ProManager 3.

3
Pro Management for Multi-Format Sampled Instruments Libraries

User Guide
© 2004-2012 Redmatica Srl. All rights reserved. Under
copyright laws, this guide may not be copied, in whole
or in part, without the written consent of Redmatica.
Your rights to the software are governed by the
accompanying software license agreement. The
Redmatica logo is a trademark of Redmatica Srl,
registered in Italy and other countries. Use of the
Redmatica logo for commercial purposes without the
prior written consent of Redmatica Srl may constitute
trademark infringement and unfair competition in
violation of these laws. Every effort has been made to
ensure that the information in this guide is accurate.
Redmatica is not responsible for printing or clerical
errors.

Redmatica Srl
Piazzale R.Finzi N.2
42015 Correggio (RE)
ITALY
www.redmatica.com

EXS24, EXS24mkII, EXSP24, Logic, Logic Express,

GarageBand , Mainstage are registered trademarks of
Apple. Kontakt is registered trademark of Native
Instruments. Structure is a registered trademark of Avid.
Reason and NNXT are registered trademarks of
Propellerheads. Other company and product names
mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective
companies. Mention of third-party products is for
informational purposes only and constitutes neither an
endorsement nor a recommendation. Redmatica
assumes no responsibility with regard to the
performance or use of these products.

Rev 20 AG
2012

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Table of contents

1. About ProManager 5
Supported Software Samplers 6
2. Basic Concepts 7
Libraries 7
Locations 7
Instruments 8
References 8
Samples 8
Relink 8
Snapshot 8
Metadata 9
3. Using ProManager: the Simplified Mode 10
Simplified Mode 10
4. Using ProManager: the Advanced Mode 11
Modifying the path for a Location 13
Delete empty folder inside a location (Clean) 13
Adding standard folders 13
Removing Locations 13
Revealing the Location folder in the Finder 13
Statistics View 14
Content View Modes 16
Instruments view mode 16
Browsing instruments 17
Copying instruments and relative samples 17
References Table 17
Metadata and Metadata inspectors 20
Samples View mode 21
Snapshot content view mode 23
5. Advanced Mode: Scanning 25
Two different management styles 26
6. Advanced Mode: Library Processing Functions 27
Processing is a local job to Locations 27
Library Processing Functions 28
Lib Scan 28
Scan Changes 28
Lib Relink 29
Lib Duplicates 29
Lib Unused 30

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 Lib Reorganize 31
Lib Fix 39
Lib Separate 40
Lib Convert 41
7. Advanced Mode: Instrument Processing Functions 42
Locate and manage missing samples 42
Try associating to samples using all methods 43
Move to selected location 44
Move used samples to selected location 44
8. Advanced Mode: References Processing Functions 46
Assign sample 46
Try associating to samples with all methods 47
9. Metadata 48
What is Metadata? 48
SubLibrary tags / Category Tags / Producer tags 49
Adding Tags manually 50
Adding Tags from the subfolder structure 51
Setting a “Main” tag 51
Removing tags 51
Rating instruments 51
Comments 52
Searching Instruments by Metadata 52
Where is Metadata stored? 52
Metadata synchronization with other computers, over the local network 53
Some examples of metadata synchronization 57
Metadata menus 60
10. Preferences 61
Audio/Midi 61
General 63

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1. About ProManager
ProManager is a standalone program for management of sample instruments and relative
samples. Most pro, home and project studios have now adopted computer-based sampling,
constantly abandoning hardware samplers in the last few years. The raise in memory need from
a few megabytes to several gigabytes per sampled instrument and the relative number of
samples caused and still causes lots of confusion in the typical studio. The reorganization tasks,
a matter of getting a CD drawer in the past, is daily becoming vital for a decent studio life.
ProManager is the solution to a myriad of little tasks and problems that users are faced with
almost on a daily basis. And more…

Main Features

• Management of multiple sets of libraries

• Extensive Metadata management for instruments with dedicated search fields
• Quick relink of instruments to samples for instant loading in your software samplers
• Hard disk reorganization of samples and instruments based on multiple different methods
• Detection and processing of clone (duplicate) samples with optional quick CRC check for
maximum safety

• Detection and processing of unused samples

• Comprehensive visualization of instrument/sample sets complete of various search modes
• Network synchronization of metadata

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Supported Software Samplers
ProManager currently supports the following instrument formats:

• Apple EXS24 (Logic, GarageBand, Mainstage, etc..)

• Native Instruments Kontakt 3 and up
• Digidesign Structure
• Propellerheads NNXT in Reason 4
• Redmatica Keymap 2

ProManager doesn’t handle encrypted formats.However, since most encrypted file formats are
monolithic/single files, this isn’t too important for library management.
All the supported file formats are handled simultaneously. It doesn’t matter which instrument is
in which format: to ProManager they look the same. This means that you can use ProManager
to handle very complex situations where the same samples are used by multiple samplers.

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2. Basic Concepts
All the file formats supported by ProManager make use of two main categories of files:
instruments and samples. Instrument files contain all the playback parameters, zone settings,
groups, playback rules and a list of references to the needed sample files. This system works
beautifully when, on instrument loading, a sampler finds the samples exactly in the places the
references indicate they should be; if this is the case, load time will be very fast. However, when
a sampler doesn’t find the samples at their referenced location, it must search for them on the
hard disk, and with huge sample libraries typical these days, this can be a slow and tedious
operation.

Libraries
The main concept on which ProManager (PM) is built is the Library. A Library is a collection of
folders (aka Locations) containing instrument and sample files. Libraries can be anywhere on
your system,

Multiple Libraries can be defined, and all the main processing functions are always performed
on the currently selected Library.

For this reason it is vital to define your Libraries so that they contains all necessary files, without
cross-references between Libraries. Terms that we will use, as “unused”, “duplicates”, “references”
are always relative to what we are looking at, i.e. a single selected Library at once.

If, for example, you define a Library with Locations containing no instruments at all, all samples
from that Library will be marked as unused, because there are no instruments using them, even
if such instruments do exist outside of the currently selected Library.

Locations
Locations are, simply put, the folders that comprise a Library. These folders can be anywhere in
your system, including external drives. When you add a folder to a library, defining it as a
Location, you also add all of its subfolders. A Location can contain both instruments and
samples.

Each location is also always handled as a kind of small sub-library. While ProManager will fix
references across different Locations (in the same Library), it will never move files across the
Locations boundaries by itself. Why? Becausee the idea is that if you have multiple locations for

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your library, you probably want to keep that organization unchanged. Also, not moving files
across Locations means that you will never run into situations where you run out of disk space,
as the total size of files inside each Location won’t change because of added files.

Instruments
Regardless of its format, an Instrument is a file holding the full set of playback parameters used
by the corresponding sampler and, more importantly for us, the references to the needed
sample files. Instruments are cataloged as Complete or Incomplete by ProManager ,
depending if the Library’s referenced samples are found or or missing.

References
A Reference is a data structure inside the instrument file that points to a sample file on your
drives. Each instrument file can contain one or more references as needed.

Samples
A sample file holds the audio recording of one or more sounds, and is the basis of sampling
technology. Sample files do not contain references to Instrument files. Similarly as for
Instruments, ProManager marks Sample files as Used, Unused and Duplicates based on the
fact that those files are used or unused by Instruments in the same Library, and if they are
duplicates of used samples.

Relink
Relinking is the process of fixing the references inside Instruments so that they point to the
correct sample files. This alone will greatly improve the conditions of your library, as after a
Relink, instruments will load as quickly as possible without having to spend time searching for
files.

Snapshot
In ProManager, a Snapshot file is a file containing the paths of Instruments and Samples defined
in a Library. Every time you perform a function which moves files, ProManager takes a Snapshot
of the original file paths on disk and stores it away. This is useful if you later change your mind
and want to revert back to the original library conditions; ProManager can read a snapshot file
and move the files to the original locations.

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Metadata
Metadata is generally defined as (don’t laugh!) data about other data. In the context of
ProManager, Metadata is more precisely a set of attributes that can be assigned to instrument
files to express a rating, attach a text comment, and a set of text tags which are useful in
searches and for library reorganizations (example: “Orchestral sound” or “SciFi sound” or...
whatever).

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3. Using ProManager: the Simplified
Mode
ProManager features two different operating modes: Simplified mode and Advanced mode.
You select the operating mode in the toolbar using the Mode button

Simplified Mode
The Simplified mode has been designed to quickly let you perform a Relink of Instruments to
Samples with a very simple and efficient interface.

In this mode, you do not have to define Libraries and Locations, but instead you simply set a
maximum of two folders and perform a relink of the files in those folders. A history of recently
used folders is accessible through the popup menu for your convenience. Once the folders are
set, you click the Relink button—that’s it. ProManager will scan all the files in those folders and
fix the references inside instruments.

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4. Using ProManager: the Advanced
Mode
In Advanced mode, ProManager offers a fully-featured interface. Everything in this mode is
based on the concept of Libraries, so you’ll have to define at least one before you can operate
on instruments and samples.

Let’s look at the various screen elements in Advanced mode:

Content
view mode Toolbar

Libraries
table

Locations table

Statistics

Content
View

At the left, you see the Libraries table, which contains all the defined Libraries. If you select a
Library you can see the corresponding set of defined Locations immediately on the right in the
Locations table. Below the Libraries and Locations tables is the Statistics view, which shows
information about the currently selected locations (the number of used/unused files,
duplicates, etc). At the top, the configurable toolbar shows buttons for most of the functions
you can perform on the selected Library. These functions are also available from the main
menu.

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The Content view mode selector is one of the main controls in the Advanced Mode and lets
you switch the Content view between the Instruments, Samples and Snapshots view
modes.

You can define as many Libraries and Locations as you need. While there are no rules for how
you should structure your Libraries you will probably want them to reflect some organizational
concept meaningful to you or whomever is responsible for managing and browsing those
Libraries.

Defining Libraries
Clicking the + button below the Library view creates a new Library in
ProManager.
You can also define Libraries by using the Library > New library
definition menu command or by dragging a folder with instruments
and/or samples from the OSX Finder to the Libraries table. Defining a
Library doesn’t create or touch the files or folders on disk in any way,
it is simply an organizational tool within ProManager..

Removing Libraries
The action of removing a Library only removes the LIbrary inside ProManager and will not
delete or touch the files and folders on disk in any way. You can delete the currently selected
library by using the delete key or using the Library > Remove library definition menu
command

Adding Locations
Once a Library has been defined and selected, you can add Locations
by clicking the + button under the Locations table. This action will open
a dialog window where you can then select the desired folder for your
new Location.

You can also create Locations using the Library > Add location menu
command or by dragging a folder from the Mac Finder to the Locations
table.

At the bottom of the locations table you find a few extra buttons at the
right of the add locations one.

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Modifying the path for a Location
Once a Location is defined, the Set Path button allows you to set a new path for that Location.
This is necessary when a folder defining a Location is renamed and/or moved.

Delete empty folder inside a location (Clean)

The Clean button deletes all the empty folders in the selected Locations. This is very useful
when you reorganize your files and some folders become empty as a result. No file is moved or
deleted by this function.

Adding standard folders

Some samplers use a pre-defined set of folders. Clicking on the Standard button below the
Locations table will open a panel allowing you to automatically add the default (standard)
folder locations for a specific sampler. Note that this is just an utility function, and the actual
folders used by your samplers might be very different, depending on how you configured your
samplers during installation, or how you modified your system.

This command is also available in the Locations menu.

Removing Locations
Selecting one or more Locations and pressing the delete key or using the Library > Remove
selected locations menu command will delete them. This only affects the organization inside
ProManager, and no file or folder is actually deleted in your drives.

Revealing the Location folder in the Finder

A double-click on the Location name or folder icon opens a new Finder window showing the
the respective folder.

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Statistics View
Here’s the list of stats displayed in the Statistics view

Parameter Meaning
Total number of Instruments in the currently selected
Instruments Num
Location
Instruments Num Missing Number of Instruments with missing Samples in the
Samples currently selected Location
Number of Instruments with no reference problems in the
Instruments Num Ok
currently selected Location
Instruments Num to Number of Instruments with wrong references to Samples
Relink in the currently selected Location
Total number of references to Samples existing in
References Num
Instruments in the selected Location
References Num Not Number of references to Samples existing in Instruments
Found and not found in the selected Location
Number of correctly linked references to Samples existing
References Num Ok
in Instruments in the selected Location
Number of references to Samples to be relinked to
References Num to Relink
Instruments in the selected Location
Samples Num Total number of Samples in the selected Location
Number of Samples that are duplicate of other Samples in
Samples Num Duplicate
the selected Location
Number of Samples not used by any Instrument in the
Samples Num Unused
selected Location
Number of Samples used by any Instrument in the
Samples Num Used
selected Location
Samples Size Total size of Samples in the selected Location
Samples Size Duplicate Total size of duplicate Samples in the selected Location
Samples Size Unused Total size of unused Samples in the selected Location
Samples Size Used Total size of used Samples in the selected Location

At first glance, stats referring to References and Samples may appear inconsistent or redundant
since they both refer, in the end, to sample files. Keep however in mind that the same sample

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may be referenced more than once by the same or more instruments, thus the difference in
stats.

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Content View Modes
The rest of the window content changes based on the the currently selected content view
mode.

Each content view mode focuses on a specific typology of files, and so we have an Instruments
view mode, a Samples view mode and a Snapshots view mode.

Instruments view mode

In Instruments view mode, the left side of the content view is occupied by the Instruments
table and the relative Search fields, while the right side can either show the References table
and Sample view, or the Metadata inspectors, which we’ll see and describe later, based on
the selector at right top.

References
/Metadata
selector

Search
fields
References
Instruments table
table

Sample
view

The Instruments table shows the name and folder for each instrument. Other data shown in
the table is the Number and Total Size of the referenced samples. The Rating column shows
the user-defined rating if available for that instrument, and the Comment column (displayed as

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a pen character) shows if a text comment has been attached to the instrument. The search
fields on the top of the Instruments table let you search and filter the instruments you are
interested to.

Instruments are shown in different colors, based on their status. If an instrument has all
references already set correctly, it will be displayed in white. Instruments with broken
references, for which all samples have been found will be displayed in orange. Instruments
with missing samples will be displayed in red. Of course orange-colored instruments can be
turned into white ones by fixing the references using the relink function.

Browsing instruments
If you enable the AutoLoad button, located on top right of the
Instruments table, ProManager will automatically load the selected
instrument in its own internal streaming audio engine and will let you
play it from an external MIDI Keyboard (as defined in the Preferences
panel). Note that ProManager will simply ignore most of the synthesis
parameters in the instruments, so what you hear might be very different
than what you’ll hear in the real sampler you will use. Nevertheless, this is often a useful option
to quickly check the basic sound of an instrument. Loading an instrument requires a certain
amount of time and might slow down the user interface, so this function is disabled by default.

Copying instruments and relative samples

If you want to copy a few instrument files to a folder or to the desktop, complete of the
referenced samples, just select and drag and drop the instruments to the Finder. ProManager
will create a copy of the files without touching the original ones.

References Table
The References Table shows, for each selected instrument, the content of its references, in other
words, the list of samples it needs in order to play properly.

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 References
table

Sample
view

For each reference in the table you can see the sample name, the expected sample size and
sample rate. Depending on the instrument format, some of this information might not be
available. References are displayed in different colors depending on if the corresponding
sample was found and associated. References pointing to the correct sample file are displayed
in white. Broken references for which the sample was however found are displayed in orange
(a relink will fix these references). Broken references for which no sample was found are
displayed in red.

When a sample gets associated to the reference, the References table also shows its name and
path.

If a reference gets
associated to a sample,
then the Sample view
displays the sample,
and you can audition it
by pressing the space
bar or by clicking one
of the three available
play button: play from
the start, play from

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cursor (click anywhere on the waveform to show the cursor and click and drag to select), play
loop (if the Sample has a loop, shown in light blue, otherwise it will play from the start). You can
zoom-in and out using your mighty mouse trackball or your trackpad scroll gesture. Remember
that the Sample view is not a sample editor and so you can’t modify samples from there.

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Metadata and Metadata inspectors
Clicking the Metadata button shows the Metadata inspectors. For now we’ll skip the detailed
description of this area, as the topic requires a chapter itself (please see the Metadata chapter).

Main
Sublibrary and
search field

Sublibraries

Main Category
and search
field
Categories

Main Producer
and search
field

Producers

Rating

Comment

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Samples View mode
When switching to the Samples content view mode,

the content view shows the Sample table on the left , and the Sample view below. On the
right we have the Referencing Instruments table or the Sample Duplicates table depending
on the position of the selector on the top right.

Referencing
instruments/
Sample
duplicates
selector
Search
fields
Referencing
instruments
table
Samples
table

Sample
view

The Sample table shows all the Sample files in your currently selected Library whether or not
they are used by instruments. However, the color of each sample entry shows its relationship
status with respect to instruments. If a sample is being used by instruments, it will be displayed
in white. If the sample is unused, it will be displayed in yellow. If the sample is a duplicate it
will be displayed in orange.

You can play the currently selected sample by pressing the space bar or by using the playback
buttons near the Sample view. If the Sample file contains a set of loop markers, the loop will
also be shown and used for playback. Note that this loop might be completely different than

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the loop defined inside the referencing instruments, as it comes from the sample file, not from
the instrument file.

When a sample used by instruments is selected, the Referencing Instruments table shows the
list of instruments that make such use. In practice this table shows the reverse of the
relationships between instruments and samples that you can see in the Instruments table
and the References table.

If you switch to the Sample Duplicates view, the

Sample duplicates table shows any duplicate
sample file that might exist in the Library for the
currently selected samples.

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Snapshot content view mode
In ProManager, a Snapshot file contains the paths of all Instruments and Samples defined in a
Library. Every time you perform a function which moves files, ProManager first takes a Snapshot
of the original file paths on disk and stores it away. If you subsequently change your mind and
want to revert back to the original library conditions, ProManager can read the snapshot file
and move the files to the original locations.

When switching to the Snapshots content view mode,

you are shown the list of available snapshots for the current Library.

At any time you can create a new snapshot, or select an existing one and restore it.

Keep in mind that Snapshots files only contain file paths, so if the data inside instruments and
samples was changed, this can’t be reverted back. For this reasons, restoring a Snapshot is not

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equivalent (nor is meant to be equivalent) to performing a complete undo or a restore from a
full backup system as the Time Machine in Mac OS X.

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5. Advanced Mode: Scanning
We have already seen how to define a Library and its respective Locations. After a Library has
been defined, however, ProManager still has to scan the files in those locations.

Clicking the Lib Scan button in the toolbar will first clear any data that
might be in memory and then ProManager will start scanning the
various Locations for instrument and sample files.

Once scanning ends (and it might take a while, depending on the

number and format of files you have), all the various tables and views are immediately active
and show the content of your Library. ProManager also associates instruments and samples and
will classify the various files depending on their usage, and display them in the appropriate
colors as described in the previous chapter.

Unused samples are samples (i.e. audio files) that aren’t referenced by any instrument in the
Library. These might be leftovers of instruments you tried and deleted in the past, or belong to
instruments in other Libraries, or be audio tracks that went by mistake into the Library or....
perhaps you simply made a big mess the last time you used the Finder.

Used samples are samples that are referenced (used) by at least one Instrument in the Library.

Duplicate samples are samples that are identical to some of the used samples. ProManager
detects duplicate samples using several methods. The main concept to keep in mind here is
that if, for example, 10 samples are detected as identical and at least one of them is used by
instruments, only 1 sample (which we’ll name Primary sample) will be marked as used, and the
remaining other 9 as duplicates. By default, if you relink the Library, all references of Instruments
that were using any of those 10 samples will be updated to point to the single Primary sample,
which in this way will be shared between instruments. Unused samples are never checked for
duplicates, so the total number of samples always consists of used samples plus duplicate
samples plus unused samples.

You can of course use the various ProManager views to check your Library for those kind of files,
and use the many reorganization functions to fix, modify, and clean your Library or add
Metadata.

Once you have scanned your library, you can use the Scan Changes button to update the data
in memory in case some file was added , removed or modified since the last time you
performed a Scan, or you added some new locations. ProManager always tries to scan the
minimum required amount of files to properly sync the internal database with the current
situation on your disks. This means that the Scan Changes function is particularly quick if you
only changed a few files in a leaf folder (i.e. a folder which has no subfolders). Depending on the

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amount of changes, and at which folder level these changes happened, the time spent by the
Scan Changes function will increase until it takes roughly the same time as the Scan function (if
you changed all files).

Two different management styles

There are basically two approaches in how to use ProManager: the typical approach is to define
a library by adding all the sample and instruments locations for your library at once, and then
perform some function on the whole library to clean it up.

Sometimes, this is a bit difficult to do the very first time you use ProManager, as you do not yet
know where the files are. In this case an incremental approach to defining your library the first
time might be better suited.

The incremental approach is different in that you start from a few known main locations, scan
changes, check the missing samples, add additional folders or select samples, and repeat again
until you are satisfied with the results. Once your library is well defined, you will then typically
switch back to the first type of management style.

Internal optimizations and a new set of functions available for selected instruments and sample
references, make ProManager better suited to an incremental approach to library management,
so that you can use the management approach best suited to your situation.

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6. Advanced Mode: Library Processing
Functions
Let’s now have a look at the various library processing functions in ProManager.

Processing is a local job to Locations

We have already mentioned how the Instrument and Sample files are never moved across
Locations by ProManager. This means that while ProManager will relink Instruments in a
Location with Samples that might be in another Location, those samples won’t be moved by
ProManager to the different Location in which the instrument resides.

This is by design and completely intentional, as there are many benefits to this approach. For a
start, the way you split your Libraries across multiple drives will be respected by the software. It
also means that most of the reorganization processes will simply be moving files very quickly
within the same drive without having to spend time actually copying file data across different
drives.

As a consequence of this feature, when you perform a function that, let’s say, moves the unused
sample files from where they are to a separate folder, there is not a single central folder where
these files will go.

Instead, for each Location, ProManager creates a set of well defined folders, which we call
canonical folders, marked with colors in the OS X Finder to make them stand out.

These canonical folders are handled in a special way: the ones starting with “--->” are the
possible final destination for the various unused/duplicate/incomplete files in the Location, and
as such their content will always be ignored by ProManager in successive runs.

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If, for any reason, you want ProManager to see those files again, you will have to use the Finder
to manually move them out and place them in one of the normal folders (and of course use the
Scan Update function, or scan again everything from scratch).

The Instruments and Samples folders are created and used as canonical folders for Samples
and Instruments when you use the various Reorganization functions which we’ll describe later.
As such they are not skipped by ProManager while scanning.

Library Processing Functions

All the library processing functions you can perform in ProManager are accessible from the
toolbar.

Once you Scan a Library, you can use these processing functions one after the other without
having to rescan every time.

IMPORTANT: All of these functions always operate on the complete Library, and not on
selected items in the various tables. This is necessary to always keep your Library in a consistent
state.

Lib Scan
When you click the Scan button in the toolbar, any instrument and sample data that might be
in ProManager’s memory is cleared and then ProManager starts scanning the defined Locations
in the currently selected Library for instrument and sample files.

Scanning might take some time, depending on the number and format of files being scanned.
Once scanning ends , all the various tables and views are immediately active and show the
content of your Library. ProManager also associates instruments and samples and will classify
the various files depending on their usage, and display them in the appropriate color as
described in the previous chapters.

Scan Changes
Sometimes, especially when you set up your library for the first time, you will need to add more
locations and then scan again. If your library is large, this can quickly become very time
consuming. The Scan Changes function lets you scan the disk only for the files and locations

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that have been added or changed since the last scan, and will remove files that have been
manually removed with the finder, in a very quick and efficient way.

Lib Relink
This function fixes the References in Instruments so that they point directly to the right Sample
files. The primary goal of this function is to optimize the load times when using those
Instruments in their samplers and to get rid of those annoying dialogue windows asking you
where to find samples or which ones to select for load. This function doesn’t move files around,
instead updating the instrument files wherever they are. If some required samples are missing
for an instrument, the Relink function will perform a partial update on that instrument, leaving
untouched the rest of the references missing their samples.

Lib Duplicates
This function lets you delete or move to a separate folder all Duplicate Samples in the currently
selected Library.

The What do you want to do to duplicate samples files menu offers the following possible
settings:

• Leave them where they are: duplicate Samples are not moved

• Move to the DUPLICATE folder: duplicate Samples are moved to the canonical
Duplicate Samples folder for their Location.

• Delete to trashcan: duplicate Samples are moved to the Trashcan.

• Delete immediately: duplicate Samples are deleted immediately. Use this option
with extreme care.

The Delete empty folders option removes folders left empty after the Separate process.

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Lib Unused
This function lets you delete or move to a separate folder all Unused Samples in the currently
selected Library.

The What do you want to do to unused sample files menu offers the following possible
settings:

• Leave them where they are: unused Samples are left untouched.

• Move to the UNUSED folder: unused Samples are moved to the Unused Samples
folder which you can find inside each folder designated as a Location.

• Move to the UNUSED folder only if entire folder is unused: unused Samples are
moved to the Unused Samples folder which you can find inside each folder
designated as a Location. However, in this case only complete folders of unused
samples are processed. If an unused sample is in the same folder as a used sample,
then the unused sample will not be moved out.

• Delete to trashcan: unused Samples are moved to the Trashcan.

• Delete immediately: unused Samples are deleted immediately. Use this option
with extreme care.

The Delete empty folders after reorganization checkbox, when enabled, will remove any
empty folders present in your Library after the reorganization.

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Lib Reorganize
“Reorganization” is defined as the process of moving instruments and/or samples from their
current folder to a new one.. Imagine all the audio cables in your studio completely
disorganized and messy, and then having a machine that automatically reorganizes them so
that they are well tied, colors are matched and everything is cleanly laid out. That’s what
ProManager does, but with Instruments and Samples instead of cables.

Clicking the Reorganize button brings forward the reorganization panel. There are separate
sections and menus for the reorganization of Instruments and Samples.

Instrument Reorganization
The How do you want to reorganize your instruments menu can be set to:

• Leave them where they are: Instruments are not moved at all

• Sort Instruments using the Sample folder structure: will move the Instruments to
folders whose names follow the folder structure used by the referenced Samples.

• Sort Instruments alphabetically on 1 level: will move the Instruments to the

canonical Instrument folder in each Location, in subfolders named after the first letter of
each Instrument name.

• Sort Instruments alphabetically on 2 levels: will move the Instruments to the

canonical Instrument folder in each Location, in a hierarchy of two subfolders named
after the first and second letter of each Instrument name.

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 • Move Instruments to the same folder of Samples: will move Instruments next to the
respective samples (provided they are in the same Library Location).

• Move Instruments to a superfolder of Samples: will move Instruments to the folder

located hierarchically above the Samples folder (provided they are in the same Library
Location).

• Sort Instruments using Main SubLibrary metadata: will sort Instruments by placing
them in folders following their Main SubLibrary name.

• Sort Instruments using Main Category metadata: will sort Instruments by placing
them in folders following their Main Category name.

• Sort Instruments using Main Producer metadata: will sort Instruments by placing
them in folders following their Main Producer name.

• Sort Instruments using Main SubLibrary and Category metadata: will sort
Instruments by placing them in folders following their Main SubLibrary name, then in
sub folders following the Main Category name.

• Sort Instruments using Main SubLibrary and Producer metadata: will sort
Instruments by placing them in folders following their Main SubLibrary name, then in
sub folders following the Main Producer name.

• Sort Instruments using Main Category and Producer metadata: will sort
Instruments by placing them in folders following their Main Category name, then in sub
folders following the Main Producer name.

• Sort Instruments by File Format: will move the Instruments to the canonical
Instrument folder in each Location, in subfolders named after their file format (i.e.
EXS24, etc...)

The What do you want to do with incomplete Instruments menu has two different possible
settings:

• Leave them where they are: incomplete Instruments are left where they are and not
moved at all.

• Move to the INCOMPLETE folder: incomplete Instruments are moved to the canonical
Incomplete Instruments folder for their Location.

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Samples Reorganization
The How do you want to reorganize your Samples menu has the following possible settings:

• Leave them where they are: Samples are not moved and left where they are

• Sort Samples using the Instrument folder structure: will move Samples to folders
whose names follow the respective Instrument folder structure.

• Sort Samples alphabetically on 1 level: will move Samples to corresponding folders

named after the letters of the alphabet.

• Sort Instruments alphabetically on 2 levels: will move Samples to corresponding

folders named after the letters of the alphabet. There are two levels of sorting: a main
folder for each letter of the alphabet, then a subfolder structure referring to the second
character of the Sample name.

• Sort Instruments alphabetically on 2 levels using Instrument names: will move

Samples to corresponding folders named after the Instrument they belong to, then to a
subfolder referring to the starting letter of the Sample name.

• Move Samples to the same folder of Instruments: will move Samples to the location
where Instruments are stored.

• Move Samples to a subfolder of Instrument: will move Samples to a subfolder

residing at the same level of the Instrument file they are referred to.

The What do you want to do to duplicate Samples menu offers the following possible
settings:

• Leave them where they are: duplicate Samples are not moved

• Move to the DUPLICATE folder: duplicate Samples are moved to the canonical
Duplicate Samples folder for their Location.

• Delete to trashcan: duplicate Samples are moved to the Trashcan.

• Delete immediately: duplicate Samples are deleted immediately. Use this option
with extreme care.

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The What do you want to do to unused Samples menu offers the following possible settings:

• Leave them where they are: unused Samples are left untouched.

• Move to the UNUSED folder: unused Samples are moved to the Unused Samples
folder which you can find inside each folder designated as a Location.

• Move to the UNUSED folder only if entire folder is unused: unused Samples are
moved to the Unused Samples folder which you can find inside each folder
designated as a Location. However, in this case only complete folders of unused
samples are processed. If an unused sample is in the same folder as a used sample,
then the unused sample will not be moved out.

• Delete to trashcan: unused Samples are moved to the Trashcan.

• Delete immediately: unused Samples are deleted immediately. Use this option
with extreme care.

The Delete empty folders after reorganization checkbox, when enabled, will remove any
empty folders present in your Library after the reorganization.

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As a picture is worth a thousand words, let’s see a few examples. To simplify, in this example we
will just deal with two instruments and 15 samples.

So let’s imagine starting out with this messy situation.

Since we want to eliminate this mess, let’s try the reorganization mode “Move samples to a
single folder”.
We get this:

But wait, we wanted to get rid of the mess, but now all the samples are confusingly one next to
each other!

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Let’s correct our mistake and apply the reorganization method “Move samples in a subfolder
next to instruments” :

Much better already isn’t it?

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But wait, it’s bad practice to put samples inside the sampler instrument directory (even if this
could be very cool for backups)! Let’s reorganize again using “Sort by sample names on 2
levels”:

Now, I can access samples by knowing their names…But wait—I want to access samples with
the Finder by knowing the instrument name! Let’s reorganize again the set, this time with “Sort
samples alphabetically by instrument name on 2 levels”:

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Not bad, but honestly I worked day and night putting my instruments directories in some order
and would prefer that the samples keep a similar structure. Let’s apply the “Sort samples using
the instrument folder structure” method:

Ok, now we are finally satisfied!

(Note from the editor: we were also starting to run out of methods...)

We have seen a few reorganization examples about sample files, but the same thing can be
done for instrument files.

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Lib Fix
Clicking the Fix button will bring forward the Fix panel.

There are separate sections for fixing Instrument and Sample files. The Fix process will change
the file characteristics like their suffix, default open with application, filetype and creators.

Fix creator so that a double click in the Finder opens the Instruments in:

• the original editor (if available): will instruct the Finder to open the Instruments with
the stock editor, if available. This option works for EXS24 (opens Logic) and Kontakt
(opens Kontakt).

• Redmatica Keymap: This option will make the Instruments open automatically in
Keymap, assuming you own it.

(Unfortunately, Apple changed the way creator data is handled in Mac OS X 10.6, so this Fix
creator function works only in OS X 10.5).

Fix filetype: will fix the filetype so that it’s correctly recognized by OSX as a sample file.

(OS X 10.5 only)

Fix creator so that a double click in the Finder open the sample in: options for Quicktime,
iTunes, Peak, DSP Quattro, Soundtrack, Audacity, Wave Editor.

(OS X 10.5 only)

Fix sample suffix: will insert or change sample suffixes (wav, aif, etc.) according to their actual
formats and update the instruments to use these newly renamed samples.

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Lib Separate
The Separate function brings forward the Separate Instruments and Samples panel. This
function lets you move samples and/or instruments to their own separate canonical folders in
each Location.

How you want to separate files:

• Separate Instruments to their own folder: will put Instruments in the canonical
Instruments folder. This option leaves Samples where they are.

• Separate Instruments to their own folder: will put Samples in the canonical
Samples folder. This option leaves Instruments where they are.

• Separate Instruments and Samples to their own folder: will put Instruments
and Samples in their respective canonical Instruments and Samples folders.

The Delete empty folders option removes folders left empty after the Separate process.

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Lib Convert
The Convert function lets you convert the sample format used in your library. The conversion
process works on complete libraries, creates a new independent library with new instruments
and samples and doesn’t touch or modify the original library.

Supported destination sample formats are: AIFF 16/24/FP, WAVE 16/24, CAF 16/24/FP ,
AppleLossless (.m4a) and AAC (.aac).
Note that the Apple Lossless and AAC are compressed formats, typically reducing the used disk
space up to about 1:3 (Apple Lossless) and 1:30 (for AAC).
The AAC format is especially interesting as it can be used to store very large high quality
libraries on standard laptop drives. The compression ratio varies with the material but usually an
AAC-encoded library uses very little disk space, about 1/10th to 1/30th of the original AIFF/WAV
library size.
Note that at the moment only Keymap 2 and the EXS24 in Logic 9.1 handle all those formats.
Kontakt, Structure and NNXT only support the canonical AIFF and WAVE formats at 16 and 24
bit.
Also note that some conversion are lossy (example: 24bit to 16 bit, or 24 bit to AAC, etc). This is
usually not a real problem as samples are just the initial point in a long processing chain before
the sound is actually emitted, but keep it in mind when replacing your libraries.
The current EXS24 in Logic has a problem in handling small-sized AAC files, and so as a
workaround the AAC conversion will actually create Apple Lossless samples when the sample
file size is below a certain threshold. This is intentional.

The conversion process is quite complex, so this operation will usually take a substantial
amount of time for medium-large libraries.

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7. Advanced Mode: Instrument
Processing Functions
While the functions we have seen in the previous chapter always operate on a complete library,
some other functions operate on the currently selected instruments. These functions are
available from the right-click contextual menu in the instrument table (or using cmd-click if you
haven’t enabled the right button for your mouse).

Locate and manage missing samples

When an instrument is missing a few samples (i.e. it’s displayed in red), sometimes you might
realize that you actually have those samples in a folder which hasn’t been added as a location,
and so those files weren’t scanned.

Instead of adding a complete folder, which might contain unneeded samples, as a location and
use the Scan Changes function, you can select the instruments for which you want to locate the
samples and use the Locate and manage function to point ProManager to that folder.
ProManager will then check if some needed samples are found in that folder and subfolders
and then will ask you what you want to do with those samples.

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The possible actions are:

Add Location: ProManager will simply add the folder as a new location to your library and scan
it.

Move: ProManager will move the needed samples from the selected folder to a subfolder near
the instrument file. Unused sample files will be left where they are.

Copy: ProManager will copy the needed samples from the selected folder to a subfolder near
the instrument file. Unused sample files will not be copied, and in any case the files in the
selected folder will not be touched or modified in any way.

Keep in mind that even after manually locating the missing samples, you will still need to relink
the instrument/the library to update the instrument files.

Try associating to samples using all methods

ProManager uses a number of rules/methods to associate the proper sample files to each
instrument, and you can enable/disable the various methods in the Preferences>General
panel, as described in Chapter 10 (Preferences). Normally, once you successfully relink your
library the first time, you do not have to care about this. Sometimes however, especially the first
time you run ProManager on your untamed library, it might be useful to have the default
(strict) set of methods enabled in the preferences for the vast majority, of files and then apply
the complete set of association methods (i.e. more relaxed association rules) to some specific
instruments.

Applying this command on a selection of instruments will force ProManager to use all of the
available methods to try to associate the appropriate sample files from the set of scanned files.

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Once associated, do not forget to relink the instrument, or the updates will not be written to
disk.

Move to selected location

Sometimes it’s useful to move some instrument files from a location to a different one. You can
use the drag and drop functionality from the instrument table to the location table, but you can
also select a location, then select the instruments and use the Move to selected location
command.

Move used samples to selected location

Similarly to the Move to selected location command, you can select a location, and some
instruments and then move the used samples for those instruments, but not the instrument
files, with the Move used samples to selected location command.

Relink
The Relink command in the contextual menu does perform a relink for the selected
instruments only. Unselected instruments are not updated.

Convert
The Convert command creates a new library out of the selected instruments, using the desired
sample file format. The original instrument files and samples are not modified.

For more details check the Lib Convert command.

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Delete to trashcan
The Delete to trashcan command sends the selected instruments to the trashcan.

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8. Advanced Mode: References
Processing Functions
The functions we have seen in the previous two chapters operate respectively on complete
libraries and selected instruments. ProManager also offers a set of functions operating on
instrument references. These functions are available from the right-click contextual menu in
the references table (or using cmd-click if you haven’t enabled the right button for your mouse).

Assign sample
The association rules in ProManager automatically try to associate samples to instruments.
Sometimes, however, you might want to have manual control over some association and swap
some samples, or perform manual corrections to samples with completely different name and
content or assign a sample that would not otherwise be associated. You can select one
reference and use the Assign sample command to select an arbitrary sample to use. if the
sample is outside the defined locations, the sample will be copied in a subfolder next to the
instrument. If you assign a sample with a different audio content, keep in mind that most
probably any loop you have defined for that sample in the affected instruments will not play
properly anymore.

IMPORTANT: be very careful in using this command, as by its own nature it doesn’t implement
any check about the samples you are choosing. In normal conditions there should never be a
reason for using it and we recommend not using it unless you know very well what you are
doing. Do not assume you are required to use this function to properly manage libraries... you
are not.

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Try associating to samples with all methods
This command is like the similarly-named command found in the instruments table, but works
on selected references instead of instrument, for even finer control.

ProManager uses a number of rules/methods to associate the proper sample files to each
instrument, and you can enable/disable the various methods in the Preferences>General
panel, as described in Chapter 10 (Preferences). Normally, once you successfully relink your
library the first time, you do not have to care about this. Sometimes however, especially the first
time you run ProManager on your untamed library, it might be useful to have the default
(strict) set of methods enabled in the preferences for the vast majority, of files and then apply
the complete set of association methods (i.e. more relaxed association rules) to some specific
references.

Applying this command on a selection of references will force ProManager to use all of the
available methods to try to associate the appropriate sample files from the set of scanned files.

Once associated, do not forget to relink the instrument, or the files won’t be updated.

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9. Metadata
What is Metadata?
In ProManager, Metadata is a set of attributes you can assign to an instrument to provide a
detailed description of its content., Metadata is very useful as you can go well beyond the
simple description given by the instrument filename and/or folder. Having detailed
descriptions is also the key in finding, browsing and sorting exactly the files you need: clever
use of Metadata can reduce a horribly tedious search for a string sound within a 30,000
instrument library to a pleasant comparison your 5 top favorite string sounds for the musical
genre you are working on.
The Metadata you can define for an instrument in ProManager is composed of multiple
elements:

•a set of SubLibrary tags (i.e. keywords)

•a set of Category tags (i.e. keywords)

•a set of Producer tags (i.e. keywords)

•a rating expressed from 1 star to 5 stars (plus non-rated)

•a free-form text comment

All this metadata is proprietary to ProManager and doesn’t interfere with other Metadata that
might be available in each specific sampler format. More importantly, the ProManager
Metadata can be assigned to all of its supported instrument formats, regardless of its native
metadata capabilities (example: the EXS24 format doesn’t natively support Metadata, but you
can still use Metadata with it through ProManager), making it a universal solution.

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This is an example of how you might structure your Metadata

Library name Orchestra

SubLibraries Strings Woodwinds ... Others

SubLibraries Violins Violas Cellos Clarinets Flutes

Category Solo Ensemble

Producer Stradivari Guarneri

SubLibrary tags / Category Tags / Producer tags

Back to the Metadata inspectors, we’ll now cover the description of the SubLibrary metadata
inspector. The Category and Producer inspectors work in exactly the same way, and they are
just independent/distinct sets.

Once you select one or more instruments, you can define and add an arbitrary number of
Sublibrary tags, and also set a main SubLibrary tag, which you’ll set to what in your opinion
is the most representative SubLibrary tag for the files.

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While the tags themselves can be arbitrary words, examples of appropriate tags for use in
SubLibraries might be : “Kirk Hunter strings” or “VSL Cube” or “Hans Zimmer Guitars” or “My
favorite sounds”.

Examples of appropriate tags for use in Categories might be : “Hard Rock” or “HipHop” or
“Orchestral”.

Examples of appropriate tags for use in Producer might be : “Kirk Hunter” or “Sam” or
“Disposable Intern #3” or “Aunt Zoe”.

It’s all completely up to you!

Adding Tags manually

You can add tags to the selected Instruments by clicking the + button below each tag table.

A panel appears, and you can either drag and drop existing tags or directly type new (or old)
ones on the left box. Once you are satisfied, just click “Add” and these tags will be added to all
the selected Instruments.

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Adding Tags from the subfolder structure
In all likelihood you already have a semi-organized library, where the subfolders are used to sort
instruments by typology (example: all your pad sounds might be in the “pad” folder, and so on).
Recreating this basic organization in the Metadata inspectors would be a good starting point,
however, adding all of these tags manually for each file would be extremely time consuming.
For this reasons, in ProManager you can automatically add the subfolders names as tags for the
selected Instruments by clicking the + From folders button.

Only the subfolders down from the Location folder are considered. Once you add these tags,
you can simply delete the ones you do not like or do not need.

Setting a “Main” tag

For each instrument, you can set a Main tag for each set to define the main characteristic of
that instrument. This operation is performed by selecting the desired tag from the Main
SubLibrary/producer/Category menus.

Removing tags
To remove a tag for the selected instruments, just go to the corresponding tag table, select the
tags you want to remove and press the delete key on the keyboard.

Rating instruments
The rating button strip lets you set a rating from one to five stars, or a No rating value to the
selected instruments.

Ratings can also be set directly form the Instruments table by clicking the Rating column.

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Comments
As if all this freedom wasn’t enough, you can even write free form comments for each
Instrument. As you can imagine, while you can write anything you want here, we recommend
you do not abuse this feature, as too you might increase the size of your instrument files.

Searching Instruments by Metadata

You can search for Instruments with certain Metadata tags/ ratings/ comments by using the
various search fields available in the Metadata inspectors. All of ProManager search fields
(Name, Path, Library, Category, Producer & Comment) are always active and can be used
simultaneously. In this way you can carry on searches satisfying more than a single condition at
once.

Note that for the SubLibraries, Producers and Categories tags , the search field has a menu
letting you select two different modes, and can search either in the Main tag definition, or in the
wider set of tags.

If you get an unexpected search result, verify that all unnecessary search fields were empty.

Where is Metadata stored?

ProManager writes your Metadata in two places: in a hidden file attached to the instrument file
(technically speaking, in the resource fork), and also directly into each instrument file. In this
latter case where Metadata is not natively supported (EXS24, Reason NNXT,and others), various

Page 52
programming tricks are used to store the data there anyway, using a fully compatible method,
but we won’t go into needless technical details.

What you need to know, however, is that writing Metadata directly inside instrument files is a
very time consuming operation, and as such is not explicitly performed each time you edit a
Metadata inspector. The Metadata is instead kept in memory, until you click the Metadata
Write toolbar button or use the Metadata>Write metadata to all instruments menu
command.

If you quit the application before writing the metadata to the files, the metadata you set is not
lost anyway, but quickly saved in the hidden file attached to your instrument file, so that it’s
preserved till the next time.

Metadata synchronization with other computers, over

the local network
Metadata can be so useful that often you will want all copies of your libraries on your various
computers to use the same Metadata definitions, regardless of the name of the folders in which
the libraries are stored. ProManager offers a simple yet powerful mechanism for synchronizing
the Metadata across multiple Computers on a local network.

When you click the Metadata NetSync button,

the Metadata Network Sync panel opens and shows a list of ProManager instances currently
running on other computers in the local network. If two computers are on the same network
and both have PM correctly installed and running and you still can’t see the computer on the
local network list, then it’s likely that the port PM is using to exchange data is blocked by a
firewall. In such a case you’ll need to deactivate your firewall for TCP port 39911. Please refer to
OS X or third party help or manuals on how to achieve this.

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If you select a system on the network, and then click Start, ProManager will synchronize all
Metadata of equally named Instruments in equally named Libraries (Locations are irrelevant).

What is actually synchronized, and how, depends on how you set the three menus shown in the
panel.

The first and most important menu to set is the What to sync menu, and it offers two possible
settings.

• All Libraries in common: ProManager will synchronize all Libraries in common, with the same
name, between all selected computer.

• Currently Selected Library on this Mac: only the currently selected Library will be
synchronized with the correspondingly named ones on the network.
Every Net Sync operations is split in two distinct steps, in which the metadata is first pulled and
merged from other computers, and then the result is pushed back.

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Step1 Step2
Network Mac Network Mac

Local Mac Network Mac Local Mac Network Mac

Network Mac Network Mac

In STEP 1, the local Mac receives metadata from the other selected computers on the network
and merges the information with its local data. This step is optional.
In STEP 2, the local Mac sends the Metadata from its internal scanned data database (which
might have been just updated if you had STEP 1 active) to the other selected computers on the
network. This step is also optional.
What happens in each step is governed by the corresponding pop-up menu settings, and
depending on how you configure them you can obtain a wide range of different
synchronizations.

Of course if you do not enable any action in both steps... nothing happens!

The Step1: Sync action for this Mac menu has two possible settings:

• Leave Metadata untouched: when this is selected, STEP 1 will be skipped, and the local
Metadata will not be changed. Use this setting if your scan is the most recent and most
updated one.

• Merge with Metadata from selected ProManagers on the network: this setting will pull
and merge remote metadata with the local data, effectively updating the local scan
data. Use it when you need to synchronize the local computer with changes made on
the remote computer(s).

The Step2: Sync mode for Macs on the network menu has three possible settings:

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 • Leave Metadata untouched: when this is used, the metadata on the remote computers
will not be modified. Use this setting if all you want to do is update your local scan data.

• Add Metadata from this computer: when this is used, all the local Metadata will be
pushed to the selected remote computers; the add action only affects Instruments with
no Metadata prior to the action, and as such will not overwrite existing Metadata on the
remote computers.

• Overwrite with Metadata from this computer: when this is used, all the local Metadata
will be pushed to the selected remote computers, overwriting the existing metadata
that might have been defined there.

Clicking on Start will initiate the synchronization process. A progress bar roughly indicates the
status of the process.

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Some examples of metadata synchronization
Example 1: Mac A and Mac B don’t have equally named Libraries. Even if they share the same
Instruments, a NetSync action, regardless of how you set the two STEP menus, won’t change
anything

Mac A Mac B

Library X Library Y

Instrument Instrument
α α

Instr. α
Metadata X
NetSync
Instr. α
Metadata

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Example 2: Mac A and Mac B have equally named Libraries. They don’t have any Instruments in
common in the equally named Libraries. A NetSync action, regardless of how you set the two
STEP menus, won’t change anything.

Mac A Mac B

Library X Library X

Instrument Instrument
α β

Instr. α
Metadata X
NetSync
Instr. β
Metadata

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Example 3: Mac A and Mac B have equally named Libraries and share some or all equal
Instruments in those Libraries. A NetSync action will synchronize Instrument Metadata for the
Instruments actually belonging to both Macs (which Instrument gets updated and how still
depends on how you configure the two STEP menus).

Mac A Mac B

Library X Library X

Instrument Instrument
α α

Instr. α NetSync
Instr. α
Metadata Metadata

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Once opened, the window lists the names, IP address and port for each Mac connected and
with an authorized version of ProManager running. Selecting one or more network-attached
computers will allow you to sync:

Metadata menus
Metadata> Write Metadata to all Instruments : writes the defined Metadata in all the
instrument files in the currently selected Library.

Metadata> Write Metadata to selected Instruments : writes the defined Metadata in the
selected instrument files in the currently selected Library.

Metadata> Clear Metadata in all Instruments : removes all the ProManager Metadata in all
the instrument files in the currently selected Library.

Metadata> Clear Metadata in selected Instruments : removes all the ProManager Metadata
in the selected instrument files in the currently selected Library.

Metadata> Add SubLibrary MetaData from folders : adds SubLibrary tags based on folder
names in which the instrument file resides.

Metadata> Add Category MetaData from folders : adds Category tags based on folder
names in which the instrument file resides.

Metadata> Add Producer MetaData from folders : adds Producer tags based on folder
names in which the instrument file resides.

Metadata> Network sync: synchronizes Metadata with computers on the local network.

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10. Preferences
Audio/Midi

Audio Out Device: this menu lets you select which audio device you want to use for playing
back samples and instruments.

Sample Rate: the sampling rate to use for the audio out device.

Main Stereo Out: the main stereo out for the selected Audio Out device.

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Audio Volume: audio out volume

Virtual memory strategy:

ProManager features a streaming audio engine, which avoids loading sample data into the
computer RAM memory unless absolutely necessary.

Without going into needless technical details, you can change the audio engine behavior using
the Virtual memory Strategy menu. This menu is provided mostly as a way to troubleshoot
systems, rather than something you should worry/think about, and we recommend leaving it at
the default setting.

Pure streaming will force the audio engine to keep as little audio data as possible in RAM.

Lazy loading on the contrary will not stream but will load samples in RAM only when strictly
necessary.

Hybrid streaming settings switch the audio engine to a mode which is “in between” of
streaming and loading, and gives most of the advantages of both approaches.

You might need to restart ProManager before changes to this setting become effective.

Audio Out Channel Table: the Audio Out Channel Table lets you select which of your physical
audio outputs to assign to the internal out channels in ProSampler for playing back
your samples and instruments.

The Set all to main stereo out and Set all to individual outs buttons let you quickly configure
the channel table respectively for stereo and discrete channel monitoring.

Listen to MIDI Device: this menu lets you select which MIDI controller/keyboard ProSampler
will listen to.

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General

In the General tab you select which rules ProManager follows when matching instruments
references to sample files. You can select any of the matching strategies, remembering that, any
choice you make, they will be taken into account in the exact order they’re listed.

For normal uses, you should use the default values.

Exact file location: checks for the sample in its exact file location.

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Sample name and sample length: checks if sample name and its length match.

Sample name ignoring suffix and sample length: checks if sample name and length match,
not taking into account the file name suffix (extension).

Sample and audio data length: checks if sample name and the audio data chunk length
match, this helps if the samples are the same, but the file headers were changed after
processing them with external editors.

Sample name (only if it’s unique): check if sample name is the same. For safety reasons, this is
used only if there is a single candidate sample file with the right name.

Sample name using similarity of paths: checks if the samples found are located in paths with
similar structure. For example, expected path Samples/Piano/Sustain while the similar
path might be Edited Samples/Pianos/Sustain.

Sample name without suffix (only if it’s unique): only checks if sample name matches. This is
usually very fast, but only works if sample names are unique. Not taking into account
the suffix (file extension) grants that a file format change (from WAV to AIFF for
example) doesn’t stop ProManager from finding referenced samples.

You can always return to the default values by clicking the Reset rules to default set button.

Also scan files with no recognized suffix or filetype: this setting will make sure that all files in
the location paths are scanned for. Its drawback is that it potentially lengthens the scan
process.

Detect duplicate files using: sets the algorithm used for duplicate checking.

The last group of settings at the bottom are useful for debugging a problematic library.

EXS24 Format: here you can select what format ProManager should use to write EXS24 files.
The modern EXS24 format, used by Logic 9.1 and later versions supports long sample
filenames. The classic EXS24 format was used up to Logic 9.02 and supports sample
filenames only up to 31 characters, suffix included. Note that ProManager will always
read both formats.

Reason Format: here you can select what format ProManager will use to write Reason NN-XT
files. Possible choices are Reason4 and Reason3.

Clear cached analysis data: this button resets the internal data used to accelerate the analysis
of your instrument files. Normally it should not be used, as it will mean that the first
time you will re-scan your library it will be slower.

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Debug mode: ProManager performs a long series of checks to avoid crashing on corrupted
instruments, but of course corruption has many faces and we always learn new ways in
which a file can be damaged. If this is your case (i.e. you get a crash while sanning) , the
debug mode can help you figure out the damaged file in order to remove it.

What you should do to find out the bad file:

- Start ProManager

- Enable the Debug Mode checkbox in the preferences

- Now use ProManager as you'd normally do. It will be much slower, but that's normal in
debug mode.

- Once the software crashes, you will see a new RedmaticaDebug.txt file on the
Desktop. Open it: the last instrument file you see mentioned there is most probably the
bad one.

- At that point, move out that file and use ProManager again normally (you might also
want to disable the Debug Mode to go back to the normal scanning speed).

Do not forget to zip the instrument file (zipping it is important!) and send it to
support@redmatica.com so we can check it and improve ProManager to correctly
handle it.

Force sample fade parameter to 0 in EXS24 Instruments: some conversion applications fill the
new sample fade parameter in EXS24 files with garbage. This setting lets you clear the
parameter to zero.

Force processing of all instrument files: when relinking, ProManager will normally avoid
rewriting instruments that do not need to be updated. Enabling this checkbox will turn
off that optimization and update all instruments.

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