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Save an effect preset

Set up the effect, then click Save Preset under the power button on its card in the Plugin Strip. Or select the card and run Command Palette → Save Plugin Preset. Type a name and press Return.

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Switch presets while the song plays

Click Switch Preset on the card, or select the card and run Command Palette → Switch Effect Preset…. Arrow through the saved presets to hear each one on the running plugin, and press Return to keep it or Esc to go back.

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Hear your effect presets in the Library

Open the Sample Library with ⌘Y and choose a scope under Effect Presets: All Effects, Unsorted, Favorites or one of your collections. Select a preset to hear a sample played through it, ⌘D to favorite it, or drag it onto a collection to file it.

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Choose the sample a collection plays

Right-click an effect collection and choose Choose Preview Sample…, pick a sample and click Use. Or drag a sample from the library onto the collection. On Unsorted, Choose Default Preview Sample… sets the sample for every preset that has none of its own.

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Add an effect with a preset

Press ⌥E for Add Effect…: saved presets sit under their plugin, and picking one adds the plugin to the selected track playing that preset. In the Sample Library, right-click an effect preset and choose Insert on Selected Track.

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Good to know

  • An effect preset is the plugin’s full state. Every parameter value, plus the bypass, the Mix settings and the sidechain routing.
  • Switching only lists presets of the same plugin. The — Default — row goes back to the settings the plugin had when you opened the list.
  • Nothing changes until Return. Each highlighted preset plays on the running plugin; Esc or closing the list puts the old settings back.
  • A preview plays the first 6 seconds of the sample through the effect, then its tail, at most 8 seconds in all. It is rendered once, while the song is stopped. Without a sample for its collection or a default, a preset has no preview and its Status says so.
  • Your effect presets reach your other Macs: iCloud. For a whole instrument with its effects, use Instrument Presets.
  • The name starts as the plugin’s name. Cancel, or confirm an empty name, and nothing is saved.
  • The preset is saved when you confirm the name, so knob moves made in the plugin’s window while the name sheet is open are in it.
  • A sidechain route that points at the plugin’s own track follows the effect when the preset is loaded on another track.
  • A preset whose plugin is not installed on this Mac is listed under Other in Add Effect…, dimmed.
  • Rename Effect Preset… and Delete Effect Preset… in the Command Palette work on the selected effect’s presets. Deleting asks first and cannot be undone.
  • Switch Effect Preset… needs an effect selected in the strip and at least one saved preset for its plugin.
  • A collection holds effect presets or instrument presets, never both. A preset of the other kind dropped on it is refused. The + beside the Effect Presets heading, or New Collection… in a row’s menu, makes an effect collection.
  • The Library lists presets of a single effect, the ones Save Plugin Preset makes.
  • Tags, rename, Move to Collection and the Trash work as for instrument presets. ⌫ moves a preset to the library’s Trash.
  • A collection’s sample wins over the default. Remove Preview Sample goes back to the default; the library inspector shows which sample a preset plays. Choosing another sample renders the previews again.
  • Dragging an effect preset onto the arrangement does nothing. Use Insert on Selected Track, which puts the effect at the end of the selected track’s chain.
In the Sample Library’s palette (⌘K there):
Last modified on October 22, 2026