Hi Phillip.
I understand this can be a bit of a head scratcher, so I’ll try to break it down.
When does the User Library Installer appear?
After updating the Videosync application, when you launch it for the first time, Videosync will check if Live is launched. If it is, it will first check if the Showsync Control Surface is installed and selected already, and if it is still up to date. If all of this is true, it continues and checks if the devices in the User Library/Videosync/2.# Devices folder are up to date.
If either the Control Surface or Devices are outdated, the User Library Installer will open automatically. When this happens, press continue to let it install the updated files.
If no files are outdated, then the User Library Installer won’t appear.
Are the devices in my Live Sets up to date?
This does not necessarily mean that your Live Sets use the updated devices right away. We often see users make use of Live’s Collect All and Save feature, while having the Files from User Library box checked. This will copy any files from the User Library (including Videosync’s devices) to the Live Set’s project folder. Once this has been done, the Live Set will no longer use the devices from the User Library, and thus the devices in your Live Set will never get updated.
For this reason, we strongly discourage using the Files from User Library part when performing a Collect All and Save, because in the context of Videosync there are no benefits to it as Videosync will always install the devices to the User Library in case they go missing anyway. So there is no need to backup them with your projects, and not doing so will ensure your Live Sets use the latest versions from the User Library.
How can I see from what folder Videosync devices are used?
There are two ways you can check this:
- By hovering your cursor over the title bar of a device, the file path is revealed in the Status bar in the bottom-left corner of Live’s window.
- By going to File > Manage Files > Manage Set > View Files. In the list that appears in the side panel, you can hover over a device name to reveal the file path at the bottom of the side panel. If you see for example “Blur.axmd” listed twice, you’ll know already that you are using two different versions of the device in this Live Set.
If the file path leads to a project folder and not the User Library, or to for example User Library/Videosync/2.0 Devices while you’re using Videosync 2.1, then you know this Live Set is using an outdated version of the device.
How to update devices in a Live Set?
When going to File > Manage Files > Manage Set > View Files, if a device is outdated, find the latest version of the device in Live’s Browser by going to User Library/Videosync/2.# Devices, and drag it from there onto the matching device name in the list of the side panel. This replaces/updates the file path the device is read from. Press Save afterwards.
What about the different 2.1 Devices or 2.0 Devices folders in my User Library?
Whenever we release a new minor version of Videosync (or Beam for Live for that matter), the new devices are saved to a new folder in the User Library.
- Videosync 2.1 will only update devices in the
/2.1 Devices folder.
- Videosync 2.2 will only update devices in the
/2.2 Devices folder.
- Etc.
The previous versions will remain available in the older Devices folder and your existing Live Sets may now contain devices from an older version of Videosync. In principe this is ok!
You can selectively update devices to newer versions or add devices from a new Devices folder to your existing Live Set if you want. This means that your Live Set might contain devices from different Videosync versions. It is our responsibility that the latest version of the Videosync app always keeps supporting all older device versions.
As a rule of thumb, after updating Videosync, you don’t need to update the devices in your existing Live Sets, unless a later version of a device has new features or fixes that you need. So in the case of explicitly mentioned important bug fixes in the Max for Live devices, it could be worth updating them to a newer version. Of course, all of this applies to Beam for Live devices too.
More information here and here.