Presets · Sonore SDK docs

Two kinds: factory presets compiled into the plugin, and the user’s own, saved as files in a folder every DAW the plugin is loaded into can see.

Factory presets

A sonore::Preset is a name and one value per parameter, in the table’s order. The descriptor points at an array of them. They ship inside the binary, so they cannot go missing or drift from the parameters they were written for; a preset whose value count does not match the table is refused rather than half applied.

C++Compiled and run in CI

#define SONORE_NUM_PARAMS 2
#include <sonore/dsp.h>

struct SonoreDsp {
  sonore::Smooth driveSm, outSm;

  void prepare(const sonore::ProcessSpec& spec) {
    driveSm.setup((float) spec.sampleRate, 12.0f);
    outSm.setup((float) spec.sampleRate, 12.0f);
    driveSm.snap(1.0f);
    outSm.snap(1.0f);
  }

  void process(sonore::AudioBlock<float>& io, const float* p) {
    const float out = sonore::dbToGain(p[1]);
    for (size_t i = 0; i < io.getNumSamples(); ++i) {
      const float drive = driveSm.next(p[0]), g = outSm.next(out);
      for (size_t c = 0; c < io.getNumChannels(); ++c) {
        float& x = io.getChannelPointer(c)[i];
        x = std::tanh(x * drive) * g;
      }
    }
  }
};

#include <sonore/plugin.h>
#include <sonore/presets.h>

static const sonore::ParamInfo kParamTable[SONORE_NUM_PARAMS] = {
    {"drive", "Drive", "x", 1.0f, 20.0f, 2.0f},
    {"output", "Output", "dB", -24.0f, 12.0f, 0.0f},
};

// One value per parameter, in the table's order: drive, output.
static const float kWarm[SONORE_NUM_PARAMS] = {2.5f, 0.0f};
static const float kCrunch[SONORE_NUM_PARAMS] = {8.0f, -3.0f};
static const float kDestroy[SONORE_NUM_PARAMS] = {18.0f, -6.0f};

static const sonore::Preset kPresets[] = {
    {"Warm", kWarm, SONORE_NUM_PARAMS},
    {"Crunch", kCrunch, SONORE_NUM_PARAMS},
    {"Destroy", kDestroy, SONORE_NUM_PARAMS},
};

static const sonore::PluginDescriptor kDesc = {
    "com.mycompany.presetdrive", "Preset Drive", "My Company", "1.0.0",
    "A drive with three starting points.", "",
    false, kParamTable, SONORE_NUM_PARAMS,
    kPresets, (int) (sizeof(kPresets) / sizeof(kPresets[0])),
};

#include <sonore/formats.h>

Each format lists them where its hosts look: CLAP through preset discovery (written out as files beside the user’s folder), VST3 as a program list, Audio Units as factory presets, LV2 as pset:Preset entries in the bundle’s presets.ttl. A web page sees them as sonore.presets and loads one with sonore.loadPreset(i).

The user’s presets

A plugin built with the SDK gets the user’s own presets with nothing to write: the native editor’s preset bar saves and browses them, and CLAP hosts find the folder through preset discovery. (A web page sees the factory list only.) A user preset is a file holding the plugin’s whole state – the same bytes a host saves in a session, so a sampler’s preset carries its sample – inside a small versioned container with a name, author, comment, category, tags and a checksum. The folder is one per plugin:


Windows	`Documents\<Vendor>\<Plugin>\Presets`
macOS	`~/Library/Audio/Presets/<Vendor>/<Plugin>`
Linux	`$XDG_DATA_HOME/<vendor>/<plugin>/presets` (`~/.local/share` when unset)

The environment variable SONORE_PRESET_ROOT moves every plugin’s folder under one root (<root>/<Vendor>/<Plugin>/Presets), which is what tests and validators use.

The instance’s sonore::PresetManager puts factory and user presets in one list, with previous and next, the preset the user is on (saved with the session, so a project reopens on it), and whether the sound has changed since. The generic native editor shows it as a sonore::gfx::PresetBar along its top; an editor of your own adds the bar itself (the native editor shows how). A preset loads through the same path a host’s session restore takes, so a parameter added in a later version reads as its default from an old preset exactly as from an old session.

Deleting a preset moves the file to the Recycle Bin or Trash where the platform has one, and says so when it cannot; saving writes a temporary file and renames it, so a crash mid-save leaves the old preset.

Reading the folder yourself

sonore::UserPresetStore is the folder on its own, for a tool or a browser of your own: list, save, rename, delete, import and export.

C++Compiled and run in CI

#include <sonore/user_presets.h>

#include <cstdio>

int main() {
  sonore::UserPresetStore store;
  store.setFolder(sonore::defaultUserPresetFolder("My Company", "Preset Drive"));
  store.setPluginId("com.mycompany.presetdrive"); // another plugin's files are refused
  store.rescan();
  std::printf("%s\n", store.folder().c_str());
  for (const sonore::UserPresetStore::Entry& e : store.entries())
    std::printf("  %s (%s)\n", e.metadata.name.c_str(), e.metadata.author.c_str());
  for (const sonore::UserPresetStore::Refusal& r : store.refused())
    std::printf("  refused %s: %s\n", r.path.c_str(), r.reason.c_str());
  return 0;
}