Show Files, Snapshots & Mix Presets | File Management

There are three ways to save your mixing work in KLANG: a show file is a file that holds everything on the processor, a snapshot is a mixing state stored inside a show file (not a file of its own), and a mix preset is a file that holds a single mix. This page explains what each of them contains, where it is stored, and which one to use when. The buttons of the CONFIG > PRESET screen (CONFIG > LOCAL SHOWS in PERSONAL mode; MUSICIAN mode has no such tab) are described on KLANG:app | CONFIG > PRESET.

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The processor also keeps an autosave: it stores its current state on its own, so a restart brings everything back exactly as it was. Saving a show file is not needed for that. A show file is the named state you can return to, or take to another unit.

You do not need to know the folder paths for everyday work. The SHOWS dropdown on CONFIG > PRESET lists every file it can reach, grouped by place, and the TOOLS section at the end of the list has Manage Files stored in THIS :app (opens the app’s folder) and Import Files to THIS :app (adds a file from anywhere on your computer). On a computer you can also drag and drop a .KLANGshow or .kup file onto the KLANG:app window.

What a show file contains

A show file is everything the processor knows about your production:

• every mix: its name, icon, the HRTF and stereo settings, the mix EQ, the groups, the master level and the hide flags
• every channel of every mix: name, icon, colour, on/off, stereo link, group, position, level, mute, solo, tone and phase
• all snapshots of the show, in their order, and which one is active
• the recall safe settings
• the external control mapping (CONFIG > EXT CTRL)
• a copy of the processor’s audio routing and clock source. This part is only used when you ask for it, see Loading the routing with a show file below. Network settings and device names are never restored from a show file.

When to save

Save on the SHOWS row writes the current state of the processor into the selected show file (Update when a show is already active). Save

• after setting up channels, icons, colours and groups,
• after creating, updating, moving or deleting snapshots,
• before an update, a factory reset, or before handing the unit to someone else.

Templates

The TEMPLATE section of the SHOWS list holds the built-in starting points. They are part of KOS and cannot be changed or deleted:

• default: 8 groups, all channels switched on and spread over the groups
• defaultOFF: 8 groups, all channels switched off
• defaultOFF *All in last group*: 16 groups, all channels in the last group and switched off

Show files on other processors

Show files work across all KLANG processors. When the show has fewer channels or mixes than the unit, the rest is filled from the default; when it has more, the first channels and mixes are loaded up to what the unit offers. KOS shows a warning in that case.

What a snapshot contains

A snapshot stores the mixing state of all mixes, and only that:

• per mix: the mix volume and the stage mode
• per channel: position and width, level, mute, solo, tone and phase

Because a snapshot is small, recalling one is instant and can be done in the middle of a show, from the app, from a :kontroller or over OSC and MIDI.

What a snapshot does not change

A snapshot does not carry channel names, icons, colours, on/off states, groups, mix names, mix icons, the mix EQ or the routing. All of that comes from the show file and stays as it is when a snapshot is recalled. This is by design: the structure of the show is set up once, the snapshots move the mix within it.

If you renamed a channel or changed a group after taking your snapshots, nothing needs to be redone: the new names and groups apply to every snapshot, because the snapshots never held them.

Recall safe and relative levels

Parameters that should not follow a snapshot recall (for example the mix volume of the drummer’s mix) can be excluded per mix and per channel on the RECALL SAFE row. The recall safe settings are saved with the show file. Details on Copy Mix Settings & Snapshot Recall Safes.

CONFIG > APP > Advanced Settings > Relative Snapshot Levels makes a recall change levels relative to the current settings instead of setting them absolutely.

What a mix preset contains

A mix preset (.kup) is a single mix with everything that belongs to it:

• the mix name and icon, the HRTF setting, the mix EQ and the groups
• every channel of the mix: name, icon, colour, on/off, group, position, level, mute, solo
• the local snapshots of that mix, when it was saved in PERSONAL mode

It does not contain the output the mix is assigned to, the audio routing, or any other mix.

Saving and loading a mix preset

Save Mix on the MIX row writes the currently selected mix into a .kup file in your KLANG:app. Load Mix opens the LOAD MIX dialog: pick the file and press LOAD to push it onto the currently selected mix, whichever processor you are connected to, or LOAD w/ RECALL SAFES to keep everything that is set recall safe on the RECALL SAFE row plus the channel names and icons. The output assignment of that mix is always kept.

Two settings decide what a loaded mix preset may overwrite:

• CONFIG > SETTINGS > Advanced > Protect Mix Names in PERSONAL Mode: when on, a mix preset loaded in PERSONAL mode keeps the mix name and icon set by the engineer.
• CONFIG > APP > Mixing > Recall Safe Mix EQ: when on, loading a mix preset keeps the mix EQ of the mix.

PERSONAL and ADMIN mode

In PERSONAL mode the tab is called CONFIG > LOCAL SHOWS and its SHOWS row is your personal file row: it saves and loads mix presets of your own mix, and Save Mix / Load Mix do the same. In MUSICIAN mode there is no such tab. Loading a mix preset in PERSONAL mode also sets your mix to recall safe on the processor, so snapshots fired by the engineer no longer change it. This is the workflow for a musician who takes a mix from venue to venue.

In ADMIN mode Save Mix and Load Mix work on whichever mix is selected. Use them to copy one musician’s mix to a different processor, or to keep a library of starting mixes.

A plain Load restores mixes, channels and snapshots, but not the audio routing. A show file does carry the routing and the clock source of the processor it was saved on, and you can load them along with the show:

1. Select the show file in the SHOWS list.
2. Press and hold Load for more than two seconds. The SHOW FILE LOAD dialog opens.
3. Press LOAD w/ Routing.

The dialog appears only in SHOW or ADMIN mode, when the app is connected to a processor, and not for the templates. LOAD in the same dialog is the plain load.

A KLANG:kontroller stores mix presets (.kup) in 64 slots of its own memory: on the unit they are the DELETE/SAVE/LOAD Personal Presets entries of its CONFIG menu, and the USB entry there exports and imports them with a USB stick plugged into the :kontroller. It never stores show files: the show file of a production always lives on the processor the :kontroller is connected to. Details in the KLANG:kontroller Quick Start.

When your KLANG:app is connected to a :kontroller, the SHOWS list shows the mix presets on the :kontroller, not the show files of the processor. To work with show files and snapshots, connect the app to the processor directly.

A mix preset saved on a :kontroller additionally stores the state of the mix on the hardware, so the same mix comes back on the :kontroller the way it was saved.

• Processor to app: select the show in the SHOWS list and press Transfer. The file appears under THIS :app.
• App to processor: select the show under THIS :app or BACKUP and press Transfer (or Transfer+Load to load it right away).
• Processor to USB and back: with a stick in the processor, Transfer copies the selected show to the stick; a show selected under USB@<processor name> is copied to the internal memory with Transfer from USB.
• Between computers: the app folder (TOOLS > Manage Files stored in THIS :app), drag and drop onto the app window, or TOOLS > Import Files to THIS :app. On iOS use File Sharing over a cable (Finder, Apple Devices or iTunes); the steps are in Play your own multitracks in Demo Mode.
• Preparing a show without hardware: the Offline Editor in KLANG:app saves the same .KLANGshow files as a processor. Transfer them to the unit when you get there.