In the world of software synthesizer development, crafting an installer which works reliably is surely an ominous task. As important as a reliable installer is to the end user, an effective uninstaller is the necessary companion. Only the developer knows the full litany of installation/write locations which have proliferated over the course of an application’s history.
KV331 Audio‘s flagship semi-modular software synthesizer, SynthMaster, came to fruition in SynthMaster 2, featuring many different synthesis methods and spectacular control routing options. It later evolved into the 16-layer SynthMaster 3, with a new modular architecture and too many fantastic advancements to list here. The ambitious claim is that the new synthesizer with its advanced framework can reproduce the patches of its predecessor in remarkable backward-compatibility.
Between the releases of SynthMaster 2 and 3, a separate product was released, cheekily titled SynthMaster One. Easier to approach for the novice, sporting a simpler programming interface, the sounds were no less impressive.
After extensive music composition and music production with SynthMaster, including many comparisons against competing synthesizer products, the author recommends these instruments most highly and continues to be an avid fan of KV331 Audio.
Beginners can easily work with the avalanche of existing presets, whereas the most seasoned synthesizer veterans understand that SynthMaster is truly an infinite synthesizer construction kit. The DSP engine sounds deliciously organic and resulting instruments can typically cut through the mix without requiring EQ or other effects. Rarely do presets sounds harsh, but certainly can if that’s the intention. It is within this encouraging context that the need for a KV331 Audio Product Uninstaller is under discussion.
It continues to seem to be best practice to install the packages in historical order if possible: SynthMaster 2, SynthMaster One, and finally SynthMaster 3. Those with an extensive SynthMaster 2 library may wish to continue to wait before investing money and conversion efforts into SynthMaster 3; the preset-translation will surely only improve with time.
It seems doubtful that a paying customer would purposefully uninstall KV331 Audio’s synthesizers, but someone trying out the demo might be in a position to uninstall. Whatever the reason for a SynthMaster uninstall, and regardless of whether the platform is Windows or macOS, a thorough uninstaller should be made available with the software package. Sadly, this is not the case at the time of this writing.
The reason for today’s uninstall was due to a glitched download/install on 2025/07/25, wherein the AAX plugin was not onboard, and most of the supporting sample library ended up missing as well, leading to ‘sample not found’ warnings. Apparently, this was due to an error in the uploaded distributable.
With no uninstaller provided and little information online about a comprehensive list of file locations, I decided to post this information in case it helps people.
Here is a list of installed KV331 Audio files under an installation on macOS Sonoma 14.7.6 as of 2025/08/11. These were the files that were found by simply manually moving through the directories, top-to-bottom. It’s possible some were missed. As the recent installation of SynthMaster 3 seemed to be incomplete, it’s possible that some directories did not get created as intended and thus this list would be incomplete as well. (The SM2 and SM3 installs were fraught, whereas SM One seemed entirely functional.)
Note: there is no Standalone version to uninstall with macOS; there is only a Standalone version for Windows.
Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/SynthMaster2.aaxplugin
Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/SynthMasterOne.aaxplugin
Library/Application Support/KV331 Audio
Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/SynthMaster1.component
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/SynthMaster1FX.component
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/SynthMaster2.component
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/SynthMaster2FX.component
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/SynthMaster1.vst
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/SynthMaster1FX.vst
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/SynthMaster2.vst
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/SynthMaster2FX.vst
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/SynthMaster1.vst3
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/SynthMaster2.vst3
/Users/~user/Documents/SynthMaster
/Users/~user/Documents/SynthMasterOne
/Users/~user/Downloads/SynthMaster
The above Downloads folder may contain folders not deleted during the Expansion installations.
/Users/~user/Library/Audio/Presets/KV331 Audio
/Users/Shared/NI Resources/dist_database/kv331 audio
For this particular NKS-related folder, it isn’t clear whether Native Instruments scans for existing NKS products, or whether KV331 Audio installed these for use by Native Instruments, but it’s likely the latter case. At risk of breaking NKS control of KV331 Audio products, it could be worth zipping off a backup of this folder, but it will likely be created by KV331 Audio on a subsequent re-install.
/Users/Shared/Pro Tools/AAXPlugInCache/SynthMaster2.aaxplugin_Pro Tools.plugincache.txt
/Users/Shared/Pro Tools/AAXPlugInCache/SynthMaster2.aaxplugin.plugincache
/Users/Shared/Pro Tools/AAXPlugInCache/SynthMasterOne.aaxplugin_Pro Tools.plugincache.txt
/Users/Shared/Pro Tools/AAXPlugInCache/SynthMasterOne.aaxplugin.plugincache
/Users/Shared/SynthMaster
/Users/Shared/SynthMasterOne
/Users/Shared/SynthMasterTemp293
This Temp folder number may be a version number, and so may appear differently on another system.
Those were all the found files and folders which seemed to be installed by the KV331 Audio installers.
When archiving Presets and Favourites, here are some notes on both of these directories:
/Users/~user/Documents/SynthMaster
/Users/~user/Documents/SynthMasterOne
- The folder Presets/ contains User Presets.
- Folders within Presets/ folder become Preset Banks.
- FavouritePresets.txt is the linefeed-delimited list of starred presets. All of your hard work putting stars on presets promises to be reclaimed by salvaging this file.
Note that in these folders:
/Users/Shared/SynthMaster
/Users/Shared/SynthMasterOne
- The NKS Presets exists.
- If the Online Library was downloaded, it will exist here.
- The CloudSync folder exists.
- The Downloads folder may contain folders not deleted during the installation of the SynthMaster Expansions.
An additional reminder that if you have your own system to archive and/or quarantine incoming installers, you may wish to clean up those areas as well, and write up the reason for installation/uninstallation – for the benefit of your future self. Storing off distributables in yymmdd/version folders could be extremely helpful if you circle back around to SynthMaster.
In the hopes that this list may help KV331 Audio in their creation of an uninstaller for the SynthMaster family, perhaps it will help fellow users as well. In the meantime, as you wait for a SynthMaster Uninstaller, any additional information you may wish to contribute to this document is very welcome. Please feel free to contact the author.
All trademarks remain the property of the intellectual property holders. All liability rules apply: please follow information on this page at your own risk; backup all volumes before significant alterations to your system.
Wishing you many years of SynthMaster joy!
🎹 🎛️ 🔊