Am I alone in thinking that MAGIX has bitten off mor than it can chew

john-l947 wrote on 12/19/2019, 3:13 PM

Hi All,

I am new to MAGIX products and this may be the cause of the issues that I am having. I come from Ableton and Sonar but I wanted to know a bit more about ACID loops.

I purchased, on a deal, Samplitude X4 Suite because this came with a large library for the Independence Sampler.

I alo wanted some work with ACID loops, so I downloaded rthe free version - ACID Xpress. This looked quite good although, as expected for a freebie, quite limiting. Every time I wanted to do something useful I realized that the feature was in the paid version. So I ended up buying ACID Pro. Both of these products also came with a reasonable sized library of loops.

Samplitude:

The problem here is that I had no idea of where the sounds were stored because I wanted to to move the Independence library out of my C: drive. The forum did help with this but there is no documentation that refers to this (at least I couldn't find it). I think it is always good when it is clear where everything is stored. Sample projects are also in this location but these are not mentioned either and the software does not point to these in preferences.

ACID Pro

This software also came with a substantial range of sounds. It was a long download and I had no option of where the files would be stored with no clue on the installer. When the download completed the sounds were installed but there was no information of where these might be and I still haven't found them. There is no documentation for this at all.

I was excited that the documentation referred to a Media Manager with features that I thought was fantastic for working with my loops but when I selected this feature in View I was informed that 'Media Manager is not installed'. When I tracked this down on the Forum I am told that ACID Pro 9 does not support Media Manager. What a naff way to deliver a product, with features (important features) that no longer exist. I wish I could flog my software that way!

Now, I am new to these products and it is highly likely that the fault is mine for not properly RTFMing the manual and I apologise to MAGIX if that is the case.

I would be extremely grateful if anyone could shed some light on the location of files please

Thanks

Comments

toddbooster wrote on 12/19/2019, 7:11 PM

Hey, not sure how you installed the Independence library, but the downloader (separate from the samplitude or Independence installers) should have given you the option to download the files to any location you want.

As for the media manager, it was part of ACID formerly, but if memory serves, it was 32 bit only and was never ported to 64 bit. Now as to why the button is still there after two versions is anyone’s guess, but I expect it won’t be an issue for much longer.

john-l947 wrote on 12/20/2019, 3:09 AM

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately I'm still not any further forward. In fact your comments appear to reinforce my impression of the chaotic nature of the development of Magix products. It can't be acceptable to have discontinued features to still be documented and seemingly available in finished software. The company are so big and getting help is almost entirely reliant on forums. Direct access to Magix website is a waste of time.

emmrecs wrote on 12/20/2019, 3:20 AM

@john-l947

Direct access to Magix website is a waste of time

Can you give precise and detailed examples of why you say this? I am a fellow-user and, although responses to support questions raised may not always be as "fast" as one would hope, it is certainly not true that making such requests is a waste of time, in my experience.

Jeff
Forum Moderator

john-l947 wrote on 12/20/2019, 5:59 AM

Thank you very much for your response. I am mainly a Abelton user who is trying to find his way with ACID loops and my experiences of installation are as follows.

1. Location of downloaded content

This is a optional task when ACID Pro or Samplitude is is opened. On completion I have indication of where this content actually resides on the disk. The installation process and the manual are of no help in either case. I simply wanted to locate sample projects and loop content to get a start on the projects.

2. One of the features that made me go for ACID Pro 9 as an upgrade from Music Studio was the Media Manager. This is alluded to in the ACID Pro manual but the software, although it contains this feature, tells me that it is not installed. From the forum I discover that this features is no longer supported.

3. The help in ACID Pro takes me to a general MAGIX web page which is so general it doesn't really get me anywhere. Ableton, Band in a Box, Sonar are all products where immediate help is at hand but I feel that MAGIX is so remote that I will persevere for some more time and then go back to my previous products.

Now, I fully understand that this may all be my own set of shortcomings, its just that frustration is getting the better of me and I apologise if this all appears like a rant.

Thank you

browj2 wrote on 12/21/2019, 8:59 AM

@john-l947

Independence instruments image files: I don't recall how I did it when I installed the 70GB of instruments, but they ended up on an external drive where I wanted them.

See this.

ACID Loops

I only have ACID 7. When I installed it and downloaded the loops, they ended up under My Documents, ACID Loops, right at the top of the list.

However, Magix is now putting things, in particular SoundPool Loops under:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\MAGIX\Common

I suggest that you get a program called Everything (Search Everything). Search on your system for Independence and ACID.

I'm surprised that you didn't see anything during installation that would allow you to set the location of Independence instruments and ACID Loops.

John CB

Former user wrote on 1/21/2020, 3:51 PM

Hi All,

I am new to MAGIX products and this may be the cause of the issues that I am having. I come from Ableton and Sonar but I wanted to know a bit more about ACID loops.

ACID Loops are just Wave Audio Files with metadata chunks in them. One chunk holds Tempo and Key information. The other chunk holds metadata defining transient markers in the Loop.

If you use a lot of REX/REX2 Loops (optimal for drum samples), then you need to keep SONAR or Ableton available, as none of MAGIX DAWs support this file type.

Samplitude:

The problem here is that I had no idea of where the sounds were stored because I wanted to to move the Independence library out of my C: drive. The forum did help with this but there is no documentation that refers to this (at least I couldn't find it). I think it is always good when it is clear where everything is stored. Sample projects are also in this location but these are not mentioned either and the software does not point to these in preferences.

Independence Pro doesn't install the libraries with the Sampler. That is done separately, and I'm unaware how anyone can NOT know how to move them to a different drive, considering you have to choose the download/install location before it downloads them onto your computer. You can't skip this step, either, so perhaps you just spammed OKAY and didn't read the screen?

As for the Actual 4GB of Loops distributed with Samplitude Pro X4, it is put in a bad place, but the default project directory does have links to that stuff (The Sounds as well as the Demo Projects). Simply follow the link and Move that content to your MAGIX content directory.

For the Vita 2 Instrument Samples, those go to the MAGIX Content Directory, which is set during Samplitude Installation by choosing the Custom Install Option. Once you press that button, it's pretty self-explanatory.

ACID Pro

This software also came with a substantial range of sounds. It was a long download and I had no option of where the files would be stored with no clue on the installer. When the download completed the sounds were installed but there was no information of where these might be and I still haven't found them. There is no documentation for this at all.

Like all MAGIX Software, this stuff goes to your MAGIX Content Installation directory.

There is an issue that I ran into with ACID Pro 9 where it would not give you a chance to set this directory. I reported this as a bug/regression, because ACID Pro 8 definitely gave you an option to set this directory during a custom installation.

I was excited that the documentation referred to a Media Manager with features that I thought was fantastic for working with my loops but when I selected this feature in View I was informed that 'Media Manager is not installed'. When I tracked this down on the Forum I am told that ACID Pro 9 does not support Media Manager. What a naff way to deliver a product, with features (important features) that no longer exist. I wish I could flog my software that way!

Documentation is out of date. Media Manager has been deprecated (and unavailable) for a while. Even if you install it, it won't work. I suspect they will eventually port over the Soundpool Manager from Music Maker/Samplitude to ACID Pro. MAGIX can really benefit from developing something comparable to Steinberg's Media Bay for their DAWs.

Now, I am new to these products and it is highly likely that the fault is mine for not properly RTFMing the manual and I apologise to MAGIX if that is the case.

I would be extremely grateful if anyone could shed some light on the location of files please

The location of the files is relative to your system. Generally, it defaults to C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\MAGIX\Common

You should see subdirectories like "Loop Collections," "Soundpools" (if any), MxSynth (Vita 2 Instrument Sample Data - not the instrument plugins).

What I did was, during install, set the MAGIX Content Directory to D:\Program Files\MAGIX\Common, and set Independence Content Installer to install that stuff to D:\Program Files\MAGIX\Independence Libraries\Independence Pro.

That way, all of the instrument samples and loops are off of my C Drive.

For the Samplitude Sounds, I simply moved the _Sounds folder out of %ProgramData% to my MAGIX Common directory, and renamed it "Samplitude Sounds."

For the Demo Projects, I moved that out of %ProgramData% to D:\Documents\Samplitude Pro X4 Suite (project directory set during installation) and renamed it to "Samplitude Demo Projects"

If you install Samplitude Pro X4 before ACID Pro, ACID will use the MAGIX Content directory you set for Samplitude Pro X4.

Rename the Loop Collections folder to "Soundpools," move the Rhythm and FX folder out of it, and then open up an Administrator Command Prompt.

1. Go to the MAGIX\Common directory

2. MKLINK /J "Loop Collections" Soundpools

This will create a directory junction so that ACID Pro will see the Soundpools Directory as "Loop Collections," so that the stuff automatically shows up in the Soundpool Manager/Browser in that DAW.

Samplitude will scan all of the Loop Collection soundpools when you open the manager.

-----

If you set the wrong MAGIX Content Location during installation, then you should remove all MAGIX software from your computer, clean your registry (use Ccleaner) and then install Samplitude Pro X4 Suite FIRST - setting the correct content directory in the Custom Install Option - followed by ACID Pro 9 (which will use the location set by Samplitude's installer).

You cannot simply move the files because this location is stored in the registry and referenced by all MAGIX Software.

-----

For Independence Pro, simply move the Entire Independence Libraries\Independence Pro directory to your other drive, run the content installer, and point it to that location. It will scan the already-downloaded files and then set this as the content location. That is easy to move, even if you choose the wrong location when you download them.

Sorry for being so thorough/long-winded.