Sample library
The sample library is where ScratchCraft keeps the samples you load onto decks and pads. It is a real folder on your computer, so you can organise it inside ScratchCraft or in Explorer, and you can link your existing sample folders without copying them.
Opening the library
Section titled “Opening the library”Click a deck’s sample name or its Load button, or the sample name in a pad’s inspector. The library opens as a window that loads into that deck or pad: its header says LOADS INTO DECK A, for example.
To load a sample, double-click it, or select it and click Load. Right-click a sample for Load into…, Rename…, Move to, Show in Explorer and Delete. Click Close to close the window.
Supported files are WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3 and Ogg.
Where the library lives
Section titled “Where the library lives”The library is the folder Documents\ScratchCraft\Samples. Its folders are ordinary subfolders, so anything you arrange in Explorer shows up in ScratchCraft, and the other way round.
The folder tree on the left lists:
| Entry | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Recent | Every audio file you have dropped on ScratchCraft, newest first. |
| All samples | Every sample in the library and your linked folders. |
| Local samples | Only the samples stored in the library folder itself, without linked folders. |
| Your folders | The library’s subfolders, including Saved, where a deck’s Save to library… puts its files. |
| Linked folders | Folders of your own that you have linked (below). |
Adding samples
Section titled “Adding samples”Dropping files
Section titled “Dropping files”Drag audio files from Explorer or your DAW’s browser:
- Onto a deck or pad: the file is copied into the Recent folder and loaded there.
- Onto the open library: the files are imported into the selected folder.
Files dropped anywhere on ScratchCraft are copied into Recent. Recent is never cleaned out automatically.
Importing
Section titled “Importing”Click Import… to pick files and copy them into the selected folder. Or drop files on the library window.
Imported files are copied into the library, so your sessions keep working if you later move or delete the originals. A file that is already in the library, or a file with the same name and size already in the target folder, is reused instead of copied again.
Organising
Section titled “Organising”- New creates a folder inside the selected folder.
- Rename renames the selected folder.
- Delete moves the selected folder and its samples to the Recycle Bin.
- Drag samples onto a folder to move them there, or use Move to in the right-click menu.
- Rename or delete a sample from its right-click menu.
Deleted samples and folders go to the Recycle Bin, so you can get them back. If you move or rename a sample that is loaded on a deck or pad, the deck or pad follows it.
Searching
Section titled “Searching”Type in the search box above the list to search samples by name. With Local samples selected, the search covers only local samples (“Search local samples”); otherwise it covers everything, including linked folders (“Search all samples”).
ScratchCraft keeps a background index of file names for searching. It refreshes it when you open the library and the index is a couple of minutes old, or when your links change. While it works, the list header shows SCANNING….
Linked folders
Section titled “Linked folders”If you already have a sample collection, link it instead of importing it. Click Link… and choose a folder. It appears under Linked folders and is used in place: its files are never copied, and decks and pads load them straight from there.
- You can create, rename, move and delete inside a linked folder just as in the library. Deleting anything inside a linked folder asks you to confirm first.
- Renaming a linked folder renames it on disk and keeps the link.
- Unlink (or Remove from library in its right-click menu) removes the link. The folder and its files stay on disk; a linked folder itself is never deleted.
- A linked folder that can’t be found, such as one on an unplugged drive, is shown dimmed. Right-click it and choose Locate… to point the link at its new place.
A folder inside the library, or inside a folder you have already linked, can’t be linked. Linking a folder that contains folders you have already linked replaces those links with the new one.
The list of linked folders is shared by every project and every ScratchCraft instance.
Tempo and key in the list
Section titled “Tempo and key in the list”A sample whose tempo or key you have set shows them beside its size, for example “128 BPM Am”.
The library doesn’t analyse files just to fill this in. A file shows its tempo once it has been loaded and given one. If a file has been replaced by a different one since, it shows nothing until it is loaded again.
How samples are saved with your project
Section titled “How samples are saved with your project”ScratchCraft saves each sample with your project in one of two ways:
| How you loaded it | How it is saved |
|---|---|
| Dropped on a deck or pad | Embedded: the audio is stored inside the project. |
| Captured, or made by Crop or Reverse | Embedded. |
| Picked from the library, including linked folders | By path: the project remembers where the file is. |
Embedded audio is stored without loss, and only once however many decks, pads and session slots use it. A loaded sample whose file can no longer be found is embedded too, so the project keeps it.
A sample saved by path also remembers its place in the library. If you open the project on another computer, ScratchCraft looks for the file there, then by file name through the library and your linked folders. A file it still can’t find is shown on the deck strip (in orange, as Missing: with the file name) or in the pad inspector, and you can click it to relink the file.
Long files
Section titled “Long files”Files longer than 10 minutes are cut to their first 10 minutes when loaded, and the status bar says so.