Preset management in different daws (using S1 as reference)

[urlwolf]

I don't like S1's preset management system. It uses a proprietary format that is not fxp & fxb. But at least it's there: searchable presets if you need that.

The native preset management is faulty too (this is why I don't trust it).
Importing fpx files by dragging them to the instruments viewer works maybe 50% of the time.
There's no kb shortcut for searching (and it'd search all presets and instruments, not the instrument I'm using now alone). Search is slow too.

Interesting how the situation is not better in other DAWs. Preset management seems to be an afterthought. Why is that? Do people not use 1000s of presets? Things like bigTick Zen exist, but they are buggy and the fonts are microscopic. An UX specialist would have a field day if they looked at what's going on in the audio word. Our interfaces are often poor (understandable given the limitations of vsti format).

I've only tested reaper, tracktion and sonar X3. Not much to see there in terms of preset managements. What do you use? Opinions?

[ENV1]

S1's preset management system uses a proprietary format that is not fxp & fxb.

This is not only not true, its twice not true.

Heres why.


A) Studio Ones .preset format is not 'proprietary', in fact it is not even a 'format' at all. The .preset files are simply ZIP files with a .preset extension, in other words mere containers. You can open them up with any application capable of opening ZIP files. Inside them you will find a standard .fxb plus a .xml containing some metadata. The .fxb, since it is a standard VST bank file, can be extracted and loaded into the plugin with any preset manager capable of doing so. The same also goes for .song files, which contain the bank files for all plugins used in the project.

Note for completeness sake: V1 version .preset (and .song) files are different in that they dont have the standard 'PK' header, which as far as i know ZIP files have had ever since the format (PK ZIP) was invented. Instead they have a 'PACKAGE' header. This means that you cannot use say 7zip to open them because they will not be recognized as ZIP files. But they too are mere containers containing exactly what V2 .preset/.song files contain.



B) You do not have to save your presets in .presets format if you dont want to. You can use Export VST2 Program and/or Export VST2 Bank, which will save your presets as standard .fxp or .fxb files.



That said, in my opinion Studio Ones preset manager is, at least from an ergonomics perspective, the best that currently exists. Because you not only have the standard dropdown for the presets that are exposed to the host by the plugin itself, you actually have a second dropdown right next to it allowing you direct access to any presets you have saved yourself. As far as i know, no other DAW or Host offers this infinitely practical feature. The only problem with the system that i can see is that it gets confused when different plugins happen to have the same UID. (Which can happen with different versions of a plugin.) In these (admittedly rare) cases Studio One doesnt know which one to associate the presets with, so as a result they might end up being listed under the wrong one since S1 will then simply assign them to whichever is first in the alphabetical order. But other than that i think Presonus have managed to make their preset manager about as good as it could possibly be made. I for one sure wouldnt mind in the least if this was the standard system in all Hosts and DAWs because if there is one thing that really does MY head in its having to load each and every preset via some File/Open dialog.

[urlwolf]

ENV, thanks, that was an awesome explanation and knowing it's just a .fxp zipped, I'm much happier.
I do agree that it's a very ergonomic feature if implemented right. For me, the last bit of ergonomics would be to have an easier way to search on a plugin only, and to have a shortcut to trigger the search (hitting a tiny loupe icon gets tiring).

[LawrenceF]

For me, the last bit of ergonomics would be to have an easier way to search on a plugin only,

If you have 1000's of presets for a synth, put them all in a disk folder and tab that folder in the browser and search will only search that folder.

and to have a shortcut to trigger the search (hitting a tiny loupe icon gets tiring).

There is already. A simple macro will both open the browser and the search box...

Browser | Show Instruments
Edit | Search

Make it and bind it...

[urlwolf]

In the meantime, I found out how to manage presets... (thanks LawrenceF for detailed instructions; this sets KVR apart as a community)

1- go to files (bottom tab) in the browser (F5)
2 - top tabs, studio one, select an autor (eg. instigator)
3 - get a folder, right click, create new tab. You will see it at the top
4- ctrl+F is the search shortcut (missed it by looking for find)

[C-note]

Like most other functionality I covet, Cubase pretty much has this wrapped up for me.

[hibidy]

I'm not sure I'm qualified to comment on preset browsing but it has to be said Lawrence strikes again

"I wish studio one did x" is frequently followed by guru Lawrence. I appreciate that