@d-healey You’ve hit it right on the nose mate! Thanks for checking ;)

i notice the user audio module opens the correct folder when you right click on it. whats the line of code that tells it what directory to open for that specific module? it might hold the key to my original question

edit: on Windows {AUDIO_FILES} works just fine. so i guess a better question is why it no work for mac? lol

another edit: well holy cheeseballs. im an idiot. problem solved. i was using the string that was generated by saving the preset in the compiled plugin manually and it contained the line data="filename". changing that to fileName="{AUDIO_FILES}didthetrick.wav"/> . thanks for the help @Christoph-Hart @d-healey @Lindon