diff --git a/src/effects/backends/audiounit/audiounitbackend.mm b/src/effects/backends/audiounit/audiounitbackend.mm
index 8e7b839b259..a06e5491db9 100644
--- a/src/effects/backends/audiounit/audiounitbackend.mm
+++ b/src/effects/backends/audiounit/audiounitbackend.mm
@@ -3,10 +3,12 @@
 #import <AVFAudio/AVFAudio.h>
 #import <AudioToolbox/AudioToolbox.h>
 #import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
+#import <dispatch/dispatch.h>
 
 #include <QDebug>
 #include <QHash>
 #include <QList>
+#include <QMutex>
 #include <QString>
 #include <memory>
 
@@ -14,11 +16,12 @@
 #include "effects/backends/audiounit/audiouniteffectprocessor.h"
 #include "effects/backends/audiounit/audiounitmanifest.h"
 #include "effects/defs.h"
+#include "util/compatibility/qmutex.h"
 
 /// An effects backend for Audio Unit (AU) plugins. macOS-only.
 class AudioUnitBackend : public EffectsBackend {
   public:
-    AudioUnitBackend() : m_componentsById([[NSDictionary alloc] init]) {
+    AudioUnitBackend() : m_componentsById([[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init]) {
         loadAudioUnits();
     }
 
@@ -59,18 +62,24 @@ bool canInstantiateEffect(const QString& effectId) const override {
     }
 
   private:
-    NSDictionary<NSString*, AVAudioUnitComponent*>* m_componentsById;
+    NSMutableDictionary<NSString*, AVAudioUnitComponent*>* m_componentsById;
     QHash<QString, EffectManifestPointer> m_manifestsById;
+    QMutex m_mutex;
 
     void loadAudioUnits() {
         qDebug() << "Loading audio units...";
 
+        loadAudioUnitsOfType(kAudioUnitType_Effect);
+        loadAudioUnitsOfType(kAudioUnitType_MusicEffect);
+    }
+
+    void loadAudioUnitsOfType(OSType componentType) {
         // See
         // https://developer.apple.com/documentation/audiotoolbox/audio_unit_v3_plug-ins/incorporating_audio_effects_and_instruments?language=objc
 
         // Create a query for audio components
         AudioComponentDescription description = {
-                .componentType = kAudioUnitType_Effect,
+                .componentType = componentType,
                 .componentSubType = 0,
                 .componentManufacturer = 0,
                 .componentFlags = 0,
@@ -78,32 +87,55 @@ void loadAudioUnits() {
         };
 
         // Find the audio units
-        // TODO: Should we perform this asynchronously (e.g. using Qt's
-        // threading or GCD)?
         auto manager =
                 [AVAudioUnitComponentManager sharedAudioUnitComponentManager];
         auto components = [manager componentsMatchingDescription:description];
 
-        // Assign ids to the components
-        NSMutableDictionary<NSString*, AVAudioUnitComponent*>* componentsById =
-                [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
-        QHash<QString, EffectManifestPointer> manifestsById;
+        // Load component manifests (parameters etc.) concurrently since this
+        // requires instantiating the corresponding Audio Units. We use Grand
+        // Central Dispatch (GCD) for this instead of Qt's threading facilities
+        // since GCD is a bit more lightweight and generally preferred for
+        // Apple API-related stuff.
+
+        dispatch_group_t group = dispatch_group_create();
 
         for (AVAudioUnitComponent* component in components) {
             qDebug() << "Found audio unit" << [component name];
 
             QString effectId = QString::fromNSString(
                     [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@~%@~%@",
-                              [component manufacturerName],
-                              [component name],
-                              [component versionString]]);
-            componentsById[effectId.toNSString()] = component;
-            manifestsById[effectId] = EffectManifestPointer(
-                    new AudioUnitManifest(effectId, component));
+                            [component manufacturerName],
+                            [component name],
+                            [component versionString]]);
+
+            // Register component
+            m_componentsById[effectId.toNSString()] = component;
+
+            // Use a concurrent background GCD queue to load manifest
+            dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_get_global_queue(
+                    DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0);
+
+            dispatch_group_async(group, queue, ^{
+                // Load manifest (potentially slow blocking operation)
+                auto manifest = EffectManifestPointer(
+                        new AudioUnitManifest(effectId, component));
+
+                // Register manifest
+                auto locker = lockMutex(&m_mutex);
+                m_manifestsById[effectId] = manifest;
+            });
         }
 
-        m_componentsById = componentsById;
-        m_manifestsById = manifestsById;
+        const int64_t TIMEOUT_MS = 6000;
+
+        qDebug() << "Waiting for audio unit manifests to be loaded...";
+        if (dispatch_group_wait(group,
+                    dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, TIMEOUT_MS * 1000000)) ==
+                0) {
+            qDebug() << "Successfully loaded audio unit manifests";
+        } else {
+            qWarning() << "Timed out while loading audio unit manifests";
+        }
     }
 };
 
diff --git a/src/effects/backends/audiounit/audiounitmanifest.mm b/src/effects/backends/audiounit/audiounitmanifest.mm
index 1ee8fd2c8f2..dda59e053ba 100644
--- a/src/effects/backends/audiounit/audiounitmanifest.mm
+++ b/src/effects/backends/audiounit/audiounitmanifest.mm
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #import <AudioToolbox/AudioToolbox.h>
 #include "effects/backends/effectmanifestparameter.h"
 
+#include <QElapsedTimer>
+#include <QThread>
 #include <memory>
 
 #include "effects/backends/audiounit/audiounitmanager.h"
@@ -18,9 +20,25 @@
     setDescription(QString::fromNSString([component typeName]));
     setAuthor(QString::fromNSString([component manufacturerName]));
 
-    // Try instantiating the unit in-process to fetch its properties quickly
+    // Instantiate audio unit (out-of-process) to load parameters
+    AudioUnitManager manager{component};
+
+    const int TIMEOUT_MS = 2000;
+
+    QElapsedTimer timer;
+    timer.start();
+
+    while (manager.getAudioUnit() == nil) {
+        if (timer.elapsed() > TIMEOUT_MS) {
+            qWarning() << name() << "took more than" << TIMEOUT_MS
+                       << "ms to initialize, skipping manifest initialization "
+                          "for this effect. This means this effect will not "
+                          "display any parameters and likely not be useful!";
+            return;
+        }
+        QThread::msleep(10);
+    }
 
-    AudioUnitManager manager{component, AudioUnitInstantiationType::Sync};
     AudioUnit audioUnit = manager.getAudioUnit();
 
     if (audioUnit) {