Sample Library Organization

[backplay]

It took me almost 2 weeks to organize it but it made a huge difference for me:

I organized all my sample cd's (i used to buy 1 or 2 a week, so it was getting a bit to much) into one big one.
Listened to almost all my samples and put them all in folders like Kicks, with sub folders -Hard Kick -SoftKick -House Kick -Breakbeat Kick... Did this with Snares, Hats, Percussion, for the single shots. And the same with loops.

For instruments: Bass-> -Single Bass -Multi sampled -Loops... And every folder had a few sub folders to specifie the sounds.

The advantage is that if i want to have a reversed rimshot for example, i know exactly in wich folder i have to be instead of wasting 30min looking in all the sample cd's.

Now i am putting all the best sound or the ones i use the most in seperate folders.

It was alot of work, but my workflow is MUCH faster now.


Sometimes i do wonder what i have to do with 2487 open hi-hats

[octatonic]

I use Monkey Tools "Library Monkey".
It is awesome.

[jonnypowell]

Originally Posted by backplay

It took me almost 2 weeks to organize it but it made a huge difference for me:

I organized all my sample cd's (i used to buy 1 or 2 a week, so it was getting a bit to much) into one big one.
Listened to almost all my samples and put them all in folders like Kicks, with sub folders -Hard Kick -SoftKick -House Kick -Breakbeat Kick... Did this with Snares, Hats, Percussion, for the single shots. And the same with loops.

For instruments: Bass-> -Single Bass -Multi sampled -Loops... And every folder had a few sub folders to specifie the sounds.

The advantage is that if i want to have a reversed rimshot for example, i know exactly in wich folder i have to be instead of wasting 30min looking in all the sample cd's.

Now i am putting all the best sound or the ones i use the most in seperate folders.

It was alot of work, but my workflow is MUCH faster now.


Sometimes i do wonder what i have to do with 2487 open hi-hats

Yeah I do this a s well. I also have my "ultimate" battery kits. Whenever I get a new Sample CD I'll add to them. Have a kit of around 100 un-real kicks now. Same with all my other drum samples.

[Luko]

is there an iced-audio equivelent for PC?

[lord toranaga]

I use audio finder.


best software i ever purchased

Iced Audio :: Home Page

[Siem]

I have a couple of folders:
samples
- homebrew
- vengeance
- samples (stuff I've samples/downloaded/collected since 1995)
- hihats (open/closed/rides/crash)
- kicks
- hits
- bass
- snares (over 2000)
- fx
- guitars
- stabs
- metal clicks
- percussion
- vocals (I never used this folder, it only slowed me down and annoyed me)
- pads
- drones
- much more other folders
- stylus
- every rex library we found in our collection
- kontakt
- bunch of converted akai cd's

I found myself collecting a lot of samples for a while until I got the vengeance stuff, then it was pretty nice for a while, but lately I've been combining samples instead of looking for new crap. I spoke to a some of my favourite producers and they only had mostly 20 cool kicks and snares. So I've been cutting off the lows/mids/highs (using mostly izotope ozone for this, because it's very handy) and replacing those with other samples or synth sounds and EQ'ing compressing those and I came up with a supercool 'homebrew' library of basic sounds, sometimes when I rmix a track and some of the drums end up very good and I rip those as well. I got some great DA and monitors this year and more than 80% sounds like crap, even the Vengeance sample cd's.
All the rex files in our studio were converted (by the intern) to stylus format, better than any of the Cubase or Logic loop formats perhaps, in the end we only use these for fast track sculpting on cheapo commercial projects not for our own tracks, it's not worth the effort, it sounds cheap to use readymade loops.
I hardly use my original 'samples' folder anymore. It sounds awesome when you combine the lows from one sounds with the distorted to ****s mids from something else and the highs from a third sample.

So I'm trying to delete as much as possible lately.

[digital lofi]

Someone needs to write a Monkey Tools/Iced Audio app for Windows. Cause as near as I can tell there isn't a decent solution out there.

I have a internal dedicated samples drive.

/raw_samples
/sample_sets
/loops&REX
/custom

Raw are sample sets that aren't necessarily associated with any particular software package, a lot of independent, freeware and open-source multi-samples. Sample Sets are my libraries: GPO, ST2, BFD.

[Lowas]

I use a "favourite" folder where I try to have as few sounds as I can kinda and where they are organised after type :P

Then I have a big library which are organised after the "source".

[Alphatone]

Originally Posted by lord toranaga

I use audio finder.


best software i ever purchased

Iced Audio :: Home Page

Another vote for Audio Finder. Great program.

I had a disorganized mess of about 8,000 one-hit drum and percussion samples that I was able to clean up, bulk rename and sort into properly named folders over a single weekend. Not to mention the built-in EXS-24 instrument builder.

[lord toranaga]

exs instrument builder is sick. I use it with battery all the time






I also love the splice in descending order, command.
I use this for export to recycle to make new kits with my a5000

[Stevil]

if someone comes over & records riffs or whatever i'll give em a folder. otherwise it's:

Instrument
-guit
-bass
-synths

Drums
-kicks
-snares
-brass
-toms
-noise
-loops
-drum machine

[emperor]

i downloaded the demo of AudioFinder and it seems very cool. I want to buy it accept it seems i can not delete folders of samples from within the program. I can only delete files......if I am trying to sort out my samples I want to be able to quickly delete some folders...Is this only because it is the demo?? thanks!

[lord toranaga]

you question is better presented to Iced Audio.


I bet if you email, they will reply swiftly.

all of my communications with them have been very speedy.

software@icedaudio.com

[DJDJ]

I primarily use samples, so this is a huge question for me, and I primarily use EXS24 as my sampler, so I decided on the folowing:

I organize the first level by type of elements in my track. Any distinct elements I may use. So, for example, with drums, I have a one shots folder, which is separate from my loops folder, which is separate from my percussion folder, etc... I made separate folders for things like scratches and tape efx, pitched percussion versus regular percussion, stringed instruments, reaktor samples I've made, etc....

Then, inside that main element folder, I sub divide if needed. For example, in my one shots for drums, they are divided by drum type.

IF I don't need to subdivide, then I group all my samples into 3 folders inside the main folder: Libraries, samples, and EXS.

So, say in my glitch folder. Inside, "libraries" would have whole samples CD's that are of a glitch variety. "Samples" would probably have random samples that I've gotten from friends, from the internet, or possibly made on my own (though usually the samples I made get their own "topic" folder). BOTH the "samples' and the "libraries" folders contain samples to be edited and processed. Once they are, and organized into kits or instruments, they are made into EXS instruments and added/moved into the EXS folder.

For me, the point is to eventually have my whole library as EXS instruments, and not have anything in my samples or library folders.....


so, it looks something like this........

Bass, Mids Folder
Bass, Subs Folder
Drum machines folder
Drums, effected folder
Drums, Fills folder
Drums, one shot folder
EFX, sound design folder-------->(inside this would be the folowing)

EXS24------->finished instruments
Samples------>random samples
Libraries------->BT Twisted textrues or whatever.....


(that didn't translate as well as I thought visually)

each main folder having a sub filepath like the one shown above.

that way, I know exactly where to find what I'm looking for, and they're already made into instruments, so I'm locked and loaded, ready to rock.

hope this may stimulate ideas.......

[Luko]

so no-one can point the poor old PC users to something descent?

thumbsup

[lord toranaga]

here is a point in the right direction for all pc users

Apple

[Luko]

lol fuuck

[gsilbers]

i rearrange my samples every so often depending on what im doing.
and i also re-discover them if i organize them difrently.

like copying all the hihat, kicks, snares of all those samples CDs from way back when , and subdividing them into kicks, snare, hats, etc.
and also making EXS or sampler patches of just hats, just kicks. so i can triger them/test them fast and also double/triple the hits by mixing higher pitched kicks with low sub and real kicks for example.

same deal with effects, stabs, etc. ala vengeance pathces but with wired stuff. plus i also have 500gb of sound effects (sound ideas stuff)

then for loops im using apple loops. making a folder labeled properly i can drag into apple loops in logic so i can use them and find it easily. the drop down menu will show the folder name like vengeance elektro, or ethnic percusion. so i just browse that and not a bunch of stuff in a folder im not looking for.

as for the main structure. i have it divided by genres cause i find it easy to sort cause i do difrent styles. so its like (chill-regea-downtempo under one folder and eveything in there would be sample libraries like dub bassis, elektro-jazz. etc _
or techno and all vengeance is under there. same with hipphop, latin, ethinc. so itll be

SAMPLE LOOPS

in it will be :

DOWNTEMPO
TECHNO
HIPHOP
ETHNIC
LATIN
DRUMS

AND INSIDE CHILL FOR EXAMPLE:

SMOKERS RELIGHT
NUJAZZ
DUB BASIS
ELEKTRO LOUNGE

[a1studmuffin]

I ended up writing my own Windows application to audition my 15GB of drum samples. There was no way I wanted to change the folder structure they were in, so I ended up putting this freeware Windows app together:

SourceForge.net: Aural Probe

Basically it indexes all of your drum samples within specified folders (and subfolders), and then allows you to create categories based on filename + path criteria.

eg. The "Kick" category might show all samples that have "kick", "kd", "bd", "bassd" in the filename (and/or pathname if you wish).

You can just use the up/down arrow to audition the sounds, and when you find one you like, there's shortcuts to bring it up selected in a new explorer window, or copy the full filename to the clipboard etc.

You can also create favourites, which is really useful if you want to put together sets of different samples, eg. tech house, breaks, downtempo, etc.

I use it all the time, to be honest I'd have no idea how to quickly navigate 15GB of samples without it! (Which is why I wrote it!)

[Earthling]

and I came up with a supercool 'homebrew' library of basic sounds,

Can you share some examples of what these super cool sounds sound like? Do you have a myspace or something similar so we can have a listen?
It sounds interesting!

Peace,

Chuck

[Earthling]

AND INSIDE CHILL FOR EXAMPLE:

SMOKERS RELIGHT
NUJAZZ
DUB BASIS
ELEKTRO LOUNGE[/quote]

gsilbers...I'd like to hear some examples of your music-Chill....do you have a myspace or something we can listen to?

After trying for more than 10 years to find a good organizing-scheme, this is the solution I've come up with:

– Loops
> Drum
BPM_Length in bars (e.g. 2B)_Name (often hinting the mood)_Type (acoustic, electronic, etc.)_If not 4/4, time signature
> Synth
Bass_Key_BPM_Length_Name_TS
...
> Guitar
"
...

– One shots
> Drum
BD_Name/Source
SN_ "
CLHH_ "
...
> SFX
Source (field or synth or...)_Processed/Unprossed_Name/Mood
...

I do the same for MIDI–loops of my old unused stuff and something similar for synth patches I created.
It's very simple and yet extremely fast and efficient.

[Luko]

Originally Posted by a1studmuffin

I ended up writing my own Windows application to audition my 15GB of drum samples. There was no way I wanted to change the folder structure they were in, so I ended up putting this freeware Windows app together:

SourceForge.net: Aural Probe

Basically it indexes all of your drum samples within specified folders (and subfolders), and then allows you to create categories based on filename + path criteria.

eg. The "Kick" category might show all samples that have "kick", "kd", "bd", "bassd" in the filename (and/or pathname if you wish).

You can just use the up/down arrow to audition the sounds, and when you find one you like, there's shortcuts to bring it up selected in a new explorer window, or copy the full filename to the clipboard etc.

You can also create favourites, which is really useful if you want to put together sets of different samples, eg. tech house, breaks, downtempo, etc.

I use it all the time, to be honest I'd have no idea how to quickly navigate 15GB of samples without it! (Which is why I wrote it!)

this app is awesome mate :D

i couldnt get it working when i first tried a long time ago, its all sweet now!

works a treat too