Any method or program to quickly audition VI's?

[waitsongs]

Does anyone know if it's possible to quickly audition VI's, either within DP or Bidule, or with any other program I could run alongside DP or Bidule? I realize this may vary depending on which VI is being used, but even finding a solution for Kontakt3 would be great so I don't have to load each patch simply to decide if I want it or not.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[David Polich]

Are you looking to audition Kontakt sounds prior to loading
them in Kontakt? Or are you looking to audition VI's in general?

[waitsongs]

Since I load most of my libraries through Kontakt3.5, I'd definitely like a way to run through samples/patches without taking time to load them... even just get a couple seconds of the basic sound, like scrolling through presets on a hardware module. I've thought about burning a cd for all the patches in each of my libraries as a quick reference, but I don't know when I'll find time to do that. A reference like this would be useful in all my VI's, not just Kontakt. Any ideas?

[newrigel]

Since I load most of my libraries through Kontakt3.5, I'd definitely like a way to run through samples/patches without taking time to load them... even just get a couple seconds of the basic sound, like scrolling through presets on a hardware module. I've thought about burning a cd for all the patches in each of my libraries as a quick reference, but I don't know when I'll find time to do that. A reference like this would be useful in all my VI's, not just Kontakt. Any ideas?

I doubt your going to find anything instant for a sampler. A synth with a short ROM/RAM element is nothing like loading up a multiple layered keymap of 300 Mb or even larger.
I know you can audition the actual samples in K (with the auto and the speaker icons) but with any type of sampler... your going to have to load the patch and if it has a huge keymap then there's nothing you can do about it. I usually make my custom patches and I know what to expect. When I have the time, I sit and just launch K in standalone and check stuff out and if something really stands out I just make a preset with detailed information to identify it better.
Also, if your using play or any of the scripting patches you have no choice because only K has that capability.
What would be cool is like an SSD PCIe card that could hold sample libraries (just enough to audition) and have them load really fast... I already know about PCI RAM DISKS but a dedicated music product just for users that need those huge keymaps loaded within a second or 2 to audition them... there's a market for it for sure... but I think that just custom editing them and being really descriptive is the key to getting on the mark.

[Shooshie]

Some things just take time. Getting to know your libraries is a relationship in which the time you spend is worth the investment. I suspect after you buy a fairly good number of libraries, it becomes impossible to completely know all the instruments in each one. Take the Apple Loops, for example; they've got the best, fastest, and easiest way to audition them of any library. They are organized by description, and clicking on one allows you to hear it. But I couldn't sit through all of those even if I quit doing everything else.

I think my Garritan Jazz library has something like 60 trumpets, 60 trombones, 49 saxes, and so on. You just have to filter through them, get to know the ones you can and keep trying out the others as you have time. When you find something you like, stop there until you have a lot more time.

If someone started a database or perhaps a CD with samples, it might help, but it would take a lot of work. Maybe that would be marketable. Meanwhile, the only way I know is one instrument at a time.

Shooshie

[David Polich]

Since I load most of my libraries through Kontakt3.5, I'd definitely like a way to run through samples/patches without taking time to load them... even just get a couple seconds of the basic sound, like scrolling through presets on a hardware module. I've thought about burning a cd for all the patches in each of my libraries as a quick reference, but I don't know when I'll find time to do that. A reference like this would be useful in all my VI's, not just Kontakt. Any ideas?

The other replies are correct. There really is no way to audition sounds in Kontakt before loading them. This goes for any sample-based VI.

A partial solution to this is something like the browser in NI products like
Kore, Absynth, FM8, and Massive. You can go to the attributes page and click
on the sound characteristics you want (like "bright", "percussive", "warm",
"analog", etc.) and depending on what your choices are, the browser will
give you a list of sounds with those characteristics. There's no Kontakt browser because Kontakt isn't a self-contained VI, it's a shell to load
sample libraries into.

Hardware workstations like the Yamaha Motif have a "Category Search" feature
where you can quickly select a category and then scroll through a list of
presets for that category. It works because the sounds are loaded into ROM,
meaning there is no loading time. That's why it's more or less instantaneous to audition sounds quickly.

[waitsongs]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I guess it's good to know I wasn't missing something major, but I also think there could be a market for some kind of multi-format sampler patch auditioning device.

I agree it's part of the job to spend time getting to know your instruments, but the most recent project that inspired my question was one where I was under extreme deadline pressure and I needed a lot of sounds outside my previously-made palettes... I knew I had the sounds somewhere, but getting to them quickly, (and while I was constantly near the top of my virtual memory limit and every new patch might bring a crash!), wasn't much fun.

Admittedly, I'm late to the party on Bidule (I'm just now moving my orchestral palette over to Bidule so that I have a little more virtual memory to play with in DP), so perhaps life will get easier once I'm done with that.

Then again, no one said it would be easy making a mediocre living in the music business.......

[newrigel]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I guess it's good to know I wasn't missing something major, but I also think there could be a market for some kind of multi-format sampler patch auditioning device.

I agree it's part of the job to spend time getting to know your instruments, but the most recent project that inspired my question was one where I was under extreme deadline pressure and I needed a lot of sounds outside my previously-made palettes... I knew I had the sounds somewhere, but getting to them quickly, (and while I was constantly near the top of my virtual memory limit and every new patch might bring a crash!), wasn't much fun.

Admittedly, I'm late to the party on Bidule (I'm just now moving my orchestral palette over to Bidule so that I have a little more virtual memory to play with in DP), so perhaps life will get easier once I'm done with that.

Then again, no one said it would be easy making a mediocre living in the music business.......

Like I said in K you can @ least hear what a sample sounds like but after the sample is loaded into K who knows what the filters and all the DSP processes will do. It pays off to just check them out on your off time and make detailed new patches so you can nail them out in short time... but your right about that, I think some sort of dedicated PCIe solution with an SSD (it would have to be fast) to just hold and load only the key elements of the patch (middle octave for example) to audition would be a $$ maker because it helps others make $$! Some have TB sample libraries and wow... how could you effectively utilize them unless you either take the time to really roll up your sleeves and play each and every sound and make a new preset and keep the metadata very, very, very detailed. I find even some of the attribute browsers miss the mark IMO... but that's MO.