Published 2020-03-01.
Last modified 2025-02-11.
Time to read: 1 minutes.
This page is part of the
av_studio collection.
Ableton Live
Directories specific to Ableton Live are documented here.
General Windows Directories
%AppData%\
| Contains Preferences subdirectory for Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve.
|
%ProgramData%\
| Ableton Live 11 Suite |
%ProgramData%\
| Icon for Live project folders |
%ProgramData%\
| Icon for Live project folders |
%ProgramData%\
| Ableton Live 12 Suite |
%CommonProgramFiles%\
| Pro Tools AAX plugins |
%CommonProgramFiles%\
|
64-bit VST3 plugins Ableton Live does not look in this folder unless Use VST3 Plug-in System Folders is On. These plugins will appear under the VST3 section of the Plug-ins collection. VSTs in subdirectories will be found. An additional VST3 directory can be added if Use VST3 Plug-In Custom Folder is enabled. |
%ProgramFiles%\
| Installed Native Instruments programs, except for VSTs. |
%ProgramFiles%\
|
64-bit VST2 plugins VSTs in subdirectories will be found. Ableton Live does not look in this folder unless Use VST2 Plug-in Custom Folder is On. These plugins will appear under the VST section of the Plug-ins collection, which makes no sense. A secondary VST2 directory is not possible. |
%UserProfile%\
| Pro Tools settings, described next |
Pro Tools Settings Directories
On my Windows 10 DAW the directory that holds Pro Tools user settings is
%USERPROFILE%\,
which in WSL equates to /mnt.
Directories under %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\Pro Tools
├── Bounced Files ├── Clip Effects Presets ├── Demo Sessions ├── Demo Sketches ├── Documentation ├── Fade Presets ├── Grooves ├── IO Settings ├── Plug-In Maps ├── Plug-In Settings ├── Pro Tools Presets ├── Project Cache ├── Session Templates ├── Sketches ├── Sound Libraries ├── Track Presets └── Tutorials
In WSL I defined the above directory as proToolsSettings, and the template directory under it as
proToolsTemplates like this:
/mnt/f/work/.evars
export winUserProfile="/mnt/c/Users/Mike Slinn" export proToolsSettings="$winUserProfile/My Documents/Pro Tools" export proToolsTemplates="$proToolsSettings/Session Templates"
The value of proToolsTemplates equates to
%USERPROFILE%\.
In WSL this is equivalent to
/mnt.
Pro Tools Templates
Sound-on-Sound has a good article on Pro Tools templates.
Following is a listing of all Pro Tools factory templates in the directory we just discussed.
Pro Tools session templates have a ptxt file type.
%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\Pro Tools\Session Templates
├── Dolby Atmos │ ├── Dolby Atmos Internal Renderer.ptxt │ ├── Dolby Audio Bridge Mono.ptxt │ └── Dolby Audio Bridge Stereo.ptxt ├── Getting Started │ ├── Beats.ptxt │ ├── Podcasting.ptxt │ └── Singer Songwriter.ptxt ├── Getting Started Pro Tools Intro │ ├── Beats - Pro Tools Intro.ptxt │ ├── Podcasting - Pro Tools Intro.ptxt │ └── Singer Songwriter - Pro Tools Intro.ptxt ├── Guitar │ ├── Ballad Guitar - Lower CPU Usage.ptxt │ ├── Ballad Guitar.ptxt │ ├── Blues Guitar - Lower CPU Usage.ptxt │ ├── Blues Guitar.ptxt │ ├── Metal Guitar - Lower CPU Usage.ptxt │ ├── Metal Guitar.ptxt │ ├── Rock Guitar - Lower CPU Usage.ptxt │ └── Rock Guitar.ptxt ├── Misc │ ├── 192 IO Calibration Session (8 ch.).ptxt │ ├── HD IO Calibration Session (16 ch).ptxt │ ├── HD IO Calibration Session (8 ch).ptxt │ ├── Podcasting.ptxt │ └── Window Configurations.ptxt ├── Music │ ├── Blues.ptxt │ ├── Default.ptxt │ ├── Drum and Bass.ptxt │ ├── Dubstep.ptxt │ ├── Electronica.ptxt │ ├── Funk.ptxt │ ├── Hip-hop.ptxt │ ├── House.ptxt │ ├── Jazz.ptxt │ ├── Pop.ptxt │ ├── Recording Template.ptxt │ ├── RnB.ptxt │ └── Rock.ptxt ├── Post Production │ ├── Basic 5.1 Mix.ptxt │ ├── Basic Stereo Mix.ptxt │ ├── Basic Stereo with VO and M&E.ptxt │ ├── FB360 2nd Order Ambisonics.ptxt │ ├── FB360 3rd Order Ambisonics.ptxt │ ├── Large Stereo TV Mix.ptxt │ └── Sound FX 5.1 tracklay.ptxt ├── Post-Production │ ├── 5.1 Post Production.ptxt │ └── Stereo Post Production.ptxt ├── Record+Mix │ ├── 24+EQ+Dyn+FX Returns.ptxt │ ├── 24+EQ+FX Returns.ptxt │ ├── 24+FX Returns.ptxt │ ├── 32+EQ+Dyn+FX Returns.ptxt │ ├── 32+EQ+FX Returns.ptxt │ └── 32+FX Returns.ptxt ├── Songwriter │ ├── Songwriter - Guitarist - Lower CPU Usage.ptxt │ ├── Songwriter - Guitarist.ptxt │ ├── Songwriter - Pianist - Lower CPU Usage.ptxt │ ├── Songwriter - Pianist.ptxt │ ├── Songwriter - Singer - Lower CPU Usage.ptxt │ └── Songwriter - Singer.ptxt └── VENUE Live Sound ├── 128 Track Virtual Soundcheck.ptxt ├── 18 Track FireWire Record.ptxt ├── 18 Track FireWire Virtual Soundcheck.ptxt └── 64 Track Virtual Soundcheck.ptxt
I made this directory into a private GitHub repository called ProToolsTemplates
so I could manage it better.
Here is how I clone it:
Shell
$ cd "$proToolsSettings"
$ mv "Session Templates" "Factory Session Templates"
$ git clone git@github.com:mslinn/ProToolsTemplates.git "Session Templates"
Recreating The Settings Directory Tree
It is easy to recreate the entire directory tree containing Pro Tools settings.
Simply rename or delete %USERPROFILE%\.
The next time Pro Tools starts it will recreate the directory tree.
However, many of the templates I had before are missing.
%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\Pro Tools\Session Templates
├── Dolby Atmos │ └── Dolby Atmos Internal Renderer.ptxt ├── Getting Started │ ├── Beats.ptxt │ ├── Podcasting.ptxt │ └── Singer Songwriter.ptxt ├── Getting Started Pro Tools Intro │ ├── Beats - Pro Tools Intro.ptxt │ ├── Podcasting - Pro Tools Intro.ptxt │ └── Singer Songwriter - Pro Tools Intro.ptxt ├── Post Production │ ├── FB360 2nd Order Ambisonics.ptxt │ └── FB360 3rd Order Ambisonics.ptxt └── Post-Production ├── 5.1 Post Production.ptxt └── Stereo Post Production.ptxt
General Mac Directories
Default VST2
| /Library/
|
Default VST3
| /Library/
|
AU/Component
| /Library/
|
Bear-Specific Directories
Bear is the name of the desktop computer I use as a DAW.
E:\
| Miscellaneous mastered renderings. |
E:\
| Miscellaneous Pro Tools recordings. |
E:\
| Pro Tools templates and settings. |
E:\
| Miscellaneous rendered originals. |
E:\
|
Original compositions: transcriptions, audio, video.
Selected files are symlinked from the website directory.
This is a typical layout: DaVinci Project 'One Year Older' /mnt/e/media/songs/one_year_older/
├── daw
│ ├── One Year Older Pro Tools project
│ │ ├── Audio Files
│ │ ├── Plug-In Settings
│ │ └── Session File Backups
│ └── beats Experiments
├── dvrArchives DaVinci Resolve project archives
├── inputs For DaVinci Resolve project
│ ├── audio MIDI and audio samples
│ ├── image QR code, etc.
│ └── video A and B rolls
└── outputs Renders by Ableton Live, DaVinci Resolve, and Pro Tools
├── audio Ableton Live and Pro Tools renders
├── youTube DaVinci Resolve renders
└── stems Zipped audio files
After bouncing stems, they are zipped and the zip file is moved to the stems directory in the website,
then the individual stems files are deleted.
Selected files in output/audio and input/image are symlinked to the website directory.
|
E:\
| Unprocessed video and thumbnails. |
E:\
| MP3s. |
F:\
| DaVinci Resolve cache directory. |
N:\
| Music software archive (installable programs, documentation and samples). |
N:\
| Pro Tools documentation and software, including third party plugins. |
U:\
| Jekyll-powered website. |
U:\
|
Collection of web pages for published songs.
Selected files in E:\ are symlinked from this directory,
as shown in the production overview image.
|
U:\
| Collection of web pages for these articles. |
