Files & Folders

Your work

This is the folder worth backing up. It holds every clip you have generated, and it is the only copy: deleting a clip in the library deletes the file.

How the library is laid out

Each idea gets its own folder, and each take within it is a numbered version alongside a small metadata file:

• ●A folder per idea, named like 120bpm_C-minor_4bar_Aug27_03-42PM. The name is generated from the tempo, detected key, bar count, and the time you made it.
• ●Inside it, <name>_v1.mid, <name>_v2.mid and so on, one per take.
• ●A matching .json beside each version, holding its layers, tags, rating, and the prompt that made it.

Refinements in the same chat become new versions of one idea. Starting a New Chat begins a new idea. Renaming a clip renames the folder and every file in it together, which is why renaming is safe but moving individual files out of a folder is not: the .mid and its .json are paired by name, and separating them makes the clip reload as a single flattened layer.

Nothing is ever pruned. Old versions stay until you delete them.

Choosing where clips are saved

The library location is configurable in Settings, so you can point it at a synced folder or an external drive. If your DAW sandboxes plugins tightly, Aether may not be able to write to the folder you pick and will tell you so; setting the location from the standalone app avoids that.

Settings and logs

The settings file holds everything in the Settings Reference. Deleting it returns Aether to defaults without touching your library. API keys are not in it: those live in your operating system's credential store.

Logs are written locally whether or not crash reporting is switched on. They are only uploaded if you opted in, and they are cleared once a report is successfully sent.

The installed program

These are system-wide locations, which is why installing asks for an administrator password. If preview playback is a plain tone rather than a piano, the Headroom Piano is missing from the path above.

Uninstalling

On Windows, use Add or Remove Programs. On macOS there is no uninstaller: delete the plugin files and the app from the locations in the table above.

Uninstalling also leaves your library and settings where they are, deliberately, so that reinstalling picks up your work. Delete those folders yourself if you want them gone.