# Managing your sound design library



## Akarin (Dec 29, 2018)

I've just written a quick tutorial on how to manage your sound design samples in an efficient way: 



What's your method?


----------



## timprebble (Dec 29, 2018)

I use SoundMiner Pro - deep metadata support & also has a thesaurus built in.... my personal sound library has over 500k sounds (not counting Kontakt libraries) so SoundMiner is crucial

https://store.soundminer.com


----------



## karelpsota (Dec 29, 2018)

Great article! The auto-tagging seems like a neat feature.

Like @timprebble, I'm on Soundminer Pro for the batch metadata and VST rack.

How good is the auto-assign key and BPM?
Does it work it out base on audio, or does it look for existing data?


----------



## Akarin (Dec 30, 2018)

timprebble said:


> I use SoundMiner Pro - deep metadata support & also has a thesaurus built in.... my personal sound library has over 500k sounds (not counting Kontakt libraries) so SoundMiner is crucial
> 
> https://store.soundminer.com



This one looks like a real workhorse. I see it recommended quite often.

EDIT: Oh, and it's $900 too... whereas LoopCloud is free, so there's that!


----------



## Akarin (Dec 30, 2018)

karelpsota said:


> Great article! The auto-tagging seems like a neat feature.
> 
> Like @timprebble, I'm on Soundminer Pro for the batch metadata and VST rack.
> 
> ...



It analyzes the audio files (takes a bit of time), not only the metadata. The BPM is sometimes off, especially for the loops not in 4/4. They key is sometimes funky too but I'd say it's around 80% accurate. When having thousands of samples, it's a great starting point.


----------



## timprebble (Dec 30, 2018)

re "LoopCloud is free" 

Nothing is ever free per se, as with FB if the product is free then *you are whats for sale* (ie your data and/or your role as a potential customer for what they do sell)

its also worth noting a sound library is for life, not short term. For me, SoundMiner has paid for itself many, many times over... I appreciate the upfront cost is hefty, but managing a huge database of sounds so you can work efficiently in a professional sense is worth a lot. I dont remember exactly when I first got SoundMiner but it would be over a decade ago, so the impact on workflow (& the tax write off) means it cost me less than nothing.


----------

