Tool for renaming synths and keeping songs updated with the new synth names

staubi

After having purchased the boards of deluge 3 synth pack I am slowly getting in trouble keeping my synths organized. I would like to rename a bunch of synth patches and have the name changes updated in the affected songs. I tried some of the 3rd party tools including downrush but did not find such a functionality.

Did I miss something or is this a new feature request?

OdoSendaidokai

Yes there are some other requests regarding this problem

1. Search Kit/Synth Functionality http://forums.synthstrom.com/discussion/2874/search-kit-synth-functionality
2. Folder structure for organizing presets http://forums.synthstrom.com/discussion/1026/folder-structure-for-organizing-presets
3. Use MUTE/AUDITION pads as "Finder" for loading Samples, Presets and Songs http://forums.synthstrom.com/discussion/1644/use-mute-audition-pads-as-finder-for-loading-samples-presets-and-songs#latest

staubi

Thanks for pointing me at these discussions and proposals. I think they are great solutions for many users.
I started (i guess like most of deluge users) with the factory synths. As the synth collection and the number of songs grow staying organized gets more and more difficult. The larger the collection is the more you learn about your personal structuring needs. Here renaming synths or restructuring the in subfolders definitely would be great.
But it needs to be ensured that the song.xmls are keeping the connection to renamed/relocated synths. Oherwise they get orphaned and the songs will have missing synths.
Here a tool would be handy which allows to rename/relocate synths and at the same time keeps the affected existing song.xmls updated.

Icoustik

@staubi said:
Thanks for pointing me at these discussions and proposals. I think they are great solutions for many users.
I started (i guess like most of deluge users) with the factory synths. As the synth collection and the number of songs grow staying organized gets more and more difficult. The larger the collection is the more you learn about your personal structuring needs. Here renaming synths or restructuring the in subfolders definitely would be great.
But it needs to be ensured that the song.xmls are keeping the connection to renamed/relocated synths. Oherwise they get orphaned and the songs will have missing synths.
Here a tool would be handy which allows to rename/relocate synths and at the same time keeps the affected existing song.xmls updated.

You will in fact not have 'orphans' - the songs store their unique versions of synth and kit pacthes - you could delete a patch from your list, and it will still stay in a song it is saved in regardless.
Deleting sample files however will result in 'missing file' messages and problems

staubi

Maybe I did not explain my use case properly. I am thinking about reorganizing synth patches by renaming. But the synths are already used in existing songs. My understanding is, that once I rename a synth the song.xml does not know the new name and will not play properly anymore.

nicsnutzius

This here should be the tool you're looking for: https://neuma.studio/deluge-commander.html

volsteh

@staubi said:
Maybe I did not explain my use case properly. I am thinking about reorganizing synth patches by renaming. But the synths are already used in existing songs. My understanding is, that once I rename a synth the song.xml does not know the new name and will not play properly anymore.

Patches are stored in the song xml. Renaming patches on your sd card will have no effect on songs. Renaming samples or their folders/paths used in songs or patches will though.

DaEmbassy

Excuse me for jumping into this discussion. I just purchased a pack of 50+10 Synths from the Boards of Deluge, and suddenly realise that it would be useful for me to rename all those files to better fit into the standard Synths supplied by Deluge.

I realise that if I purchase (or acquire, or create) more Synths, then I am going have to become Curator of Synths, and therefore renaming XML files is going to become important. So I understand where @staubi is coming from.

My working life keeps me using Windows 10 most of the time, so I did a quick search and found a FREE tool in the Microsoft Store named "File Renamer". It offers an easy way to rename files IN BULK. I just used it to rename all my purchased Synth XML files to something more useful. For Free.

Cheers,

MBC

segfault

@nicsnutzius said:
This here should be the tool you're looking for: https://neuma.studio/deluge-commander.html

This tool is exactly what I was looking for and does indeed intelligently update references within XML as it renames/relocates synths/samples. Thanks for recommending it!

lordofallbadgers

i'm struggling with this tool - it's not showing the SYNTHS folder? (deluge commander)
Mac OS
Any other way to rename patches? I will have 4 patches beginning '01' time i get BOD5 on the card!

reza

unfortunately deluge commander doesn't seem to deal with the synths folder. but, you can rename your synths without worrying about making them incompatible with previous songs because every project stores their own version of that synth patch. so if you rename "1 - pluck bass" to "b.pluckbass" and open a project where you used that synth before renaming, it would be saved with the old name and the exact parameters you used in that project.
if you are trying to reorganize the numbers for a lot of patches, then I've heard people recommending a batch filename editor, apparently mac's have one natively?

lordofallbadgers

@reza said:

yea i'm cool that the deli doesn't mind one renaming...

if you are trying to reorganize the numbers for a lot of patches, then I've heard people recommending a batch filename editor, apparently macs have one natively?

Likely, but I'm not very skilled on that front. I'll look into it the main prob is renaming within same directory as i think some of the BOD libraries have repeating patch names

ta

lordofallbadgers

Nope. I dunno how to do it (automator routine)... aaargh. I think I'm clever at this kind of thing... humbled again!

theows

@lordofallbadgers said:
Nope. I dunno how to do it (automator routine)... aaargh. I think I'm clever at this kind of thing... humbled again!

If still relevant for you, a file renamer would do exactly this kind of thing, renaming a bunch of files in the same folder based on some pattern. I have tried a couple of freeware solutions on Mac, seem to have settled on this one for my needs:
https://www.sttmedia.com/filerenamer-download
Happy to provide some assistance with the "how" if helpful, once you have thought about the pattern you would like to use. Write here or PM me.

Cheers,
Theo

triff

This app has got me out of many a work related pickle: https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/

staubi

It's a while since I started this thread. Thanks for explaining the basic concept of synths and songs which does not create orphans when renaming the synths! Also thanks for the links to the renamer tools. I found https://www.sttmedia.com/filerenamer-download most useful because it's also available for all OSes.
Anyway with subfolders being available in firmware 4.0 restructuring the filesystem gets to a whole new level. I would be interested how you organize your SD-card with the new features available. I guess that's worth a new thread