Interesting and insightful thread. I wound up trying some of the managers etc mentioned. I think a detailed comparison should be made and I have compiled some info but not processed/organized it yet but will say that the manager that consistently works best for me, though not perfect nor without issues, is Sononym. It can be laggy and slow to refresh but has never crashed yet, and plays sample when I click on them, organizes them, and finds them very well (when not lagging). I would like access to, and ability to edit, any metadata in Sononym.
I don't like any that use subscription and won't use them.
I didn't check out, for myself, XO or Atlas as people indicated they are mainly for one shots, and more specifically, drum sounds. I have all types of audio files and don't want that limitation.
Many mention ADSR but, while its layout is decent, it can't handle my 130,000 plus sample library. It lags and crashes constantly, so I uninstalled it.
The free Sound Particles Explorer look interesting but the fact that it can’t do rescans was a no go for me. If/when Explorer adds ability to rescan libraries and edit metadata (which their support says are in the works) I will revist it.
Basehead looks quite good but it’s ability to rescan starts with Standard version which costs $449! Too rich for me at this time, Getting into that price are one would have to do serious comparison between Basehead and Soundminer. Soundminer appears to popular with pros but seemed more than I need, or can afford. It looks dated but probably does the most of all managers.
A little freebie call Mutand by Soundwire, while looking very dated, actually doesn’t seem bad. It’s just a small executable, no installing. Scans folders quickly and rescans as needed. It has ability for users to add information under a variety of fields but this appears to be specific to the program and doesn’t appear to added the info to files so you won’t see it in other programs. If it did it might a winner. Even as it is - can’t really fault for its price ($0).
Resonic Pro looks interesting. Doesn’t seem so much a manager though but more of an audio tool. The free version doesn’t do much for me but I need to spend more time exploring the Pro trial. It seems to provide the most file info, second perhaps to Soundminer. Unfortunately, at this time, the metadata doesn’t appear to be editable. It’s not the most expensive program, but for a slowly developed beta, the price still seems high to me (about $75 US I think).
I also have Cosmos and it has proved stable, never crashed, but I don't find I use it much.
So, to sum up, for me, currently Sononym fits the bill best and has proved itself very useful in consolidating my samples and cleaning up duplicates etc.
I don't like any that use subscription and won't use them.
I didn't check out, for myself, XO or Atlas as people indicated they are mainly for one shots, and more specifically, drum sounds. I have all types of audio files and don't want that limitation.
Many mention ADSR but, while its layout is decent, it can't handle my 130,000 plus sample library. It lags and crashes constantly, so I uninstalled it.
The free Sound Particles Explorer look interesting but the fact that it can’t do rescans was a no go for me. If/when Explorer adds ability to rescan libraries and edit metadata (which their support says are in the works) I will revist it.
Basehead looks quite good but it’s ability to rescan starts with Standard version which costs $449! Too rich for me at this time, Getting into that price are one would have to do serious comparison between Basehead and Soundminer. Soundminer appears to popular with pros but seemed more than I need, or can afford. It looks dated but probably does the most of all managers.
A little freebie call Mutand by Soundwire, while looking very dated, actually doesn’t seem bad. It’s just a small executable, no installing. Scans folders quickly and rescans as needed. It has ability for users to add information under a variety of fields but this appears to be specific to the program and doesn’t appear to added the info to files so you won’t see it in other programs. If it did it might a winner. Even as it is - can’t really fault for its price ($0).
Resonic Pro looks interesting. Doesn’t seem so much a manager though but more of an audio tool. The free version doesn’t do much for me but I need to spend more time exploring the Pro trial. It seems to provide the most file info, second perhaps to Soundminer. Unfortunately, at this time, the metadata doesn’t appear to be editable. It’s not the most expensive program, but for a slowly developed beta, the price still seems high to me (about $75 US I think).
I also have Cosmos and it has proved stable, never crashed, but I don't find I use it much.
So, to sum up, for me, currently Sononym fits the bill best and has proved itself very useful in consolidating my samples and cleaning up duplicates etc.
Statistics: Posted by sonicvision — Tue Jan 07, 2025 9:53 pm