Alternatives to SoundMinder?

[iamstudios]

Our facility has been using SM for many years. Steve and Justin have always provided great support and the program has matured very nicely. My 2 Cents.

And here is another vote for Soundminer. We've been using it for years too. Steve and Justin deliver the best support around. Recently we had a minor issue with SM Ripper and they released a solution within a few days.

[reichman]

Originally Posted by drenkrom

Hi guys,
The release of version 4 has sparked a debate among the engineers as to where to go now. Let's just say we don't like SM that much. Version 3.2 has been as stable as a Parkinsonian Salsa dancer and support is abysmal. We're looking for alternatives.
What would you suggest?

Support for v3 ended a while ago.

But what don't you like about Soundminer? I take SM4 with me wherever I go, and have a hard time doing any editing at all without it. Yes, it's not perfect, but recent exchanges with Steve on the Soundminer Google group suggested that they're very busy preparing for the future with Apple and Digi. This is good.

Because you can embed metadata with SM, it's safe to use even if you plan on migrating to another (future) product.

Let us know what you decide to do.

[drenkrom]

So, as per our searches, there aren't any alternatives. V4 it'll be, then. It seems the issues of stability of our version and tedious support were a fluke. The main issues were the Rewire and Rex library change and dongle dropouts. Support for v3 was OK right after the release, but evaporated after that. If you guys describe a good experience, I'll trust you.

Thanks for the input.

[budster]

Take a look at Netmix.

[Stuart P.]

Originally Posted by drenkrom

So, as per our searches, there aren't any alternatives. V4 it'll be, then. It seems the issues of stability of our version and tedious support were a fluke. The main issues were the Rewire and Rex library change and dongle dropouts. Support for v3 was OK right after the release, but evaporated after that. If you guys describe a good experience, I'll trust you.

Thanks for the input.

I, and many others who make a living using the SM/PT combo, believe you've chosen.......... wisely.

Take care,
S.

[cjguitar]

Another vote for SoundMiner. Keep in mind how widely it's being adopted by the industry. I know Sony uses SM, as well as Universal Studios, and most independent editors I know as well. Even a lot of the newer sound effects libraries coming out are coming with SoundMiner data imbedded in the files.

[tonepad]

Well as you can see SM is the big app of preference and I too have it and use it and like it and wouldn't want to work without it.

However there are options...since that was what you were asking. Since I work with a mobile LE rig in addition to my HD rig at my studio, I needed a more portable solution. I hate the management of plugging and unplugging and losing dongles (which SM requires) so I leave SM as a permanent part of my HD rig. So with that in mind I have a copy of AudioFinder: http://www.icedaudio.com/ to use with my LE rig...but I also find it comes in very handy with the HD rig as well (it runs happily alongside of SM and your license allows multi installs). The benefits are that it's very fast for anything new that comes along that hasn't been intergrated with SM...AF does a very fast scan in these situations.

Bottom line is that it's affordable and free to try for awhile so you can make your own judgment. It is very well developed, constantly upgraded (for free, donation optional) and while it DOES NOT have all the features of SM...such as "spot to cursor" it does have a very decent drag and drop workflow that works quite well.

I have a blogpost about it that you may want to read:

Wilson Dyer mpse

http://elranchoaudio.com (website entryway)

http://s278430867.onlinehome.us/ (direct to blog)

[reichman]

Snapper from Audioease does have the PT spot to cursor function. And like tonepad wrote, I often use it in addition to SM to quickly audition material that hasn't been properly added to the SM database.

Of course, if Steve Pecile were reading this, he'd point out that SM does have a way (in the virtual browser, I think) of auditioning any material outside the databases.

[tonepad]

Yes Snapper is another "finder" based option. I tried it when they rolled it out and I'll be damned if I can remember what I didn't like about it, but it was something ! Does it let you create db's? AF will scan drives, folders, libraries and let you save them, which is what I do with it for my portable SFX drive.
A new thing AF does is allow for the option of wave form preview next to the file in the upper window, which I think is useful, since you can visually select a sound before auditioning.
At least now the OP has some options to investigate.

Wilson Dyer mpse

http://elranchoaudio.com