Cataloging SFX

[mrbobb]

I'm sorry, I know this has been posted and discussed but I can't find the info anywhere. I'm having trouble with cataloging my SFX drive and I'm unable to search through all of the meta data in the files. Please help.

What are the exact steps to cataloging/indexing your SFX drive? Everything I've tried has yielded no results.

Thanks

[mikevarela]

Get a program like Soundminer.

It'll cut the search time drastically, and make it easy to spot sounds as well. There's an associated program to catalog material as well.

[mrbobb]

I know about Soundminer, not looking for that solution right now. Just want to get these catalogued in the digibase for now. Thanks.

[mgoorevich]

Originally Posted by mrbobb

I know about Soundminer, not looking for that solution right now. Just want to get these catalogued in the digibase for now. Thanks.

But still........and I used digibase catalogs for one year. I made some gray hair with it.
Buy Soundminer LE for $199 or digibase cataloging haemorrhoids will never let you to relax.
Frankly it worth this price until the last penny!

For cataloging you must drag and drop the folder into the catalog area...and wait. It can take 24 hours or so for 500Gb to complete this process.

[C]

I'd agree with the other posters about Soundminer.

As you have included no system specification could I check that you have the requisite system?

Digibase Pro is only included with Pro Tools HD or with the Complete Production Toolkit for LE. After that the Digibase Guide is pretty straightforward on how to create a catalog but post back if you need clarification on anything.

[idris]

IIRC Point the Workspace Manager at the folder with your SFX and right click, and select create catalogue ... or something like that. It's then worth getting it to generate waveforms for the selected items (in the new catalogue) as well.
It does take a while to do all the processing, but leave it churning at the end of the day and it should be ready long before breakfast.

Digibase does seem to have limitations when it comes to searching but if you've already got it and can learn to work around then you'll save yourself £199 for SoundMiner.

[Vytis]

Let me please revive this topic.

As a former Nuendo user with it's amazing MediaBay integrated SFX engine I feel very frustrated each time I've got to pull some FX from my library into Pro Tools. I know that Soundminer is the recommended option and it's on my list of purchases for the near future, but for now could someone please explain to us post folks exactly how to index a SFX library so that it could be searched for BWF comments from within DigiBase Pro. I'm on Pro Tools HD and can't get my head round the way DigiBase Pro works. I've been ignoring it for half a year but now is the time to actually figure it out. Would very much appreciate a step-by-step if possible since my own attempts were unsuccessful so far.

Thanks :)

[Dallas Taylor]

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

For cataloging you must drag and drop the folder into the catalog area...and wait. It can take 24 hours or so for 500Gb to complete this process.

I remember this process taking forever, but now I'm able to catalog 500gb drives in less than an hour. Did something change? Is it just that my computer processing is way faster than it used to be?

[FajitaTone]

Originally Posted by Dallas Taylor

I remember this process taking forever, but now I'm able to catalog 500gb drives in less than an hour. Did something change? Is it just that my computer processing is way faster than it used to be?

8 and 12 core machines process that stuff lickety split. especially esata drives.

[idris]

I think you mean how to catalogue SFX. In which case this is how I've done it.

Just as a bit of info first: As I understand it, a catalog is just a folder of shortcuts / pointers to media files, and you can edit useful information associated with the shortcut, like adding comments or waveform views.

Open Workspace manager from the Window drop-down.
From the list of locations, open Catalogs

If your SFX are all in one place (folder / drive) and there is nothing else stored there, navigate to that location in the Workspace and right click on its folder icon. Then select Create Catalog From Selected.

If your SFX are in more than one place :
Right click on Catalog and select New Catalog and give it a name (eg. SFX)
Staying within the Workspace Manager, navigate to the folders/drives that contain your SFX source files. Drag these onto the icon for the catalog you've just created. (This will create the shortcuts, and may take some time depending on your machine and the size of your SFX library.)

Once the catalog has been populated, right click on it's folder and select Calculate Waveform. (Again this is a good moment to go for lunch.)

Done.

You can have multiple catalogs, eg one that lists everything, one that has all the comedy SFX, one that has all the explosions etc. The catalogs can overlap and you can edit the contents without effecting anything else.

Now when you want to source an SFX for a session, open the Websapce, double click on the Catalog you created, click on the Magnifier Glass (or hit CMD F) to open the search. Type in what you're looking for and hey presto ...
(Using the standard search or Advanced search will give different results - easier to RTFM than for me to explain it ... largely as I've never quite got my head around the difference.)

Hope that answers your question.