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UCS file renaming tool in Soundflow?

By Filip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
    2020-09-03 08:32:59.088Z

    Hi! I've been "out of Soundflow" for some time so maybe what I'm asking here is already resolved, but anyway... Is there any Soundflow macro for UCS (Universal Category System) file renaming in Pro Tools? What I mean is a version of existing solution working in Keyboard Maestro but for Soundflow users.

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    There are 23 replies. Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

    1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-03 08:47:20.016Z

      Hi Filip

      I have a UCS package somewhere that basically just needs some testing from users and then we can upload it :)
      I can probably do this next week some time.

      I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you'd like to see in such a package. The file renaming thing you'd like, what exactly should it function like? Is it for renaming selected clips on tracks inside Pro Tools, or from the clip bin - or do you want something that works in Finder on for example a whole folder tree?
      There's a LOT of possibilities of building some cool workflows in SF. We also have an iPad surface that you can use for assigning categories - and we have a searchable popup window for the same.

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      1. FFilip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
          2020-09-03 09:01:12.990Z

          Hi Christian. What I'm thinking about is a macro that looks into the categorylist.csv and facilitylookups.lua files inside SoundminerV5 directory and guides you through USC compatible renaming in Pro Tools session on selected clip or clips.
          This way is awesome because there are really time-saving Explanations and Synonyms columns in *categorylist.csv * so you can write any word that is connected with recording that is edited (traffic, birds...) and there are immediate suggestions of particular Cat Ids.

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          1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-03 17:54:26.265Z

            Cool, yea we should be able to make that. Can you show a video / screen recording on how you'd like the workflow to be? Ie. is it supposed to add the CatID to the start of the clip names based on the existing clip names?
            How should the suggestions be presented to the user?

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            1. In reply toFilip_Krzyzykowski⬆:
              Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-08 21:27:17.437Z

              The facilitylookups.lua file doesn't look like it's necessarily easily readable from a tool. Who generates/edits this file?

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              1. FFilip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
                  2020-09-09 08:01:27.688Z

                  It's a file that is by default in SoundminerV5/Scripts folder after installation. Then it's edited by user to store of all UCS compatible Designer and Show abbreviations which are obligatory fields in UCS filename standard. They are decoded by "AutoExpand Filename" script inside Soundminer into full names in proper metadata fields.

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                  1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-09 10:08:22.332Z

                    Hm ok..
                    I think we'll need a different place to store these things for SoundFlow to read them. It's perfectly cool to read the .csv file - we already do this for some other UCS scripts - but reading a script (.lua) is very, very different. The .lua script should ideally read the data from a mutual file. Is that facilitylookups.lua file something Soundminer has hardcoded to read from that path?
                    Anyway just saying that if you want a common datastore for both Soundminer and SoundFlow to read from, then those lists should be in external files (like .json, .txt or .csv) that the .lua and SF scripts can both read from. Embedding data into a script and then having another piece of software try to read that list out is gonna be prohibitively complex. Hope that makes sense.

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                    1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-09 10:10:00.408Z

                      Thank you for your patience in explaining it all to me by the way :)

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                      1. FFilip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
                          2020-09-09 10:21:32.463Z

                          Of course, I get the point you've made with lua files. It's totally ok to copy all abbreviations and their explanations manually from facilitylookups to friendly type of file before using SF renaming macro.

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                          1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-09 10:24:13.753Z

                            Oh ok! That's great news :)
                            I imagine we might want to make use of SoundFlow's realtime cloud database where users could also collaborate on filling these out in realtime...
                            I'm starting to feel like we should probably arrange for a call to talk about how to best implement this / how it would work best for users. Would you be interested in that?

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                            1. FFilip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
                                2020-09-09 12:36:21.287Z

                                Yeah, I think even a short conversation via Zoom, Skype or Google Meet will be better than 100 posts on forum:)

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                                1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-09 12:52:36.523Z

                                  Exactly :) Are you available this afternoon (in the next couple of hours)?

                                  Reply
                                  1. FFilip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
                                      2020-09-09 12:56:20.803Z

                                      Unfortunately today I have very unpredictable schedule. Tommorow between 10 and 13 (GMT+2 ) or around 18:00?

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                                      1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-09 12:57:02.950Z

                                        I can do tomorrow at 12 GMT+2 - does that work? I'll send you a Zoom link on email right before.

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                                        1. FFilip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
                                            2020-09-09 13:05:14.999Z

                                            It's fine. 12:00 tomorrow.

                                            Reply
                                            1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-09 13:05:49.709Z

                                              Great, talk then :)

                                              Reply
                                              1. FFilip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
                                                  2020-09-10 07:14:05.972Z

                                                  @chrscheuer can we postpone our call to evening or tomorrow any hour you choose? I'm extremely sorry for that but clients start to siege our studio after few months without current projects.

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                                                  1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-10 09:49:27.951Z

                                                    Hi Filip.
                                                    Yea that's fine, let's do tomorrow as I have meetings all day today.

                                                    Reply
                                                    1. FFilip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
                                                        2020-09-17 13:27:12.658Z

                                                        Hi Christian, you can suggest any time of the day between 9:00 and 17:00 for our call. I will adjust my schedule to that.

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                                                        1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-17 14:41:23.760Z

                                                          Thanks - I'll be in touch on email.

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                        • F
                          In reply toFilip_Krzyzykowski⬆:
                          Filip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
                            2020-09-04 07:45:16.509Z

                            I imagine pop up windows in Pro Tools which are telling the user "Cat ID", "User Category", "Vendor Category", then "FXName", "Designer", "Show", "Unique ID". Vendor, User Category and Unique ID should be of course possible to skip because they are not mandatory fields in UCS filenaming system. In case of Cat ID when user starts writing down "coffee" it should search in categorylist.csv and show matches, in this particular situation MACHINES APPLIANCE or AMBIENCE RESTAURANT & BAR. Pressing Return should activate another step (FXName and so on).

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                            1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-04 17:40:26.634Z

                              Ah okay... I think I need to understand the workflow a bit more to help with this. Can you share some screenshots of how this is working with the KM workflow you've got working?
                              I wasn't aware UCS had so many fields for the filename - I thought it was just the CatID. Is there a final specification somewhere we can take a look at?

                              Reply
                              1. Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-09-04 17:43:44.049Z

                                Ah nevermind, I found it.
                                But would still be great to see some screenshots or drawings of how you imagined the UI should look like :)

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                            2. F
                              In reply toFilip_Krzyzykowski⬆:
                              Filip Krzyzykowski @Filip_Krzyzykowski
                                2020-09-07 15:49:46.365Z
                                https://mab.to/Pd3LeORZf

                                Short video of KM Macro in action

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