Daw's & Their Instrument / FX Browsers - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

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Winstontaneous wrote: The Bitwig popup browser they added on 1.x was one of the things that drove me away from that DAW, I don't want something taking over my screen when adding devices. Maybe it's improved in 2.x.
It has improved, but the basic concept of a big pop-up browser opening is the same. If you didn't like it then, you wont like it now. I think it's great concept... it can still use some refinements for navigating by keystrokes.

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Winstontaneous wrote:
beatmangler443 wrote:Native Instruments Maschine, and Presonus Stuido One end of discussion.
Good, bad, or ugly? Inquiring minds want to know!
End of discussion, so we can't know :hihi:

Live 9 browser is a pita for me, having to set folders every time i want to find something on my hard drive. It's a step down from v8 but it sells because it organizes the built in stuff (sounds, effects, etc.) I use mostly 3rd party plugs, my own loops occasionally, 3rd party samples, etc.

If you have so many plugins that you can't keep track then i agree with previous posts : either you have too many or they are Very poorly organized. Even though i try to install only what i will use, i do have hundreds, still i never have trouble locating the one i want.

Pop ups?, hmm i would not want that either.
gadgets an gizmos..make noise~crystalawareness.bandcamp.com/ soundcloud.com/crystalawareness Restocked: 5/2026
if this post is edited -it was for punctuation, grammar, or to make it coherent (or make me seem coherent).

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Although it's off topic I like Live8 sample browsing over FL12 and it's faster than using Explorer searching. So when I search samples I use Live's browser and drag and drop to FL's playlist from it. 8)

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Maschine is only for those that have hardware that goes with..
Presonus is ok. but you still have to open and close a window as with Ableton.
so i'd still put reaper above it. for browsers you understand : )

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Each browser fails in some way, Live for example is good with the DAW content but as your library becomes bigger it might become a mess.
dedication to flying

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Lives browser is a terrible mess, in particular the Max section is completely disorganised because packs just get added as the developer sees fit but there is no way for the user to organise it more effectively.

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aMUSEd wrote:Lives browser is a terrible mess, in particular the Max section is completely disorganised because packs just get added as the developer sees fit but there is no way for the user to organise it more effectively.
I thought Live's browser was user unfriendly. I say was because I'm not using it anymore.

I never got fluidly comfortable with it and when I was busy with other projects and away from audio, and then came back to it after a few weeks, it almost felt like I had to learn it again.

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+1
the ableton browser is one of the worst. just a pita. i try and use explorer now as much as poss and avoid the library if i can...
does anyone know if there will be any changes to the browser in versio 10?

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I love Bitwig's pop up browser concept. Limitless favorite and smart folders. try anything you want be it vsti,fx, preset, sample etc without committing and if you don't like it just hit cancel and you are back to where you were. There is also the side browser if you don't want to deal with the pop up window
Oz

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Live's browser is great if you know how to use it.

For example, if you want M4L devices just add the file extension for M4L devices ("amxd") to your search query.

When searching for the Kasio synth device, simply typing "ka am" (KAsio AMxd) already restricts the search result to very few.

Simply adding a "s" and typing "kas am" restricts the results to only one, "kasio.amxd", the only file out of tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of files that fits the query.

Using other shorthands like "vst", "drum", etc. or even shorter, "vs" or "dr" is enough to restrict the results quite a lot.

If you want projects use "als", if you want Racks use "adg", if device presets then "adv", etc.

Much faster than clicking and visually searching multiple times in a folder tree.

[edit:]

In addition, you can save Clips as ".alc" files, those can be auditioned with the synth and FX used in the track.



Also, Live's file formats like "adg", "amxd", etc. may look strange to users of other DAWs, but they are OBVIOUSLY familiar to a Live user, just like ".abr" and ".psd" will be familiar to a Photoshop user or ".dll" for most VSTs.
Last edited by pottering on Fri Oct 26, 2018 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Bitwigs Popup Browser wins any contest for me - I have the normal side browser hidden since the popup-browser came up.
I usually use it similar to pdxindy, type the first letters of the instrument name I'm looking for, arrow down, done.
But sometimes I also switch to the preset tab afterwards which now shows all my presets for that device. Awesome.
Other people tend to search over presets alone (let's say for a bass or specific tags) and you can do that and preview the sound in context without caring about what VST or factory device is making it. Totally transparent and happening directly where you want it, inside your chain/track while it's playing.

Live 8s browser had the worst and slowest search on the planet but manually selecting stuff was halfways workable, then during the L9 beta they came up with a totally crappy concept, which was part of what drove me away. Shudder.

Studio One is okay, but a bit clumsy.
Reaper - not my thing at all.

Bitwigs Popup Browser would get 11 out of 10 from me, everything else would be below 3-4. It's on a completely different level.

Cheers,

Tom
"Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there." · Rumi
UrbanFlow.art · Instagram · YouTube

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pottering wrote:Live's browser is great if you know how to use it.

For example, if you want M4L devices just add the file extension for M4L devices ("amxd") to your search query.

When searching for the Kasio synth device, simply typing "ka am" (KAsio AMxd) already restricts the search result to very few.

Simply adding a "s" and typing "kas am" restricts the results to only one, "kasio.amxd", the only file out of tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of files that fits the query.

Using other shorthands like "vst", "drum", etc. or even shorter, "vs" or "dr" is enough to restrict the results quite a lot.

If you want projects use "als", if you want Racks use "adg", if device presets then "adv", etc.

Much faster than clicking and visually searching multiple times in a folder tree.
Yeah... that is what I meant... I don't want to have to remember a bunch of cryptic symbols such as

amxd, adg, adv, als

just to make the browser useful.

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ThomasHelzle wrote:Bitwigs Popup Browser wins any contest for me - I have the normal side browser hidden since the popup-browser came up.
I usually use it similar to pdxindy, type the first letters of the instrument name I'm looking for, arrow down, done.
But sometimes I also switch to the preset tab afterwards which now shows all my presets for that device. Awesome.
Other people tend to search over presets alone (let's say for a bass or specific tags) and you can do that and preview the sound in context without caring about what VST or factory device is making it. Totally transparent and happening directly where you want it, inside your chain/track while it's playing.
Bitwig is easily my favorite browser (the pop-up) and I also keep the side browser hidden.

And yeah, I do the same sometimes, switching to the presets. One thing I do wish is that one could navigate by key commands to the presets and other tabs... it's annoying to have to use the mouse to click the presets tab after adding the device.

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pdxindy wrote:Bitwig is easily my favorite browser (the pop-up) and I also keep the side browser hidden.

And yeah, I do the same sometimes, switching to the presets. One thing I do wish is that one could navigate by key commands to the presets and other tabs... it's annoying to have to use the mouse to click the presets tab after adding the device.
Sounds like a very reasonable request for a "cycle browser tabs" shortcut command to me :-) :tu:

Cheers,

Tom
"Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there." · Rumi
UrbanFlow.art · Instagram · YouTube

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pdxindy wrote:
pottering wrote:Live's browser is great if you know how to use it.

For example, if you want M4L devices just add the file extension for M4L devices ("amxd") to your search query....
So is a space shuttle.

If you want projects use "als", if you want Racks use "adg", if device presets then "adv", etc.

Much faster than clicking and visually searching multiple times in a folder tree.
Yeah... that is what I meant... I don't want to have to remember a bunch of cryptic symbols such as

amxd, adg, adv, als

just to make the browser useful.
Same here. It's ok at best if you are searching as you describe but for 'browsing' especially 3rd party or your own samples it's clunky.
gadgets an gizmos..make noise~crystalawareness.bandcamp.com/ soundcloud.com/crystalawareness Restocked: 5/2026
if this post is edited -it was for punctuation, grammar, or to make it coherent (or make me seem coherent).

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