Unify Manual

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Unify's files and folders

This page sheds some light on a few key aspects of how Unify works with files and folders on your computer. Although we have done our best to make Unify install and work automatically, there will be times when you'll need to understand where Unify's various files live, and what they are there for.

Four distinct groups of files

Unify uses four groups of files, which are stored in three very different places. The exact places are different for Windows PCs and Macs; see the next two sections for the details.

  1. Unify's app folder contains the Unify stand-alone app, the bundled third-party VST plug-ins, and a “helper” app for scanning your own plug-ins.
  2. The Unify plug-ins (the ones you load into a DAW) are stored together with your other plug-ins.
  3. Unify's content folder is a single folder containing libraries, presets, and patch database.
  4. Unify's settings (preferences) and its plug-in database are kept together in a special folder

Finding Unify's files on a Windows PC

  1. App folder:
    • C:\Program Files\PlugInGuru
    • This location is fixed by the Unify installer, and should not be changed.
  2. Unify plug-ins:
    • VST2: whatever location you chose, when asked in the Unify installer
    • VST3: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 (this is the standard VST3 location for Windows)
  3. Content folder:
    • Wherever you chose to put this, when you ran Unify for the first time
    • Default location is C:\Users\Public\Documents\PlugInGuru\Unify
    • Current location is displayed in Unify's Settings view, where there is also a button to change it
    • (Note: You must move or copy the content manually before changing; Unify does not do this automatically.)
  4. Settings:
    • On Windows 7 and later, there is a hidden AppData folder inside C:\Users\your username\. Unify's settings folder lives in the Roaming sub-folder, and is called PlugInGuru.
    • A quick way to get to C:\Users\your username\AppData\Roaming\ is to type %appdata% into the title bar of any Windows Explorer window and press ENTER.

Note you may see more or fewer files/folders than indicated in the above screenshots. As of Unify v1.1.x, the PG-8X VST synth plug-in is no longer bundled with Unify, for example.

Finding Unify's files on a Macintosh

  1. App folder:
    • The Unify stand-alone app lives in /Applications
    • Bundled VSTs and “helper” apps live in /Applications/PlugInGuru
    • These locations are set by the Unify installer, and should not be changed.
  2. Unify plug-ins:
    • Audio Unit: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/Unify.component
    • VST: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/Unify.vst
    • VST3: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Unify.vst3
    • These are the standard Mac plug-in locations, and should not be changed.
  3. Content folder:
    • Wherever you chose to put this, when you ran Unify for the first time
    • Default location is /Users/Shared/PlugInGuru/Unify
    • Current location is displayed in Unify's Settings view, where there is also a button to change it
    • (Note: You must move or copy the content manually before changing; Unify does not do this automatically.)
  4. Settings:
    • /Users/your user name/Library/Application Support/PlugInGuru

Note you may see more or fewer files/folders than indicated in the above screenshots. As of Unify v1.1.x, the PG-8X VST synth plug-in is no longer bundled with Unify, for example.

Troubleshooting basic file/folder issues

VST folder in content folder?

If you see a folder called VST inside the Unify content folder, that's a leftover from a very old version of Unify (prior to Unify v1.0.6). You should delete this entire folder. It has been superseded by the VST and HelperApps folders in the Unify app folder.

Leftover .guru files

Unify libraries (and certain other files under the content folder) are delivered in the form of .guru files. These are basically .zip files, and they contain a folder structure which mimics that of Unify's main content folder. When Unify opens a .guru file (either because you drag it into the Unify GUI, or use the “Select .guru file…” button in Settings view), it unpacks the zipped files into the appropriate content folders.

We use .guru files to install and update Unify content, instead of a regular installer, for two reasons:

  1. Only Unify “knows” where you have chosen to keep the content folder (stored in the Unify.settings file); installers do not.
  2. Installers are mainly for executable files like programs and plug-ins, and are treated specially by the operating system to facilitate things like un-installing. Unify's content files are just ordinary data files, which don't require such special treatment.

Once Unify has unpacked a .guru file, you can discard the file. The contents have been copied into the proper places in the Unify content folder, so the .guru file is no longer needed, and is just taking up valuable disk space. You may wish to keep .guru files for backup, but this is not strictly necessary, because you can always re-download them later.

files-folders.1591812822.txt.gz · Last modified: 2023/05/08 18:59 (external edit)