Fetching parameters from unloaded VST/AU plugin?

Hi, how do I fetch the parameters from an unloaded VST/AU plugin. By this I mean, I have a song that is really old. The plugin no longer exists in that specific name. such as AU: Yohng’s W1.

I need the parameters from it, so I can use them with the newest George Yohng’s W1. I have no access to the old W1 component.

Can I access the parameters from inside of the .xrns file somehow, or…?
or from the console? or something?

without access to the old component, i think you might be out of luck, sorry…

Are you absolutely sure that the parameters are not saved into the song itself?

The last known state of the plugin is indeed saved within the Song.xml, and this this includes a list of the last known parameter values, as well as the last known preset data in its raw “chunk” form.

However, if Renoise could not actually load the plugin with your song, then it has no real way of knowing what is actually valid in terms of its parameters or other properties, so it will simply not try to instantiate anything at all.

You therefore cannot access the parameter values or other properties of an unloaded plugin through the scripting API, because the instrument’s plugin_device object is simply “nil” and invalid.

If you really cannot get your hands on the old plugin, then you will have to manually open the Song.xml and extract the parameter data that way, though I have no idea if you’ll be able to do anything useful with it.

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thanks! i’m wondering, if i was to take a VST Plugin or an AudioUnit, and copy it’s “current settings” to the clipboard, would the content be the same as in the Song.xml? i.e., would I be able to modify the “current settings”, copied to the clipboard, to conform with the contents of Song.xml - and then be able to “paste the settings” back into the specific plugin?

Just in a quick comment on this, would it be possible to add in a button when a plugin is missing (on the missing plugin box itself) that would have an options like:

“Try to locate and load plugin manuall…”
“Find replacement or updated version of plugin…”
“Try loading AU (or VST) version…”

Something like that with some code that would do its best to use the saved known parameters and try to implement them in the new plugin chosen by the user? This would be immensely useful.