On 04.01.2005, at 18:01, Aaron Rosenberg wrote:
> Hey EXS and EXSManager fans, I know the time-honored notion of RTFM, so
> I did. But after all was said and done I managed to send all of my
> Native Instruments WAV/AIFF files to a random directory and pull them
> out of their homes forcing me to install the libraries again. There
> were
> also a ton of instruments in the red. Sad to say, the $99 application
> with my misunderstanding or whatever has made my life more difficult
> instead of easier.
I believe the instruments turned to red because they lost their sample
location and were incomplete. Will you beat me if I say that you most
likely can repair that by setting the sample directory to a higher
hierarchical level and run the program again?
Second hint: before you reorganize the next time, empty the trash and
check the option "Also references to trash" on top of the ExsManager's
main window. And go to the "General" page - be sure that "Files deleted
are sent to trashcan" is selected. This will help you if you accidently
delete samples with ExsManager because the files in the trash remain
referenced.
> The basic point is I have .exs and samples all over my machine
> (different directories, drives, etc.). How can I easily move all
> non-duplicate .exs instruments into my sampler instruments folder and
> move the respective samples into directory x. For such a helpful,
> simple
> application, I'm find this to be a difficult task. God knows why. Any
> help is greatly appreciated. Am I supposed to use Logic Project Manager
> in conjunction with it?
Excuse the length of the description below, I simply think it can help
you to avoid the same trap you are in...
ExsManager cannot move instruments except from sample directories to
the one and only "Sample Instruments" directory you've set. If you have
more than one instrument directory now, I think the additional ones
were created during reinstallation of the libraries.
The program cannot help you recreating instruments. It's job is to
organize samples according to instruments. So you have to rebuild the
instrument structure from scratch. This is the time to rethink the
organization. If you don't mind I tell you how I did it after several
trials and errors:
===== first my stuff =====
I do not merge libraries. Not in the instrument folder and not the
samples - I feel uneasy if everything is mingled :) - so I have the
following:
----------
Sampler Instruments
Logic
01 Piano
02 Guitars
...and all others...
PMI
Emperor
Old Lady
Sampleheads
Bass
Fender Precision
...and others...
Drums
...and so on...
----------
Sampler Library
Logic
...Samples...
PMI
Emperor
...Samples...
Old Lady
...Samples...
...and so on...
----------
In ExsManager this structure allowes to select a single library folder
as instrument directory and a single folder as "aux dir" were the
sample files go. For example if I want to rebuild the Old Lady, I set
"Sampler Instruments/PMI/Old Lady" as instrument directory and "Sampler
Library/PMI/Old Lady" as aux directory. I never lost control since I do
it that way. And it is fast.
"Sampler Instruments" and "Sampler Library" are located in a folder
"Samples" in my home directory.
===== now your part =====
Make a finder search to locate all instrument folders you have. Combine
them (by hand) to a single directory in the structure you want, in a
new folder called "Sampler Instruments", located anywhere on your disk.
If you are ready, you have three choices to put this folder:
#1
/Library/Application Support/Logic/
This is the root level, some installers put their files here.
#2
~/Library/Application Support/Logic/
This is your user level, some installers put their files here (yes,
here also...)
#3
Anywhere on your disk.
In case you choose #2 or #3 put an alias of your new folder into #1. So
Logic will find the instruments. To be sure, open Logic and test your
hierarchy. Most likely it will not play, but you see what you have
done.
Now create a Folder "Sampler Library" anywhere. Create folders inside
to reflect the instrument structure (not the full depth, two levels are
usually enough).
---
Open Exsmanager.
If your samples are really all over the machine then set the [Sample
dir] to the highest level: "/".
Set one of your directories of your new instrument folder as [Inst dir].
Set [Aux (dest) dir] to the correspondending folder in your "Sampler
Library" folder.
For the first run use "Samples are moved when reorganizing" and set the
other choices to "Moved to ... (maintain hierarchy)". Now analyze and
see what ExsManager says. If you are happy, process. Check the "Sample
Libraries" folder.
Carry on, step by step, until all your samples are at home. Then you
can test them in Logic and - if you want - reorganize the instruments,
run Exsmanager again on the same folders the files are in. Don't forget
to set the [Sample dir] to the folder where the samples now are - that
makes things very fast.
---
Last hint:
If you have problems moving or changing files on root level because of
permissions, you can download the small Application "chop" from Apple.
Open it, set the permissions to "777" if you are the only one on this
machine and do not care about permissions. Afterwards you can drop any
folder onto "chop" and the permissions are recursively released.
---
Good luck!
Peter Ostry