Hello,

Because of many problems with file permissions, Custom Data folder is now fixed to a single location. I would say, the way to change it would be to replace the folder with a symbolic link to a different folder. For Mac OS X it is made either with a console command, or with a special set of scripts.

Here is a web link, which describes a possible way to do it, but please use it with caution, because then possible problems with file permissions or removable storage (if it is linked to a non-existing place) may occur.

http://superuser.com/questions/24095/create-a-symbolic-link-in-the-mac-os-x-finder

Thanks,

George.

Thank's for the confirmation.  For my information, what is the now fixed default location directory on the Mac OS X?  I'm currently in Users\Shared\VSL Custom Data.  VI PRO found that directory and is writing new matrix to that directory.  Over the years, during various updates with VI and VE, the custom default location has changed.  That's why I'm asking the question so that I can be sure I have things configured correctly to the default setting.  Appreciate your input.

Thanks

Hello,

Custom Data Folder will stay at that location, we do not plan to change it, and even though it was present in the last Directory Manager - it was obsoleted for quite a while already. I think, every time a new VE Pro version is installed, it will be reset to this default location.

Also, VIPro really would ignore the value of Custom Data Folder set within the previous version of Directory Manager, so to avoid confusion, a decision was taken to remove this folder altogether.

Since the setting of 'Custom Data Folder' is system-global, changing it to one's desktop or home folder would lead to a file permission problem, where logging under a different account would mean one cannot access previously saved presets, or save the new ones.

As for the above instruction with symbolic links  - this solution is not supported by VSL. It is only meant to say, that it's not impossible to change this folder, even though it's fixed to a single location in the software now. I presume, there will be a person who really would want to change it for whatever reason (such as putting it to a networked location to share between computers?), and thus the instruction to create a symbolic link - in place of a real folder - a 'fake' folder, that points to a different location.

Thanks,

George.

Thank's George for the clarification....  No I'm good with the current location.  I just didn't want to setup my new matrix in VI-PRO and have it going to the wrong place.  Sounds like I'm in good shape.  Thanks again.

Hi George,

This needs to be fixed ASAP before too many users have to change this over.

The proper place for such files on Mac OSX is in the users/~/library/application support folder or

users/~/library/audio/presets

This is a basic convention followed by other software.

I really don't appreciate having all sorts of random/arbitrary file/folder locations all over my OS HDD. That is perhaps acceptable on PC but not on MacOS. I am very surprised at this choice of location. Perhaps there is a serious reason which could be explained to us, however, since almost all other software follows the proper convention (of course Microsoft and Adobe don't) I doubt there is a real technical reason for this.

Cheers,

Tom

Hello Tom,

The location has been fixed to the one mentioned before for several versions already, starting from the very beginning of Vienna Ensemble Pro too. I think it's too late to change now, so it perhaps will stay there.

However if a significant number of people will want to change it per your proposal, we wouldn't mind of course.

Thanks,
George.

I absolutely agree with Tom's proposal: audio presets should be stored in users/~/library/audio/presets as this is the standard path for all user generated AU and VST presets in OS X. It's much easier to organize and backup if everything is in one place.

Please reconsider your decision!

Thanks,

Leo

Hello,

I'm sorry, but the present default location is used for at least quite some time since the previous software releases, so it's already too late to change it.

Maybe Custom Data Folder should have been a per-user setting, but it is historically made global. So it should reside at a location, accessible by all users. To change it as proposed above - will require changing several part of the software, and will introduce incompatibility to all current users of Vienna Ensemble Pro.

In the future version, perhaps we will re-introduce a possibility to save custom data in another location, and make it a per-user setting, while a default global location will be fixed to what it is now (and has been for quite a while already).

Thanks,
George.

Hi George,

thank you for your quick response! I understand that it's too late to change for now but maybe in a future version you can reintroduce the possibility to let the user decide where to store his presets, that would be great!

As for global presets that can be accessed by all users (i.e. the default factory presets) you could also store them in Library/Application Support, the default location for any settings of applications in OS X (for example Logic stores it's factory presets there also) or Library/Audio/Presets, the equivalent to Users/~/Library/Audio/Presets but accessible to all users.

I just think that it's easier to keep track of all the settings and presets if they are installed in the standard locations provided by the OS, otherwise backup and moving to different systems becomes rather difficult if one has to find out for every single application and plugin where it stores its files... I hope you understand.

Thank you very much!

Hello,

As far as I know, /Library/Application Support is usually used for factory and static data, which is not changeable by the end user. Most of those folders even don't have permissions for regular users to write the files (only for administrators).

Thank you for the feedback. We will think what can be done about it - since some other things do not quite line up together, if we start changing this little part. But we will find a solution.

Thanks,
George.

For now - if for somebody it is really essential to have this data stored under a different location (for backup or maybe out of principle) - what I can suggest is to make a symbolic link to the folder where preset data is desired to be stored. Use the following steps (for OSX):

1. Make sure that no VSL software is running
2. Save the content of /Users/Shared/VSL Custom Data at some other location.
3. Delete folder /Users/Shared/VSL Custom Data
4. Create a new folder, where you want to store presets. For example, /My/Preset/Folder
5. Open OSX Terminal program to access system shell
6. Type the following:

ln -s "/My/Preset/Folder" "/Users/Shared/VSL Custom Data"

Please replace "/My/Preset/Folder" with the actual new location, and remember to put doublequotes, this is quite essential.

7. Restore the content of your old folder to the new folder. Essentially, VIPro will still think that the data is located in the old location, but since it is now a symbolic link - files will be physicall present under a different location.

Now warning: watch the permissions. Since the setting is global, if the target folder is set within one user's home directory, another user may not be able to access it.

Additionally, '~' may not work as a substitute for a user name, so one may need to specify a full user name in the directory path.

Thanks,
George.

It's true that a user without administrative rights has no write permissions on /Library/Application Support but that's ok since you would store there factory data only (i.e. the Vienna factory presets) that is not meant to be modified by the user. As soon as the user would save his own presets he should write them into Users/~/Library/Audio/Presets in his user account. At least that's the way it works with Logic and many other apps.

But as far as I've seen the factory presets of the Vienna instruments are hidden anyway, at least I haven't been able to find them. So what we're talking about is only the user presets and imo they should be stored in Users/~/Library/Audio/Presets or their location should be freely configurable.

Thank you very much for your help and your instructions on the symbolic links, very appreciated!

@inwinterhesleeps said:

Hi George,

This needs to be fixed ASAP before too many users have to change this over.

The proper place for such files on Mac OSX is in the users/~/library/application support folder or

users/~/library/audio/presets

This is a basic convention followed by other software.

I really don't appreciate having all sorts of random/arbitrary file/folder locations all over my OS HDD. That is perhaps acceptable on PC but not on MacOS. I am very surprised at this choice of location. Perhaps there is a serious reason which could be explained to us, however, since almost all other software follows the proper convention (of course Microsoft and Adobe don't) I doubt there is a real technical reason for this.

Cheers,

Tom

Actually, more and more applications are using the /Users/shared/ directory for shared files, so VSL's use of this directory is not such a stretch in 2010. Adobe, Apple (final cut studio), Parallels, Canon, and others have been using the /Users/shared/ directory.

VSL wants presets to be a global -- and in the case of a multi-user environment, that's reasonable

BUT-----------

I agree with Tom and others here and I agree that I PREFER the presets to be within my personal user directory, NOT in shared. If I backup my user directory, I expect all of MY data to be in MY user directory.

Since VSL is NOT a multi-user license, there is no reason that the presets don't store in the primary user's library.

I think engineering should discuss this with the office -- who is legally allowed to use the software? It was my understanding that only I am allowed. I am not allowed to let others use it. If that is in-fact the case, there is no justification for putting MY presets anywhere except MY user directory, yes?

Knowing the data is stored in the /shared/ directory right now is an inconvenience, since I have to remember to back this directory up with my user directory. Yeah, I have a script to do it now, but it wasn't automatic. 

I agree with the other posters --  VSL should take another look at this.

Thx

Jeremy