How do I create a preset folder?

ark · Post by **ark** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:07 pm

In the "Drum Rack" section of the standard instruments are a number of "preset folders," which have the nice property that when you drag such a folder to a drum rack, it automatically maps the individual instruments in the folder into their proper places in the rack.

Looking through the manual, I can't find any explanation of how preset folders work, or of how to create one. Am I missing something?

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:21 pm

right click on 'Drum Rack' to create a new folder.

ark · Post by **ark** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:47 pm

Tone Deft wrote:right click on 'Drum Rack' to create a new folder.

The thing is that if I create a folder that way, it shows up with a different icon in the Live browser than the preset folders do. So I presume that there is something different about such folders. Look, for example, at Instruments/Drum Rack/Tom/Tom-808 as an example of a preset folder. Note that its icon is different from that of the Multimic folder in the same location.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 11:57 pm

did you try it to see if it was broken in some way?

make a new folder you can drop presets into it, I don't see the problem.

is it having a different icon going to affect you in some way?

there's an entire manual section on presets 5.6.2 in the Live 8 manual.

is there a problem or what? I'm not following what's up.

ark · Post by **ark** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:34 am

Section 23.7.2 of the Live 8 manual uses the term "preset folders," which is not defined anywhere in the manual that I can see. These folders seem to have an interesting property, which I also cannot find in the manual, that when I drag one into the pad view of a drum rack, the individual presets in the folder magically find their way to the correct MIDI notes.

If I try to drag an ordinary folder that contains presets into a pad view, Live rejects it, claiming that it is not a collection of presets.

As far as I can tell, what distinguishes these "preset folders" from ordinary folders is that each one contains a file named .AbletonPresetInfo that does not contain any data. However, that is a guess based on experimentation; I cannot find anything in the manual that describes this behavior.

So the answer to your question is: Yes, something is broken in some way. I can create a folder and drop presets into it, but I cannot drag that folder into the pad view of a drum rack. I believe that if I create an empty .AbletonPresetInfo file, that will allow me to drag the folder into a drum rack that way, but I cannot find this behavior documented anywhere in the manual.

Muzak · Post by **Muzak** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 6:00 am

I've been looking on how to do the same, and there seems to be no built-in way to do this. Or at least I haven't found it yet.

Tone Deft, read the question again, 'cos you're missing the point

As far as I can tell, what distinguishes these "preset folders" from ordinary folders is that each one contains a file named .AbletonPresetInfo that does not contain any data

That is correct and what I did was copy one of those from a built-in preset folder to a folder I created and.. bam.. it becomes a preset folder.
I then dropped some Drum Rack instruments in that folder and am now able to drag the whole folder onto a new Drum Rack and all the instruments are placed in the right slots.

If anyone knows of a built-in way to make a "regular folder" into a "preset folder", I'd love to hear it.

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 1:39 pm

Muzak wrote: Tone Deft, read the question again, 'cos you're missing the point

That would make quite a nice sig

ark · Post by **ark** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 3:10 pm

Muzak wrote:If anyone knows of a built-in way to make a "regular folder" into a "preset folder", I'd love to hear it.

Also, I would love to see documentation that describes in detail the behavior of preset folders.

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:15 am

is this something you've tried?:

copy one of the special folders

load one of the special devices

erase it from the device view and make your own

save the new one into the special folder copy

see if it loads properly?

-

if that worked, then i'd make a copy, erase all the chains, and call it "seed" or something.. then start with the seed when you wanted to make a new one

???

ark · Post by **ark** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:42 am

longjohns wrote:if that worked, then i'd make a copy, erase all the chains, and call it "seed" or something.. then start with the seed when you wanted to make a new one

It would be easier just to create an appropriate folder by hand.

However, that does not solve the problem that this behavior on Live's part appears not to be documented anywhere, which makes me wonder if it is possible to rely on it remaining the same in the future.

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:02 am

not necessarily. for example, iirc it was not initially possible to create multisample simplers. that was an ableton-only feature at first..

now you can convert sampler to simpler

?

so it is possible that this will get more properly incorporated into the program. from checking your manual reference, it seems like something which was specifically created to handle the latin percussion product.

so someday you might see a "group to preset folder" command or something. especially if you actively pursue the feature request!

Muzak · Post by **Muzak** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:04 am

longjohns wrote: from checking your manual reference, it seems like something which was specifically created to handle the latin percussion product.
so someday you might see a "group to preset folder" command or something. especially if you actively pursue the feature request!

They are available for all Drum Rack devices, there's loads of them under Live Devices/Instrument/Drum Rack/[instrument]. replace [instrument] with Cymbal, Tom, Hihat, etc..

A "group to preset folder" command would be nice, but it would also be nice to have it in the right click menu in the Device Browser. Next to "Create Folder" I'd like to see "Create Preset Folder".

In reply to your previous post:

copy one of the special folders
load one of the special devices
erase it from the device view and make your own
save the new one into the special folder copy

There's no need for that. Every "Preset Folder" contains a 0 bytes file called ".AbletonPresetInfo". So all you need to do is copy that file to a folder you created and it will become a Preset Folder.

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:15 am

Muzak wrote: There's no need for that. Every "Preset Folder" contains a 0 bytes file called ".AbletonPresetInfo". So all you need to do is copy that file to a folder you created and it will become a Preset Folder.

ok, if it is really 0 bytes (weird)

I guess i will have to try it

nbinder · Post by **nbinder** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:27 pm

longjohns wrote:
Muzak wrote: There's no need for that. Every "Preset Folder" contains a 0 bytes file called ".AbletonPresetInfo". So all you need to do is copy that file to a folder you created and it will become a Preset Folder.
ok, if it is really 0 bytes (weird)

I guess i will have to try it

copy it (or "touch .AbletonPresetInfo" in a Terminal window). 0 bytes is an empty file - nothing special.

How do I create a preset folder?

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