FullBug : "So do you guys copy the sample libraries that came with Sonar - and installed onto your program drive - onto a different drive? "

I prefer storing samples somewhere off my system disk (ssd), somewhere that _I_ choose.

Howerever, having attempted this, I'm not a all satisfied with the result.

The thing is, several components of Sonar, and third parties like Native Instruments, just go ahead and stick their stuff wherever _they_ feel like it.

The result is a huge mess that I'm currently studying to figure out the best way to clean up.
There are samples in :

c:\Multisamples
c:\Cakewalk Content
c:\ProgramData\Cakewalk\all_sorts_of_places
*:\...\VstpluginDir\Each instrument\stores_its_own_samples

and places where I wanted it to go.

There are probably many more I haven't listed.

The thing is, several components of Sonar, and third parties like Native Instruments, just go ahead and stick their stuff wherever _they_ feel like it.

This is incorrect and bad advice.

I have all of my libraries installed exactly where I want them without having to move them after installation.

You shouldn't have any sample material in c:\ProgramData\Cakewalk\all_sorts_of_place, and it's my suspicion that c:\Multismaples is your Dimension Pro library, the location of which is determined - by you - on installation


To the OP:

Drive 1 "C:\" - Operating System, Programs & Plugins
Drive 2 "D:\" - Cakewalk Projects, including Exports (Mixdowns)
Drive 3 "E:\" - Sample Libraries

Bristol_Jonesey, I disagree. I did tell the Sonar installation where I wanted things to go
and what I describe is what I ended up with. It's a mess.

If I remember correctly, a Cakewalk representative confirmed in this forum that some of it is intentional.

EDIT : It is possible that some of this is due to the later installation of sample packs from Cakewalk.
For example, the DimPro free samples pack doesn't ask you where you want it to go.
It just sticks it on the C drive.

Yeah - stuff gets put all over the place - sometimes you can control it during install.  Other times you can manually move things and then tell the various synths where they can find their samples.  And sometimes there is nothing you can do about it.

I have 2 hard drives on my primary computer (and an external drive used just for backups).

My primary drive contains Windows, and all applications, along with some of the things like Multisamples and the stuff in ProgramData (hidden folder), and programs for things like SI-Drummer and such.

The Multisamples folder is for Dim Pro.  I believe that can be moved, but since I am not having any performance issues with those samples, I don't worry about it.  Same goes for the SI-Drummer SI-Bass etc. programs, which are in the ProgramData folder.  I don't worry about those because each prog file is around 30k in size and they just do not cause any problems for me.

The bulk of all of my samples, like Session Drummer 3 and all of my Native Instruments Komplete 8 Ultimate libraries, are on my second drive.

I do NOT recommend partitioning.  Just add another physical drive if you need one - they are pretty cheap these days.

I also store all Cakewalk Project folders on the second drive - alongside of the sample libraries, and do not experience any issues.  If I ever feel a need to change that I will simply add another physical drive and split the project folders to be on the new one and the samples to remain on the current drive.

Bob Bone

All the sample content that comes with SONAR gets loaded into RAM, so you can put those anywhere you'd like. It's the streaming sample libraries that will get a performance benefit from having their own separate drive.

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

I have 2 2TB HDD on my system, and as many do here I have C:\ for software/OS and D:\ for file storage and samples etc.

More recently I installed a RAID 1 3TB NAS (Synlogy 212j) on the network, which in turn gets a regular USB drive backup stored in a firesafe.  I might move the samples and content to that NAS directly once I'm comfortable with it.

garrigus


All the sample content that comes with SONAR gets loaded into RAM, so you can put those anywhere you'd like. It's the streaming sample libraries that will get a performance benefit from having their own separate drive.

Scott 

+1 - I never worry about any of the placement of the non-streaming samples, although if given a choice as to where to install them, I would normally choose my second drive.


Bob Bone

robert_e_bone

+1 - I never worry about any of the placement of the non-streaming samples, although if given a choice as to where to install them, I would normally choose my second drive. 

Bob Bone

Hi Bob... yeah, I agree. It's nice to have things organized when possible.


Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

Hey, thanks for the tips guys. I was out of town the last few days and have another stupid question: What are streaming samples? How do I recognize them??

Streaming is a function of the sampler, not the sample. Rather than loading the entire sample library into RAM when the sampler first launches, it will load the appropriate sample(s) from disk (typically in buffered chunks) upon the note being struck. This makes sense for the larger gigabyte-plus libraries, which would quickly fill up available RAM if loaded entirely at startup.
 
So, to answer you question, you need to look at the documentation of your sampler to know for sure. Some samplers actually do both, switching only for larger sample sets (or IIRC sometimes under manual control, depending).