Chicken Systems Instrument Manager User Manual
Instrument Manager™
Version 1.1, Build 1
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Instrument Manager™ Table Of Contents
Instrument Manager™
Table Of Contents
Introduction............................................
Basic Concepts........................................
Windows
Main Screen............................................
Proprietary Dialog.....................................
Launch Pad..............................................
Views
Database View........................................
Category View.........................................
Column View............................................
Folder View.............................................
Content View............................................
Common Operations
Organization....................................
Add/Delete/Edit.............................
Search..........................................
Management....................................
Sample Relinking............................
Object Naming...............................
Operations.......................................
Compilation......................................
Bank Builder..................................
Object Merger................................
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Menus
File........................................................
Tools......................................................
Help......................................................
Preferences
Preferences.............................................
Support
Troubleshooting.......................................
FAQ.......................................................
Bug Reports............................................
Contacting Technical Support....................
Updating................................................
Contact Us..............................................
Credits...................................................
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Instrument Manager™ Introduction
Instrument Manager™
Introduction
Instrument Manager™ is a Mac and
Windows application that organizes,
manages, and views properties of any
Instrument or Sample le. This includes
most every software samplers and
hardware samplers, must most every
commonly used sample format, either as a
stand-alone le or embedded sample.
Instrument Manager™ is designed
to meet every real-world need related
to instrument management with ANY software/hardware sampler. It supports practically
all Instrument le formats: Kontakt, Structure, EXS24, Reason NNXT, HALion, MachFive,
Independence, GigaStudio, SFZ/Dimension, workstations such as Motif, Fusion, and Fantom,
and old samplers such as Akai, Roland, Emu, Ensoniq, Kurzweil, and many more.
Use as a Browser.
Type in a simple search query in the iTunes-ish interface and your results come right up,
reminiscent of Giga’s QuickSound but more powerful. Drag anything off the interface and drop
it onto any software sampler that supports dropping of les (Kontakt, Structure, etc.). Four
individual customizable views allow total complete ease of use.
Windows and Mac. Any Instrument Format.
Whether you use a Windows or a Macintosh, Instrument Manager™ is compatible. No matter
what sampler, or what le, Instrument Manager™ supports it. There isn’t a computer or a
instrument le that Instrument Manager™ can’t handle.
No more bad links.
Using brand new innovative technology just developed, Instrument Manager™ can re link
samples quickly and easily when the links are broken. But that’s not all: redirect links to new
samples, or change link/sample names using Find-Replace techniques, plus other innovative relinking schemes.
Power Databasing.
Any Instrument can be given metadata tags, and searched upon using those tags. Instruments
can be grouped under user-dened groups for later access. Multiple databases are supported.
Instrument Manager™ databasing can be synchronized with other sampler’s database
schemes.
The other stuff.
Use the Bank Builder to make your own custom Banks. Merge Instruments using the Object
Merger. Rename Instruments, whether they are les or objects within a le. Audition sounds.
Read, write, and browse proprietary disks such as Akai, Roland, Emu, Ensoniq, and Kurzweil.
Unlike other management programs, Instrument Manager™ works with all formats, including
those on proprietary disks such as Akai, Emu, Roland, Ensoniq, Kurzweil, etc. And when
combined in Chicken System’s SamplerTools™ bundle, you can convert sounds on the y.
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Introduction Instrument Manager™
Features include:
Database any sampler le and disk format
Integrated intelligent Search Engine; search for sounds or categories of sounds using
keywords and regular expressions
Create Groups and assign Instruments or Samples to those Groups
Multiple views: List, Category, Column, and Folder
Sample Reference Management - x broken Instrument-Sample links, assign new sets of
samples to Instruments with different names, remove duplicate samples and sample data
Read and Write to Proprietary disks (Akai, Roland, Ensoniq, Emu, etc.), create your own
compilation disks
Drag-n-Drop loading of sounds from the main interface
Auditioning ability
Macintosh and Windows-compatible
Some notes regarding the documentation:
This document is synced to the Instrument Manager™ version denoted on the cover of this
document. It is a dynamic document and often is revised with every major, minor, or even build
of Instrument Manager™.
Some of Instrument Manager™’s dialogs are “sheets” on the Mac, meaning that they
animate down from the title bar and are attached to the dialog which they correspond to. Some
screenshots reect this in the document. On Windows these dialogs are separated but they still
are “modal”, meaning that they must be worked with or cancelled to return control back to the
parent dialog.
Instrument Manager™ works with many formats. Most US keyboards and software regards
middle C key on a keyboard (MIDI note 60) as C4, while most non-US styles denote this as
C3. By default Instrument Manager™ displays middle C as C4, but you can change this in
Preferences-General to align with your personal preference.
If you are a registered owner, you are qualied for free updates for the life of the program.
You can download these from your program using the Check for Update feature, or from the
Chicken Systems Update Area.
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Instrument Manager™ Basic Concepts
Basic Concepts
Instrument Manager™’s features can be
broken down into four different areas.
Organization
List your Instruments and Samples of any
format; search and display small or large
subsets of entries, attach properties to these
entries for easy recognition and information
value. For more information, go to the
Organization page.
Management
Fix Sample References in Instruments, update Sample Parameters, or reassign new samples.
For more information, go to the Management page.
Operations
Drag Instruments or Samples off the interface and onto external areas, such as external
Samplers, the Finder/Explorer, or DAW “bins” - anything that takes an external le drag. For
more information, go to the Operations page.
Compilation
Create custom Banks, such as Giga les, SoundFonts, or any other “Bank” format from single
Presets. Read and write from Proprietary disks (Akai, Roland, etc.) For more information, go to
the Compilation page.
The principal interface for Instrument Manager™ is the Main Screen, shown above.
Each Main Screen hooks into a database. There can be multiple databases created, and several
databases can be open at one time.
You can add, delete, and edit entries in the database. You can add entries (Banks, Instruments,
or Samples) by dragging them onto the Main Screen, or by adding them using the menu or
popup menu operations. You can operate (add, delete, edit) entries one at a time or in bulk.
You can view entries via the large list on the Main Screen. You can customize the columns to
see what you want to view. Each entry shows you it’s inherent properties, along with some
parameters you set yourself, like Category, Genre, Keywords. Entries can be assigned a picture,
a movie, and/or a demonstration sound.
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Instrument Manager™Main Screen
Main Screen
The Main Screen in Instrument Manager™
is the interface to a single Database
which you attach to the dialog. You can
have multiple screens up within a single
Instrument Manager™ application, to edit
multiple Databases.
A Main Screen shows:
Sound Object Lists
The Main Screen contains four different lists.
Two of them (Database View and Category View) relate to Sound Objects in the Database.
Folder View lists the les on your system (local disks or network drives), and Column View
allows you to make your own custom “virtual volume”.
A Database shows all the entries or a portion of them. This can be based on a Search lookup,
the contents of a Group, a modied list based on adding or removing from the list. You can drag
out of the list and drop into it.
For more information on the Lists and their function, please see the Main Screen Lists section in
this document.
Search Field
This works similarly to the standard iTunes or other applications Search Field. Use this to
increase or decrease the entries you see in the List. For more information on searching, please
see the Search section in this document.
Operation Popup
This gives you easy access to common operations, like adding, deleting, relinking, the
Reference Manager, Properties, etc.
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Instrument Manager™ Proprietary Dialog
Proprietary Dialog
Proprietary disks can’t be read with a
computer, so Instrument Manager™
provides a Proprietary Dialog so you can
view the contents of your Akai, Roland, and
other CD’s and disks.
Proprietary disks can include CD’s, disks,
and Virtual Drives. Virtual Drives are
(usually large) Image les that exist on
your computer. The Proprietary Dialog can
navigate these as well.
Virtual Drives are seen by Instrument
Manager™ when they are in, or aliased/shortcutted to, the Images folder. This is in the
following locations:
Mac: /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Chicken Systems/Instrument Manager/Images
WinXP:
Vista/Win 7:
(note: AppData may be hidden)
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Chicken Systems\Instrument Manager\Images
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Users\[username]\AppData\Chicken Systems\Instrument Manager\Images
If you are just reading your Proprietary disks, we strongly suggest making Virtual Drives out of
all of them. You can use Disk Utility or Toast (Mac), or most CD-burning softwares on Windows.
Select your desired peripheral or Virtual Drive in the popup menu above the dialog. You can
Refresh using the Refresh button next to it. You have 3 views to select from - Tree, List, and
Column View.
Tree View
This view shows your drive in hierarchal indented form. Click the +/-/triangles to expand
or collapse a node.
List View
This view shows the “current working folder” on your drive. Back up by clicking on the “Up
to [xxx]” entry at the top, and go forward by double-clicking on a folder-type object on the
list (they are listed rst). By using the popup menu up top, you can navigate back several
steps.
Column View
This view borrows for the popular Mac Finder concept. It is similar to the List View only you
expand into horizontal lists to the right of the parent.
You can drag in and drag out of the Proprietary Dialog to add or replace objects in the drive,
just like a normal computer drive. (Of course, you cannot write to a CD, but you can write to
a Virtual Drive, which you can later burn to a CD.) Sound Object drops are subject to the rules
the drive imposes, for instance you can’t drop a Instrument on a Akai Partition (they go in Akai
Volumes).
Under normal stand-alone operation, you can only transfer Sound Objects of the same type
into your proprietary disk. For example, you can only drop a Ensoniq .efe/.efa/.ins le onto
a Ensoniq disk. However, if you have SamplerTools™ installed, you can also translate your
object movements on the y. For example, if you drag a Kontakt Instrument onto your Akai
proprietary drive, it will convert the Kontakt Instrument into a Akai Program and Samples,
THEN write the le to your proprietary disk.
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Instrument Manager™Launch Pad
You can also rename objects by selecting and single-clicking on the object after 1 second of the
original selection. All names are subject to the rules the drive imposes, such as name length,
case, and identical name rules.
Launch Pad
One of Instrument Manager™’s design goals is to do something with the objects that you’ve
organized and databased. A well organized instrument and sample library wants you to DO
something with it.
The Launch Pad is a way to prepare your objects for “launch”. The most useful operational
function of Instrument Manager™ is to drag objects off the interface and onto a waiting
sampler that is open on your system. For example, Instrument Manager™ makes for an
excellent Kontakt “Super Browser” - just have it open alongside Kontakt, or on another monitor.
Of course, you can always drag off of the Main Screen, but often you want some preparation
before “launch”. If you have SamplerTools™, a good example of this is to drag several objects
of different formats to the Launch Pad. Then, simply perform a conversion into (say) Kontakt
format. Then, you can drag the objects off the Launch Pad and onto Kontakt. (This is necessary,
because Kontakt does not allow drops of non-Kontakt les onto it’s rack, except from it’s own
browser.)
Another example is to simply drag off assorted objects and do a mass operation on them.
Again, it is true that this can be done in the Main Screen, but the Launch Pad alllows a
uncluttered environment in which to do bulk operations.
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Instrument Manager™ Views - Database View
Views - Database View
The Database View in the Main Screen
reects the current lookup of the Database
attached to the Main Screen. The Master List
is highly powerful, making it effortless for
you to manage your entries and view the
information that you want to see.
The Database View has Columns which
reveal various pieces of information. Like
most lists, clicking on the heading enables
you to sort according to that Column’s piece
of information.
You can customize the Columns to limit what gets shown, to de-clutter the interface. The Name
eld is the only column that is required to be shown. Customize the Columns by right-clicking
on the List or by clicking on the Gear on the Interface and choosing Customize List... The
Customize List dialog comes up and allows you to customize the list, where you can determine
what columns get shown and in what order.
The columns, which are parallel to the properties of a Sound Object in the Database, are as
follows:
Name The Name or File Name of the object. Read-only.
Size The File Size of this object. It is NOT the cumulative memory size
of the object with samples.
File Type The File Type of an object; e.g. EXS24 Instrument for an exs le.
Read-only.
Location/Path The location of the le on the hard drive, Virtual Drive, or CD/DVD. The
disk does not have to be present, If it is not, the text will be red. Clicking
this box enables you to nd a non-linked le or reassign it to another
object. This new object can be any object - only the attributes will now be
assigned to this new le.
Author The Author of this object.
Website/URL A Website that is associated with this object.
Notes Any user-written notes desired about this object.
Type 1, 2, and 3 A pre-set list of Categories an object may be assigned to. The Categories
are hierarchical, 3 follows 2 which follows 1. These types are what dene
the Category List.
Keywords A list of keywords to attach to the object.
Rating The rating of the object, from 1-10.
Groups The list of Groups that this object is a member of.
Demo You can attach a sound le to this object; this plays it and stops it.
Like all other lists, you can drag items out of the list to load them onto a software sampler, or
drop them on the Proprietary Dialog, Launch Pad, Bank Builder, or Object Merger to operate on
or move them.
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Views - Category View
The Category View shows your Database
from another viewpoint, based on the three
category Types pre-dened.
Used Categories are in BOLD and a short
Properties pane shows on the far right. The
Category List is ganged to the Master List, so
the Search Field is operable and updates the
Category List to reect changes made in the
Master List, and vis-versa.
Like all other lists, you can drag items out
of the list to load them onto a software
sampler, or drop them on the Proprietary
Dialog, Launch Pad, Bank Builder, or Object
Merger to operate on or move them.
Views - Column View
Instrument Manager™Views - Category View
The Instrument Manager™ Column View
simulates the OSX Column View, but it puts
forward a specic functionality. It allows
you to make your own “virtual volume” by
making your own folders, naming them, and
inserting your own objects in them.
You start off with a set of blank lists, aligned
horizontally. You can add anything to the
lists by dragging an object onto one of the
lists. Each list from left to right is heirarchial;
meaning that making a folder in a list
activates the next right list, which will display the contents of that folder.
You can right-click on any list to add, delete, or operate on objects. Double-clicking on an object
allows you to rename it.
The information in the Column List is stored in that screen’s Database.
Like all other lists, you can drag items out of the list to load them onto a software sampler, or
drop them on the Proprietary Dialog, Launch Pad, Bank Builder, or Object Merger to operate on
or move them.
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