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The Library

The Library is where you find sounds and building blocks and drag them into your session: sets, layers, instruments, generators, controllers, effects, and samples. It has three sections: Play, Build, and Folders.

A screenshot highlighting the library panel

From the library, you can:

  • drag & drop sets onto the set manager
  • drill down into a session by double-clicking it to see the individual sets it contains
  • drag & drop instruments, generators, controllers, samples, and effects into your working set
  • open a session by selecting it and choosing Load session
  • keep the things you use most in Favorites
ShortcutWhat it does
⌘ + ⌥ + LShow or hide the library
⌘ + FSearch the library. Start a search with # to search by tag.
⌘ + ⌥ + FSearch the set tree (Edit view)

Play​

Play holds ready-to-play sets and sessions, in these tabs:

TabWhat's in it
FavoritesEverything you've marked as a favorite, from anywhere in the library. See Favorites.
Core SoundsThe Core Library sessions that come with Sensory Percussion.
Sound PacksSound packs you've installed with File → Install Soundpack….
User PacksSound packs of your own.
SessionsYour saved sessions. The Workspace is pinned at the top.

The Sessions tab, with the Workspace pinned above your saved sessions

Favorites​

Favorites is the first tab in Play. It collects the sets, presets, sessions, samples, and folders you've marked, wherever they live in the library, so the things you reach for most are one click away.

To mark a favorite, click the heart at the right edge of its row, or right-click it and choose Add to Favorites. Select several items first to mark them all at once. On a favorite, the same menu item reads Remove from Favorites.

Right-clicking a snare instrument in the library and choosing Add to Favorites

You can favorite:

  • Sets inside a session, from the Core Library, a sound pack, or one of your own sessions. Sets of the session you have open aren't offered, since they're already in front of you.
  • Presets: instruments, effect presets, and module presets, whether factory, from a sound pack, or your own.
  • Sessions: a whole .sp2 from Core Sounds, Sessions, or a bookmarked folder. The pinned Workspace can't be a favorite.
  • Samples from Samples, a sound pack, or a bookmarked folder.
  • Folders: any folder inside a tab. The tabs themselves can't be favorites.

The Favorites tab groups them under Sets, Sessions, Instruments, Effects, Modules, Samples, and Folders. A group only shows up once it has something in it, and each row is labeled with the library it came from.

The Favorites tab with an Instruments group and a Samples group

Each favorite works exactly like the original. Drag a favorite instrument into your set, select a favorite set and click Insert Set, click a favorite sample to audition it, or open a favorite folder to browse it.

Favorites belong to you, not to the session. They're saved with your settings, so they follow you from session to session and survive sound pack updates. If a favorite's content goes missing (for example, you uninstall a sound pack), it drops out of the list until the content is back.

Core Sounds​

The Core Library contains the six packs included when you install Sensory Percussion for the first time:

Acoustic Drums​

A screenshot of the Acoustic Drums sound pack tile in the library

This is a pack that includes sets with very detailed acoustic drum and percussion kits. Snares, toms, hi-hat, congas, dhol, udu, cymbals. Each drum often has a hundred or more samples mapped to it.

Chord Sequences​

A screenshot of the Chord Sequences sound pack tile in the library

This pack includes sets with velocity-thresholded chord kits, which means that you have to intentionally hit one or more of the drums at a high velocity to trigger a chord sequence. The chord sequence by default is usually controlled by Tom 2 and/or Tom 1.

These sets also include percussive elements (and sometimes melodic elements), but their defining feature is the chord sequence.

Electric Drum Kits​

A screenshot of the Electric Drum Kits sound pack tile in the library

What if E Drums were as responsive as acoustic drums? These Sensory Percussion sets consist of E Drum sounds that are as responsive to your playing as acoustic drums, thanks to a network of timbre and velocity assignments.

Electro Melodic​

A screenshot of the Electro Melodic sound pack tile in the library

These sets contain at least one melodic element. Sometimes they are entirely melodic, but many also contain percussive elements. The melodic elements are often controlled by Tom 1 and/or Tom 2.

Patterns​

A screenshot of the Patterns sound pack tile in the library

Sequences inside sequences inside sequences. These sets showcase the power sequencer module, and Tom 1 and/or Tom 2 has a sequence that is unlocked by repeatedly striking the zone/s with the embedded pattern.

Worldly Sounds​

A screenshot of the Worldly Sounds sound pack tile in the library

This pack contains sets primarily made of sounds found on planet earth: dirt, sand, ice, you name it. Like the Electric Drum Kits core library pack, these sets are often as responsive to your playing as acoustic drums.

Build​

Build holds the building blocks for creating sets: Generators, Controllers, Effects, Samples, and Instruments. Expanding a generator, controller, or effect reveals its presets, which can be dragged into your set just like the object itself.

Generators make sound or send a message: samplers, audio inserts, MIDI generators, and more. Apart from effects, most generators can't contain other modules.

Controllers help you organize, map, and route modules. They don't make sound themselves, but they contain generators and can even contain other controllers.

Effects can be dragged and dropped onto generators and controllers. When you drop an effect onto a module, that module's FX panel opens with the effect visible, so you can adjust it right away or add assignments by right-clicking.

Samples are audio files that can be dragged and dropped to create samplers, which can in turn be dragged and dropped into controllers. You can click on samples in the library to audition them.

Instruments​

The Instruments tab holds every instrument you can drag into your set, in one folder per role: drumset, snare, kick, rack tom, floor tom, hi-hat, crash, ride, hand drum, and MIDI kit. When a role has instruments from more than one library, its folder splits by library: your own User instruments first, then Core Library, then one folder for each sound pack.

The Instruments tab with the snare folder open, split into Core Library and one folder per sound pack

Folders​

You can bookmark any folder on your computer in order to drag and drop layers from previously saved sets, as well as drag and drop audio samples and preset files that you have saved inside that folder. Click + next to Folders to add a bookmark.

A screenshot highlighting the user folders section of the library