Effect chain presets
Save a whole rack, with its order and settings, and load it anywhere.
A chain preset is a complete effects rack saved as one item: the effects in order, each one’s settings and on/off state, EQ bands and all. The library lives in your browser and is shared by every track, group, Master and the single-file editor, so a vocal chain built in one song is one click away in the next.
When to use it
Use it for the chains you rebuild every time: a vocal channel, a drum bus, a mastering stack. Use it as a sketchbook too, saving a rack before you take it apart so you can come back. For moving one effect between tracks in the same song, see copying effects.
Controls
Chain presets
The button in every rack’s toolbar opens the library. On a phone it sits in the toolbar’s ⋯ menu. Save stores the current rack under a name, in a folder if you like, with optional notes for the song it came from or the settings worth remembering. Notes appear in the preview and are searched. Edit changes the name, folder and notes; saving a changed rack makes a new preset rather than overwriting.
Finding a preset
The list is alphabetical with a preview of the selected chain. Search and the folder filter, including Unfiled, sit above the list. The preview shows each effect in order and tells you if anything would be adjusted on loading.
Load, Append and Replace
An empty rack shows Load chain. A rack with effects offers Append to chain, which adds the preset after what is there, and Replace chain, which swaps the rack. Append is disabled with an explanation when the result would exceed 16 effects. Either way it is one undo step, and the rack’s own bypass and tail settings stay as they were.
Import and export
The footer buttons export the library to a JSON file and import one back as independent copies. Convolver impulses are stored inside the preset, so a large impulse library makes a large file; export a backup and remove presets you no longer use if the browser runs short of space. Clearing browser data clears the library.
Adjustments
A preset saved before an effect gained a setting loads with the current default for that setting, and the button says with adjustments. Settings an effect no longer has are dropped. The saved preset itself is never changed. Song-specific connections such as sidechain sources are not part of a preset. A Compressor keyed by the kick saves without the kick, and both the save form and the preset say Compressor’s sidechain source isn’t saved. Pick it again after loading. A Delay or Reverb ducking from its own track keeps that.
Tips
- Save the chain with its on/off states as you use them; a bypassed module in a preset is a deliberate option, not a mistake.
- Put the song name in the notes. Six months later the preset called “Vox 2” means nothing without it.
- Keep a mastering chain as a preset and append it to Master only when you print, so it does not colour your mixing decisions.