Apple's introduction of Apple Silicon delivers compelling performance in an incredibly efficient package for Mac users. It has also led to some confusion regarding which audio plug-ins are taking full advantage of the new hardware. While Apple's Rosetta allows most Intel code to run, it isn't as efficient as native code and can introduce compatibility issues - and some vendors try to confuse matters by describing Intel plug-ins as "M1 Compatible."

Plug-ins that include Apple Silicon code are sometimes called "M1 Native." They're actually well prepared for M2 and any future Apple Silicon revisions Apple may have planned, plus the inevitable future where Rosetta is no longer supported. It can be time-consuming to track down and evaluate every individual plug-in you have installed but, with PlugInfo, just run the app and you'll quickly see a list of installed audio plug-ins and their details:

Intentionally simple in appearance, PlugInfo offers a number of helpful advanced features:

• See the CPU architectures directly supported by each plug-in. You'll know immediately which are optimized for Apple Silicon and which are translated by Rosetta. Also invaluable for finding legacy plug-ins with just PowerPC or 32-bit Intel code.
• See publisher names for hundreds of known publishers, and use File > Open Publisher Web Site (⇧⌘O) or double-click a publisher name to open their web site.
• Keep PlugInfo open and it will automatically refresh to reflect additions, removals, or changes in your collection.
• Click any column header to sort the list, and click it again to sort in reverse order. PlugInfo Remembers your preferred sort order as well as window size and layout, letting you focus on what matters most. Hide or show columns using the View menu, and rearrange them just by dragging or resizing column headers.
• Enter filter text to quickly narrow down your collection to plug-ins with matching names, publishers, architectures, or plug-in types. Toggle the filter on and off with the ⌘F shortcut corresponding to to the menu item Edit > Show Filter (or Hide Filter.)
• File > Select in Finder (⇧⌘F) opens Finder windows with selected plug-ins already highlighted for easy backup or deletion.
• Export data using Edit > Copy Paths (⌘C) to quickly copy paths for selected plug-ins to the clipboard, or use Copy Full Details (⇧⌘C) for all information in tab-separated form that can be pasted into Numbers or Excel for further examination.
• The Help menu offers immediate access to the PlugInfo User Manual which covers all of these topics and more - including extensive detail on advanced filtering options.

Enjoy!

I've been recommending PlugInfo to every Mac-based musician and producer I know. They all love it as much as I do! Ben Hall, Difficult Audio

My Mac is not an M1 but this app is still very useful in finding the really old stuff that's accumulated over the years - the PowerPC 32/64 and Intel 32 only ones - I had quite a few of those! Rob Aries, Keyboardist, Average White Band

Didn't know I needed it, now can't live without it! Kevin Afflack, KA-Music President & Composer

If you haven't already, familiarize yourself with the PlugInfo User Manual which covers many common topics for the current release of PlugInfo.

If you can't find what you need, bug reports and suggestions are welcomed at bugs@thinkersnacks.com.

Think you might have seen a publisher like "com.companyname.PlugInName"? Starting with version 1.9.1, PlugInfo makes it easier than ever to report these. The File > Report Missing Publishers... menu item will only be visible when one or more publishers can't be recognized, and will draft a bug report for you in your preferred email client. Just review and hit send if you want to help improve PlugInfo's publisher awareness.

Still using a version before 1.9.1? Believe that the publisher name is spelled or capitalized incorrectly? Or find that the linked web site isn't the right one? Select one or more impacted plug-ins, select Copy Full Details from the Edit menu, and paste the details into a bug report along with any additional details like a valid URL for the publisher, and I'll update the list.

ThinkerSnacks believes information about you and your work belongs to you and you alone. PlugInfo does not share information with ThinkerSnacks or anyone else about you or your plug-ins. When downloaded from Apple's App Store, the system may gather anonymous logs to assist in improving PlugInfo, but you remain in control of whether this occurs through Apple's standard settings.

Once a week PlugInfo will fetch an updated list of all publishers and their web sites from thinkersnacks.com. It does so by sending a generic https request for a shared resource that is not personalized.