Using channel presets

Your own .chn exports, applied as ordinary parameter writes – and your .bus exports, which also load an FX bus’s effect.

Run everything on this page from the top of an Atoo checkout.

These are Atoo’s presets, not the console’s

A WING has no remote “recall this preset” command at all. Presets are recallable only as Scenes inside an open Show, and Scene tags can only be assigned by hand on the console screen — so nothing here touches your desk’s scenes, tags or its own preset library.

Instead Atoo keeps its own directory of .chn files, copies a preset’s processing values into the plan when it builds it, and writes them like every other value, each one read back. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is left behind on the desk (confirmed on a WING Compact).

The library

A directory of .chn files. It is the reusable piece, like your conventions, so it lives outside any show bundle — one library, every show.

Name it with --presets DIR on build, verify, apply or presets, or once as [presets] default in ~/.atoo.config (The config file):

atoo build  --presets ~/atoo-presets ...
atoo verify --presets ~/atoo-presets ...
atoo apply  --presets ~/atoo-presets ...

--presets wins over the config file. atoo patch needs neither as a rule: a change takes its new strips’ presets from the library the plan on the desk records (the one the show was built with, or the packaged starter presets when its files match them), and only then from [presets] default; an INFO line names the library and why (Patching a running show).

With no library named at all, a plan that names a preset gets one warning for the whole plan rather than one per strip:

atoo verify --plan tests/fixtures/preset-test.plan.json

  [warning] plan: 6 channel(s) name a preset (KEYS, Kick (In), Perc, Snare Top, kick-in, vocal) but no preset library is configured and the plan carries none of their values, so those strips will be built without the processing those presets carry  (preset.no-library)

The starter set

Atoo ships a starter library in starter/presets/: twenty channel presets made on a real WING, one per common source, and three bus presets: one for a mix bus, two for FX busses. atoo init copies it into your Atoo folder as your library, the starter conventions name them by source, and the Demo show is built with them. This page uses it.

File	Preset name	For
`Kick In.chn`	Kick In	kick, inside or boundary mic
`Snare.chn`	Snare	snare
`HiHat.chn`	HiHat	hi-hat
`H Tom.chn`, `M Tom.chn`, `Fl Tom.chn`	H Tom, M Tom, Fl Tom	high, mid and floor toms
`OH.chn`	OH	overheads
`Perc.chn`	Perc	percussion
`Bass.chn`	Bass	bass
`E Gtr.chn`, `Ac Gtr.chn`	E Gtr, Ac Gtr	electric and acoustic guitar
`Keys.chn`, `Piano.chn`	Keys, Piano	keyboards, piano
`Trumpet.chn`, `T Bone.chn`, `A Sax.chn`, `T Sax.chn`, `B Sax.chn`	Trumpet, T Bone, A Sax, T Sax, B Sax	horns
`Vocal.chn`	Vocal	lead and backing vocals
`Speech.chn`	Speech	a talker: MC, podium
`Mix Bus.bus`	Mix Bus	mix busses (Drums, Horns, Vocals): a compressor and a flat EQ, no effect
`FX Vox Verb.bus`, `FX Snare Verb.bus`	Vox Verb, Snare Verb	FX busses: a V-REV and a gated reverb, each with its bus’s EQ and compressor

They are starting points, and they are meant to be replaced: export your own over them, keep the ones you like, delete the rest. To add one, save the channel preset on the desk (or in WING-EDIT) under the name your conventions use, copy the .chn file into your library folder, and run atoo presets to check it answers to that name.

The .bus files are covered on Bus presets: mix and FX busses: on a mix bus a bus preset sets only EQ and compressor; on an FX bus it also loads the effect into an FX engine and inserts it.

A preset’s name is inside the file, not on it

This catches everybody once. The name Atoo matches on is the preset’s own label, saved when it was exported. The filename is only a fallback for a file that has none. In the starter set every file is named for its preset, but that is a habit and not the rule: rename Kick In.chn to Kick.chn and it still holds the preset Kick In, so a plan asks for Kick In, and asking for “Kick” would not find it.

The preset’s name and the channel’s name are separate, too. A channel called Snare can use a preset called Drums Snare; the strip keeps the plan’s name. A preset never sets a channel’s name, color or icon (see What a preset may carry). Name your presets however you like on the desk, and the same way in your conventions.

Ask the library what it is called

atoo presets opens every file and tells you:

$ atoo presets --presets starter/presets
20 preset(s) in starter/presets

name     params  file
-------  ------  -----------
A Sax        83  A Sax.chn
Ac Gtr       83  Ac Gtr.chn
B Sax        83  B Sax.chn
Bass         83  Bass.chn
E Gtr        83  E Gtr.chn
Fl Tom       83  Fl Tom.chn
H Tom        83  H Tom.chn
HiHat        83  HiHat.chn
Keys         83  Keys.chn
Kick In      83  Kick In.chn
M Tom        83  M Tom.chn
OH           83  OH.chn
Perc         83  Perc.chn
Piano        83  Piano.chn
Snare        83  Snare.chn
Speech       80  Speech.chn
T Bone       83  T Bone.chn
T Sax        83  T Sax.chn
Trumpet      83  Trumpet.chn
Vocal        80  Vocal.chn

3 bus preset(s)

bus preset  effect                                            file
----------  ------------------------------------------------  -----------------
Mix Bus     no effect                                         Mix Bus.bus
Snare Verb  GATED (pre-insert, saved on FX8)                  FX Snare Verb.bus
Vox Verb    V-REV (pre-insert, saved on FX5, saved bypassed)  FX Vox Verb.bus

params is how many parameter leaves that preset carries: most of a strip’s processing, which is why they all read 80 or 83. The bus presets follow, each with the effect it inserts, the engine it was saved from, and whether it was saved bypassed. With [presets] default configured, plain atoo presets is enough.

It also reports two things nothing else tells you until a show does. A preset carrying a field this tool does not recognize, or a sidechain keyed off another channel, otherwise warns only when a plan names it, on the day you use it. (This block comes from a deliberately broken library; the starter set has none.)

warning: Keyed Kick (keyed.chn) --
  gatesc.src references channel 'CH.12' instead of SELF -- not portable across channels/shows, dropped rather than silently rewiring a sidechain

And two files claiming one name never warns during a build, because the newest simply wins. Here, a library with the starter’s Keys.chn saved twice:

mkdir /tmp/dup-presets
cp starter/presets/Keys.chn /tmp/dup-presets/Keys.chn
sleep 1   # the newer copy is the one used
cp starter/presets/Keys.chn /tmp/dup-presets/keys-2025.chn

$ atoo presets --presets /tmp/dup-presets
2 preset(s) in /tmp/dup-presets

name  params  file
----  ------  -------------
Keys      83  Keys.chn
Keys      83  keys-2025.chn

warning: 2 files share the name 'Keys': Keys.chn, keys-2025.chn. The newest wins when a plan asks for it.

A plan asking for Keys gets whichever was exported last, and the other cannot be asked for by name until it is re-saved under a name of its own.

Neither stops anything, so atoo presets exits 0 either way. It reads no console and writes nothing.

Naming one, and how forgiving the match is

Name the preset in your conventions, in the sentence you would say out loud:

- Kick uses the "Kick In" preset.
- Lead Vox uses the "Vocal" preset.

Matching is case-insensitive, and -, _ and runs of whitespace all count as the same thing: Kick In, kick_in and KICK-IN are one name.

Or name it in the input list’s optional preset column, matched the same way; the input list wins over the conventions and instructions (The preset column). The build notes it at INFO (reply.preset-from-input-list) when it replaces a different preset. In the browser, Build step 02’s Preset column offers this library’s names.

Matching stops there on purpose. Other punctuation is not stripped, because guessing further starts merging presets you meant to keep apart. tests/fixtures/preset-test.plan.json names six presets, each a deliberate case. It is a hand-made plan that has never been through build, so it names its presets without carrying their values yet – which verify says, strip by strip:

atoo verify --plan tests/fixtures/preset-test.plan.json --presets starter/presets

0 error(s), 7 warning(s), 8 note(s)

  [warning] channels[Kick]: names the preset 'kick-in', which the library has (Kick In.chn), but the plan carries none of its values -- it was built before presets were expanded into the plan, or without a library -- so nothing from it will be written  (preset.not-expanded)
  [warning] channels[Snare]: names the preset 'Snare Top', which is not in the library at starter/presets (20 presets) -- that strip will be built without it. Closest in the library: Snare, M Tom, H Tom, Fl Tom  (preset.unknown)
  [warning] channels[HH]: names the preset 'Kick (In)', which is not in the library at starter/presets (20 presets) -- that strip will be built without it. Closest in the library: Kick In  (preset.unknown)
  [warning] channels[Keys]: names the preset 'KEYS', which the library has (Keys.chn), but the plan carries none of its values -- it was built before presets were expanded into the plan, or without a library -- so nothing from it will be written  (preset.not-expanded)
  [warning] channels[T.Sax SM57]: names the preset 'Perc', which the library has (Perc.chn), but the plan carries none of its values -- it was built before presets were expanded into the plan, or without a library -- so nothing from it will be written  (preset.not-expanded)
  [warning] channels[MLD VOX]: names the preset 'vocal', which the library has (Vocal.chn), but the plan carries none of its values -- it was built before presets were expanded into the plan, or without a library -- so nothing from it will be written  (preset.not-expanded)
  [warning] plan: no input list was supplied, so nothing checked that every input became a channel, that no channel was invented, or that phantom power is safe for the microphones in use -- pass the input list to check those  (reconcile.not-checked)

  [info] busses[Drums, Drums Comp, Vocals, Horns, VOX Reverb, VOX Delay, Snare Verb, INST Reverb] (8 busses): width set to stereo -- the conventions did not state it; decided by Atoo's fallback rule: no physical output socket depends on its width, so it keeps the WING's factory width, stereo  (inferred.bus-width)

APPLICABLE: warnings only.

(Each preset.unknown line names up to five closest names in the library: Kick (In) finds Kick In. The [info] note is not about presets: this fixture plan leaves its bus widths unstated, so verify reports the width it will write, one line for all eight. See Writing conventions.)

Read the six presets as a table:

Named in the plan	Result
`kick-in`	matches Kick In – case, and `-` for a space. Not expanded yet
`KEYS`	matches Keys – case only. Not expanded yet
`vocal`	matches Vocal. Not expanded yet
`Perc`	matches Perc (on a saxophone channel – nothing checks that a preset suits a strip; that is your call). Not expanded yet
`Snare Top`	not in the library – that strip is built without it
`Kick (In)`	not in the library – the parentheses are not punctuation to be ignored

How a preset gets into the plan

build puts it there. When a plan names a preset, build opens the .chn, takes its processing values (the allow-list below), compressor and gate included, and writes them into the plan under that channel’s processing.preset_values. The plan then says exactly what apply will write; apply never opens a .chn.

A plan that was built before this, or built with no library, names a preset and carries none of its values. atoo presets --expand does what build does to it, without a model call:

atoo presets --presets starter/presets --expand tests/fixtures/preset-test.plan.json --out /tmp/preset-test.expanded.json

Presets -- 5 note(s):

NOTE     plan: 4 channel(s) carry a preset's values, resolved from
         starter/presets and written at the processing stage: ch 1 Kick In
         (81), ch 9 Keys (81), ch 10 Perc (81), ch 14 Vocal (78)
         (preset.expanded)

NOTE     ch 1, 9-10, 14 (4 channels): the plan's own processing wins at 1
         address(es) the preset … also sets -- flt/lcf preset
         35.05742264..121.7320709 -> plan 40.0..120.0
         (preset.overridden)
Wrote /tmp/preset-test.expanded.json: 4 channel(s) carry preset values (321 in all), resolved from starter/presets. Nothing has been written to any console -- `atoo apply` does that.

Without --out it rewrites the plan in place, and only when something in it changed; run it again and it says already up to date. It reads no console and writes nothing to one.

Verify, on the expanded plan, has one line for all four strips instead of four warnings:

atoo verify --plan /tmp/preset-test.expanded.json --presets starter/presets

0 error(s), 3 warning(s), 9 note(s)

  [warning] channels[Snare]: names the preset 'Snare Top', which is not in the library at starter/presets (20 presets) -- that strip will be built without it. Closest in the library: Snare, M Tom, H Tom, Fl Tom  (preset.unknown)
  [warning] channels[HH]: names the preset 'Kick (In)', which is not in the library at starter/presets (20 presets) -- that strip will be built without it. Closest in the library: Kick In  (preset.unknown)
  [warning] plan: no input list was supplied, so nothing checked that every input became a channel, that no channel was invented, or that phantom power is safe for the microphones in use -- pass the input list to check those  (reconcile.not-checked)

  [info] busses[Drums, Drums Comp, Vocals, Horns, VOX Reverb, VOX Delay, Snare Verb, INST Reverb] (8 busses): width set to stereo -- the conventions did not state it; decided by Atoo's fallback rule: no physical output socket depends on its width, so it keeps the WING's factory width, stereo  (inferred.bus-width)
  [info] plan: 4 channel(s) carry a preset's values, written at the processing stage and read back like every other write: ch 1 Kick In (81), ch 9 Keys (81), ch 10 Perc (81), ch 14 Vocal (78)  (preset.expanded)

APPLICABLE: warnings only.

Your plan wins over the preset

If a channel names a preset and states a value of its own at the same address – its own high-pass, an EQ band – the plan’s value is the one written, and only that one: the preset’s value for that address is moved to overridden and never sent. Each override is a note (preset.overridden, above) naming the address and both values.

A preset saved with its sends or main routing switched on cannot reroute your show either: routing is not on the allow-list at all (next section).

What a preset may carry

A .chn file holds far more than a sound: the physical patch, fader, mute, pan, bus routing, DCA and mute-group membership, and the channel’s own name, color and icon are all in there. Applying all of it would repatch inputs, wreck routing and rename channels from a file that was only ever meant to carry a drum sound.

So Atoo applies processing only, from an explicit allow-list:

Applied	Never applied
filter / high-pass	the input patch and preamp gain
gate, and its sidechain settings	fader, mute, pan
dynamics, and its sidechain settings	bus sends and main routing
channel EQ and PreSend EQ	DCA and mute-group membership
input delay (delay, mode, on/off)	name, color, icon

The allow-list is checked three times – when build expands a preset, when verify reads the plan, and when apply writes it – so a plan edited by hand cannot slip a send or a fader into preset_values: apply refuses it by name and verify warns first (preset.leaf-not-written).

Worth knowing:

A sidechain pointed at another channel is dropped, with a warning. A preset captured with its gate keyed off “CH.12” would silently key off whatever occupies channel 12 in your show. SELF is applied; a channel reference is not.
Anything in the file that is on neither list becomes a named warning on that preset, rather than being quietly applied or quietly skipped.
An aux strip gets only what an aux strip has. It has no filter, gate or PreSend EQ node, so those values are left out of the plan for an aux channel, with a note saying how many and which.
An aux strip gets only the choices an aux strip offers. A .chn is a channel’s file, and some of a channel’s list choices are not on an aux’s list. Every preset in the starter library sets its dynamics sidechain tap to IN, a channel’s tap; an aux’s taps are BUS, DYN, PFL, AFL, EQ and INS2, and the desk turns an IN written to an aux into BUS. So build carries IN – and a channel’s FILT, since an aux has no filter – onto an aux as BUS, the same point in the aux’s signal, with an INFO (preset.value-not-on-strip). A choice with no equivalent on an aux (a dynamics model only a channel has, say) is left out, with the values set for it, and the note names each.

What verify says about presets

Finding	Severity	When
`preset.expanded`	info	the plan carries preset values – one line for the whole plan, listing each strip and how many values
`preset.overridden`	info	the plan’s own processing wins at an address the preset also set
`preset.library-changed`	info	the library’s copy of a preset changed since the plan was built. The plan’s values are still what is written; rebuild or `--expand` to take the new ones
`preset.not-expanded`	warning	a named preset the library has, but the plan carries none of its values – nothing from it is written
`preset.no-library`	warning	the plan names presets it does not carry, and no library is configured – one finding for the whole plan
`preset.unknown`	warning	a named preset is not in the library; the message names up to five presets the library has whose names are closest
`preset.ambiguous`	warning	two files in the library carry the same name
`preset.unreadable-library`	warning	the library path cannot be read as a directory of presets
`preset.stale-expansion`	warning	the values in the plan came from a different preset than the one it now names (a hand edit)
`preset.leaf-not-written`	warning	a value in `preset_values` that `apply` will refuse: off the allow-list, no known type, a node the strip does not have, or a list choice the strip does not offer
`preset.contradicts-input-list`	warning	with `--input`: a channel’s preset is not the one its input-list row states (The `preset` column)
`preset.input-list-pair-disagrees`	warning	with `--input`: a stereo pair’s two rows name different presets; the first row’s is the channel’s

None of them is an error, and none blocks an apply or a build: a strip whose preset cannot be resolved is built without that preset’s processing, and you are told which strip and why. A plan that carries its values is self-contained, so preset.no-library never fires for it.

Two files sharing a name is decided rather than refused: the newest wins, and the message names the one it ignored. On the two-file library from Ask the library what it is called:

atoo verify --plan tests/fixtures/preset-test.plan.json --presets /tmp/dup-presets

The two lines about KEYS (the warnings for the five presets this library does not have are left out):

  [warning] channels[Keys]: 2 presets in /tmp/dup-presets are named 'KEYS' -- using the newest, /tmp/dup-presets/keys-2025.chn, ignoring /tmp/dup-presets/Keys.chn  (preset.ambiguous)
  [warning] channels[Keys]: names the preset 'KEYS', which the library has (keys-2025.chn), but the plan carries none of its values -- it was built before presets were expanded into the plan, or without a library -- so nothing from it will be written  (preset.not-expanded)

What apply does with them

apply writes every value in preset_values at the processing stage – after the patch, alongside the high-pass and EQ – reads each one back, and journals it with the value it replaced, exactly like every other write. So a preset write is in the preview, is proved or reported as a mismatch, and comes off the desk with atoo undo.

On each strip the compressor and gate models and the delay mode go before the values they govern (A selector is written before the values it governs). A strip returned to free by patch or amend has its gate and compressor put back to the factory reading too.