audiofinder manual

ultimate audio workflow tools

AudioFinder - 1 of 85

Electronic Musician's 2005 Editors' Choice Award

"We had some fine choices this year, but when the dust settled, the nod went to Iced Audio's AudioFinder, a Mac OS X jack-of-all-trades utility that takes the grind out of managing your audio files. AudioFinder automates and simplifies so many tedious tasks, it's hard to know where to start.” – Electronic Musician Magazine.

"This is a superb program that stands out as an essential purchase for Mac musos." – Computer Music Magazine, May 2005.

"If you rely on audio CDs in your sampling arsenal, you'll rejoice when you see AudioFinder's Sample Extractor... This tool alone is worth the price of admission..." – Francis Preve, Power Tools Software For Loop Music.

"AudioFinder has become indispensable to my way of working with audio in general, and samples in specific. it's a small program with a big purpose – I use it every day." – Paul Haslinger, Producer, Soundtrack Composer, and former Tangerine Dream member.

"In one simple program, AudioFinder gives me everything I used to get from three separate programs under OS9: instant file previewing, batch conversion, and sophisticated batch renaming. Goodies like MIDI keyboard playback and BPM Detector with Rename are like icing on the cake. Nice work! I'll be using this quite a bit..." – Charlie Clouser, producer/programmer/remixer (nine inch nails, Helmet, Rob Zombie...)

"If you're using Mac OS X and have a sample library, this is a must-have download."– Electronic Musician Magazine.


Overview AudioFinder is the digital musician's workflow accelerator, audio asset management system, and music production hub. AudioFinder lets you look at what is already on your computer's hard disks in new ways so that you will find sounds that you never knew you had.

AudioFinder will allow you to be more creative by handling all the time-consuming tasks that slow down your music production.

If you're a digital musician who's got hordes of sound sample files scattered all over your hard drive, this handy app will help you locate and audition them to find the ones you want to use in a project. It works kind of like an audio file browser, blazing through your hard disk to find sound files (Apple Loop, AIFF, AIFC, SDII, WAV, REX, RX2, ReCycle, MID, and SYX formats supported), and then allowing you to play each file from within its easy-to-use interface. From there, you can flag all the desired files in the favorites folder and then simply import them from the folder to your audio sequencer of choice. It also has a BPM feature that will either guess the beats-per-minute in a drum loop or song sample for you, or let you tap out the beats of the rhythm on its BPM Tap Pad to manually determine the tempo.

As well as allowing you to apply DSP, AudioFinder also helps you edit, slice, and rearrange your samples and loops quickly and musically.

With AudioFinder you can build a catalog of every sound on your system, save it, search it instantly to find the sounds you need when you need them – then tailor them to fit your project.

AudioFinder is the original and first sample asset management system for Mac OS X and the most frequently updated music application anywhere. Updates are always free.

This manual only scratches the surface. AudioFinder is a deep program and there are lots of hidden features, so go explore for yourself.


PLEASE REPORT BUGS: If you find something not working as expected, please post a message on the AudioFinder website and it will be fixed ASAP. It always helps if you can send us a crash log. Simply copy the text from the crash dialog and paste it an email addressed to [email protected]

PLEASE USE THE ONLINE MESSAGEBOARD: Post your tips or describe new ways to use AudioFinder. Help build the community and share your knowledge and tips with others.

http://www.icedaudio.com/phpBB2

About this manual

Programmers are notorious for being terrible at writing documentation and Iced Audio is no exception. If you find errors or problems in this manual, or if you find a particular part confusing, please let us know. Email [email protected] with your thoughts. If there is something that you feel is not covered and should be, feel free to make suggestions.




mailto:[email protected]


ReCycle REX support installation

In order to play ReCycle REX files, you must have the "REX Shared Library" and “REX Shared Library.bundle” installed on your computer in the /Library/Application Support folder. AudioFinder requires the REX Shared Library to be version 1.6.0 or higher. If this is not already installed on your computer, you can use the installer found in the AudioFinder/Extras folder.

Because many applications use the REX Shared Library, AudioFinder does not install it automatically since, in most cases, it is already installed.

How to install:

1. Go to the AudioFinder/Extras application folder.2. Run ReCycle Installer3. Try playing a REX file.

Check the Propellerheads website for the latest info:

http://www.propellerheads.se/


http://www.propellerheads.se

http://www.propellerheads.se

The AudioFinder Main Window

AudioFinder offers many ways to find and preview sounds from several different sources. In the left hand Sidebar you will find a mixture of sound sources that can be viewed in the sound list on the right. Each selected sound is previewed in the AudioViewer portion below. Sounds can be previewed at different pitches by using the Mini-keyboard or a MIDI keyboard. The buttons along the top of the AudioViewer feature signal processing options.


Library SidebarThe Sidebar is divided into six main sections, Devices, Bookmarks, Special, Library, Recents, and your own groupings known as Folders. Above the Sidebar there is a Popup menu entitled “Library” which you can use to manage the Sidebar. The Sidebar drives the views on the right side of the AudioFinder main window and allows you to organize your workflow in the way that most suites your needs. There are many interesting ways to add items and navigate by dragging.

DEVICES: Navigates hard drives and displays their audio contents. If you drag a file to this item AudioFinder will navigate to the folder in which it resides.

BOOKMARKS: Navigates hard drives and displays their audio contents starting at a previously Bookmarked location. If you drag a file to this item AudioFinder will create a new Bookmark.

OS X FINDER: Includes Finder Selection, Spotlight Query and Mac OS X Finder Sidebar items.

Finder Selection: This is a revolutionary feature that synchronizes AudioFinder and the Mac OS X Finder in a symbiotic way. When in this mode, AudioFinder will play whatever sounds you have selected in the Mac OS X System Finder. It tracks your movements and clicks and offers instant previewing of sounds directly from Finder. (More on this later).

Spotlight Query: This switches AudioFinder to using Mac OS X’s Spotlight database, see the Spotlight section for more details.

Mac OS X Finder Sidebar Items: Here you will Find the same items as in the “PLACES” group in the Mac OS X Finder.

SPECIAL: Includes Finder Selection, Spotlight Query and Session Favorites.

Session Favorites Bin: A bin where you can drag sounds that you like and may want to use in a project. It is a temporary storage location and will only keep a reference to the file. If you like, you can use the “Save” button to save this list.

LIBRARY: Scanning for sounds and accessing saved Libraries.

Main Library: The saved list of sounds that you consider your main collection. Additional libraries can be saved using the “Save” menu Library Sidebar Menu.

Scan (Location Name): One of the most powerful and unique features in AudioFinder, Scanning searches the specified location and all folders and subfolders within it for sound files. (See the section on Scanning for in-depth details).

(Scan Sets): If you have previously made Scan Sets in the "Scan Set Setup..." panel, they will appear here. See the section on Scan Sets for more details.


(Other Saved Libraries): Previously saved Library sound collections. If you drag files to saved Library they will be added to it

RECENTS: The most recent searches and playback history. You can set the maximum number of recents in the Preferences panel. Each time you type in a search or play a file it is remembered during the session. If you wish to save these results you can drag any of these items to Sidebar Group or the LIBRARY item.

Sidebar Groups: User created Sidebar Groups. Sidebar Groups can contain Bookmarks, Scan Sets and saved Libraries. Groups allow one to group different items by project or other conventions. Dragging files to a Sidebar Group creates a new Bookmarks within the Folder. You can set custom icons and colors for your user created Sidebar Groups and items within.

Note: Sidebar Groups are not file system folders. They are a simple way to group other items in the Sidebar. They can only contain two types of items, Libraries and Bookmarks.


Library Sidebar Menu:

This menu contains the major actions that allow you to manage and configure the Sidebar and Libraries. This same menu is also available as a contextual menu on each of the items in the Sidebar.

Refresh: Updates the list of files. If browsing a Volume it reloads the directory and if Scanning it triggers a rescan.

Save As Main Library: Saves the current list of sounds as the Main Library.

Save As...: Creates a new Library item based from the current list of sounds.

Info: Allows setting of a custom icon and color for the selected item in the Sidebar.

Rename: Renames the currently selected item in the Sidebar.

Delete/Remove: Deletes or Removes the currently selected item in the Sidebar.

New Sidebar Group: Creates a Folder in the Sidebar where you can keep Libraries and Bookmarks bundled together.

Scan Set Setup: Opens the Scan Set Setup panel, see the section on Scan Sets for a full description.

Scan Item Type Setup: Opens the Scan Item Type Setup panel, see the section of this for a full description

Add Bookmark: Adds a new Bookmark based on the current location in the Bookmarks item and Organizer menu

Bookmarks Setup: Opens the Bookmarks Setup panel.


AudioViewer controls

Top row items

Free: When enabled, this detaches the AudioViewer and makes it a floating window. Disabling this returns the AudioViewer to the AudioFinder Main Window.

Min: Miniaturizes the AudioViewer into the Dock when it is in “Free” mode.

Finder Selection: Toggles between the AudioFinder built in browser and the Mac OS X Finder.

New Window: Creates a new Finder window when in “Free” mode. The size and default location of this window may be set in the Preferences.

Action Menu: Provides a collection of useful actions for each sound.

Tools Menu: Allows for quick access to your pre-configured third party sound tools.

Process Menu: Features AudioFinder’s built-in DSP actions.

AudioUnits Menu: Provides quick access to AudioUnits for signal processing.

Presets Menu: A handy list of your favorite AudioUnit presets. Simply selecting a preset opens the desired plug-in with the preset already loaded.

Auto: Toggles instant playback of the sound.

MIDI: Toggles MIDI keyboard playback of the sound.

AudioFinder: Brings the AudioFinder Main Window to the front.

Top: Makes the AudioViewer stay on top of all other windows.


Transport controls

Shuffle Play: Plays a random sound selection. * is the keyboard shortcut.

Autopilot Playlist: Plays the contents of a folder starting from the selected file.

Loop: Plays the current file infinitely. Try this with drum loops for instant grooves. You could even perform with just this.L is the shortcut.

Play: Plays the selected file. When playing, pressing it again stops. Hitting the space-bar also starts/stops playback. Additionally, hitting Return starts playback at the beginning of the sound regardless of where the transport slider is.

Volume Slider: Adjusts the volume.

Transport Slider: The Transport Slider works a little differently than in other applications such as QuickTime. In AudioFinder, the Transport Slider is where playback starts from. For example, let's say you have a 10-minute sound file and the part you want to test with the mini keyboard is five minutes in. Here, you would move the Transport Slider to the half-way point and playback will always start from there. The Transport Slider does not move while the sound is playing – it stays locked to the starting position. Use the digital time window to determine actual play time.

(Tip: Select any drum loop sound and click the loop button. Then, using the numeric keypad, type in different BPM tempos in the BPM text field and hit the enter key. The sound will reset and start playback at your desired speed.)

(Tip: Drag a list of files to AudioFinder’s dock icon to automatically play them.)

Playing Dual Channel Mono Files as Stereo

To play two independent mono files as a stereo file simply multi-select the two files and AudioFinder will mix them on the fly as a stereo file for previewing. Multi-selection is achieved by holding down the Command key when clicking on the filenames.


Waveform Preview

Waveform Preview is a bird's eye view of the entire sound file. If the sound is stereo, the left and right channels are shown combined. In certain cases, depending on the length of the sound, the Waveform Preview is disabled. (See the Options menu section for details). The red flag displays the maximum peak volume of the sound in dB.

Some applications build a waveform preview cache and write it into the sound file. This is then read back when reopening that file to save time. However, this technique changes the modification date and the size of your file. The first time AudioFinder sees a file it builds a Waveform Preview cache and saves it to the AudioFinder folder in your home folder’s Library/Caches.

Depending on your computer's speed, you can fine-tune when AudioFinder shows a preview. You may also want empty the preview cache from time to time as files have been deleted or moved on your system. (See Options menu for details)

When an MP3 file is selected, the ID3 tag information is also displayed here.

Export Selection

You can select a portion of the audio to playback by drag selecting a region of the Waveform Preview. When there is a selection, only the selection will be played. If you hold down the Control Key and drag, the selection is exported to a new file. This is handy when you have a file with several samples in it that you would like to use separately. Each newly created file will have a serialized file name to make multiple exports easy.

It is important to realize that the Waveform Preview is an overview of the entire sound. Therefore the longer the sound, the less pixels there are per sample on screen. What this means is the accuracy of the selection area decreases proportionally to the length of the sound in general. Exporting selection should be thought of as a rough cut, to be extremely precise down to a single sample, use the Sample Tool. Another option to increase accuracy is to do a series of more refined selections and exports, each one getting closer to the desired location.

Note: only PCM (aiff, wav and sd2) files are supported here.


Using the Mini-keyboard

The two-octave Mini-keyboard is designed to let you preview sounds at different pitches. The playback is Mellotron/sampler style, where the speed of the sample is either increased or decreased to alter the pitch. To the left of the Mini-keyboard is an octave shifter which allows you to explore a large range of pitch and playback speed. The first "C" key when the octave is set to "0" represents the original pitch of the current sound, even if the sound itself is not a "C." When you see "• C" the " • " indicates that the sound is being played at the original pitch.

The Mini-keyboard can be controlled via a MIDI keyboard. (See the Options menu to enable MIDI input).

Changing pitch permanently

If you would like to permanently alter the pitch of the current sound, go to the Process menu and select "Varispeed/Pitch Shift". This will create a new sound file using the Keyboard's current pitch. Clever use of this simple feature opens up a world of creative possibilities. It works by scaling the sample rate, which results in the sound being played back either faster or slower. This is the classic way samplers worked.

Audio file info

Basic information about the currently selected sound file.

BPM Detector

The BPM Detector can help you determine the BPM of a loop by looking at the length of the file and the number of bars and beats that you provide. AudioFinder does a best-guess of the BPM based on information you enter, so the process is not completely automatic. The BPM Detector is not intended for long material such as full tracks, but for perfectly cut loops.

Changing the BPM value manually changes the playback speed to match the new tempo – you can use this feature to re-tempo loops for use in other applications.

Guides: For sounds with 64 or fewer bars, you can use this feature to display measure/bar markers. Frequently, incoming sample CD loops have an extra beat on the end or aren't truncated correctly. Normally, you have to listen to the loop till the end to hear if it loops correctly. Using AudioFinder's visual grid, you can tell if samples are correctly looped because you can instantly see whether the beats line up to the grid The grid is based on the Bars and Beats settings. Bars are represented by a solid line. Quarter notes are represented by a dashed line. Sixteenth notes are represented by a dotted line.

Bars: Used in detecting the BPM. You must set this in order to ensure the BPM is correctly calculated. One bar = four beats. AudioFinder uses 4/4 time always.


Beats: Used in detecting the BPM. Use this if your loop has any extra beats. Some loops have an extra beat at the end, so in that case you would use a value of "1". This value is added to the number of bars. In most cases, the value of bars should be zero.

Tap Pad: Brings up the BPM Tap Pad window.

BPM field: Shows the BPM from either the Tap Pad or BPM detector. This field can be edited manually as well. If you edit this field, the current sample will playback relative to the new setting. For instance, if you have a drum loop that is 100 BPM and you would like to speed it up to 120 BPM, enter 120 into the field and click Play. If you want to make this speed change permanent, go to the Process menu and select "Change Pitch/Speed."

(NOTE: When using REX files, the BPM, Beats, and Bars are based on the actual data contained in the REX file, and are therefore not a best-guess).

(Tip: Use the BPM field to control the playback speed).


Organizing files

AudioFinder has a very convenient way to help you organize your sound files. Before you can use this feature, you will need to set up some bookmarked folder locations.

Copy | Alias | Move Buttons: Copy, alias, or move the current file(s) to the folder currently selected.

Folder Destination: The folder where files are copied, moved, or aliased to. This can be set by using the “Bookmarks Setup.” If you hover over this popup, a tool tip will display the full path to the folder.

Trash: Moves the selected sound file to the Trash. The sound can be retrieved from the Mac OS X system Trash if needed.


Finder Selection

Finder Selection Mode is a revolutionary feature and an AudioFinder first. When you enable this mode in the Library Sidebar, AudioFinder will watch your selections in the Mac OS X Finder and automatically preview them for you. This is great for when you want to use Spotlight or other Finder-related tools while still retaining the power of AudioFinder. To get the most out of this feature, it is often advisable to click the “Free” button in the AudioViewer to detach it from the AudioFinder window. Then you will be able to easily click in Finder windows and see the waveform while maximizing the amount of screen space.

There are two useful preferences in Preferences->Windows Tab that make this the default mode:

Launch in Finder Selection Mode will do just what it says, always launch AudioFinder with this mode enabled and automatically detach the AudioViewer.

Audio hide AudioViewer in Finder Selection Mode will hide the AudioViewer when non-sounds are selected. The default is it remains visible at all times.


MiniviewsA Miniview is a thumbnail icon of what the soundʼs waveform looks like. It is placed next to the file name of each sound in the list.

Why is this useful? Imagine you have three sounds that have names that donʼt describe the file, for instance “audio1.aiff”, “sound.aiff” and “track32.aiff”

By looking at the Miniview one can ascertain information about the file.

For example the following Miniview is a 808 Kick Drum:

Here is a synth pad sound:

Finally, here is a loop file, notice the impulse pattern, this is distinctively a visual characteristic of a loop:

With practice one can learn to intuit a lot of info about a sound simply by looking the waveform. Looking is faster than listening.


Metadata Browser

AudioFinder features the ability to decode and display the Metadata in Apple Loops, ACID Loop and BWF files. The Metadata info viewer will display all the relevant information embedded in the file.

To disable this panel from popping up automatically when an Apple Loop is selected, see the Preferences ->Windows Tab.


Scanning for sounds

Basic scanning from the current Browser location

The Scanner offers a bird's eye view of all sounds in all the folders from the location currently displayed in the Browser. The greater the number of files on your hard drive(s), the longer the scan will take as AudioFinder will recursively cruise through all your folders and/or volumes looking for sound files.

Once a scan is complete, you can click the button entitled "Save Main." This will save the results into AudioFinder's Main Library Sidebar item. Once saved, you will not need to scan again and every sound on the system will always be instantly available in the Main Library each time you launch AudioFinder. If new sounds are added or sounds are moved, renamed, or deleted outside of AudioFinder, the saved scan memory will become out of sync. This is harmless and can be fixed by rescanning. Scan memories are saved in ".memory" files located in the AudioFinder folder in the Application Support folder. Additionally, you can open these files with a text editor and manually edit the path information to correct references that are out of sync with your system. The file format is standard XML. Because the files are cached in this fashion, AudioFinder can find them extremely quickly.

You can have as many saved scans as you like. To save additional scan memories, simply click the Save button. To remove a scan, click the Delete button.

You can also rescan anytime by clicking the Rescan button.

The sounds in the list can be sorted by clicking on the column headers. By default, the sounds are displayed in the order in which they were found. When you save a scan, the currently displayed order of the sounds in the list is preserved.

(NOTE: Depending on the number of sounds you wish to sort, you may have to wait a while if you choose to sort by the extended file information. AudioFinder must open a sound file to get the extended information – this takes time).

(NOTE: The Scanner does not follow symbolic links or aliases because they can lead to infinite loops. Also, it does not scan non-local file systems).


Searching

The Search field enables you to find any sound based on the file and/or path name. Searching has two modes. The first – the simple pattern matching mode – is the fastest and the default. The second – advanced mode – is based on Regular Expressions. Regular Expressions are sets of symbols and syntactic elements used to match patterns of text. It is beyond the scope of this manual to explain the complete syntax of Regular Expressions but information on this powerful method of finding text can be quickly gleaned from a Google search. By default, Regular Expressions are turned off in the Search field. In order to enable this feature, you must select Enable Regular Expressions from the Library menu. Just to give you a taste of what Regular Expressions can do, let's say you want to find all loops that have a number between 1-10 after the word "loop." To do this, you simply type "loop[1-10]". If you're looking for "pads" or "synths," just type "pads | synths" – pretty cool, huh?

A list of useful keywords is already stored in the Search menu and the last 254 searches you typed are remembered in there as well.

Searches always happen instantly since all of the sound files were already discovered by AudioFinder during the scanning process. However, if you are using complex Regular Expressions, this will impact the speed of the search depending on its complexity.

Clicking the Refine button will search within the list of currently displayed sounds. Clicking the Exclude button will remove items that match the search criteria from the list. You can use these two options to narrow down a search.

For example:

1. Type "drum" and click Search.2. Type "electronic" and click Refine.3. Type "kick" and click Refine.

This will first search the entire scan memory for any sounds with the keyword "drum" in the name, then refine within those results to find any sounds with the keyword "electronic" in the name, and finally within those results to find any sounds with the keyword "kick" in the name.

Tired of repeatedly using "Refine Search" to narrow down your search results? Simply add two "&&" between words to refine your search. Think of this feature as a simple way to refine your search multiple times using a single phrase.

For example, type "drum && electronic && kick".

Using this text would first search for all folder and file names containing the word "drum". The results of that search are then refined to all items also containing the word "electronic", and then the smaller list of folders/files would be searched yet again for items containing "kick".


The above example only uses three search levels but you can use far more to really hone your search for folders/files.

There is also a handy operator '!!' which excludes items from a search.

For example, type “drum && loop !! break !! trance”

This will find all sounds that have the words “drum” and “loop” in the name, but do not have the words ”break” and “trance”.

(NOTE: This is only available when Regular Expressions are not enabled).

Saving search results

Once you have a selection of sounds that you want to save, you can click the Save button, and only those files in the list will be saved to a new memory file and placed in the Library Sidebar.

Additionally, you can save scans for CDs or other removable media that you don't normally have mounted. This way, you can build a catalog of sounds not only on your system's hard disks but also on offline media.

Generally, loading a scan memory is very fast but there are a few things to consider. If your scan has hundreds of thousands of sounds in it, it will be a large amount of data to load. Therefore you may experience a small delay when loading huge scans. It is better to break down scans into smaller chunks. Try using Scan Sets to scan specific folders and then saving those results. AudioFinder makes things easy, but you are still required to determine how best to maximize the results on your unique computer, hard drive, and sound configuration – no two people work the same way. Break your scans down by categories and then save those. The idea isn't to have one giant scan only – try different strategies to optimize your workflow.

Set up the Main Library with every sound on your computer

1. Using the Sidebar item "Browse," navigate in the Browser to the “Volumes” folder.2. Click Scan “Volumes” in the Sidebar and prepare to wait a while. You won't have to wait next time.3. At the bottom of the list, the progress indicator will show AudioFinder's progress in scanning your system.4. Once the scan is complete, you can click the popup menu next to the Find field and select "Save Main."

Once this process is done, each time you launch AudioFinder all your sounds will be in the Scanner window and instantly findable.


Because AudioFinder has to look at every file to determine whether it is a sound or not, by default it only looks at the file extension (.aiff, .wav, etc.). This greatly enhances the speed of the scan. However, it may be that your sounds do not have file extensions. Therefore, by default, AudioFinder won't find these. It is easy to change this behavior – simply select "Scanner Uses Slower Maximum Scan" from the Library menu and AudioFinder will open each file and look inside to see whether it contains audio. It will take longer but it will find sounds without file extensions. Additionally, make sure there are some file types checked in the "Scan For File Types" panel available from the Scanner Menu.


Drag and Drop (DnD)

AudioFinder supports a number of ways to DnD sounds to and from it.

If you have a selection of sounds in the Mac OS X Finder and would like to listen them in sequence, you can drag your selection to the AudioFinder Dock Icon or the AudioFinder Application Icon.

You can also DnD the current selection of sounds to any other application. If you DnD to another audio application, the sound files will be played or added to it. If you drag to Mac OS X Finder, it will copy the files.

You can drag files from Finder into the sound list to add them. (When AudioFinder is in Browse Mode, dragging an item to the list doesn’t add it – instead, it navigates to that location).


Spotlight support

Spotlight Query

When “Spotlight Query” is selected in the AudioFinder Sidebar, anything typed into the search field will be searched using Mac OS X’s Spotlight database. Not only is the filename searched for, but also all the metadata keys that match as well. So if there are Apple Loops or MP3s with metadata AudioFinder will retrieve the files that match the query. Note: Regular Expressions and the AudioFinder logical operators are only available when using the Refine and Exclude buttons.

Smart Folders

AudioFinder can create Spotlight Smart Folders based on your sound selections. Apple describes Smart Folders as follows:

”Smart Folders contain documents grouped together based on search criteria that you define instead of their physical location. Computer file systems are rigid: a file can only be in one folder inside a hierarchy of other folders on your disk. Smart Folders fundamentally change the way you organize your stuff because now a file can literally be in two folders (or many) at once without duplicating or moving the underlying file.

"Like Smart Playlists in iTunes, Smart Folders automatically update in real time when you add or remove documents from your Mac. They can contain documents from anywhere in your home directory and external drives, and creating one is as easy as saving a search in the Finder.”

In either the Browser or Scanner you can select any number of files and, from the File menu, select “Create Spotlight Smart Folder.” You will then be prompted for a name and location in which to create. Depending on the number of files, the length of time this will take can vary. Upon completion of the previous steps, you will be able to use the Mac OS X Finder to access your Smart Folder.

The Tiger version of Spotlight has limited abilities for setting the metadata on each file. Basically, only the Comments can be set by third-party applications. AudioFinder works around this by creating a special Search Key in each file’s Comments field. This Search Key is then used to find the files. You will notice that each file will contain “(AFSearchKey-smart folder name)” in its Comments section. Don't delete this from the Comments because the file will then no longer be found in the Smart Folder. If you want to exclude the file from the Smart Folder, you can delete its key from its Comments. If you want to remove several files from the Smart Folder, you can use “Clear Comments” from the File menu. This will erase all comments in the selected files, including the Search Keys.

(NOTE: Some third-party audio applications save edited files in such a way as to erase Comments. In this case, the saved file may appear to be missing next time you view the Smart Folder. Therefore Smart Folders created by AudioFinder should be viewed as transitory in nature).


Library menu

Show Waveform Miniviews: When enabled the sound’s waveform will be displayed next to the name of the sound in the list. (See the Miniviews section)

Build Waveform Miniviews: This will build Waveform Miniview for all the currently selected files. The maximum number of Miniviews created is governed by the Waveform Preview Cache (see Preferences)

View Columns: Chooses the metadata columns you wish to view in the list.

Hide/Show Folder Column Browser: This hides or shows the folder browser view when in Browse Mode.

Add Sounds Manually: Sometimes it may be desired to add sounds to an already existing scan or build a custom scan manually. This feature brings up a file browser where you can multi-select sounds to add. If you are adding to an already existing scan memory, you will need to resave it after you make changes. You can also simply drag sounds into any scan list from the Finder.

Clear Playback History: Clear the playback history of sounds played since AudioFinder was launched.

Add to Session Favorites: Adds any selected sounds to your Session Favorites.

Clear Session Favorites: Clears the sounds listed in the Session Favorites.

Export Library Report: Produces a (Tab Delimited) text file named "AudioFinder Library Report.txt" on the Desktop. This file contains an exported list of all the files in the currently listed scan along with detailed information on each sound. This is very useful in combination


with a spreadsheet or database for asset management. You can import this file into your favorite database or spreadsheet. If you have a massive number of files, prepare to wait a while.

There are a multitude of uses for this feature. Game designers have used it in conjunction with source control systems for keeping a database of the sounds/songs they use in their projects.

Because AudioFinder produces an industry standard export file, the options for this feature are endless. For example, you could create a FileMaker Pro database with detailed information about your entire catalog.

Please keep in mind that, depending on the number of files you have selected to export in your report, AudioFinder may take some time because it must look inside each file to gather the most recent information.

Enable Slower Deep Scanning: Scanning a computer for sound files is a slow process because AudioFinder literally has to examine every file and determine whether it is a usable sound or not. In order to speed this up, by default, AudioFinder looks at just the file extensions for audio files. This Deep Scanning option tells AudioFinder to open every file and look inside its header to determine if it can be played. It slows down the scanning processes but will find audio files even if they have no file extension.

Enable Regular Expressions: Turns on the Regular Expression evaluator in the Search field. (See the section on Searching for more information).

Scan Set Setup: This dialog is where you create and remove Scan Sets. (See the section on Scan Sets for more information).

Scan Item Type Setup: This dialog is where you set the types of files that will be scanned for. (See the section on Scan Item Type Setup for more information).

Search in Folder Names: Include folder names in a search. For instance, some files may have a non-useful name like "001.aif", but are contained in a folder called "/pads/001.aif".

Search in File Names: Include the file name in a search.

Search in Comments: Searching in Comments can take a long time if there are a lot of sounds to search through. Every sound in the scan list will be opened and searched. To speed this process up, try to reduce the number of sounds in the scan list before you search in Comments. By default, this option is always turned off.


Advanced scanning – using Scan Sets

Sometimes you might want to build a scan that is more granular than you can get from simply scanning one single folder hierarchy. For instance, let's say you have several different folders that have "Synth" sounds in them and would like to scan only those folders. The fewer files AudioFinder has to look at, the faster the scan will be, so setting up AudioFinder to scan only some folders can be a huge time saver. You can do this with "Scan Sets." To create custom Scan Sets, go to the "Scan Set Setup..." panel under the Library Menu.

Scan Set Setup

To create a new Scan Set, click the "+" button. A dialog will appear for you to name the set. To delete a Scan Set, select one and click the "-" button. To edit the folders that comprise a Scan Set, select it and click the Edit Scan Set tab.

The Edit Scan Set tab works very simply. Click the "+" button to add a folder for scanning. Click the "-" button to remove a folder. Once you have everything set up the way you want, click OK. Your Scan Sets will then appear in the Scan Memory Popup.


Scan Item Type Setup

The Scan Item Type Setup panel allows you to configure the types of files that are searched for when scanning. There are two categories – Built-In and User Scan Items. The Built-In types include AIFF, SD2, WAV, MP3 (M4A, AAC), and REX. All of these formats are playable by AudioFinder. User Scan Items are a list of file extensions for any type of file that you would like AudioFinder to scan for. These files do not have to be playable by AudioFinder. You might simply want to scan for them and use AudioFinder to manage them for you. For example, AudoFinder can’t play EXS files, but you can add the file extension “.exs” to the list and use AudioFinder to find all of your EXS files.


Sample Tool

Sample Tool is AudioFinder’s unique and efficient way to make common edits to your sounds.

The Sample Tool is specialized for focused purposes:

• Providing multiple instances of “sampler synthesizer” playback between other open Sample Tool windows.

• Quick trimming and tidying up sounds for use in other applications. • Simplified editing interface.• Granular synthesis, grain manipulation and slicing techniques.• Slicing and exporting the beats in a loop through impulse detection.• Loop editing.• Quickly viewing audio files in depth before sending them to an application.• Setting the length of the sound precisely.• Determining if a loop from library is properly “cut.”• etc...

It’s important to understand that the Sample Tool has some structural differences compared to the standard audio editors. One difference is it is 100% RAM based and optimized for samples. This means it is possible to run out of memory when using long format material. If this happens you need to close some other open Sample Tool windows and release the memory being used. Generally the best results are obtained by only using sounds that are track length and under. Long format material is better left to the major audio editors. The reason for this is at it’s core it has a sampler playback engine with a visual interface for editing on top. A kind of a hybrid.


About The Tools

The Sample Tool’s editing features operate in a few distinct ways. The main editing tools are located on the top right corner of the Sample Tool window. You can make standard edit selections with mouse when the I-Beam tool is enabled and edit the sound in the classic fashion or use the Trim & Fade tools to execute rapid trimming of sounds. The main difference when using the Trim and & Fade tools is that the sound processing happens when saving the sound. Whereas when working with the I-Beam tool sound processing happens instantly. The Trim & Fade tools are very useful for rapidly “cleaning” a large number of poorly trimmed sound files, while the I-Beam tool is for making surgical edits.

Tool Descriptions

To make selections for normal copy, cut, paste, delete and other processing edits, enable the I-Beam selection tool. When a selection is active AudioFinder will play the area selected exclusively and if Loop button is enabled, it will loop the selection.

To trim a sample, use the Trim tools located in the top right corner. There are two Trim tools, a left (start) and a right (end). When enabled, these tools appear as red lines with a circle on top. Grab the circle to move the tool to where you want the sound to start and/or end. You can use one or both of them at the same time. If your sound only has an extra beat at the end, you only need to enable the right (end) tool. Playback will loop in relation to the locations of the start and end tools. You can use this feature to loop an audio file or cut out a sample from the larger file.

(Tip: Normally the default initial location for these tools is 15% from the start or end of the file. If you would like the initial location to be where the cursor is located, hold down the Option key when clicking the tool button. Or you can enable Tools to Cursor in the Options menu.)

The Fade-In and Fade-Out tools allow you to draw a fade line which will be the range of either a fade-in or fade-out.

(NOTE: When using Loop Region, the Trim and Fade Tools are disabled).

The Play Start tool is for designating a new playback start point in a sound. In some cases, it may be desired to start a sound – particularly a loop – at a different location. To make your change permanent, click the "Rotate to Start" button.


For example, imagine you have a drum loop and you want the middle of this loop to become the beginning. Simply enable the Play Start tool and move it to the location in the sound that works best. Then click the "Rotate to Start" button to make your change permanent.

(NOTE: The Play Start tool has no effect if it is located outside of the Trim tools.)

Clicking and dragging anywhere on the screen positions the green playback position cursor. Additionally, zooming always zooms to the location of the green playback position cursor. So if you are working in a particular section of the sound and want to zoom in, make sure the green playback position cursor is on top of the area where you are working.

(TIP: Drag the green playback position cursor during playback for a cool scrub effect).

The Loop Region tool is for editing and setting the Loop Region in an audio file. A Loop Region is a special Marker in the audio file that music applications reference to know where to loop a sound. Loop Regions are particularly useful for sample files used by software sampler instruments.

Loop Regions are actually Slice Markers that can be deleted with the Delete Slice Tool.

(NOTE: When Loop Region is enabled the Trim Tools and Fade Tools are disabled. If you set a Loop Region and then disable the Loop Region button, the Loop Region will still be set in the resulting file. The only way to remove a Loop Region is to use the Delete Slice Tool).

Use the zoom controls on the bottom for Maximizing, Zooming In, Zooming Out and Minimizing the zoom levels. When zoom is maximized, the timeline shows values in samples rather than in the normal hours/minutes/seconds.

There are two color wells in the bottom left hand corner for setting the waveform and background colors.

Use the Show Location PopUp to jump to the location of the selected tool. This is very useful when you are zoomed in all the way and need to quickly find a tool.

When Zero-crossings is enabled the Trim tools will snap to the nearest zero-crossing location. This is really helpful when trying to make a seamless loop.


Dropdown Menu Items

The Sample Tool features a submenu system with items exclusively for use when editing.

File menu - Save: Saves the sound using the original name.

File menu - Save As...: Presents the standard Mac OS X Save Panel.

Regardless of the file’s original format, Sample Tool saves files as AIFF, Mac OS X’s native format or WAV. If you wish to convert the output to a different format, you can use AudioFinder’s conversion features available in the File menu. Sample Tool reads and writes meta chunks (Instrument, Marker etc.) – this means you can create and edit the markers and loop regions in any AIFF or WAV file. Thus Sample Tool makes an excellent loop editor.

File menu - Open Selection in New Sample Tool: Takes the current selection and opens it as a new file in another Sample Tool window.

File menu - Export Selection: Exports the current selection to a new file.

File menu - Export Slices: Exports all slices regions to individual files.

Edit menu - Undo: Undo the previous action.

Edit menu - Redo: Redo the last Undone action.

Edit menu - Flush Undo and Reset Tools: Unlimited Undo uses memory, this reclaims that memory.

Edit menu - Cut: Cut a section of sound.

Edit menu - Copy: Copy a section of sound.

Edit menu - Paste: Paste the sound on the Pasteboard into the sound.

Edit menu - Add: Add the sound on the Pasteboard to the sound, it works by mixing the two signals.

Edit menu - Crop: Crop the sound length.

Edit menu - Select All: Select all the sound.

Edit menu - Select Region: Select the slice region nearest the cursor.


Edit menu - Create Slices from Measures: Creates new slices based on the measure settings.

Edit menu - Clear All Slices: Clears all slice markers.

Edit menu - Shuffle Slices: Randomly shuffles all slices. Great for glitch music.

Edit menu - Rotate Play Start to Physical Start: This will rotate all the samples in the sound so that the Play Start tool location becomes the actual start of the sound.

Note this clears all slices as well.

(Tip: Press the Stop button twice to return to the sound playback start).

Edit menu - Set Sound Length: Sets the physical length of the sound to exact size.

Process menu - Normalize: Raises the overall volume of the sound to the maximum.

Process menu - Normalize -3db: Raises the overall volume of the sound to -3db, leaving plenty of headroom.(NOTE: Normalizing automatically corrects the DC Offset).

Process menu - Change Gain: Presents a panel for changing the gain of the sound.

Process menu - Silence: Zeros out the waveform.

Process menu - Fade-In: Performs a fade-in of the sound. This is different than the Fade-In tool because it works directly on the sound without the sliding preview lines.

Process menu - Fade-Out: Performs a fade-out of the sound. This is different than the Fade-Out tool because it works directly on the sound without the sliding preview lines.

Process menu - Reverse: Reverses the sound.

Process menu - Crossfade Loop: Sometimes a seamless loop cannot be easily created from the given source material. In these instances, a crossfade can be applied to the start or end of the loop to aid in the smooth transition between the two. The Crossfade Looper provides a method of creating sampling loops in material that is otherwise impossible to loop smoothly.

Pads, drones, synth sounds and other non-rhythmic material work best with the Crossfade Looper.

Process menu - Insert Space: Presents a panel that allows to insert empty space into the sound.

Process menu - Make Mono: Merged two stereo channels to mono.


Process menu - Make Stereo: Takes a mono sound and makes it two channels by copying the channel twice.

Options menu - Tools to Cursor: When this is checked, all tools will be placed at the current cursor location when enabled.

Options menu - Snap to Zero Crossings: When this is checked the cursor and tools will jump to the nearly zero crossing when moved.

Options menu - Time Formats... These are the various time ruler formats for display.

(See the Help “?” button for a list of Keyboard Shortcuts).


Slicing with Sample Tool

AudioFinder features powerful audio slicing tools for your sampling convenience. Slicing is a process where markers are placed within an audio file so that it may be split into smaller files. This is very useful when recycling a drum loop or breaking out performances from an audio file containing a number of takes.

In addition to simply slicing a sound into smaller chunks, Sample Tool's unique Shuffle Slices feature actually rewrites the sound in a random order directly. The best results are usually achieved with drum loops, but you are free to use this feature on any type of material. There are many experimental sound design possibilities for this tool, including creating glitches and "granulizing" a sound. If you are seeking sounds that are less “experimental,” then using slices based on the bar and note settings is your best option.

Once you have your slices set where you like them, you can click the “Export Slices” button to churn out a sequence of new files based on each individual slice.

If you do not wish to export each slice as a new file, the slices will be saved as markers within the file. Slices in this instance are the same as markers in files. Therefore, if you add slices and click the Save button, any other application that opens the file will display the slices as markers.


There are three methods of creating slices:

Creating slices manually

The Add and Delete Slice Tools are the simplest way to create slices within your audio file.

The Add Slice Tool allows you to click anywhere in the waveform and create a slice at that point.

The Delete Slice Tool allows you to click on a slice to remove it.

The Slice Lock Toggle Tool will lock a slice and prevent it from being deleted or moved.

Creating slices with the Impulse Detector

The Impulse Detection control attempts to find beats within a drum loop. It makes a best-guess of where the main features in a drum loop are located. Grab the sliders and move them around until the number of slices created looks right based on the material. Later, you can then manually move slices to more precise locations. Depending on the material, you may have to manually create or delete slices to get an exact representation of your sound.

Creating time based Slices

The Bars and Note control allows you to do two things. First, when “Show Guides” is selected, it makes visible time markers based on the settings. Second, it can create slices in the file based on the settings.

(NOTE: Shuffle Slices works best when used with slices created this way.)


Advanced Sample Tool Usage

How many times have you wanted to hear how two or more sounds would work together without having to open a DAW simply to mix them? AudioFinder has a unique feature which synchronizes the Play and Stop buttons of all open windows. There are two ways to get this behavior. You can enable the “Always Sync Play and Stop Buttons” menu item in the AudioFinder Options menu, or hold down the Option key when click any Play or Stop button. The result is what ever sounds are open will all play and stop at the same time. Note: the sounds will not be time modified to play in time sync, but rather they will play as-is at the same moment. If the sounds are the same BPM as are many prefab sample libraries, then they will play in time-sync. Also note that when the menu item is checked playback always starts at the beginning of the sound. Therefore it is easier to leave the option unchecked and use the Option key clicks only when synced buttons are required.


Integrating with other applications

AudioFinder is designed to be used in conjunction with your favorite music applications. There are many ways to achieve a synergy between multiple applications. For example:

Drag any sound from AudioFinder to the Logic Audio Window to add the current sound to the Logic Project.

If you want sounds to always open in one particular editor, set the Double-Click Editor in the Tools Setup Panel to be the application you want to use. Otherwise, if you leave this blank, the system default application for the particular file type will be opened.

Keep in mind that the more files you have in your scan, the more memory AudioFinder is going to need to manage them. If your system resources are light, it is pragmatic to keep your scans light by breaking them down into smaller chunks.

CPU performance

To improve CPU performance with other applications, it is important to make AudioFinder light on its feet. If you are experiencing CPU sluggishness disable the Waveform Preview on sounds over one minute long. Make sure “Use Accelerated Icons” is enabled. Doing this frees up system resources used by AudioFinder for use with your other application(s). Optionally, close the Audio Unit plugin window if it is open. AudioFinder scales to your usage pattern.


Digital Signal Processing (Process) menu

AudioFinder uses 32 Bit Floating Point for Digital Signal Processing (DSP). AudioFinder's DSP effects are non-destructive since a new file is created with the effect applied, leaving the original untouched. Only PCM audio files can be processed. All the currently selected files will be processed using the selected Process algorithm. When processing sounds in the Scanner, the newly created file will be added to the end of the current scan. If you want to include these new files in the scan permanently, you need to resave the scan.

(NOTE: AudioFinder uses your System disk as a scratch disk while processing audio. If you are very low on free space, the processing can fail. Make sure you have at least twice as much free space on your system disk as you have memory – ideally 1GB at minimum).

Sample Tool: Opens Sample Tool.

Normalize: Raises the overall volume of the sound to the maximum.

Normalize -3db: Raises the overall volume of the sound to -3db, leaving plenty of headroom.

(NOTE: Normalizing automatically corrects the DC Offset).

Change Gain: Changes the volume of the current sound by percentage.

Trim and Fade: This allows you to specify by percentage values the fade-in, fade-out, trim start, and trim end of the sound. This feature is very useful with batches of sounds that have rough end points.

Auto Crop: Attempts to strip extra silence from the beginning and end of the sound automatically. It crops the sound right above the noise floor using a heuristic algorithm.

Export Selection: If a portion of the Waveform Preview is selected in the AudioViewer this feature will export that portion to a new file. Each file name will be serialized to allow for easy multiple exports. See AudioViewer section for more details.

Reverse: Reverses the sound.

Reverse Mix: Mixes a copy of the sound reversed with the original.

Make Phat: A totally new kind of distortion effect. Try this on drum loops.

X Glitcher: A sound mutation effect that drastically changes the characteristics of the sound.

Invert Phase: Inverts the signal of the sound.


Stereo Booster: Intensifies the stereo effect of stereo sounds. Note that this effect adds gain to the sound, so if the sound is already loud, you might need to change the gain first to avoid clipping. Not all sounds benefit from this effect – some work better than others. Experiment to taste.

Swap Channels: Swaps the left and right channels of a stereo sound.

Stereo Mix to Mono: Combines both the left channel and right channel into a single mono track.Stereo Split to Dual Mono: Takes a stereo sound and produces separate left and right mono tracks.

Join Dual Mono to Stereo: Uses two currently selected sounds in the Browser list to create a stereo track.

(TIP: Any two mono files of any length can be joined).

Copy Left to Right Channel: Copies the left channel to the right channel so they are both identical.

Copy Right to Left Channel: Copies the right channel to the left channel so they are both identical.

Splice in Descending Order: When two or more files are selected, this will splice the files together starting with the top file and then proceeding down the list.

Splice in Ascending Order: When two or more files are selected, this will splice the files together starting with the bottom file and then proceeding up the list.

Mirror Forward/Backward: Doubles the sound by playing first forward and then backward.

Mirror Backward/Forward: Doubles the sound by playing first backward and then forward.

Double Length: Takes a copy of the sound and concatenates it at the end, i.e. it takes a two-bar drum loop and makes it a four-bar drum loop.


Alter Sample Rate: Alters the sample rate based on the currently selected note on the Mini-keyboard or the edited BPM value in the BPM Detector. (Note that some third party applications can have problems playing sounds with odd sample rates). If nothing has been changed, this menu item is disabled.

Convert Bit Depth and Sample Rate: Allows you to convert between popular bit depths and sample rates.

Varispeed/Pitch Shift: Shifts the Pitch/Speed based on the currently selected note on the Mini-keyboard or the edited BPM value in the BPM Detector. This changes the pitch without changing the sample rate. If nothing has been changed, this menu item is disabled.


Pitch Analyzer: Analyzes the sound and determines the root key note. This process takes some time on longer sounds and is not intended for use with full-length songs. AudioFinder looks at the sound in multiple frequency bands and finds the pitch over a 10-octave range. Some resonant and complex sounds with stronger harmonics may register the harmonic as the main tone.

Each line represents one frequency range centered on notes from C-0 through C-10 (121 whole tones). The red bar indicates the strongest fundamental note. The blue bars indicate the second and third strongest notes. The brightness of the blue bars indicates how intense the signal is in the overall sound. Very faint blue bars show there is some additional harmonic frequency activity in the sound.

When you move the mouse pointer over the view, a sine wave tone will be played at the frequency represented at the pointer's location. You can control the volume with the volume slider.


Micro-Harmonic Sound Compare: Analyzes two sounds and reports the amount of frequency overlap and the relative time percentage. When two sounds are identical, it will report this. Otherwise the similarity is reported in a rating of 0–100%.

Each line represents one frequency range centered on notes from C-0 through C-10 (121 whole tones). The longer the line, the more the frequency is shared in common between the two sounds.

When you move the mouse pointer over the view, a sine wave tone will be played at the frequency represented at the pointer's location. You can control the volume with the volume slider.

How is this useful? First, if you have two samples and you are not sure if they are identical, it will let you know with certainty whether or not they are. It is also useful in helping to find sounds that complement each other and do not mask each other's frequencies.


Ever wonder how different a file is once it has been converted to MP3? The view below shows the difference between an original track and a copy of it converted from MP3. If the frequencies were still similar, all the lines would be at maximum. Instead, we see massive signal damage to high and low end. The MP3 can only be said to be about 74.74% similar to the original file. Still think MP3s are “CD quality”?


The Sample Extractor

Audio file with six samples

Sample Extractor

Six files created on your hard disk

The Sample Extractor is a unique and powerful feature that will save you many hours of audio editing. While some professional sample CDs come in WAV or AIFF format, the bulk are in Audio CD format, with each track containing multiple samples. In order to use the individual samples from an Audio CD, traditionally you would have to import the track, then open it in an audio editor application, manually find each sample section, cut it out, and make a new file.

AudioFinder's Sample Extractor automates the sample cutting and editing process so that sounds with multiple samples can be sliced into individual files almost instantly. AudioFinder comes with presets that work great for about 90% of Audio sample CDs. Adjusting the Threshold and Samples values can produce a wide variety of results. While there is no one perfect setting, there are some that yield the best signal detection. It is possible to enter settings that will create too many or too few files. The Maximum Sections field is there to ensure that if you enter a very sensitive setting you have a limit to the number of files created. Typically, the two presets


labelled "All-purpose" should handle most material. Only adjust the settings manually if you are feeling adventurous.

In general, adjusting the Samples value in Silent Period is the most effective way to tweak a conversion. The higher the number, the longer the silence AudioFinder will require before it cuts the sound. The opposite is also true.

All the currently selected files will be run through the Sample Extractor.

The Sample Extractor supports AIFF, WAV, and SD2 file formats and the file must be 16bit.

(NOTE: Regardless of the format of the input file, Sample Extractor creates AIFF files as the output. The Sample Extractor is only available in Browser mode).

Sound Impulse

Threshold >: The volume value (0 – 32768) that must be exceeded for the creation of a new clip to be triggered.Samples: The value in samples of how many samples must be above the Threshold >.Fade In Samples: The amount in samples of a gradual fade in from silence.Pad Samples: The amount in samples of how far to "rewind" before the impulse was detected.

Silent Period

Threshold <: The volume value (0 – 32768) below which the end of a clip will be signalled.Samples: The value in samples of how many samples must be below the Threshold <.Fade Out Samples: The amount in samples of a gradual fade out to silence.Pad Samples: The amount in samples of how far to extend after the end was detected. This is useful for material that has a lot of "dead" air to chop off.Maximum Sections: The maximum number of files to create per sound.

How to use the Sample Extractor

1. The Audio CD files must have been previously imported to your hard drive using your favorite method.2. Navigate to and select one of the files in the Browser.3. Press Command-E or select "Sample Extractor" from the Process menu.4. Determine the type of material and select a preset.5. Click OK.6. Check to see if the number of sounds matches the number of files created.

Part of the reason the Sample Extractor is so effective is because it does not attempt to translate sample values into milliseconds or thresholds into dB. While traditional time values are easier to


understand, as is dB, they offer an order of magnitude less granularity. AudioFinder works with the real data and therefore can be the most accurate. If the sample rate is 44.1, then 44100 is one second in sample values.

The Sample Extractor is not limited to just working with sounds from Audio sample CDs. It can also be used in any instance where you have one audio file with more than one sound in it.

You can also use the Sample Extractor to produce weird and quirky sounds suitable for certain types of glitch music. To do this, you will need to come up with some extreme settings. The Sample Extractor can produce very small "grain" files when the settings are above the noise floor.

Every attempt has been made to make this a simple process but not all sound files are the same. Sometimes you may have to manually adjust the settings to get the optimal extraction. Some drum loop CDs include an extra down-beat at the end of the loop to aid in finding the right loop points, so you will need an audio editor program at times to fine tune the sample. The Sample Extractor is designed to make cutting of the samples much easier but the files still may require some hand tweaking in your favorite audio editor or in Sample Tool.

If you are dealing with an entire folder of files imported from CD, you may find the Power Rename feature (File Menu) useful. Basically, it works like a "search and replace" for file names. So, for instance, you can replace "Track" with "My CD Name" or you can strip the file name extension by replacing it with nothing, etc.

Please send in your Sample Extractor presets if you think they would be useful for others.

The extracted samples are created in the original source sound's folder. If this folder is read-only, the extracted samples are created in the Favorites folder.

This feature is limited to users who have donated to AudioFinder. It works in demo mode for five launches and is then disabled.


Plug-In Manager

Why have a Plug-In Manager? In a perfect world, all Plug-Ins would work with all host applications, but this is not the case. Very often, one or more Plug-Ins will crash in one host application while they work flawlessly in another. Or perhaps you simply want to create sets of Plug-Ins you use most often to speed up the load time of your host applications. If this is the case, you need AudioFinder’s Plug-In Manager. The Plug-In Manager supports AudioUnit Components, VST, Digidesign, and MAS formats in both the User and System Libraries. The Plug-In Manager is ridiculously easy to use – simply select the Plug-Ins you want to enable or disable and click the respective buttons.

When you first open the Plug-In Manager, the Plug-In Sets popup will display “Current.” This is the way your system is actually configured on disk. Creating sets is optional. You can simply move Plug-Ins back and forth while in the “Current” mode.

Plug-In Sets: Plug-In Sets are user-defined collections of Plug-Ins. You can create as many sets as you like for any purpose.

Plug-In Format: The Plug-In format currently being viewed.

Add: This saves the current list of Plug-Ins as a set for quickly changing the configuration.

Remove: This deletes the currently displayed Plug-In set (it does not delete any Plug-Ins from your hard disk).


Disable: This moves the selected Plug-Ins to the disabled list.

Enable: This moves the selected Plug-Ins to the enabled list.

Swap: This exchanges both lists.

Trash: This moves the selected Plug-Ins to the system Trash.

Cancel: This leaves the Plug-Ins as they were before you opened the Plug-In Manager.

OK: This actually moves the Plug-Ins to the correct folders on disk. Also, if you made changes to a Plug-In Set, your changes will be saved.

Create Archive: This feature allows you to back up your Plug-In folders to disk image files (.dmg). After you complete a project with a given set of Plug-Ins, it is a good idea to back them up in case you may need to rework your project in the future. Remember, it is all too easy to lose Plug-Ins in a hard drive catastrophe. Another common issue this solves is when a Plug-In update makes that Plug-In incompatible with older music projects created using previous versions.

The Plug-In archive files are automatically named with the current date and placed into a folder of your choice. To open a Plug-In archive, simply double-click on it and it will mount in the Mac OS X Finder as a disk image.

(NOTE: Make sure you have enough free space before you try to back up your Plug-Ins. Some Plug-In folders are loaded with samples and other files and can get quite large).

Create Report: This feature will create a html report that lists all your plug-ins and their version numbers. It’s useful to do after completing a project because often plug-ins can change from version to version.

Fix Permissions: If you are having trouble enabling or disabling plug-ins chances are you permissions need fixing.


AudioUnits

AudioFinder features full AudioUnit Plug-In support for playback and sound file processing. AudioFinder is the ideal host for playing your sounds through any of your favorite AudioUnit components. Only PCM files (AIFF, WAV, and SD2) may be used in conjunction with AudioUnits. This means MP3 playback is unaffected by AudioUnits.

AudioUnit menu

Bypass: Bypasses the current AudioUnit.

Process: Applies the current AudioUnit to the selected sound and creates a new processed file. After processing, the AudioUnit is automatically bypassed.

Process Mono in Stereo: When enabled, mono files are processed in stereo and converted to stereo files.

Extend Sound to Include Tail: When enabled, files are extended to include the tail. Some Plug-Ins, like delays and reverbs, support tails. The maximum tail time can be set in the Preferences.

Load Preset: Loads a preset from the presets directory.

Save Preset: Saves a preset to the presets directory.

(NOTE: You can choose whether AudioFinder defaults to your User or System AudioUnit presets folders in the Preferences.)

Next AudioUnit: Opens the next AudioUnit in the list.

Previous AudioUnit: Opens the previous AudioUnit in the list.

Bring AudioUnit to Font: Brings the AudioUnit window to the front.

AudioUnits: Your installed AudioUnits.


Presets menu

The AudioUnit Presets menu is a unique feature in AudioFinder – it allows you to create a custom palette of your favorite AudioUnits and settings that can be quickly accessed when you need them. Each preset in the menu will open an AudioUnit and load the preset settings directly into it. This makes it really easy to try out AudioUnits in a creative fashion.

Add AudioUnit Preset to Menu: Adds the current AudioUnit (with your settings) to the Preset menu.

Remove AudioUnit Preset(s) from Menu: Removes one or more presets from the Presets menu.

Make AudioUnit Preset Autoload: Makes the current AudioUnit and its settings load each time AudioFinder is launched.

Next Preset: Opens the next AudioUnit Preset in the menu.

Previous Preset: Opens the previous AudioUnit Preset in the menu.

Presets: Your saved AudioUnit Presets.

(NOTE: These presets are stored in your user Library/Application Support/AudioFinder/AudioUnit Presets directory).


Troubleshooting crashing AudioUnits

From time to time an AudioUnit Component can crash host applications, including AudioFinder.

The best way around this is to disable all your AudioUnits and then enable them one by one until the crasher is found.

If the application that is crashing is AudioFinder, here is one way to solve this:

1. Launch /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.

2. Carefully type the following exactly as it appears below: defaults write com.icedaudio.audiofinder "AudioUnits Off" -bool TRUE

3. Press Return, then quit Terminal.

4. Launch AudioFinder.

5. In the Plug-In Manager, select all AudioUnits in the Enabled column and move them to the Disabled column by pressing the Disable button. Then quit AudioFinder.

6. Now launch Terminal again and this time, type (carefully): defaults write com.icedaudio.audiofinder "AudioUnits On" -bool TRUE

7. Quit Terminal and launch AudioFinder once more.

8. In AudioFinder's Preferences pane, uncheck the "Disable AudioUnit Plug-Ins" checkbox, then quit and relaunch.

9. In the Plug-In Manager, use the Enable button to enable one Plug-in, hit OK, then test it on a file. Repeat this, one AudioUnit at a time, until you experience a crash. Now you know that the last Plug-In you enabled is the crasher. You should remove it from your system and seek an update from the developer.

The above steps might look complex, but in practice it is a relatively easy process. Just be careful to double-check all your typing in Terminal.


Organizer Bookmarks Setup

The Organizer is designed to make sorting and filing sounds very easy. While the Favorites Folder is for your actual favorite sounds, the Organizer Bookmarks Setup is where you add folders for sorting sounds into folders that you choose. Once it is set up, all you need to do is select a sound in the Browser and then use the Organizer to select where you want it to be filed. Let's say you have downloaded dozens of sundry sounds from the internet; obviously, you want to be able to organize these sounds into some kind of structure on your disk – the Organizer is the way to do it. Use the Organizer Bookmarks Setup dialog to select the folders that you want to appear in the Organizer Bookmarks Popup. You must have previously created these folders on your hard disk before using Organizer Bookmarks Setup.

All the folders in the Organizer Bookmarks Setup are shown in the Organizer Bookmarks Popup and the Destinations Popup in the Browser. You can also quickly add folders to this by using the context menu whenever a sound is selected.

"Add Spacer" creates a blank space between folders as a visual aid to grouping.

If you want to change the order of the items, you can simply drag an item to a new location.


There are many ways to use this feature to organize your files. For example, if you want to simulate a five-star ranking system, try this.

Create five folders that are named:

1 Star 2 Star 3 Star 4 Star 5 Star

Now add them to your Organizer Bookmarks list. When you hear a sound you like, you can use Organizer to make an alias of it in whichever ranking folder you choose. Aliases don't take much disk space. The great thing about this is that your rankings are visible to other programs.


The Tools Setup

The Tools Setup in the Options Menu is where you can add all of your favorite audio applications. This way, you can use AudioFinder as the central command station for all of your music needs. The tools are accessed using the Tools menu in the AudioViewer. Also, you can also get to the Tools by control clicking (right clicking) on a sound. The Tools are under the "Open With" menu item.

You can also simply drag any audio application into the Tools Setup Pane from the Finder. Additionally, you can drag the items in the pane to rearrange them.

Double Click Audio Editor: Your preferred program for editing or using audio files. If left empty, the file will open in the program assigned by the OS, usually QuickTime or iTunes. Remember, you can also designate AudioFinder's Sample Tool as your default editor.


Power Rename

Power Rename acts on all the currently selected files. It provides a fast and easy way to bulk-rename files and has three modes. The current mode is indicated by the buttons on the left. Power Rename is not available when viewing saved Libraries.

Find and Replace

Find and Replace works like find and replace in any text editor except that it works with file names instead of text. Power Rename searches for a pattern and replaces it with what you provide. However, if you search for something that is only in one file then it will only rename that one file. The Find field determines which files will be renamed by pattern matching.

For instance, let's say you have the following files:

1AudioFile.aiff2AudioFile.aiff

And you do Power Rename with:

Find: 1Audio

Replace: 1Sound

In this case, Power Rename will only rename the file 1AudioFile.aiff to 1SoundFile.aiff. This is because the number "1" does not occur in the other file. To rename both, you have to search for those characters common to both – "Audio".

As another example, let's say you wanted to strip files of the file extension ".aiff". In this case, you would enter ".aiff" in the Find field and set the Replace field to be empty.


Add to

Adds additional text to each file name, either prefixed, postfixed, or both. For instance, if you wanted to have every file name start with "Loop," you would enter "Loop" in the Prefix field. You might want to include a blank space after the word "Loop" to prevent it from being too close to the following text. Postfix works similarly except that the text is placed at the end of the file name. If the file name has a file extension, then Postfix will append the new text before the file extension. If you want to strip away all the file extensions, use Find and Replace. If a file does not have a file extension yet, you can use Postfix to add one.

Strip

Strip removes the specified number of characters from either the beginning or end of the file namefile name.

Serialize

Serialize takes the text you enter in the Base Name field and renames every file to the Base Name plus a number in sequence.

For example, if you have:

192323 Snr.aifOldsnare.aifSna.aif

If you use "Snare" as your Base Name, the above files will become:

Snare 0001.aifSnare 0002.aifSnare 0003.aif

Automatically Add File Extensions

This feature will look inside the sound file, guess the file type, and add the appropriate extension to it. If AudioFinder is unable to determine the file format, the file will be skipped. If the file already has a file extension, it will also be left untouched. Only files without extensions are renamed.

(NOTE: Mac OS X Finder often hides file extensions).


Capitalize Case

This will make each word start with a capital letter.

Warning: There is no undo with Power Rename. It is strongly recommended that you practice using Power Rename on a test batch of files before you attempt to use it on sounds that are important to you.

Depending on settings, sometimes two or more files might end up with the same name. If this happens, Power Rename is aborted.

Any file with a "." at the end of its name is treated as having a file extension.

(NOTE: After doing Power Rename, if the files you renamed were part of a saved scan, the scan memory will be out of sync and require a rescan).


Template Folders

Template Folders make it fast and easy to create a bunch of folders.

Folders can be nested and as deep as you like. You can save and load templates.

Here is example:

Clicking the create button creates the following folder structure for you:

Use this to create folders for specific sounds (Drums, Bass, Stynth …)

Use for your music projects to make them standardized, more organized and easier to work with.


BPM Tap Pad

Space bar: Hitting the space bar marks one beat.

Silent: Turns off the audio feedback kick drum sound.

Reset: Resets the average BPM. This must be done before tapping for each file.


Delay Calculator

The Delay Calculator calculates millisecond delay times based on BPM and note values. This takes all the work out of syncing your digital delays to your tracks.


Tone Generator

The Tone Generator is a super useful reference tone generator. You can select one of the preset notes in the 10-octave range or type in any specific frequency. The tone generated is a pure sine wave.


Options Menu

Show Waveform Preview For Sounds: This option allows you to disable Waveform Preview for sounds that are longer than the selected time range. The reason you may want to do this is because creating a Waveform Preview takes extra time and can slow down your sound browsing when you are using a CPU intensive DAW project. By default, all sounds display their Waveform Previews. When creating the Waveform Preview for longer sounds, there is a slight delay before the sound starts playing as AudioFinder analyzes it. After the first time AudioFinder sees a file it reads the preview from a cache it creates in the AudioFinder folder in Application Support to speed up previewing in the future.

The Overview shows the entire sound file.

Empty Waveform Preview Cache: This option deletes all the temporary Waveform Preview caches in the AudioFinder folder in your home Library/Caches. This is useful to reclaim disk space when the original files have been moved or deleted from your system. The caching feature may be disabled in the Preferences panel. The cache files are small in size and there is one created for every sound previewed.

Use Accelerated Icons: When checked this option shows custom icons as set in the “Icons” Preferences Tab. This feature makes browsing and scrolling through the Library list faster and also adds helpful visual clues to the sounds in the Library list. When this option is off AudioFinder opens every file to retrieve the icon, this can slow down browsing on certain configurations, IE: slow network connections etc...

Tools Setup: This dialog is where you add and remove tools from the AudioViewer Tools menu.


Bookmarks Setup: This dialog is where you can add and remove folders from the Organizer PopUps.

Audio MIDI Setup: This launches the Apple Audio MIDI Setup application.

Audio Output Device: Chooses the sound output destination for PCM sounds. This has no effect on MP3 or ACC sounds – they continue to be played through the built-in sound system.

MIDI Input Device: The MIDI device to use for controlling the playback pitch of the current sample.

Sysex Pro: Sysex editor, see the section on Sysex Pro.

Browser Sysex Destination Device: The MIDI device to which you want to play (transmit) Sysex (.syx) files.

Shuffle Play in Playlist: Plays sounds in random order.

Pause Between Sounds in Playlist: Pauses between playing each sound. This is useful for short sounds – when Autopiloting drum hits, it is advisable to turn this on.

Always Sync Play and Start Buttons: This is a powerful feature of AudioFinder. It allows you to have multiple Sample Tool windows all play and stop at the same time. You can also get the same behavior by holding down the Option key when clicking any Play and Stop button. Note: when this is enabled, all files will open in the Sample Tool with the Loop button enabled and they will playback from the start of the sound. It is best to leave this off until it is needed and turn it off when the need is over.

Suspend MIDI Input: This temporarily turns off input from MIDI devices.

Suspend Auto/Instant Play: This temporarily turns off instant playing of sounds when clicked on or navigated to using the arrow keys.


Preferences

Startup Folder: This is the folder that the Browser will always open to on launch.Processing Output Folder: This folder may be set so that all new files created by AudioFinder are placed in it..EXS Instrument Folder: This folder may be set so that all new EXS files created by AudioFinder are placed in it. When “Don’t create instrument bunlde: is checked AudioFinder will not budle the EXS sample and instrument file in a subfolder.

Enable single click folders : Eanbles single clicking to open folders in the sound list view.

Auto-Serialize duplicate file names: When this option is enabled AudioFinder will number files serially to avoid name conflicts.Use short name extenders when processing: When AudioFinder creates new files it appends text at the end to describe the action. This option switches to abbreviations of said action.Never use name extenders when processing: This option disables the name extenders completely. Unless a Processing Output Folder is set or Auto Serialize is enabled, there will be name conflicts with this option enabled.Scan non-local (Network) file systems: By default AudioFinder will not crawl through network volumes when scanning to save time and avoid rabbit holes.

Use Internation Display Date Format: Does what the title implies.


Disable confirmation beep: Disable the successful operation beep.Use decimal precision for BPM: Normally AudioFinder will round to the nearest BPM. This options allows fractions.

Launch AudioFinder at Login: Adds AudioFinder to your login items.

Disable AudioUnit Plug-Ins: Prevents AudioFinder from finding and opening AudioUnit plug-ins and removed the AudioUnit menu.Process AudioUnits uses small buffer: Some AudioUnits require smaller buffer sizes to work correctly. Only check this option if you are experience problems with a particular AudioUnit. Will slow down processing speed dramatically.

Maximum tail time: Some AudioUnits support extending the length of a sound to include extra portions of the effect, like echoes. This sets the maximum length a sound can be extended.

Store AudioUnit Presets in: Allow you to choose between keeping presets in your User folder or the System folder.

Waveform Preview Cache: This is where AudioFinder stores the results of waveforms after they are analyzed to speed up browsing. In this instance, you choose the maximum number of analyzed files to keep. AudioFinder will delete the oldest files first to keep the number within your setting. Waveform Miniviews and full Waveform Previews are kept here.


Audio File Decoding: Certain formats including AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless, FLAC and Ogg are highly compressed. To play these file AudioFinder decodes them into it’s native format of PCM. The temporary files are kept in the Decoding Cache which is located in your Caches folder. You can set the maximum amount of disk space that can be used here.

Use decoding cache for all compress formats: Normally AudioFinder uses QuickTime to playback AAC, MP3 and Apple Lossless. When this option is checked the files are decoded into the Decoding Cache and used as AudioFinder’s native PCM format. Checking this will allow the output to go through AudioUnits and third party audio interfaces. It also enables selecting and exporting clips from the AudioViewer.

Extract ReCycle files at original tempo: ReCycle files have two tempos, the original and the current. When enabled this extracts the files at the original tempo.

Disable mixing of dual mono files when selected: When two mono files are multi-selected AudioFinder will mix them dynamically into stereo.

Disable Sound Attribute Session Cache: To speed up browsing during a launch session AudioFinder remembers all the meta-attribute information about a sound file after it has been examined once. Meta-attributes are items like sample rate, bit depth and etc... On faster machines this can be disabled.

MIDI Controler Playback Stops on Key Up (Gate Mode): When checked notes played by a MIDI keyboard will only play while the key is down.


Converting to EXS Instrument

If you have ever tried to create your own EXS Instrument, you know it is a cumbersome process. AudioFinder’s ability to create an instant EXS Instrument from any sample is a major time saver. Simply select the sound(s) you want to convert to an instrument and under the File menu click “Convert to EXS Instrument.” This will create a new folder in your processing output folder containing the sample and the .EXS file that goes with it. You can then open the instrument in any application that supports EXS.


MP3 encoder

AudioFinder uses the LAME Encoder for encoding MP3 files. AudioFinder does not ship with the LAME Encoder binary so you will have to download it and install it yourself. Once installed, AudioFinder will find it and use it for all your MP3 encoding needs.

AudioFinder will look in the following locations for the LAME executable:

/usr/local/bin//usr/bin/and the AudioFinder Application folder. For an up-to-date list of LAME download links, visit:

http://www.icedaudio.com/lame.html

The Official LAME project site can be accessed at http://www.mp3dev.org

If the LAME executable is not installed, the error dialog below will appear:




http://www.mp3dev.org

http://www.mp3dev.org

FLAC encode and decode

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how ZIP works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio, and you can play back compressed FLAC files in your favorite player (or your car or home stereo – see supported devices below) just like you would an MP3 file.

Notable features of FLAC:

• Lossless: The encoding of audio (PCM) data incurs no loss of information, and the decoded audio is bit-for-bit identical to what went into the encoder. Each frame contains a 16-bit CRC of the frame data for detecting transmission errors. The integrity of the audio data is further ensured by storing an MD5 signature of the original unencoded audio data in the file header, which can be compared against later during decoding or testing.

• Fast: FLAC is asymmetric in favor of decode speed. Decoding requires only integer arithmetic and is much less compute-intensive than for most perceptual codecs. Real-time decode performance is easily achievable on even modest hardware.

• Hardware support: FLAC is supported by dozens of consumer electronic devices, from portable players, to home stereo equipment, to car stereo.

• Flexible metadata: FLAC's metadata system supports tags, cover art, seek tables, and cue sheets. Applications can write their own APPLICATION metadata once they register an ID. New metadata blocks can be defined and implemented in future versions of FLAC without breaking older streams or decoders.

• Seekable: FLAC supports fast sample-accurate seeking. Not only is this useful for playback, it makes FLAC files suitable for use in editing applications.

• Streamable: Each FLAC frame contains enough data to decode that frame. FLAC does not even rely on previous or following frames. FLAC uses sync codes and CRCs (similar to MPEG and other formats), which, along with framing, allow decoders to pick up in the middle of a stream with a minimum of delay.

• Suitable for archiving: FLAC is an open format and there is no generation loss if you need to convert your data to another format in the future. In addition to the frame CRCs and MD5 signature, FLAC has a verify option that decodes the encoded stream in parallel with the encoding process and compares the result to the original, aborting with an error if there is a mismatch.

• Convenient CD archiving: FLAC has a "cue sheet" metadata block for storing a CD table of contents and all track and index points. For instance, you can rip a CD to a single file, then import the CD's extracted cue sheet while encoding to yield a single file representation of the


entire CD. If your original CD is damaged, the cue sheet can be exported later in order to burn an exact copy.

• Error resistant: Because of FLAC's framing, stream errors limit the damage to the frame in which the error occurred, typically a small fraction of a second worth of data. Contrast this with some other lossless codecs in which a single error destroys the remainder of the stream.

Please see http://flac.sourceforge.net/ for details on FLAC.

AudioFinder supports encoding and decoding FLAC files. At the moment, it does not support real-time playback. That support will be added in the near future.


http://flac.sourceforge.net

http://flac.sourceforge.net

Conversion using iTunes

"Convert Using iTunes" under the File->Convert menu is extremely useful. This allows you to convert any file in AudioFinder to any of the audio formats supported by iTunes. Simply select a file or files and start your conversion. You will be prompted to choose the format you wish to convert to. This will not affect your default conversions in iTunes – it only affects the sounds being sent from AudioFinder. A new playlist will be created in iTunes named "AudioFinder Converted" from which you can manage the converted files. With this feature, AudioFinder and iTunes work together seamlessly, offering you the highest quality MP3, AAC, and Lossless conversion possible.


MIDI Patch Changer

The MIDI Patch Changer allows you to change banks and programs on a remote MIDI device (i.e. synth, drum machine, etc.) This feature is very useful in conjunction with a MIDI sequencer application for trying out sounds on external synths. Many professional music sequencers lack the ability to change patches with a single click – most of the time, patches are found on menus that must be navigated. AudioFinder makes changing sounds on a synth really easy by providing giant buttons that are trivial to use. Each machine will respond to bank select and program change MIDI messages differently but most synths will understand and change their current sounds. Check your remote MIDI device manual for details on how it responds.

The MIDI Patch Changer really gets interesting if you have a remote control USB device such as a Keyspan Digital Media Remote. With a wireless remote, you can set your sequencer on loop and use the remote to control the MIDI Patch Changer, giving you the ability to preview the synth part with different patches from anywhere in the studio. This means you can walk around and hear how the synth sound fits from different perspectives.

There is no limit to the number of MIDI Patch Changer windows available at any one time. Each MIDI Patch Changer window can be configured to a different output and channel.


About sysex transmission (.syx)

AudioFinder can transmit System Exclusive (sysex, or .syx) files to any MIDI capable device configured in Audio MIDI Setup. Each time you launch AudioFinder, this feature is off by default. By nature, a sysex dump will overwrite the memory in your MIDI device. As a precautionary measure, you must turn on this feature explicitly each time you launch AudioFinder. To enable Sysex Transmit, go to the Options menu and choose a device using "Sysex Transmission Destination Device..." After this is done, each time you click on a .syx file, the contents of that file will be sent to the device you selected. The blue counter window will count down, showing how many bytes of MIDI data remain to be transmitted, until it reaches zero. If you only need to dump a Sysex file on a piece of gear using this method is the quickest way. If you need to edit the Sysex data use Sysex Pro. When there is no Sysex Transmission Destination Device set, double clicking a file will open it Sysex Pro.

(NOTE: You should always wait for sysex transmissions to complete – if you stop prematurely, your device memory will be half-written and this could cause the device to malfunction).


Sysex Pro

Sysex Pro allows you to load, edit and save Sysex files. To create a new Sysex message simply enter the the Sysex data in hexadecimal select a Destination Device and click send. Don’t bother with formatting or case as AudioFinder will clean that up for you. AudioFinder won’t let you enter any non-hexadecimal characters in the data field. When you are ready to dump the data select a Destination Device and click Send.


AudioFinder’s non-destructive philosophy

When AudioFinder processes files it does so in a non-destructive way. This means that, instead of overwriting the original file, it creates a new file. The main reason for this behavior is to protect your sounds from unforeseen issues. While it may be inconvenient to delete extra files, you can be assured that there is no way for AudioFinder to accidentally damage your sounds. AudioFinder never modifies the original files. The only exception to this rule is Sample Tool which can overwrite the original file if you so choose.

Warning: AudioFinder does not preserve Apple Loop Metadata when editing/processing an Apple Loop file. Please save any edited Apple Loops as copies.


Cool things you can do

AudioFinder is a really flexible application and very deep. Don't let the simplicity of it fool you – there are many cool hidden things you can do. Be sure to explore on your own. Here are some miscellaneous tricks.

The Application and Dock icons

If you drag a bunch of files to AudioFinder's Application Icon from the Mac OS X Finder, they will be played automatically in order.

AudioFinder's Dock Icon has extra menu items that allow you to control AudioFinder without switching to it.

Audio CD music slow-down

Are you a guitarist? Trying to learn that riff off your favorite CD but it's played way too fast to figure out each individual note? Try this: pop the CD in your CD-ROM drive and use AudioFinder's Browser to navigate to it. Now select the song you want to learn. Use the transport controls to position it just before the part you want. Now, using the Mini-keyboard, press some low keys until the track is played back at a speed you can manage. Jam on it and learn the music.


About updates

Rather than adopt a major release cycle paradigm and making users wait for the next big release, AudioFinder is updated and released whenever the application is improved. So remember to use the Check for Updates menu option as you might be pleasantly surprised.

Troubleshooting

AudioFinder is built for track length and sample length material. It doesn’t process material over an hour in length.

If AudioFinder crashes at start-up, you may have a corrupt preferences file. To fix this, go to your User Preferences folder and trash the file named "com.icedaudio.audiofinder.plist".

This usually fixes most problems. However, if it does not, please email [email protected] and let us know what is happening. We do our best to ensure AudioFinder is as stable as possible but it is not feasible to test AudioFinder with every computer configuration and OS version out there.

If you wish to delete the corrupt file via Terminal, carefully type this:

rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.icedaudio.audiofinder.plist

FAQ

Q: I have more than one computer. Do I need to buy more copies of the program to use it on my other computers?A: No, the codes are unique to each computer because this keeps people from sharing codes online. You can always get as many codes as you need at no extra charge.

Q: The scanner didn't find any files.A: Check to make sure you have some file types selected in "Scan For File Types." Turn on "Enable Slower Deep Scanning" and scan again.

Q: Why can’t I cancel a scan?A: You can – click on the Browser tab and the scan will be canceled. You may need to wait a few moments for AudioFinder to return from scanning.Q: I have a folder with several sound files and AudioFinder does not show them.A: AudioFinder attempts to filter out non-audio files. In the event that it skips over valid sound files, you can turn on "Show all files" in the Preferences.

Q: AudioFinder does not show me the details or BPM information on MP3 files.A: AudioFinder does not have a way to figure out the BPM info in an MP3 file.




Q: When I start AudioFinder, the folders look different than in Mac OS X Finder.A: This is normal. In reality, that is how the operating system actually sees the disk. You can find additional hard drives in /Volumes.

Q: I added a bunch of new sounds to my computer and AudioFinder doesn't see them in the Scanner.A: Check to see if they have file extensions. If they don't, try selecting "Scanner Uses Slower Maximum Scan." If this doesn't help, your scan memory may be out of sync.

Q: AudioFinder can't find the ReCycle library (or REX files don't play).A: If the REX Shared Library is not already installed on your computer, you can copy the one from the AudioFinder Extras folder to the "/Library/Application Support" folder on your start-up disk. Make sure the version of the REX Shared Library is 1.6.0 or higher.

Please don't forget to check the Iced Audio messageboard: http://www.icedaudio.com/phpBB2




Feature disabling and Activating

Please note that AudioFinder will begin to limit features after a while if it is not Authorized.

AudioFinder is demoware and is offered for the price of $69.95. If you find this program useful, please purchase it. You can do this online by selecting "Purchase" in the AudioFinder menu. When your purchase information or code request are received by Iced Audio, a Flexiauth Code will be sent to you via email.

This Flexiauth Code may be used on all of your computers, provided you are the only user.

NOTE: your Flexiauth Code is linked to you, sharing it with others is a violation of the user license. Secure your Flexiauth Code from others, you are responsible if it's lost.

Activating

Step 1: Launch AudioFinder and click “Activate or Need Code”


Step 2: Paste your Flexiauth Code in the text field

Step 3: Click Activate Code

That’s all there is to it. Your Fleixauth code will be stored on your computer in a safe place. Make sure you save your code for future reference. If you purchase a new computer or simply want to authorize another computer you own, you can use the same code.


Deactivating

Step 1: Launch AudioFinder and select “Registered to Your Name” from the AudioFinder menu

Step 2: Click “Deactivate AudioFinder”


Glossary of TermsFinder Selection: Using the currently selected files in the Mac OS X Finder.

Library: A collection of sound file references.

Metadata: Embedded information and attributes in a sound file. (IE: BPM, Key and etc...).

Scan: To crawl through a series of folders and/or volumes and find a certain type file. It is similar to a web search engine.

Scan Set: A selection of multiple locations to scan.

Slice: A marker in a sound file.


License Agreement

Shareware

This software is distributed under Shareware license and is Copyright 1986–2005, Iced Audio. Your donation helps to cover the team's expenses and time.

Evaluation Registration

The basic features in this software are free. However, if you want to unlock and use all of the features all of the time, you must make a donation. By making a donation, you are granted the right to access all of AudioFinder's power user features permanently.

Distribution

You are hereby licensed to make as many copies of this software and documentation as you wish, give exact copies of the original to anyone, and distribute the the software and documentation in its unmodified form via electronic means. There is no charge for any of the above.

You are specifically prohibited from charging for any such copies, however made.

License Agreement

You should carefully read the following terms and conditions before using this software. Use of this software indicates your acceptance of this license agreement and warranty.

Limitation of Liability

THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OR MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.

GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE THOROUGHLY TESTED BEFORE RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.


Credits

Encouragement and input from Len Sasso.Thanks to Fabrice Million for graphics used all over AudioFinder.Thanks to Kim Cascone for help with the BPM formula and the pitch scaler.Thanks to Jeff T. for his support and input.Thanks to Charlie Clouser for his ideas and suggestions.Shout out to Frank Heller for his testing and being the first to find many bugs.Thanks to Chris R Gibson, AKA "Loopy C," for his continued support and feature suggestions.Thanks to Cycling 74 for help with the VST Plug-In Manager.Thanks to Dave Bourke for help with proofreading this manual.Special Thanks to Luke Slater for proving the vinyl on the AudioFinder turntable.

And to everyone who has suggested features or made a donation to the AudioFinder Club.

Big thanks go to Apple for creating CoreAudio and Cocoa! Plus the most amazing computers anywhere.

ReCycle, REX, and Propellerhead are trademarks of Propellerhead Software AB.


audiofinder manual

Documents

overview audiofinder

audios audiofinder

audio files

loop music

audio cds

audio file browser

audio asset management

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