# Do you know the sample libraries you own?



## Svyato (Nov 4, 2016)

Hi,

knowing well the sample libraries you use is fundamental for expressing clearly your musical ideas and so making good music.

For you, what does it imply? What tips do you like to use for knowing the exacts limits of your sample libraries? How do you rediscover a sample library?

I would like to manage my sample libraries very well, instead of buying new sample libraries, so if you have any advices/tips, it is very welcomed.


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## gjelul (Nov 4, 2016)

Of course not -- it's easier to buy than to learn them 

That aside, definitely have put learning time in the most important ones (orchestral ones and a few synths).


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## ZeroZero (Nov 4, 2016)

I think this question broadens out into a more general issue - what sound's does your mind reach for - e.g. "where the h*ll is it?" then "Right! how do I fetch it up" (can be akin to how do I complete a turn on a gymnastics mat).

I can have a sample library but it's know good to me unless I can :


Remember it's there (for many thousands of sounds)


Know how to find it


You have to believe in the sound.


Can retain the creativity whilst I fetch it


Know how to set it up quickish


I have been away from the DAW since Cubase 5 and am now back in the studio with C8.5 some new Spitfire Audio, and a decent rig (see below). There is a big hill to climb with modern DAWs as flexibility increases so does required learning. It's so easy to kill creativity with more learning and tweaking. Lost in a sea of interfaces is the first experience. Coming back from C5 then time out I found I forgot a lot of mission stopping things - like tweak that mod wheel. You need facility with your gear, or its a serious of stop, stop, stops. That take's acclimatization time.

* How much time? Even if you listen to each one of say Omnisphere's presets, or, all of your choir sounds, you could be there for hours, even days. Same with orchestras, they get bigger and bigger.

That's why some put time into making templates. It's my focus at present. Templates are not everything though, you need music too.


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## gjelul (Nov 4, 2016)

Here is how I keep them organized in order to know what and where I have everything.


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## ZeroZero (Nov 4, 2016)

I have just spent four weeks or so upgrading my studio. It felt like I took an old e-type jag (Cubase) car out of a barn and brought it coughing and spluttering back to life.

If the engine is to going to run, and you are to travel those valleys and dales, there are things that are skills that are _'mission critical'_ . You need to be able to do a lot of 'micro skills' quickish.
Some tasks are _'showstoppers'_ if you can't do them, then you have to stay where you are until you can do them.

Some tasks are not show stoppers, but make your music lame if you don't do it - e.g. using expression.


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## elpedro (Nov 4, 2016)

i have some generic pieces and just load different libraries and patches and i jam a lot.get to know the libs and synths. it's just memory.


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## ZeroZero (Nov 4, 2016)

gjelul said:


> Here is how I keep them organized in order to know what and where I have everything.



I have a set up similar to this. There are certain categories that this works well with, but I am rethinking synths. Just how do you think about these, especially in Film.


Do we _use_ our libraries?

Well, we have so many sounds, Tb's are common. It's getting bigger and bigger. If you listened once to all of your sounds, you would be there _days_...

*For me: three types of sound:*

Traditionally recognised as "_musical_" type sounds, from the circus organs to the Goffriller Cello, from the Les Paul, to the Bodhram and the Stylophone.

_Living sounds_ we experience these simply by living on the earth. The sea with gulls, a train yard, bicycle sounds, clock sounds, babies, the sound of a cherry being popped into a glass of gin.

_Synthetic sounds_
Retro Synth sounds (some of which have written themselves into category 2 (think Dr Who). Anything from the above categories mangled

I suppose a template only addresses part of this, but how to be able to reach it all?

Categorising so many sounds drives you away from the template idea. Lets say you had every sound for bass in your template -Trillian alone would fill a few hundred tracks. So the concept has to move to 'core' sounds in a template, comprehensiveness _has to be sacrificed._


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## anp27 (Nov 4, 2016)

gjelul said:


> Here is how I keep them organized in order to know what and where I have everything.



Wow, that picture looks almost identical to how I have my sample library organized!


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## Rodney Money (Nov 4, 2016)

I've bought samples back in July that I haven't even opened yet, lol.


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## Arbee (Nov 4, 2016)

Just as I make some time available for piano/guitar practice to keep some modest level of technique, I find it equally important to make some regular "play time" available to just poke around and explore the libraries I own (that also includes DAW and plugins). I haven't found any other effective way to ensure I keep getting better at using what I already own. If I start categorising things, this takes me down the road of not thinking creatively about what I might use "outside the square".


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## Leeward (Nov 4, 2016)

Every so often, especially when I'm stuck for ideas, I'll literally spend an hour or two loading up these forgotten libraries and have a play with them - sticking effects on them and so forth - and usually I'll discover something (relevant or not) that I like and just stick it in my main template for future use. And they'll usually replace something that doesn't get used so much. It's a good way to encourage template evolution.


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## Svyato (Nov 5, 2016)

And, for most of you, do you feel that you don't know enough the sample libraries you own?  It's also about the capacity of estimating the quality of a sample library; the various criterions (playability, samples quality, usages, etc) put down by those who rate sample libraries on website, Youtube, could certainly help to know better your sample library.


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## wst3 (Nov 5, 2016)

My library is modest, at least I suspect it is<G>...

For Brass I use CineBrass Core, CHH Compact, and VSL Standard Edition
For Winds I use CineWinds Core and VSL SE
For Strings I use 8Dio Adagiatto/Agitato, Cinematic Studio and Cinema Strings, and VSL SE

I think I know the Cinesamples libraries pretty well, and I am learning the CHH, but it is complex! I know what it can do, but I don't necessarily know how to do what I want to do.
I think I know the Cinematic Strings libraries at this point (well, except for the legato tricks in CSS), and some days I think I know the 8Dio string libraries, but other days I find I am still in the dark<G>!

No question I am still learning to use VSL. It is a fascinating library, and their player is amazing, I now believe it can do anything, I just don't know how<G>!

And then there are the million or so percussion and specialty libraries that fill my samples drive... there are a handful I know really well, a handful I need to delete, and the rest fall somewhere in between. That used to really bother me, but these days I find it helpful to have a few surprises... and I suspect I will always want to have a few libraries that I'm still learning about.


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## Mike Fox (Nov 7, 2016)

I'm personally guilty of buying new libs before I study the ones I currently have. When I realized how hindering that is, I made a conciouss decision to discontinue that approach. I am now taking serious time aside to study and learn what I own. I thought that it would put the writing process on hold, but Im actually discovering new sounds and techniques, which inspire me to write small pieces on the spot. I also feel like I am getting what I paid for when I realize how much potential any given library has, even one that I may have underestimated.


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## Lassi Tani (Nov 7, 2016)

I know them by name, but that's it.


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## Svyato (Nov 7, 2016)

mikefox789 said:


> I'm personally guilty of buying new libs before I study the ones I currently have. When I realized how hindering that is, I made a conciouss decision to discontinue that approach. I am now taking serious time aside to study and learn what I own. I thought that it would put the writing process on hold, but Im actually discovering new sounds and techniques, which inspire me to write small pieces on the spot. I also feel like I am getting what I paid for when I realize how much potential any given library has, even one that I may have underestimated.



interesting, what are your various way of studying your sample libraries?


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## rottoy (Nov 7, 2016)

mikefox789 said:


> I'm personally guilty of buying new libs before I study the ones I currently have. When I realized how hindering that is, I made a conciouss decision to discontinue that approach. I am now taking serious time aside to study and learn what I own. I thought that it would put the writing process on hold, but Im actually discovering new sounds and techniques, which inspire me to write small pieces on the spot. I also feel like I am getting what I paid for when I realize how much potential any given library has, even one that I may have underestimated.


Take it one step further and modify the libraries you have to suit your workflow. 
It's fun.


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## Svyato (Nov 7, 2016)

rottoy said:


> Take it one step further and modify the libraries you have to suit your workflow.
> It's fun.


 how modify them? What do you mean precisly technically?


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## rottoy (Nov 7, 2016)

Sorry, should have been more precise.
I just mean going into the patches, modifying the behaviour of the samples (for example if it reacts to velocity or modwheel) perhaps even editing the samples themselves, removing velocity layers and editing their start times etc.

Just as examples of what you can do.


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## Mike Fox (Nov 7, 2016)

Svyato said:


> interesting, what are your various way of studying your sample libraries?


One thing I do is read the manual. It's easy to overlook, because I'm usually so excited to play the library, but it's amazing how much I learn just from doing that. I also like to watch tutorial/walkthrough vids on youtube. Guy Rowland, Daniel James, and Saint Joe are always fun to watch. They usually talk about a feature that I didn't know was available. Reading online reviews, and forum threads about a product also helps a lot. I also click all over the interface, just to see If there is a hidden button or feature that's not apparent. Another thing I do is press every key on my keyboard for every patch, because there could be a sound that I somehow missed.


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## kurtvanzo (Nov 7, 2016)

I'm always watching the video before a purchase to see if it really does something I can't already do. Then when I do get something, I load patches into VE Pro6 and only add the patches I can really use, normally to a specific template (brass, strings, synth, etc) with a midi track (named) for each patch, turn off the channels in VEP to unload the RAM, and boom- the are ready to add to my next music session.

The libraries themselves I organize by developer on SSDs, since the templates keep things organized and up to date (also makes updating instruments- which happens regularly- easier). Plus I have a 5TB HD to back up all libraries in one place. An average library only takes me an hour or two to go through and add patches to my template. But when I'm writing not to have to search for all my different brass sounds (for example) makes things much quicker during composing.

From time to time I open up the templates (just did the Synth template yesterday) to play everything there and rediscover patches I've forgotten about. Synthmaster and Omnishpere each take some time but it's great to remind me of how much is in there, and how much musical inspiration I get from it.


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