I might be being a bit dumb here. But say I save a preset in a plugin on one machine. Then chuck the .vstpreset file on a USB stick so I can load it into the same plugin on another machine. When I open the plugin and click ‘load preset’. I just get an empty box. No way to navigate to my preset. What gives?
If I click on the little cog I can see a tickbox for ‘Location Tree’ but it’s greyed out.
Also, I’ve been trying to find where another plugins presets are stored. I’m tearing my hair out trying to locate these files on my system. I can see where they are supposed to be from the vendors website. And the presets load in the plugin. In MediaBay I can see a folder for the presets, but cannot seem to open it or see inside. And no file path is shown so I cannot see where it is.
I’m utterly confused here. Why doesn’t MediaBay or the load/save preset dialogues have a directory tree? Seems really counter- intuitive. Am I missing something?
Certain files ought to be placed into certain locations. For VST presets on a Windows computer it would be the documents folder for example.
The easiest way to find the correct folder (for me) is to open the Media Bay (menu Media → Media Bay), in the left zone navigate to User Content → VST3 presets. There select a plugin to see its user presets, right-click on one of them and select to show the file in the Explorer / Finder. Please note that each plugin has its own folder. If your plugin does not have a user preset folder yet, simply create a Default preset in the plugin.
Ok, thanks to Johnny I’ve located the correct folder and placed my .vstpreset file inside. But Cubase doesn’t see it? Would the fact that I saved the preset on a Windows machine and I’m attempting to load it on a Mac cause this issue perhaps?
Please keep in mind that 3rd party plugins come with two preset options:
A Save it as a *vstpreset at the top of the plugin interface
B Save it as a preset in the internal format of each vendor someplace below option A looking at the plugin’s interface
A will be stored in the dedicated VST3 folder.
B will can be stored someplace else depending on the company
These two kind of presets are independent from one another.
Nope, that shouldn’t be a problem. Cubase should see the preset if this path is known to MediaBay.
Can you share the path of the folder?
EDIT: I am talking about vstpresets here. MediaBay doesn’t handle external formats!
If you open the preset from within the plugin make sure that you pick the correct format (option A or B, see above) that your preset was saved in in the first place.
And based on experience over years, both are important to save.
.vstpreset…very quick and convenient. Classify into sub-folders.
3rd party preset location…when new versions of the same plug are released it can become a mess if you skip this.
A couple examples:
Lexicon PCM Bundle. Today Lux has taken them from Harmon, but vst2 isnt going to work with the newer vst3 versions. And they said they have no intention of changing that.
Kick 2. Many updates through the years, yet they were inconsistent with their vst identifiers. Some they kept the same. Other Kick2 updates they changed the ID. The end result is not knowing which version will work in an older project.
I think the problem was down to different versions of the plugin on each computer.
This confusion has taught/refreshed my memory of how some things work so every cloud!
Anyone got any tips about where operation manuals for plugins should be kept? Is there a standard folder they should be located in to make them launchable from the plugin itself? Or are they all handled differently?
If you want to launch them from the plugin itself then the destination will be defined by/within the plugin.
I also keep all important manuals in an extra folder to keep track. However, you can’t launch them from within the plugin.
