SoundLog Pro 2 > SoundLog Pro & SoundMiner together

Several products now use MetaData to store information about a sound file directly in the file itself. A common example of this is MP3 Tags. It is a very powerful way of storing & sharing information.

Note! - SoundLog Pro does not store or read MetaData.

For sharing data between users, it's hard to imagine a better form than using Metadata.

I encourage users to explore Metadata in their work routine, but understand the limitations. It's not a perfect system yet. It is no substitute for a database that can Catalog (repoint itself to files).

• Many applications can & will strip Metadata, such as when doing batch sample rate conversions, etc..
• The same applies to opening a sound in an application like Peak, processing it, and saving it. (One day when we all work with Broadcast WAVE files, and ALL applications are compliant, maybe this will be a moot point, but we're nowhere close to that yet.)
• Metadata population of database fields IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR CATALOGING! An example of a BAD system, is iTunes, which reads MP3 Metadata, but doesn't repoint itself to files well. Have you ever moved your MP3's from one drive to another, then added your MP3's from the new location to the library? You wind up with duplicate records, half of which don't point anywhere anymore (the path/link is broken). In this case, it's best to start your iTunes library from scratch, but you don't want to do that with your working library of audio files, every time you move files around. Nor do you want to have to find & remove the records that don't point anywhere. It's FAR better to have a smart database, that relinks records to files through Cataloging.
• There are times you DON'T want information attached to files, for privacy, or other reasons.
• For professional use, data belongs first, in a database that is separate from the files, for data security, and absolute coverage of information.
• Soundlog Pro is built with Filemaker, which is time-tested the world over for reliablity in a literal host of applications. For ultimate security, and data preservation, I won't trust anything else.

SoundLog Pro is a great single package solution! No other package completes the basic needs like SoundLog Pro.

• Generate unique Sound File Names.
• Catalog - repoint itself to files (SoundLog Pro was the first database to implement this, and has worked this way for years)
• Audition
• Import into Pro Tools
• Easily open files in other apps, of your choice.
• Copy files in the Finder to other locations.
• more....

SoundMiner is a great system, with too may features to list here, but I'll list the ones I personally find worth the investment.

• Waveform in the database
• Spotting a sound file directly to a Pro Tools track
• Varispeed playback
• VST plug-in support
• The ability to split your database into several different ones.
• The Soundminer application is separate from the database records, allowing easy updates of the application, with no need to re-import records.
• Good, quick support.
• much more....

I still use SoundLog Pro alongside SoundMiner, for tasks like:

• Making new records & generating new file names for files as I make them.
• Copying files to a folder.
• A permanent database of online & offline records.

My new work routine now uses SoundLog Pro as the front end for creating files and information about those files, and SoundMiner for retrieval & importing into Pro Tools. The new SLP2.1 Cataloger makes getting information from SoundLog Pro to SoundMiner very easy, so the two databases work together much better than before.