No Patches or Sounds available in Xpand2 (only lists None)

[demodigi]

Originally Posted by plugger

I've edited .plist file and path to .big file seems to be right. Maybe there is something with languages and text coding ? (utf8 - ascii).

Plugger,

I think, since your point 2. is not solved, you'll still get your point 1.

So I don't know if it can help but :
1/ Be careful to edit the correct .plist file located here :
[SystemHD]/Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/

NB : the folder Library is normally hidden, see post #37 for details

Also Library folder is the English OSX folder name. In french it is called "Bibliothèque"
ie: [SystemHD]/Users/[username]/Bibliothèque/Preferences/
But I don't know for the Polish OSX version )

2/ The name of the correct plist file should be
"com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist"
NOT "com.digidesign.Xpand!2.plist"
NOR "com.airmusictech.Xpand!2.plist"
(NB : you need a XML editor or PrefEdit to edit the plist file, TABulation, spaces, return are important, DO NOT use Textedit or Word or Standard Text Editors)

3/ Maybe one of your folder name in your Xpand2 sample path does include "space" characters
-> in this case, try to replace "space" character by "\ " (= "\" + "space")

But you may be right, there is maybe some other location/languages issues.

PS : I thought Avid would solve all of this in PT10.3.8 updates (see Pro_Tools_10_3_8_Read_Me_Mac.pdf) :
"Installing Pro Tools Instrument Expansion Pack before Pro Tools no longer results in a blank plug-ins list. (PTSW-186733)"

[Bubblegum]

Finally got it to work! Thanks for the tips!

I couldn't find anything wrong with the .plist file for Xpand2. The path was correct (I only had problems with Xpand2, all the others worked fine).

In desperation I thought I'd delete the .plist file and make a copy from Boom (as I knew that worked).

But I forgot the exact name of the file I deleted and came back here to check the exact filename. That was when I believe I found the cause for my problems.

I noticed that the original post referred to com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist although I'm sure that the old .plist file I deleted was com.digidesign.Xpand2.plist

I named the file with com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist, made sure the path was correct inside the file and then saved everything.

The problem is gone and everything works correctly.

Double check your .plist file for Xpand. If it has the filename "com.digidesign.Xpand2.plist", try renaming it to "com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist"


Of course, keep a copy of the original .plist file just in case!

Looks like a typo or rather a neglect to edit the old name Xpand! to Xpand2 by Avid programmers may be the cause for all of this.

By the way. I'm on Protools 10.3.9 on OSX 10.8.5

[gazzerb]

Many thanks for the fix, it worked a treat.

The only comment I would make is that Avid must have known about this problem for a long time now - so why haven't they fixed it in the installation? Just saying ...

[TC_TC_TC]

When I first got LE8 I had the same proplem. I was so excited about using these plugins but none of them worked. So I just kept using Reason for all my Midi sounds. Finally, it started working all by itself. I don't know how. I thoroughly enjoy all these plugins & now use them more than Reason. However, I'm about to upgrade to PT11 & these Comments have me Concerned.

[asi1982]

Thank you soooooo much ...!!!!!
It works great :)

[TC_TC_TC]

Nice to know. Thank you very much asi1982. I upgraded to PT11 & have the same problem. I will check it out.

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted by Bubblegum

Finally got it to work! Thanks for the tips!

I couldn't find anything wrong with the .plist file for Xpand2. The path was correct (I only had problems with Xpand2, all the others worked fine).

In desperation I thought I'd delete the .plist file and make a copy from Boom (as I knew that worked).

But I forgot the exact name of the file I deleted and came back here to check the exact filename. That was when I believe I found the cause for my problems.

I noticed that the original post referred to com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist although I'm sure that the old .plist file I deleted was com.digidesign.Xpand2.plist

I named the file with com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist, made sure the path was correct inside the file and then saved everything.

The problem is gone and everything works correctly.

Double check your .plist file for Xpand. If it has the filename "com.digidesign.Xpand2.plist", try renaming it to "com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist"


Of course, keep a copy of the original .plist file just in case!

Looks like a typo or rather a neglect to edit the old name Xpand! to Xpand2 by Avid programmers may be the cause for all of this.

By the way. I'm on Protools 10.3.9 on OSX 10.8.5

Hi, I greatly empathise :) professional musician here, regretting everything, computers, staying indoors with them, trying to fix Xpand2 as I hardly ever use it Boom etc all work fine. BUT my friend came with a project, he uses Xpand2 so I must fix mine. So... sometimes it says it cannot find file path. So I click 'browse' to the file in question and click select. The window saying cannot find, disappears. But it's still rubbish after that. So I re-named the preference com.digidesign.xpand!.plist as com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist and then it works once, then goes rubbish again. Is it true that we can't edit the contents of a preference file except with a specially downloaded prefed or similar programme? Inside the preference file for Xpand2 there is either nothing, or if I edit copy edit paste something in there is; WContent_3/Applications/Avid/Avid Virtual Instruments/Xpand2 Please help as you are a genius n fixed yours, many thanks

[demodigi]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

Hi, I greatly empathise :) professional musician here, regretting everything, computers, staying indoors with them, trying to fix Xpand2 as I hardly ever use it Boom etc all work fine. BUT my friend came with a project, he uses Xpand2 so I must fix mine. So... sometimes it says it cannot find file path. So I click 'browse' to the file in question and click select. The window saying cannot find, disappears. But it's still rubbish after that. So I re-named the preference com.digidesign.xpand!.plist as com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist and then it works once, then goes rubbish again. Is it true that we can't edit the contents of a preference file except with a specially downloaded prefed or similar programme? Inside the preference file for Xpand2 there is either nothing, or if I edit copy edit paste something in there is; WContent_3/Applications/Avid/Avid Virtual Instruments/Xpand2 Please help as you are a genius n fixed yours, many thanks

I posted all the instructions to fix the issue here post #37.

As an addition to this post (section 3b), to edit the plist file, you can either use :
- TextWrangler (Free app available on the AppStore). I recommend it as it works like a simple text editor and is very useful and helpful to edit many kind of text files (xml, html, c, etc).
- PrefEdit (not free but you can use the demo)
(Remind : don't use TextEdit to edit the plist file)

EDIT : XCode is definitely not recommended except for advanced users as you must change file permissions to edit the file.

[demodigi]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

So I re-named the preference com.digidesign.xpand!.plist as com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist

I double checked, and depending on OSX version and PT10.3.X version, the correct plist file is the one created by the plug-in itself (when you first select a path to locate the .big file) and is either :
- com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist (with caps)
or
- com.digidesign.xpand!.plist (without caps).
=> in your case com.digidesign.xpand!.plist (without caps) should be fine as far as Pro Tools and Xpand have created it automatically.

The actual issue is that the plug-in (Xpand2) doesn't write or update the correct path inside the plist file, even if you have selected one in the interface prompter. So you must add the path inside the plist file manually (using TextWrangler or PrefEdit).

This bug does not occuring with Pro Tools 11, but PT11 is using another plist file for the AAX version (com.airmusitech.Xpand!2.plist) which can lead to a confusion between plist file names.
Xpand2 (RTAS) is using com.digidesign.xpand!.plist or com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist.
If you didn't co-installed Pro Tools 11 or 12, you should NOT rename the plist file by yourself, just edit it.

If you have any doubt,
- quit Pro Tools,
- delete all plist file related to XPand2 or XPand! *,
- launch Pro Tools,
- launch XPand2 and select the .big file (so that it will created a new fresh Xpand's plist file)
- quit Pro Tools
- edit the Xpand's plist file *

*be careful to the plist file's location too, we must edit the file located in "Users/[Login]/Library/Preferences" (which is a hidden folder), not the ones located in "/Library/Preferences"

EDIT : cases in names also depends upon the system drive formatting. We can format drive as journalised+case-sensitive or journalised only.
With a journalised only formatted system, "com.digidesign.Xpand!.plist" and "com.digidesign.xpand!.plist" is actually the exact same file.

[KG_GLM]

OSX Solution:
1. Sign in to your Avid Account
2. Go to My Products and Subscriptions
3. Locate your Pro Tools Version and click the pull down arrow
4. Click "show" near Product Details and Download Links
5. Locate, download and install the Air Creative Collection Installer 11.x (Mac) and/or Avid Virtual Instruments Installer 10.x(Mac) depending on your version of Pro Tools.
6. Restart your computer.

*I tried downloading the installer months back and it kept saying it was corrupt. I recently downloaded it again and it installs fully. Now after several attempts at relocating and renaming XPand!2.big to Xpand!2.big, Xpand2.big, Xpand!X......without success, I can now say I have been successful! Hopefull it works for you too.