migrating sample libraries

[tonester]

hi;

i am using a 250G external HD for my sample libraries. (MachFive2, ethno, MSI, Ivory EWQL Symphonic Orchestra, Choirs, etc. etc.) Of course I am starting to run out of room, what with all the 40G expansion packs that Ivory has. I mean, I plan on buying more and more....... doesn't everyone?

How do I migrate all these libraries to my 500G external? Is it as easy as just copying everything over and then pointing to the new location in the specific synth's preferences? or is there more to it?

probably a simple question, but i needed to ask it1

thanks,

tony

[Frodo]

For the most part, you can just drag the library to the new location.

In Ivory, you'll have to find your Ivory Preferences (User> Library> Preferences> Ivory Preferences). Get info on that preferences file and change the directory OR throw out that file altogether. The next time you start Ivory it will just ask you for the new directory and it will create a new preferences file automatically.

I'm not on my production computer right now, but with PLAY you can navigate to the new location by using the Browser's Finder-like windows on the left side of the PLAY console where your hard drives are listed. In the window in lower left corner you can right-click (control-click) to set a new default location.

Kontakt 2.2.x had its own preferences window (and I'd imagine that K3.x works the same way). The directories can be set there or Kontakt will ask you for the new directory if you try the load the library and it can't find the new directory on its own.

In any case, each of these libraries may have some unique but minor little step of moving libraries and navigating to the new directories, but it would be a rare case to have to reinstall everything. In the case of MachFive, this is from MOTU:

Under the Soundbank section in the File Browser section of MachFive, choose the "more" option and click on "re-select MachFive sounds folder". Be aware that you can put SOME of your samples on a 2nd hard drive and make aliases from that 2nd hard drive into the MachFive sounds folder on your first drive.

I'm pretty sure that each of these VIs has a support FAQ section (printed or online) that addresses how to move sound libraries safely.

Just a side note: I've found the performance to be a little better when I spread VIs across several drives instead of running everything from a single large drive. For example, if I have 3 or 4 piano libraries, I can put all of those pianos on one drive simply because it's highly unlikely I'll need to use more than one at a time in a given project. The same thing goes for EWQLSC. Because the demands of streaming are so intense, it's nice to have independent data paths for the bigger libraries whenever possible just to ensure that seek and transfer rates don't result in buss clog, which in turn can result in pops, clicks, and dropped notes.

[tonester]

Thanks. That is definitely good advice. Since I only have 2 external HD's, I'll probably keep the MSSI and Ivory on that one. I do keep DP project files there too, though. Is it better to have a different drive altogether
for those?

i know with Sonar, I had a separate HD for the project files, rather than the "C" drive in windows that the program files were on, as was recommended. Does the same hold true for Mac?

tony

[Frodo]

Thanks. That is definitely good advice. Since I only have 2 external HD's, I'll probably keep the MSSI and Ivory on that one. I do keep DP project files there too, though. Is it better to have a different drive altogether
for those?

i know with Sonar, I had a separate HD for the project files, rather than the "C" drive in windows that the program files were on, as was recommended. Does the same hold true for Mac?

tony

Hmm. I'd never gotten into the underbelly of Windows, always had been Mac.

Generally speaking, the project folder (and its audio files) stand a better chance running from a dedicated drive for the same reasons overall performance improves when active VI libraries are streaming from dedicated drives. Laptops and iMacs have inherent limits with expansion. I had to get an eSATA PCIe host card just to open up enough resources for larger projects on my MacPro (and previous G5).

How much a person needs hinges on how busy their projects are. If things are running very well, then it's probably not a problem. Once things like streaming glitches or sample drop outs begin to surface, it's probably worth considering how much data one has running along a single buss.

Internal SATA (other then the internal drive running OSX) + Firewire are two options. Older Firewire is a relatively narrow buss and not always ideal for larger projects. Samples just get clogged too often along the 33Mhz bandwidth. New Firewire busses are now running at SATA speeds, so running several Firewire drives will max out with much higher data loads.

An external Firewire card host is probably the next step towards expansion (with a tower and one available PCIe slot). If one already has Firewire drives, connection is just a matter of having enough cables.

eSATA or eSATA II is the next step up in quantity, quality, and cost. A 4 or 5 drive enclosure offers a tremendous performance jump, but it might be overkill for some users. However, hard drives are VERY easy to outgrow.

Some are praising the speed of solid state drives, but it's not just the drive itself at issue here. Internal SATA, eSATA, Firewire card hosting--- all of these offer separate data paths *as well as* additional library storage. Those separate data paths are what really help.

I have a comparatively small drive, a Raptor 10k rmp 150GB, just for DP projects and associated audio. Once projects are done I archive and off-load them, keeping that particular drive clean. That one drive can pretty much handle the audio for the busiest projects I do for an entire CD's worth of tacks. All of my VIs run from other drives, leaving the system drive alone to handle OSX tasks associated with Virtual Memory caching.

I would avoid streaming along the USB buss-- at least until USB 3.0 appears. USB2 tends to chop up streaming data into chunks, streams them through, then stops to collect another chunk before it streams. That could kill a project that demands more than USB2 can offer. But for simpler projects it might be plenty enough. The only way to tell is to give it a try to see where all of these options top out.

Hope that helps.

[tonester]

yes, that definitley helps. I think I should state here that i'm not running all this on a tower. I have an intel iMac 2.4 with 4G's of RAM. Not the most ideal situation, but it's working very well for me in my small home studio. I am able to run DP6.02, with quite a few softsynths open (Ivory, MSI, MachFive 2, EWQLSO, etc. usually frozen to free up resources). None of my projects are very large, maybe 36 tracks at the most with a few plugins. When I was on a windows-based machine, with pretty much the same specs, it would grind to a halt.

Eventually I want a quadcore MacPro, but that will have to wait until either the economy improves, or some extra money comes rolling in.

so thanks for the advice guys.......