Is it just me that thinks the media browser is virtually useless

Caused by the simple fact that you can't search within folder structures?

I mean I can't imagine anyone holds all their samples in a single folder that would just be stupid.

Why can't it do what every other DaW and windows itself does and search within folders beneath folders?????

PTheory
Caused by the simple fact that you can't search within folder structures?

I mean I can't imagine anyone holds all their samples in a single folder that would just be stupid.

Why can't it do what every other DaW and windows itself does and search within folders beneath folders?????

+1

Anderton
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar14/articles/sonar-0314.htm
 
See the March 2014 issue of Sound on Sound (it's out now), I wrote an article on how to get the most out of the browser. No, you can't search folders within folders, but the tree view, the Details option, the ability to filter out files of a particular type, adding folder locations to the contents box (this is huge), and the auditioning features are exceptional time savers. I haven't been all that bothered by the limited search options because these features, coupled with how I have my media organized, make searching less important than it would be otherwise.

I have 4TB of sample data from a plethora of libraries each with their own naming conventions and folder structure. It is simply impossible to dump all my sample data into a single folder, I'd never find anything!!!

All I want to do is be able to put very simple search filters on file or folder names such as Tambo for tambourine etc

I read the article in SOS thinking surely I'm missing something obvious like an index setting or something but all the article did was confirm my suspicions that the media browser cannot search within a folder structure.

Hence my original comment about it being pretty useless for searching for sample data.

Well, I have 3TB of samples so we're in the same general ballpark. I'm not saying that being able to search folders within folders wouldn't be convenient. I'm also not saying that everything has to be dumped into one folder. What I AM saying is features like being able to access particular folders instantly via the content box, and using the various tree structure options within the browser, can make finding particular media a whole lot easier regardless of what search can or cannot do.

The way I deal with samples is I never assume that if only I kept on listening, I could find something better. If a kick works, it works and I don't look for more. That said, I've also accumulated several favorites over the years. There's a kick sample from the second Discrete Drums library which is a great rock kick. The Sunny LAX library from Big Fish has all the dance kicks I really need. Once you've found a good sound for the genres you work in, and perhaps a few alternates, you're covered. The "Favorites" options are your friend
 
I like how easy it is to audition samples, loops, and MIDI files in the browser. That's another reason why the browser isn't useless to me.

That's the way I end up doing it searching from explorer and then dragging it in

One small complaint that I have with the media browser in regards to samples, as that oftentimes when you are auditioning, I inadvertently double click, and then the media browser will go into rename more, and zero out the name of the file!  This usually happens when I try to audition the Factory/installed samples.  Then, I have no clue what to name it back, and the only real way to fix it is to reload the entire factory content.
 
I supposed I could read-only the file or it's directories, but that has issues all it's own. 
 
What I would like to see is a change to be more like Windows File Explorer, where the only way to rename is if you right-click on the filename.
 

JimmyBoy
From Windows File Explorer you can use the search and then drag the media into your project, but its a little difficult to audition the sample and on the other hand you can audition the samples from the media browser inside of sonar but can't find the media you want - is that like a loss-loss situation, as apposed to a win-win?

 
Use the Media Browser view that works like Explorer. From the Media drop-down menu, choose View > Folders.
 
The left pane of the media browser turns into something that looks like Explorer. Now, suppose you enter "kick" in the search box. When you double-click a folder in the "Explorer" pane, if there are kicks, they will be listed in the right-hand pane. By double-clicking through your folders, you'll be able to see if that folder contains kicks, and those kicks will appear in the right pane as long as "kick" remains in the search box.
 
This isn't as good as having a search function that returns every kick in every folder, but it makes life a lot easier.
 
Another cool thing about Folders view is that if you choose a particular type of content (like PTN files) in the content box, the folder view will show where those files are located. Yes, I finally know where the RXP content is located...
 
These kinds of tips are in the article I did for the March issue of Sound on Sound.

JimmyBoy

PTheory
Caused by the simple fact that you can't search within folder structures?

I mean I can't imagine anyone holds all their samples in a single folder that would just be stupid.

Why can't it do what every other DaW and windows itself does and search within folders beneath folders?????

+1

A big +1 as well.
 
I would hope Cake's media browser get redesigned to be more like how Native Instruments plugins handle media (like Reaktor for instance). Not only have a browser with extensive search capabilities, but also have the ability to manage media (like adding favourites or bring in other ways to view or collect media together). I hope something like this can be achieved in X4, it would add great value to the product.

Yeah there's plenty of stuff that needs a refresh. Audio snap, drum mapping, menus are non optimal (lot of duplication and some items are in the wrong section of the menu), menu's could look cooler rather than looking like something from Windows 3.1 (also could be more touch screen friendly with icons etc), routing of audio from VST's. Also improve the piano roll. Somebody mentioned earlier VST3 needs some improvements. Really I would hope to see X4 as a refinement of X3, X3 on steroids if you like. I would avoid flashy brand new features designed to make the comparison charts with other DAWs more attractive (that's always a marketing mistake IMHO), I would move more towards usability, flexibility and reliability. Get the basics absolutely perfect, make it as slick as an iPhone experience (much as I hate iPhones, I'm not saying it should look like an iPhone UI but you get my gist I hope).... moving towards a great all round user experience....that is what I would hope for. The difference say between Windows 2000 and Windows 8, let's face it both OS's pretty much do the same thing, just one does it better.

I use Media Browser a LOT and think it's far from useless. However, I would like to see the search features enhanced as well. To make it truly useful in this regard, they would probably need to create some sort of cataloging system ala Cubase or Pro-Tools. Cataloging systems have a lot of overhead and only get slower with larger sample libraries. However, since SONAR is a Windows-only product they couple probably leverage Windows built-in indexing feature fairly simply.
As has been mentioned, the best way to avoid needing to search is to practice good organization skills. I have my one-shot samples separated from my loops and I also have samples organized by Genre and even sub-genre in some cases. One of the things that I do is put a couple of '++" signs at the beginning of folder names that contain content that I consider above average, that way they show up at the top of the listings in Media Explorer
Despite it's current limitations and quirks, SONAR's Media Explorer is still probably the most powerful one available on a DAW. The MIDI browsing features are actually fairly unique, although they could still be improved in a few minor ways that could easily make it an industry standard.
 
-e.B

While I would really like a tag based system in the long run, such as used by Maschine for instance, for now it would already help if the search went through subfolders. Most samples are labeled reasonably so that searching for "kick" will find most kicks and relatively little other stuff.

Later on, tags would be great, and I think some kind of auto indexing/analyzing could sort samples into loops vs one shots.

Paul P

Mesh
I found this in the software forum and thought it might help and is Free. The developer is also always open to ideas and suggestions.....
 http://www.jamsoft.co.uk/samplesortinfo/
 

This program has potential, but it's not useable as it is.  It would be really nice if findjammer could find the time to finish it up (but s/he hasn't charged for it, so I have no business expressing such an opinion).
 
I spent quite some time with this program to get it to work, but it kept crashing on me and I reluctantly gave up.
 
 

 
What do you mean? What's this "findjammer" you mention? The software in the post you quote is Samplesort by jamsoft, and it's made by a guy (male). By the description, it sounds like a good tool, especially for free, though it could support more file extensions (like the old Akai). I'm about to give it a try.

thomasabarnes

Paul P
 
This program has potential, but it's not useable as it is.  It would be really nice if findjammer could find the time to finish it up (but s/he hasn't charged for it, so I have no business expressing such an opinion).
 

 What do you mean? What's this "findjammer" you mention? The software in the post you quote is Samplesort by jamsoft, and it's made by a guy (male). By the description, it sounds like a good tool, especially for free, though it could support more file extensions (like the old Akai). I'm about to give it a try.

findjammer is the user here who wrote SampleSort.  See this thread for details.
 
Glad to hear jammer's a guy.  Hard to tell on the net...
 
And as I said, the program looks great and has potential, but it doesn't work.
 

Generally agree.
 
It's not so much a browser we need as an organiser that lets us organise information in a way that's meaningful to us.
Sometimes by instrument, sometimes by sound quality or emotive abstracts. And doing that with the real files can then have a consequence on the actual software plug-ins trying to use/find them. Also it can take a few goes before you get things organised exactly how you want. If only they allowed short-cuts so we could create a virtual file system. I bet it's easily done.
 
SampleSort (mentioned above) seems the thing, but I'd like it working with-in the DAW.