Unlike our Kontakt libraries, which download into a single folder, Spitfire Audio dedicated plugins have a few different parts which download to different locations on your computer. These can be described in three categories:
- Library content
- Plugin files
- Settings files
Library content
This is the "Library folder" for the product and will contain at least the Patches, Presets, and Samples for the library. It may also contain a Documentation folder depending on the product. This will be downloaded to the location you choose when prompted for an install location and makes up the bulk of the download. If you don't choose a different location when prompted, this will be installed in your Default Content path which can be found in the Settings of the Spitfire Audio app.
The Library content is intended to be kept in one place so it is not recommended that you move this after downloading, as this will result in an error. If you need to move the library content to another location on the same computer please see this guide.
Plugin Files
These are the files which your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) uses to load the plugin, we provide four types of plugin file VST, VST3, AAX and AU (AU is Mac only)
On a Mac the are found in the following locations by default with:
AU: Macintosh HD>Library>Audio>Plug-Ins>Component>
VST: Macintosh HD>Library>Audio>Plug-Ins>VST>
VST3:Macintosh HD>Library>Audio>Plug-Ins>VST3>
AAX: Macintosh HD>Library>Application Support>Avid>Audio>Plug-Ins>
On Windows we provide 32bit and 64bit versions of the plugin files, depending on your registry settings the defaults may vary, however sensible defaults are:
32-bit AAX: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins
32-bit VST: C:\Program Files (x86)\VstPlugins
32-bit VST3: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VST3
64-bit AAX: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-In
64-bit VST: C:\Program Files\VstPlugins
64-bit VST3: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3
If you download a dedicated plugin and do not see it available in your DAW, we recommend checking your DAW is looking in these locations, the steps to check this will vary by DAW but searching "[the name of your DAW] plugin location" should help find tutorials on this online.
Settings Files
The settings files are used to connect the plugin files to the library content and to store preferences for the plugin, we generally do not recommend trying to open or edit these as this can result in errors, but our support agents may ask for these files when troubleshooting an issue with you. The Spitfire.Properties file tells the Plugin where on your computer the Library content is located and the .Settings folder named after the plugin (e.g. LABS.Settings) holds specific preferences for the plugin such as the default preset and size of the plugin window.
On a Mac these are located in Music>Spitfire Audio>Settings and on Windows these are located in a hidden directory as shown in this guide.