Correct way to approach making u-he skins

[Maykie]

I know I have to edit text files in Scripts folder and preview changes by reloading plugin in my DAW.

But is there more effective way? Is there any code or visual editor to speed up the workflow?

[Urs]

So, yes there is an editor, and it's built into the plug-in. To enable it, do the following:

• in the folder section of the preset browser, right-click "Local" and "Open in Finder/Explorer"... this should open the top preset folder
• in it, duplicate a preset or create a new file and name it "default.h2p". Make sure .h2p is the actual ending, not .txt or something
• open that file erase all its content (if you duplicated a file), then write just "!EDITOR=YES" at the top (without quotation marks)
• now unload/reload the plug-in - the editor should be enabled

However, the editor is widely undocumented. Bits and bobs about it were posted in this forum over the years.

Now, BEFORE YOU DO THIS ^^, the "correct approach" would be:

• in the themes folder (on Mac: MacHD/Library/Application Support/u-he/Themes/on Win: Plugin.data/Support/Themes or so) create a new folder "My Theme", and in it a new folder "Scripts" and a new folder "Images"
• duplicate Scripts/plugin_orig.txt and move it into My Theme/Scripts/, rename it to plug-in-name.txt (where plug-in name is, say Zebralette3 or Diva or so...)
• open the plug-in editor
• in the preferences under the cogwheel, select your new theme!

Now, when you enable the editor, right-clicking into the grey background has options to

• "save changes" -> this saves your changes to your new script file (make sure it's that, and not the _orig file)
• "check out" -> this gets you the normal plug-in editor, like use knobs and stuff
• "back to edit" -> and that gets you back into edit mode

There, you'll also find the Colour Lab and the Shape Lab which let you change, well colours and (in most cases) colours assigned to .svg files (Zebralette only, so far).

If a png graphic needs to be modified, just save a modified version with same name into the same folder structure under My Theme/Images. If you're on Mac and you just want to change Exposure/Gamma/Offset/Hue/Saturation/Luminance, after clicking anywhere, press P for the picture editor, but that may only be available in few plug-ins.

There are a gazillion of other options, and starting a Theme from scratch needs way too much explanation.

Good luck.