of the list.

Favourites, recent picks, learned searches and the List settings are shared with the PlugRail panel inside SampleRecast and MediaQuiver.

Shortcuts

These keys are fixed. The key that opens PlugRail is the one you assigned in REAPER.

Enter: Insert on the selected tracks.
Ctrl+Enter: Insert on the selected items (Cmd+Enter on macOS).
Up, Down: Move the selection.
Esc: Close the window.
Double-click: Insert a plug-in or load a chain; with Ctrl (Cmd on macOS), on the items.

Requirements

REAPER 7.0 or later and ReaImGui 0.10 or later, on Windows or macOS. If something is missing, PlugRail says what.
Optional: js_ReaScriptAPI and SWS. PlugRail works without them; with SWS, a new plug-in's window does not open twice.