Putting samples in the right places!

Apols if this has been asked before - I haven't been able to find anything about it but imagine it's a common issue.

When working with Ns2 and using samples, what is your workflow for making sure that all the samples are saved in the right place, so that projects still work when you come back to them later?

I'm currently doing this:

  • When I am using loops and samples, I put them all into Slate kits (exporting them out of any AU plugins like Koala). I then save that Slate kit as a new User kit. I putting them within a "Project Kits" folder to differentiate them from regular drumkits.
  • This seems to save all the samples.

The only strange thing is that the samples are then saved in a different folder to the project itself, which is different to Ableton where project files and samples are in the same folder.

However I think this should then ensure that when I come back later the samples haven't been deleted.

Interested to know if others approach this in a similar way or if there's a better way to do it?

Comments

  • There is what I ‘should do’, and there is what I ‘usually do’. I def prefer to create Slate kits of AU audio clips instead of relying upon AU to be unchanged. If it is a useful sound, I’ll also create a sample-based Obsidian preset of the AU patch. If it is going to be a while, you should Archive the Project which will save all the samples in an .nsb file. That is the best way to ensure that things don’t accidentally get moved/lost. I don’t do do this enough. I often think I shouldn’t archive until I have finished the track, but it is much smarter to regularly archive and export those files to other places. Hmm. I’m now feeling a strong urge to archive and export all my WIP Projects….

  • Hey, thanks so much - loads of useful tips here.

    I hadn’t thought of just regularly archiving the project - that makes so much sense.

    I have one question - when you say slate clips of au audio clips do you mean bouncing a loop from an au plugin and putting it into a slate kit? If so this is exactly what I’m doing.

    Love the idea of making au into obsidian instruments too.

    This has made me much more confident in all this, thank you!

    Last question - what’s your mitigation for losing your device? Do you do a regular backup to iCloud or something different?

    Enjoy the archiving!

  • edited February 2022

    Yes, that’s what I mean by audio clips. But not just AU apps. Some older apps are not AU and will likely never be updated (but fingers crossed!). So with IAA and AU apps I’ll either record long pads, basslines, melodic phrases, etc. into AudioShare, then pull those into one or more User Slate Kit(s) for that project. These are usually sounds that I think are unique and that I likely won’t re-use in future projects. If there is a really useful/cool synth preset in some other app that I can see using again in the future, I often create a sample-based Obsidian preset for it (usually 6 long notes per octave over a sensible 4 octave range). The sample-based Obsidian preset won’t always sound exactly the same sometimes, often due to some arcane differences in the magic of the effects in different apps, which I don’t understand. But the advantage is that with one OSC playing the samples, I can add to the sound by having the other 2 OSC as another synth/sample sound, so there is a lot of freedom for adjusting the preset to create variations. The downside is that making the sample-based presets does take a certain amount of time, more than some people are willing to put into it. The advantage to either of these techniques is that you don’t have to worry about coming back to a project months or years later only to find that somethin in an AU has changed or no longer works, things that are beyond NS2 to control, esp. if you archive regularly.

    I don’t use iCloud, but will occasionally use Dropbox. When archiving, I will often Airdrop an iPhone project to my iPad. If it’s an iPad project I don’t usually send this to my iPhone because there are too many iPad only apps to keep track of, so if I haven’t transfered those AU to Obsidian or Slate instruments, it’ll not play correctly. The main thing is to get a copy of the .nsb file to my laptop and backed up onto multiple hard drives. The way I help myself keep track of all of this is to put dates on the title of an archived project so that if I loose track of where saved versions are and find them later after I have changed the project, I’ll know it is an outdated archive. I know. A lot to think about. Most of the time one doesn’t need to archive/back up all that often because NS2 is rock solid. The loss a device would be mitigated by having a lot of archived back ups.

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