SampleCat

SampleCat is a program for cataloguing and auditioning audio samples.

SampleCat is available under the GNU General Public License and runs mainly on GNU/Linux systems. It is written in C and uses the GTK graphics library. MySql is used for the database.

Currently, basic functionality is working, but the application lacks the bells and whistles to make it a serious tool.

20090610: Added ability to change colourbox colours. Update overviews on colour change.

20090526: Added missing header files, database refactoring, fixed '///' file-paths on import.

20090308: merged upstream changes into file manager (mostly inotify stuff).

20081219: Have been experimenting with support for Tracker. Hope to be able to add a tracker thumbnailer. It might be nice to be a able to use Tracker as a backend.

20080920: Added support for keyboard shortcuts using GimpAction. Currently only CTL-Q / CTL-W to quit is used. Initial Ayyi support added with configure option. Connects to server, but does nothing else.

20080910: Changed directory tree to use the home directory as its root instead of '/'. Added limit to number of database items showable at once

20080809: Added display of simple metadata for current filemanager selection. Version changed to 0.0.5

20080505: Added some minor functionality to the filemanager context menu.

20070922: Fixed dnd import bug, and added some more simple file management functionality.

features

• catalogues 'offline' (eg cdrom), as well as 'online' sample files.
• supported filetypes are wav, flac, aiff, sd2, etc, via libsndfile.
• metadata stored: filename, path, samplerate, channels, mimetype, and a small waveform overview.
• freeform tagging.
• browsing is done by directory, and filtering is on name, path or tag.
• auditioning of samples is possible via JACK.
• samples can be renamed, moved and copied to other directories.

installation

• download source (or use the gentoo ebuild)
• untar, configure, make, make install.
• dependencies: mysqlclient, gtk+2.4, jack, libsndfile.

usage

• import files or directories using drag and drop.
• if a file is currently mounted, an icon will be shown in the main table. Select Update on the context menu to refresh its status.
• set tags by 1) selecting Edit Tags on the context menu, 2) double clicking the tag area, 3) enter text in the Edit box at the top of the window and hit the "Set Category" button.
• to move a file in the filesystem, drag it from the main list to a directory in the directory tree on the left.
• to rename a file in the filesystem, select it, then click on the name.
• import files into your audio editor using dragndrop.

limitations

• currently, audtioning is stereo only. Files with more than 2 channels cannot be auditioned.
• Auditioning is done at the system sample rate with no resampling.
• mySql is currently the only database supported.