Presets & A/B

Aconite saves everything a patch is doing in one shared format, so a saved preset and a host session round-trip identically. The browser lets you step through the combined factory and user lists, pick any preset directly, and save your own; presets carry optional category, tags, author, and favourite metadata; a factory bank ships bundled; and A/B compare lets you flip between two versions of a sound while you dial it in.

What a preset captures

A preset is a complete snapshot of the full patch state:

Every parameter: oscillators, mixer, filter, envelopes, LFOs, modulation matrix routes and depths, FX rack settings, Master band settings, voice and performance controls.
All drawn shapes: the LFO curves and their morph targets, the step sequencer pattern, the waveshaper transfer curve, the velocity curve, the Performer curve, and all six drawable envelope contours, the four Curve Lanes, and the arp step lane.
The path to any user wavetable you have loaded, the reference to the file, so Aconite can reload it when the preset is opened. (The wavetable data itself is not embedded; the file needs to be present on the machine where you load the preset.)
Your active colour theme.

When you save a preset and load it later, or share it with someone else, the sound is exactly as you left it, including any shapes you drew by hand. The only things a preset does not carry are MIDI-learn mappings (those belong to your hardware setup, not the sound) and authorization state. See MPE & MIDI-learn for why MIDI-learn intentionally stays outside presets.

Presets are forward-compatible: if a preset was saved with an older version of Aconite, parameters that did not exist at the time are silently ignored; parameters that are absent fall back to their defaults. Old preset files and saved sessions load without complaint; you will never get an error because a patch predates a new feature.

The preset browser

The browser lives in the header as a compact row:

< and > arrows step to the previous or next preset in the list, wrapping at the ends. The list runs through the full factory bank first, then your user presets.
The name button in the centre shows the current preset name. Click it to open a menu split into Factory and User sections: pick any preset directly from the list.
Save stores the current sound as a user preset. Aconite will prompt you for a name.
Random loads a random preset from the currently filtered list, a quick way to jump somewhere unexpected and start from there.

The name display refreshes on any load: from the arrows, from the menu, or when your DAW restores a saved session.

Saving a user preset

Shape the sound how you want it.
Click Save in the browser.
Type a name and confirm.

That is it. The preset is written as a .synthpreset file to your user application-data presets folder. It immediately appears in the User section of the browser menu and carries the full patch state exactly as described above. That folder is also where you go to back up your library or copy presets to share with someone else; the files are portable.

To delete a user preset, select it in the menu and use the delete option.

The factory bank

Aconite ships with a curated factory bank spanning a wide range of sounds and playing styles. The bank covers categories including Bass, Lead, Pad, Pluck, FX, Keys, Brass, Chiptune, and Percussion, including some less common voice types built on physical modelling (Handpan, Steel Drum, and modal drums).

Each factory preset is a full-state capture authored by ear in the plugin, so what you load is exactly what the preset’s author heard. Factory presets carry their own drawn shapes and modulation programming, not just the default starting point.

One thing factory presets do not carry over: loading a factory preset leaves your current theme untouched. Because themes are a personal aesthetic choice, the sound bank does not override your look.

Preset metadata

Presets can carry optional metadata: a category, free-form tags, an author name, and a favourite flag. The factory bank is fully categorised and tagged, so the browser can show you all the Pads or all the patches by a particular author.

You can tag any user preset and flag it as a favourite without reloading the sound: the metadata lives separately from the audio state, so browsing and tagging is non-destructive.

A/B compare

A/B compare is a workflow tool for the moment when you are deciding between two versions of a patch. Rather than saving two separate presets and loading back and forth, you can hold both states in memory and flip between them instantly.

The A/B controls live in the header.

How it works:

Get your patch to a state you like. That is your starting point; call it A.
Keep editing. Try a different filter setting, a new LFO shape, a different effect level.
When you want to compare, flip to B. Aconite restores the version you left in B (on first use, B starts as a copy of the same state, so the first flip is a no-op, there is nothing to compare yet until you copy your current work into one slot).
Use Copy to other to capture the current state into the inactive slot. Now flip back and forth to A/B by ear.

The flip is immediate. There is no load time, no disk access, no gap in the sound, just the two states switching.

What A/B does and does not carry:

A/B captures the same payload as a preset: all parameters, drawn shapes, and your theme. It does not carry MIDI-learn mappings (those never change on a flip, which is exactly what you want: your hardware assignments stay put while you audition the two sounds). It also does not carry authorization state.

A/B is session-scoped. The two slots live only in memory while the plugin is open and are not written to disk. When you find the version you prefer, save it as a user preset to keep it permanently.

Presets and your DAW session

When you save your DAW project, Aconite’s full state is saved with it: the same complete snapshot a preset would capture. Reopen the project and the sound comes back exactly as you left it, including any drawn shapes and your current theme. MIDI-learn mappings come back too, through the host session rather than the preset format. Authorization state is per-machine and does not travel with sessions; see Authorization for how to move Aconite to a new machine.

For a walkthrough of loading your first sound, see the Quick start.