Where to Find Ecasound Effect Presets in Linux

This guide explains the exact file paths and locations of predefined Ecasound effect presets on a Linux operating system. You will learn where the operating system stores default system-wide presets, where to configure user-specific overrides, and how Ecasound discovers and parses these configuration files during audio processing.

Global System-Wide Presets

On most standard Linux distributions, predefined effect presets installed package-wide are located in the shared data directory:

/usr/share/ecasound/ecasound_presets

If Ecasound was compiled and installed manually from source code using the default installation prefix (/usr/local), the file is located at:

/usr/local/share/ecasound/ecasound_presets

This configuration file contains predefined chains of audio processors, filters, and controllers that can be invoked via command-line options using the -pn:preset_name operator.

User-Specific Presets

To create custom presets or override the default system definitions without modifying global files, Ecasound searches the user's home directory. The personal presets file is located at:

~/.ecasound/ecasound_presets

If the directory or file does not already exist, you can create the .ecasound directory in your home folder and add your own ecasound_presets file.

How Ecasound Loads Preset Files

When an Ecasound session initiates, it searches for preset definitions in a specific order of precedence:

  1. User Configuration: Ecasound checks ~/.ecasound/ecasound_presets first. Any preset defined here will override a preset with the identical name in the global directory.
  2. System Configuration: Ecasound checks /usr/share/ecasound/ecasound_presets (or the /usr/local equivalent) for any default or fallback effect definitions.

File Structure

The ecasound_presets file uses a plain-text format. Each preset entry begins with the preset keyword, followed by the preset name, the number of input parameters, and the chain setup containing specific Ecasound effect operators (such as -ea, -efl, or -erc).