Your Favourites (whatever they may be) are simply a Search Filter when using whichever Category Search (Performance, Part, Waveform; Arpeggio etc).

These are only saved in either a Backup File or User File.

Witnessing your recent sagas, I presume you recently made both Backup and User files before your big clean up.

Your favourites will be in those.

Any User Arpeggios you created will be in the "Owner" Library you created. Assuming you want to use/play those you can either:-

- Load your "Owner" Library back into the MODX, and leave it installed.

or

- Load the "Owner" Library, find the Performances in the Library that used your User Arpeggios. Import those Performances, which should also import the User Arpeggios (as well as any other direct associated User created Assets... waveforms, User MS, User Curves, etc). Then delete the User Library.

In the latter option... this should work, but I never tried doing what you did or how you did it.

Point of Order: There is no such thing as a USER LIBRARY FILE.
There are User Files .X8U
There are Library Files .X8L
But no such thing as a "User Library File" (sic)
__(While all files are made by the owner of the MODX, try to avoid the word "user" in describing the owner in this case)

Please refer to them by either User File .X8U or Library File .X8L.

For clarity's sake let's use the FILE extension so that we are clear
A User Bank file .X8U will SAVE the following data:
Data that is stored to the dedicated area in the User Memory can be saved to USB flash drive.
Data saved as “User File” is as follows.
• Performance (640)
• Arpeggio (256)
• Motion Sequence (256)
• Curve (32)
• Live Set (8 Banks each with 256 Slots)
• Micro Tuning (8)
•Waveform (2048)
• Utility Settings
• Quick Setup (3)
• Audition

A .X8U User File can only be loaded to the User Bank of the MODX - a .X8U file will always OVERWRITE whatever is in the current User Bank locations... replacing it.

A Library File .X8L
Data that is stored to the dedicated area in the User Memory can be saved to USB flash drive - as a Library File.
Data saved as “Library File” is as follows.
• Performance (640)
• Arpeggio (256)
• Motion Sequence (256)
• Curve (320
• Live Set (8 Banks each with 256 Slots)
• Micro Tuning (8)
•Waveform (2048)
• Audition

A .X8L Library File can be installed to FLASH Memory of the MODX - a .X8L file will never overwrite an installed Library... it will not even disturb what is in the current User Bank Locations... Please notice that "Utility Settings" and "Quick Setup" templates are NOT included in the LIBRARY File.

How it works:
When you want to combine data from multiple files.. you would create a .X8L (Library) File - and temporarily install it to a ROM Library location.
You can then use the LIBRARY IMPORT feature to intelligently move selected data from ROM into the User Bank (RAM). You will be creating a version of the Library data in user work area (RAM) the User Bank. By Importing the data = it can arrive in the User area without OVERWRITING the existing data. Remember we are combining data into the internal memory Bank.

This seems like an unnecessary thing when you don't UNDERSTAND why... the reason this is important is because when a Library is installed to ROM (Read Only Memory) - you cannot change it at all. It is burned into memory like a FACTORY PRESET -- a catalog of where all the Waveforms and Samples are located in your FLASH memory, is created, also a catalog of where the Arpeggio Phrases are located, is created.

When you IMPORT a Performance from an installed Library, it will add the Performance data, including the Waveforms, Samples and the Arpeggio Phrases to the USER memory without OVERWRITING the current User Bank data... thus allowing you to assemble a new User Bank made from several different file sources.

It also, very importantly, redirects each AWM2 Element to the User location where it will find a new copy of the Waveforms/Samples/and Arpeggio data - The Library Import has copied the data to the USER bank. It copies them to the lowest numbered empty locations WITHOUT overwriting what is currently in the User Bank. Once you have assembled data from all the different files you wished to combine, you can SAVE AS... a new LIBRARY File... which you will use to replace all of the temporary Library files. You do so by DELETING the temporary Libraries and installing just your new Library.

Thanks both. I agree that it's better to say e.g. Owner Library File instead of User Library File in order to avoid confusing, but what BM describes is exactly what I've done. What's not clear to me is in which data categories Favorite settings are saved. Is it possible keep track of Arpeggio Favorites while working with Library Files?

Favorites were not explicitly listed as being saved - so assume you're going to have to re-adjust favorites after loading new content.

To me it would be easier to rename your favorites as "FV" or "RB" or something that otherwise doesn't show up in a search then the mark as "Favorite" (by name, not by favorite property) would follow this Performance everywhere it goes.

@BM....edited my previous post...

User created Library now reads "Owner" Library.

What's not clear to me is in which data categories Favorite settings are saved. Is it possible keep track of Arpeggio Favorites while working with Library Files?

As I understand the Favorite function... those items marked "Favorite" (yellow star) can be searched for as a separate Bank -- allowing you to quickly find those items (be they a Performance, an Arpeggio or a Waveform) that you use most often and need to refer to on a regular basis.

The data is considered part of your Utility or system settings and therefore will be documented in any and every USER File (.X8U) that you create.

The Favorite can be 'set' for any of the different MODX/MONTAGE Search engines... When conducting one of the Performance Searches (blue/green) you can set the "Bank" definition = Favorite. This will recall only the Performance programs that you have marked as your favorites. When conducting an Arpeggio Type Search (purple) you can set the "Bank" definition = Favorite. This will recall only the Arps you have marked as your favorites. When conducting a Waveform Search (amber) you can set the "Bank" definition = Favorite which limits the search to only those you have marked.

The marked Favorite item can be from the Factory Presets, any one of the eight Libraries you have installed to Flash, or from the current User Bank memory.

When you 'set' an Arpeggio Type as a Favorite, the yellow star appears next to its name in the search result field. The Arpeggio Type "Favorites" can be any of 10,000+ Factory Preset Arpeggio Types, and/or any of the 256 User Arps that might currently be in the User Bank that is loaded, and/or any of the 256 that might be installed into a Flash ROM Library x the 8 possible Libraries.

The Utility Settings do not get written into the Library, (nor do the Favorite markings get written into the Factory Presets)... rather they are physically apart of the current system settings of your instrument. These system settings are written into every .X8U User file you make -- they are like your personal preferences. For example, the QUICK SETUP templates 1, 2, and 3 (are also system settings) can be customized to your workflow... They, too, will be written to every subsequent User File you make. If you load someone else's User File or an older User File that does not include your preferences (your marked Favorites) you will have overwritten them.

In your case you have taken the time to mark certain items (Performances, Arpeggios, Waveforms) as Favorites. These Favorites can be from all over the current MODX (Preset, Library or User areas)... the Favorites that you have marked will be documented in every subsequent .X8U file you make.

If you load a USER File that does not have your Favorites - please realize that you have OVERWRITTEN your selections and replaced them with whatever the preferences were for that User File at the time it was made.

Once you have done the work of marking your Favorites from the various available Banks, you will want to ensure that your preferences remain as your prefer -- Save it as a USER File - and make sure you name it so it reminds you it includes your MOST RECENT preferred data.

... there's probably an Ideascale in here somewhere to enable loading preset favorites from user (X7U, X8U) files with the option to merge or overwrite favorites. This would allow for you to "reapply" favorites that were erased after initializing the user bank for other purposes.

Can't see that - but would love the option to Load User "without system"

Hmm, that would work but in a backwards kind of way.

Assuming MODX ...

Do this once:
1) Save your User bank (Orig_Bak.X8U)
2) Initialize your User bank only
3) Save your empty User bank (Empty_Usr.X8U)

Do this instead of initializing your User bank in the future:
1) Load your saved "empty" bank using "without system" BM wished option (instead of initializing) - Filename "Empty_Usr.X8U" as saved above

Hypothetically, loading this empty user bank will be similar to initializing the user area except will not clear out the system area where the favorites live.

When I first started on MODX, practically everything I heard, I liked and it got a Yellow Star.

Before long, everything had a Yellow Star. Defeated the object.

Now, my philosophy is:-

- Have a Project
- Yellow Star anything immediately relevant to that project.
- When Project complete, remove all Yellow Stars (unset all?).

After a while with the MODX you soon come to realise where all your favourite building blocks are, and Yellow Stars are not particularly needed.

Projects can make you explore outside your comfort zone however. So they are useful in that respect, and so you digest the MODX in nibbles, rather than sickening, gorging chunks (its too much to take everything on board).

Regards User Performances. I advise... don't get too precious with them. Anything that didn't turn out right, or got too big and shelved... delete them... or they just keep nagging at you. Start them afresh another day, if the desire is ever reignited.

1Gb User Memory... you can't hoard. Nor would you want to... IMO.

I only STORE sounds that I actually want to keep... I STORE them in my USER Bank - If you find yourself with tons and tons of User Files or you find that your Libraries have way less than 640 Performances in them - you might want to reconsider how you go about assembling your data. But that is entirely up to each user.

THEORETICALLY: Each USER Bank can have 640 Performances. This means each LIBRARY Bank can have 640 Performances. That's potentially 5,760 Performances that you can make yourself... in addition to the 2,227 MODX or 2,739 MONTAGE Factory Performances.

But if each of your Library Banks have only 16 or so sounds in them... you will reach Library full by the time you get to 128 Performances. When we get a request for more than 8 Libraries - most often this is the case: inefficient use of the memory space.

It is not really necessary to have a Bank with just FM-X sounds in it... because if you want to search just your FM-X performances you can define that with your SEARCH engine. It is certainly not (absolutely) necessary to create a Bank with just FM-X... or just the Bosendorfer, for that matter.

And because my User Bank only contains programs I actually use, my FLASH Libraries also only contain Waveforms that I actually use.
So similar to the description above, I use (and reuse) Favorites when working on a particular project or when I am experimenting with merging Performances... If I find two or three programs that I want to "borrow" stuff from, I will temporarily mark them as Favorite - so jumping between them and my new creation becomes a breeze - I just double click the [CATEGORY] button to view the Performances I am working with... When I complete the Performance - I clear the Favorites.

Certainly you can DELETE stuff you do not use.

When you understand how the Search engines work, the fact that you have a Bank named Bosendorfer with just 16 programs in it, for example, is really a poor use of your memory... Even having a Bank of just FM-X sounds is not necessary - if you want to search for just FM-X programs you can define that in your search.

When you are searching for a Piano... press [CATEGORY] > set the "Bank/Favorite" = All > set "Main" = Piano
This will allow you to see all the Pianos in your instrument, including the Bosendorfer Performances.
And if you know the Name (or any part of the Name) just type under the magnifying glass.

That said... How you use the given memory is entirely up to each user.
Learning to manipulate (consolidate) your data so it best serves you is worth the effort.