How is everyone organizing/purging/deciding which samples to keep or ditch?

[Vocalpoint Studios]

Like many folks - I have collected a ton of packs over the years and quite frankly the thought of having to plow through each, deciding what's good and what's not etc - does not represent the best use of my time.

While I am certain there are a nice stash of "go-to" sounds intermingled into all these packs - what's your general vibe on this?

Do you have 144 folders on some drive - each representing a specific pack as originally received (stuffed with tons of stuff)? Or do you hack and slash aggressively keeping just the sweet stuff?

Would love to know what others are doing (or have done) to build out a decent sample library you actually use vs say hoarding every little sample you have ever come across (where 99.99% of stuff has never actually use in a typical project)?

Cheers

VP

[DrGonzo]

I did the hack and slash in the beginning - but that didn't turn out so well for me. My taste changes and so does the requirements. The best solution I've come across so far is by using Sononym.

[enroe]

As with synthesizers, there are two strategies to
build a sample library:

1. The "Subtractive Method"

2. The "Additive Method"

(1) The "Subtractive Method" is the one that many use: They
download and buy whatever libraries they see and come
across. After a short time they have several terabytes of
samples on their hard drive - and after a short time they no
longer have an overview of the samples. Searching for suitable
samples is then a separate project with its own search and
browse software.

"Subtractive" here means that I choose a few samples from a
huge sample library, i.e. that I "subtract" from a huge pool.

(2) The "Additive Method" is the one where I take a very close
look at new sample libraries and sample offers and check what
kind of samples they are. And only when I know I'm going to
need those samples do I buy the library and download the
samples. Most of the time I adjust the samples again: I lower the
sample rate or convert the samples to my preferred format.
So I have a small but useful library that I can keep track of at all
times.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now you can decide whether you want to follow method (1) or
method (2).

Personally, I only use method (2), i.e. the additive method.
Because for me this method is the one where I can be creative
the fastest.