Librarian?

...wicked


Mostly relevant for the sound designers out there. Do you use any dedicated librarian software and if you do does it play nice (or at all) with SONAR? I find myself needing a better way to catalog and access sounds when I'm working. And since SONAR doesn't support metadata (yet, sheesh) I'm wondering what route I should pursue.

Personally I don't think there is a really great librarian around that would interest me.  I hope some day there will be, though.
 
In the meanwhile, I've found it handy to do the following:
 
1- Create Top level folders for each brand (ie Voxengo, Spectrasonics, Native, etc).
2- Create sub level folders for each plugin (or at least keep all the plugins in the 'brand' folder).
3- Create further sub level folders as needed for types (FX vs Synth, etc).
 
For samples/loops I pretty much do the same.
 
Now this does not serve as a true librarian, of course, but since I'm pretty aware of what each 'brand' has, with synths and other instruments it's still pretty easy when inserting a synth, for example, to go to the "Brand" level.
 
With samples/loops, again I approach it the same way.  I know, for example, Modernbeats.com has a certain style, or that other brands/distributors have certain styles, I simply just keep the folder structure in such a way as to know how to find things I'm looking for in a "reasonable" time frame.
 
I also make it a point to save a lot of setups.  Example:  I put together a great "R&B" or "Hip Hop" drum kit in NI's Maschine.  I then save it with a useful name, and sometimes variations of it.
 
I think a great librarian would be hard since there are so many aspects of what is available to us these days, but I would certainly welcome a "well thought out" one.
 
My concern is that these days too many companies are "hungry" for bucks like the rest of the world, so they come up with these interim or "half baked" schemes.  It will sound good on paper (er, on screen) but, it usually ends up being a waste of time and money.
 
A good example of that are many of the "sample libraries" or "loop libraries" where they give you maybe 10% fresh stuff and then rehashes.  Like when they give you 100 Snare Drums!!!    Sounds great, right?  Then you listen (after buying) and it's really 2 snares ... the others are tuned different (gee, I could do that myself) or with FX (gee, I could do that myself), and so on.   Waste.
 
Using folder structures is certainly one approach that keeps the User in control and is easily modified as need be.
 
That's my .02 cents on this ;)
 
 

In response mostly to WST3's comments ...

I agree that NI's approach is pretty nice for what it is .. and they are keeping the format across products, which is also helpful.
But at the same time, there are hurdles when trying to create a universal librarian that may be a tad problematic.

Example:   You may have samples that can be used in a number of plugins (drum samples are just one type that would fall in this category) but you also have a preference for using certain soundsets in a "specific" plugin.

If I create a really good setup in Maschine, or BPM, or Battery 3 -- I would want the ability to be able to note these preferences.

So, for now at least, I actually prefer the folder branding approach - and in tandem with just using the plugin's soundset management.

Most of the good plugins do have some library functions built-in, albeit just for its own sounds/presets.

I used to use a couple of editor/librarian programs for my outboard gear, but I don't know of any that catalog virtual-instrument sounds. I wish there was one.

...wicked


Again, I'm not looking to catalog virtual instruments, just straight up wav files. 

I fear a visit to the filemaker web site is fast approaching. 

You can use something like Excel just as easily, or any off the shelf database handler.

But, have you checked out KVR for such things, Wicked?

If they'd just update the .wav spec to include real metadata

.wav files have always had the ability to include metadata, the problem is getting people to agree on what metadata to put in. Broadcast waves are pretty good, and I see ID3 tags in .wav files more and more.

I misunderstood your original post... I'm in exactly the same boat, and am currently evaluating the following programs:

IFoundaSound - no pricing info, no info on the difference between free and pro versions - that's pretty much a deal breaker for me, I like to know what I'm getting myself into! And tht's a shame, because V2 appears to be very well thought out!

FindSounds Palette - 3 versions priced from $20 to $100  - a little odd in the UI department, but it works pretty well, and the link to their on-line sounds is cool!

SoundManager - I gave up on this one, it's free, but not flexible enough... too bad!

Freesound Mootcher - not a full program, but a very cool API if you like to roll your own.

FXLibrary - Man I want this one to work! Right now it does what I need, but development has been stop-and-go, and I'm a wee bit nervous about investing in it. But I keep checking the site for news!

SI Search Tool - free, and includes meta data for all Sound Ideas libraries, but sadly it is not extend-able.

MetaDigger - This looks really promising! It is free, and if you have Access you can probably extend it. It includes all the most important sound design features, so I'm hoping I can add a few columns and get it to do everything I need.

SoundMiner  - $500 - and if I can't, well this is the 800 pound gorilla, even if the Windows version is still missing some of the cooler features available in the Mac version! The developers seem very committed to ending that problem.

Basehead - $260 - Just discovered this one, and it looks like it might be a contender too. Haven't installed it yet, so that's all I know.

I also spent some time trying to adapt my workflow to iTunes and Sony Media Manager - the later might be workable if I still had a computer dedicated to sound effects, but it's a bit of a hog - probably necessarily so - and that's a problem for me. I know a couple of folks that use iTunes, but it is just a little too lightweight for my library.

If you get a chance to evaluate any of these please share your thoughts.

I have been messing with the ifoundasound V2.0 Beta and am very impressed with this product. After seeing your post Bill, I contacted the developer to ask what the differences will be between the free and pro version. The response is a follows:-
In the free version you can only have 8000 sounds in a archive, and only 8 collections
No pitch tools in editor
No Advanced search window
Also in the future the extended network options, and collaborative features planned will only be in the pro version

now that someone pointed it out I too found the link to the comparison. The color choices made it difficult for me to see, even when I knew it was really there<G>!

Still no info on pricing, and the comparison is a bit vague, is it 8000 samples across 8 collections (assuming a collection and an archive are the same), or is it 8 * 8000 total?

I've emailed the developer as well, but have not heard back yet.

While I am typing, I did want to mention one other prosepct:

SoundFisher - at one time this looked really promising, and only partly because it could do some analysis of sample files to find 'similar' sounds. Alas it appears that development has slowed (stopped) since it only claims to support Win98 or NT4 (I did run it on XP, but I think I had to get a special build from the developer to do so - I don't remember!)

I've emailed them as well, hoping that they are still working on it...

Hi
Just want to clear some things up.
Price on ifoundasound pro: 59 euro.
Limits in the free version:
As mentioned above.
8000 sounds. This means only 8000 sounds to search among.
You can also create 8 “collections” in side the archive; these are not searchable and are more like a way for you to organize the sounds.
Although original designed to be used with sound effects, ifoundasound will work with samples just try it and see if it fills your needs.
The problem the way I see it is, if you search for “snare” you will get all your snare drum samples, at ALL velocities, presented in a alphabetical list. And if you search for piano you’ll get all notes at all velocities. There should be a way to group them but I have no idea how to make the program figure out what sounds should be grouped.