The u-he Preset Browser - "Are you strong enough?"

[Sir Hannes]

Thx for this update. I'd like to request a relief for muscle memory. Why? Because I struggle with sorting presets (renaming, moving) for different use cases. My idea I write down below would improve my workflow. Note: I love to cycle through with arrow keys.

The Problem 1-3:
1. Stop jumping presets if renamed. Example: I immediately feel remembered to a genre -> I must rename it now -> the preset jumps to another position due to ABC sorting. I am lost now. Where I was before? Where to continue? I listened to 70 presets so far, I can't remember the right spot I stopped. Annoying and unnecessarily stressful in digital age.

2. Give a visual feedback from which spot I took a preset away. Example: I drag and drop a preset into one of my folders, I just want to switch back to the previous view to continue. But it is impossible to remember where I stopped, I can't (and I don't want to) memorize the name of the last played preset before that one I just moved. Too many synths I use, too many names and presets. My brain...

3. after renaming arrow keys won't work. Manually use the mouse to click to the preset to re-activate them.

The Solution:
1. A 3rd state of preset selection: binary we have an active preset and all others inactive. A 3rd state means: the "last touched/ last played preset", only visual.
2. A page-memory: If I return from User folder to any other folder, it reminds the preset page where I was before.
3. A thin line to show the spot: Drag&drop any preset to another folder let me easily jump back to the right page and a white flat thin line shows the location I moved the preset away, so this is between the previous and the next preset.

This is useful for any preset browser of any instrument by the way. And I apologize if all or some of my requests are implemented already and I haven't found it out yet.

Vielen lieben Dank für Eure Arbeit, ich finde Eure Produkte gehören zu den besten überhaupt.

Lieben Gruß
Johannes

[Hanz Meyzer]

Erm, maybe I asked this already, but I forgot the answer : I have a lot of favorites with Zebra2, but not in ZebraHZ. But I now only use ZebraHZ, since it is the superset of Zebra2 and can replay all Zebra2 presets, too...

So I would like to transfer my favorites to ZebraHZ... I dynamically linked the preset dir of Zebra2 into ZebraHZ, which works nicely (it's then within a subdir "Zebra2"). So can I somehow transfer the favorites to ZebraHZ, and also add a starting subdir part to each of its paths? Or are the favorites somehow linked to a database id only? Or is there such a export and import funcitonality already?

Also, I also have some favorites in ZebraHZ, to make it more complicated So I would like to "merge" an favorites import of Zebra2, so as a result, I will have both favorites lists joined/mixed. Is this somehow possible, if not implemented, then by editing config files? Thanks!

[tasmaniandevil]

So I would like to transfer my favorites to ZebraHZ...

The favourites import/export function will not allow to import favourites from a different plugin.
But if you have a text editor that includes a search&replace function, we can send you instructions on how to edit the exported favourites file, so it becomes compatible to ZebraHZ.
In this case, please contact our support.

[boojiboy]

I'd like to add my voice to those asking for the ability to name/re-name favourites. U-He have made such great sounding products that third-parties have loved to develop and sell sound sets for them. In my case, I have bought many sets for Diva over the years. I have tried to use favourites and use a colour code ( the only current option) to distinguish pads and basses etc but it doesn't really do the job. I'd love to be able to trawl through my sounds from different programmers and categorise the best sounds across them all. Potentially even better would be if a folder was automagically created in the user browser area when you save as a favourite sub-category, so you end up with folders of the best basses,fx, pads etc. That way it would be easier to find the right sound for an existing part or to trigger inspiration for anew one.

[trusampler]

You guys realize you can create folders and name them specifically things like Pads, Bass, Poly Etc and color them however you want. Drag n drop your sounds comfortably in these folders. The u-he preset system is among the most flexible in any synth ever.
That’s what I do along with create midi program changes for eg Diva to control it from my controller.

[boojiboy]

Yes and could easily just say why have favourites in the first place? We could all create our own favourites-like folders and drag and drop etc. People are just suggesting making potential workflow Improvements to the system U-He implemented to make it more meaningful and useful. Having various favourites with only different coloured tags doesn't really cut it.

[Urs]

So we've discussed this here internally since forever or so.

I think the gist is, it's doable, but it will only ever be on the surface.

Such that, something else other than the word "Favourite" may appear under the Favourites folder, and maybe even in the drop-down where you mark them. However, in the Tags view and if you search for anything, it will still be "Favourite". Same for exporting them as a bank etc. Also, the length of the name will be limited to a few letters, maybe 10 or so.

The main issue is that renaming a Favourite beyond the surface to something like "Bass" is going to cause ambiguity and possibly glitches in the database. We do not want to open that box. We furthermore do not want to create issues when the formatting and layout of the browser changes if renamed favourites don't fit the space.

[ban jhankri]

Hi, i'd like to request a feature for the preset browser: a button that shuffles the display order of the presets in the current view. The easiest way to browse presets is to hold a chord on my MIDI keyboard and step through presets with the down arrow key on my keyboard as It's fast. The issue with alphabetical order is that many sound designers prefix their preset names by category for example "PD" for pads, "BS" for bass, "KY" for keys, "FX" and so on. So when I arrow through the list, I end up hearing dozens of pads in a row before getting to anything else. That's fine if I know I'm looking for a pad, but it doesn't work as well when I'm just browsing for inspiration, for example when I'm stuck on a track and don't have a specific sound in mind. In that case the sound that would actually unblock me might be a key or an FX several pages away.

Not the most critical feature, but it would be a really nice-to-have if you consider it.Thanks

[Urs]

Hi, i'd like to request a feature for the preset browser: a button that shuffles the display order of the presets in the current view. The easiest way to browse presets is to hold a chord on my MIDI keyboard and step through presets with the down arrow key on my keyboard as It's fast. The issue with alphabetical order is that many sound designers prefix their preset names by category for example "PD" for pads, "BS" for bass, "KY" for keys, "FX" and so on. So when I arrow through the list, I end up hearing dozens of pads in a row before getting to anything else. That's fine if I know I'm looking for a pad, but it doesn't work as well when I'm just browsing for inspiration, for example when I'm stuck on a track and don't have a specific sound in mind. In that case the sound that would actually unblock me might be a key or an FX several pages away.

Not the most critical feature, but it would be a really nice-to-have if you consider it.Thanks

You can already do that, pretty much. When you double-click a folder, you set that folder to the full focus of the preset browser, so what you see/search etc is just that folder (and its subfolders). When you then go to "Discover", you get a random selection of those presets, up to 50, in a random order. Right-click "Discover" and choose "Rebuild" for a newly shuffled selection.

[Urs]

(the Discover feature is a random selection of presets... it's a new feature that afaik isn't in the video)

[ban jhankri]

Oh that's great, hadn't noticed, thanks Urs!