----------- (tedious dissertation continued from previous post) ----------------
--- For a new Kontakt library, this means listening to every single freaking articulation, snapshot, or .nki instrument for at least a few seconds, playing a little bit, and trying to get an idea of what that patch might be good at, whether I'm likely to ever use it, and what the hell it should be named and how it should be categorized. This can be quick, in the case of something "ordinary" like 8dio Century Strings, or unbelievable agony, in the case of something like Spitfire EDNA or EvoGrid stuff, where there's just a bazillion nki's to audition. But I blast through them and make immediate snap decisions. They're permanent decisions, but not "permanent-permanent" because here's what I do:
I keep the original library in its folder, just as it was downloaded, only adding my text file that contains my sales, serial number, and any other purchase-related info as described above. Then I duplicate the Instrument folder and any Snapshots folders, and zip the originals where they lie so I can get them back if needed. Then I put that library folder into the appropriate master category folder (Drums, Brass, Strings, etc.), inside a subfolder called "zLibraries" so it sits at the bottom of the list. Now the original libraries, with all their samples, instruments, documentation, my precious text file, and any other crap is safe and hidden. I do a batch re-save so the Instruments point to the Samples in their new, stashed location, and take those duplicated, batch-resaved, not-zipped Instruments / Snapshots folders and put them where I want them, which is one level above the "zLibraries" folder - so, inside "STRINGS" I'll have the following folders, named such that they appear in a list exactly like this:
a - STRING SECTIONS
b - string ensembles
c - BASSES
d - bass solo
e - CELLOS
f - cello solo
g - VIOLAS
h - viola solo
i - VIOLINS
j - violin solo
k - World Stringed Insts
l - Misc String crap
zLibraries
Inside each of the above folders will be four subfolders, with names stolen from the original EWQLSO library: 1-Long, 2-Short, 3-Effects, 4-KeySwitches. I force all Instruments to fit into one of those four categories.
So, ALL of my original strings-related libraries, in their originally-named folders, complete with zipped safeties and un-zipped, un-renamed original Instruments / Snapshots folders, and my precious text files, live inside "zLibraries". (Repeat this concept for each instrument type - brass, drums, perc, etc.)
Now the purge can begin in earnest.
By that I mean I completely re-work the file names because every developer has different, and usually totally stupid, ways of naming Instruments / Snapshots, and I require consistency and clarity or I'll never find anything. So I'll audition each and every single one, and right then and there I make a snap decision about whether to toss it, rename and use it, or rename and stash it. (Of course I have the zipped version as a safety) If it's "toss it", then into the trash it goes and immediately empty the trash so there's no going back - but for orchestral stuff there's not a lot to trash; I usually can rename everything and it all sorts nicely. If it's "rename and use it" then I apply the naming scheme that I use across all formats. If it's "rename and stash" then I apply the naming scheme but stash the instrument in a subfolder inside that library's Instruments folder, called "zUnused Renamed Insts".
The global naming scheme I use for orchestral sounds is:
[instrument type]-[articulation or description]-[developer or source]
which gives results like:
"strings-FLAUTANDO-adag" = (8dio Adagio full string ensemble flautando)
"cello-LEGATO-tina" = (CineSamples Tina Guo solo cello legato)
"violins-SPICCATO FEATHER-cent" = (8dio Century Strings violin section feathered spiccato)
"tbsec-PORTATO-sym2" = (Project Sam Symphobia2 trombones section portato)
etc. etc. ad infinitum.
This scheme keeps the names short enough to be entirely visible in Kontakt's GUI, Logic's various text entry fields, etc. and allows me to move all of the instruments from multiple libraries into that common folder structure, leaving the originals down in "zLibraries" for safe keeping.
Every single freaking orchestral Kontakt Instrument .nki gets it's name forced to conform, then gets put in the appropriate folder. As a result, "BASSES > 1-Long" contains ALL of my ContraBass Section Long Articulation nki's, and the list looks nice and organized:
basses-LEGATO-adag
basses-LEGATO-cent
basses-LEGATO-uist
basses-LEGATO-sym2
etc.
When I get down to actually working I can flip through .nki's and compare any and ALL "basses-LEGATO" from ALL of my libraries right next to each other in a list using the previous/next arrows on the Kontakt gui. If it's Snapshots, I do the same thing, dealing with the actual .nksm files. (I have yet to apply this scheme to QuickLoad DB, but that would be a nice way to just leave all the nki's alone and only rename and organize the QL DB aliases - but I'm not sure if I trust that system yet.) Of course, if I get an update to a big library, like I did today with 8dio Anthology Strings v1.2, I've got to repeat the process, but it's MUCH less work the second time around. I usually don't have too much to re-audition, it's mostly re-conforming the names and putting things where they need to go.
I apply this uniform naming scheme, obviously with variations tailored to each instrument type, stringently across every. single. freaking. file. that. makes. a. sound.
EXS, Kontakt, Omnisphere, Arturia, Zebra, raw WAV loops, whatever.
It is so nice when a plan comes together.
Obviously, for things like drums, percussion, and synths there's a world of minutae in my naming schemes that is tailored to how I hear things, so the categories in SYNTHS have names like:
akutex = ambient acoustic textures
ambisyn = ambient synthetic textures
ambinoiz = ambient noise, foley, and sfx textures
arpbass = arpeggiated / sequenced bass line type stuff
arperc = arpeggiated / sequenced percussion type stuff
arpmel = arpeggiated / sequenced melody type stuff
arpulse = arpeggiated / sequenced cine pulse type stuff
belew = adrian below-like guitar insanity
blasts = industrial, guitar-like blasts and tonal hits
braams = duh, braams
chordal = sounds with built-in chord structures
claytons = sounds with built-in chord structures that sound like the score to Michael Clayton
ebow = guitar-based drones and textures
reznoiz = resonant noise-based drones and textures, like what we used in NIN
spectrums = that Roland D-50 tuned spectral, frozen bowed metal type stuff
synths = things that sound like, well, ordinary Oberheim super-saw synths or whatever
tinysyn = little, itty-bitty awesome sounds
...and on and on and on and on. There's about 50 sub folders in my Synths category. I apply similar, but not always identical naming schemes when organizing patches for Massive, Alchemy, Arturia, Zebra, and any other soft synths. But it all makes sense to me. I wind up with file names like:
akutex-BOWDRONE-ghuz (bow scrape drones on a ghuzheng)
ambisyn-FULLMOONZ-air (a sample called "fullmoonz" from Sample Logic's old A.I.R. library)
braams-HYBRID2-8dio (all the braams I liked from 8dio's Hybrid Two library in one patch)
reznoiz-COCOLIKE-xpan (a pitched resonant noise I made on Xpander that's "like coco")
Raw WAV files, like percussion loops that I deal with in Ableton Live, get brutally renamed and sorted. Developers are so freaking clueless with names like:
"BLUE_OCTOPUS_SAMPLES_INC_TECHNO_DRUM_LOOP_TOP_KIT_102BPM_01"
I grind that down to "BO-102-TecTop-1" - always two letters to identify source, then three-digit bpm, then descriptor, then number if there's more than one "TecTop" loop. I only use this name format for loops, so the word "loop" isn't needed - it's self-evident in the placement of the "102". Boom, sorted by source, tempo, and descriptor when shown in a list, like in Ableton's file browser. And I do use duplicate-detection utilities to insure that I never, EVER use a file name twice.
...and on and on to infinity. Hovering right around 20tb at the moment. Maybe 25, 30 million files?
And it is SO WORTH THE TIME. By the point that sounds are renamed and into these categories, I freaking know them, intimately. I've had to decide which of my children shall live, and which I will drown in the creek out back. I've had to decide, using my own internal logic and various mnemonic devices, upon a descriptive, short, absolutely unique, ALL-CAPS name that will tell me at a glance what that sucker is. I can glance at my clean, crisp, beautifully sorted lists of patches and just visually scan for what I want, instead of endless flipping through them, auditioning them to the point of exhaustion. More importantly, during the process of initially auditioning, naming, and sorting them, I'm forced to confront whether each individual sound is really worth the effort - so a lot get tossed along the way, even after the initial deletion phase. That whole process is the only thing I do that actually seems like work - and even though it can get tedious, it's still totally fun.
And what winds up in the folders is.... Gold, Jerry. Gold!
So actually finding the right sounds and writing the music, when it comes time to do that, isn't even work at all. It's a freaking joyous romp through a curated wonderland of sonic nuggets, each more delicious than the last, each one a trusted ally or dear friend, and all of them ready to help me do battle with picture and deadline.
No enemies, no strangers... only friends.