Hi Mike,

You've brought up a good question. This is a bit long and I will turn it into a tutorial and post it. I would like to know if anyone else has done this and if they had any difficulties or found alternative methods.

Magix Music Maker (MMM) has two features for categorizing and listing soundpools and other files that are somewhat distinct.

Feature 1 - Soundpools

The first feature is under Soundpools in the media pool in MMM. The soundpools are split into Styles, Instruments and Loops. There is a search feature and also a favorites column under the loops part. It is either off or on. There is no other star rating that I can find in this area. At the bottom of the screen are radio buttons to select either All loops or Favorites (one or the other), plus Audio and Midi loops. Use also the Select all at the bottom of the Styles and Instruments columns.

According to the manual, Catooh categories are the style names. There is no other way to categorize the loops or styles in this area or in MMM that I can find.

Thus a favorite loop can be given a star and searched for later.

Feature 2 - File Browser

The second feature is File Browser in the Media Pool. Here one can search through the computer for files, or select Soundpool  (I am not sure if I added this to the list myself by right-clicking and creating a link). This presents the folders where the soundpools are located, at least on my computer. If I select Soundpool I get a list of names like "Basics_19." If I select this, I get a list of the categories that came with Basics_19, such as "Chillout Vol. 7" and so on. This is simply a File Browser drill-down.

At the bottom of the File Browser list is "Database." Double-clicking brings up further folder names, including Music, Photo album, Photos, Playlists and Videos. Double-clicking on Music brings up more options. Double-clicking on Categories will bring up a category if the user has created one. Categories are created and used in Photo Manager (I have 12 Deluxe). But first the database should be created.

Right-click on Database and there are 3 options:
• Search database
• Start management application for photos - this opens Photo Manager if available
• Start management application for music -  this opens MP3 Deluxe MX if available.

If neither of these two programs is installed, MMM uses MAGIX Music Manager. The manual states that this and Photo Manager come with MMM Premium. Normally MAGIX Photo Manager or MP3 Deluxe creates a database automatically and you can add folders to it and have them monitored for updates. Sometimes Photo Manager takes off on its own and says it is creating the database and then locks up. I am not sure what this is about.

Magix Photo Manager

Photo Manager handles photo, video and audio files and allows for the creation of Categories. I created one called Music (it actually showed up under "Further categories" but this had no bearing on anything) and then sub-categories under this to be able to select soundpools or sounds that I wanted to categorize for use in MMM or Movie Edit Pro. Note that files are not actually moved, just linked to the category. My database contains more than 24,000 entries, mostly soundpool loops.

In Photo Manager, one can view the files as icons or details or other variations. In the detail view, one of the columns is "My ratings." If it does not appear, right-clicking in the window will bring up the list of possible columns. Check My ratings to add it to the list. I also added Categories and Genre to the view.

Magix MP3 Deluxe

Another alternative for using the database is with MP3 Deluxe. It uses the same database as Photo Manager. I did not find any way to create categories, but like Photo Manager, MP3 shows ID3 data. Thus soundpools can be linked to existing Genre or new Genre can be added to the list and linked and ratings can be given.

Now, how does this work with MMM?

To test this out, create a category called Music (or whatever you want) and add a couple of soundpools or other audio files to it. Give them different ratings.

Go to MMM, File Browser, Database, Music, Categories, Music (or your category or even subcategory) and you will see your files under that category. Unfortunately, MMM does not have any flexibility to see the rating that was given in Photo Manager. (Magix should add this in.)

You can search the Database for Categories, Genre, Rating, etc. to bring your files into the Browser. See the note below for a possible bug.

Note: there appears to be a bug in MMM under File Browser, Database, Music, Genres. I created a new genre using a soundpool loop in Photo Manager, and it is definitely linked there. I also linked the file to a category. In MMM, the file shows up under the Category when I navigate to Music-Categories-mynewcategory, but it does not show up under Genre when I navigate to Music-Genres-mynewgenre. Even linking a soundpool loop to an existing Genre did not work. However, if I search the database and filter for "Genres containing mynewgenre" the sound loop shows up. Thus there is probably a bug in the program.

Summary, there are 2 ways to tag soundpools and other files:
1. Use favorites under Soundpools in MMM
2. Use the database to link to categories and genre and to provide ratings. Note that the ratings do not show up in the table MMM, but they can be used in the search tool under Database.

I prefer Photo Manager which allows me to create categories and link my files to them, along with linking to Genre and indicating ratings. I also use it to categorize photos for Movie Edit Pro.

Please let me know how this works out for you.

Regards,