Symlinks and Presets directory on OSX

[Phorous]

Hi guys, not sure if this is a common issue but here is my situation:

I sync my laptop (Mac) to my desktop (PC) with dropbox. I have my presets folder INSIDE my dropbox folder and a symlink pointing to them from the normal places.

However, for some reason with U-he plugins I am having an issue on OSX where after a while it stops following symlinks to preset directories, so none of my presets show up unless I remove the symlink and copy the dropbox folder there. Of course this is not ideal as it remove s automatic syncing and backup of my presets.

Does anyone know if there is some kind of workaround / better way to do this? This is an issue with both Bazille and Hive. I am not sure if it is an issue with Uhbik as I don't create any presets for it but I could check if needed.

Here is how I am creating the symlink:

cd /Users/username/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/
cp -r Hive /Users/username/Dropbox/Production/Presets/
ln -s /Users/username/Dropbox/Production/Presets/Hive Hive

It does work at first, but for some odd reason it just stops working later...

[Phorous]

Still have this problem with every single u-he plugin I own. They simply refuse to follow symlinks on OSX

Makes syncing my presets to dropbox a nightmare.

[pedx1ng]

I do the same thing with my plug-ins without issue, but sadly I do not have either Bazille or Hive. Since those are newer plugs I wonder if something changed in how u-he handles presets?

Here is the command I used to create the symlink for Zebra2 presets:

Code: Select all

ln -s /Users/username/Dropbox/VST\ Presets/Zebra2 /Users/username/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/Zebra2/_Dropbox

At first I thought you were doing the same thing as me, but now that I look at your command more closely maybe the issue is you need to create the symlink directory inside the Hive directory.

Another thing I did different was I manually copied the directory to Dropbox beforehand, and started with an empty user preset directory. So in my case before I ran my command "/Users/username/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/Zebra2/" was an empty directory. After running my command that directory contains one symlink directory named _Dropbox which points to the Zebra2 presets folder on my Dropbox containing all my user presets.

[Phorous]

If you look at the first command I am changing the working directory to the directory I wish to make the symlink in already, hence I don't have to specify the full path for the symlink source. I did try that too just in case.

I have tested this Bazille, Hive, and Diva now and they all exhibit the same problem where all of my other plugins work fine doing the exact same thing.

[pedx1ng]

If you look at the first command I am changing the working directory to the directory I wish to make the symlink in already, hence I don't have to specify the full path for the symlink source. I did try that too just in case.

I have tested this Bazille, Hive, and Diva now and they all exhibit the same problem where all of my other plugins work fine doing the exact same thing.

Right, I realize you are changing the working directory, but you are working with the higher-level Hive directory and what I'm saying is try working within that directory itself.

You are using the normal Hive folder itself as the symlink, but what I'm saying is leave that as a normal folder, and create any symlinks inside the Hive folder (under presets obviously). I have not tested this with Hive, but this approach works for me with ACE, Diva, Uhbiks, Zebra.

All of this is kind of confusing to try and explain, but I hope you get what I mean. It's been so long since I set this up but I seem to recall I tried your way initially but couldn't get it to work, which led to me trying my current approach.

I am going to download the Hive preview and try and set this up on my system so I can hopefully better explain.

[pedx1ng]

Ok, I just did a quick test and my approach appears to work with Hive. The problem is I'm having the darndest time trying to think on how best to explain it properly.

Basically, instead of what you used as a command, do this instead:

Code: Select all

cd ~/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/Hive

Code: Select all

ln -s /Users/username/Dropbox/Production/Presets/Hive Hive

If you do that you'll end up with a second Hive subfolder under Hive.

In Hive when you save a preset it appears to save to the last selected folder in the interface. By default this will be Local I believe. So before saving a preset, open the Presets panel and select the Hive folder underneath the User folder. Now when you save, it will go there. You can also right click that User/Hive folder and create additional folders.

I probably explained all this horribly, but if you need additional help let me know.

[Phorous]

Ok, I just did a quick test and my approach appears to work with Hive. The problem is I'm having the darndest time trying to think on how best to explain it properly.

Basically, instead of what you used as a command, do this instead:

Code: Select all

cd ~/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/Hive

Code: Select all

ln -s /Users/username/Dropbox/Production/Presets/Hive Hive

If you do that you'll end up with a second Hive subfolder under Hive.

In Hive when you save a preset it appears to save to the last selected folder in the interface. By default this will be Local I believe. So before saving a preset, open the Presets panel and select the Hive folder underneath the User folder. Now when you save, it will go there. You can also right click that User/Hive folder and create additional folders.

I probably explained all this horribly, but if you need additional help let me know.

Your suggestion seems to work but the strange thing is the original directory structure did not have a 2nd Diva folder in it like that. I am a long time *nix user who is used to using symlinking for all kinds of things but I have never seen this type of behavior before

Thank you for the help regardless

EDIT:

Just tried symlinking the entire u-he folder and it worked... even better solution!

[pedx1ng]

EDIT:

Just tried symlinking the entire u-he folder and it worked... even better solution!

Thanks for updating with this info. This method will make things much simpler.