ASD Files

Share what you’d like to see added to Ableton Live.
blaknoize

ASD Files

Post by blaknoize » Sun Sep 22, 2002 10:51 pm

I wish Live would stop creating all these ".asd" files at the slightest provocation. Or at least make them invisible. I just tested the latest demo and even previewing loops creates them.

atom_b
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Post by atom_b » Mon Sep 23, 2002 2:35 am

Well...

First, these annoying files are what makes Live capable of so many nice things, like warping, looping and transposing and the information they contain lets you work on clips without altering the wav/aiff files themselves. Actually you don't need them, as long as you are willing to create them again every time, when you load a clip into Live.

Second, you can turn this function off in Options->Misc. Just set 'Create analysis file' to 'Off'! Though I don't know why you should turn of a main-feature while checking out an application.

And least, to make these files appear or disappear in your finder/explorer is not a task Live is responsible for. If your system allows such operation you have to turn it off there.

BTW: Did you notice that in the Live-browser they do not show up? And I don't know why they should bother you at system level. There's so many needed files...

To workaround having them fooling around your wav/aiff-folders it is a good idea (let alone because it would keep you from altering or deleting a file you're working on in Live) to save every set you create in Live 'selfcontained'. So the asd-files will only be present there - as long as you let them;)

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Alex Reynolds
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Post by Alex Reynolds » Mon Sep 23, 2002 3:57 am

What would be nicer is a more organized way of creating and handling these files, as they do tend to accumulate quickly.

For example, Live could build a database of the asd files into one file. That way clips can travel around the filesystem without requiring reanalysis.

-Alex

blaknoize

Post by blaknoize » Mon Sep 23, 2002 11:54 am

atom_b wrote:Well...

First, these annoying files are what makes Live capable of so many nice things, like warping, looping and transposing and the information they contain lets you work on clips without altering the wav/aiff files themselves. Actually you don't need them, as long as you are willing to create them again every time, when you load a clip into Live.
I know what they're for - I just feel that I don't need to see them. Acid certainly doesn't clutter up my drive with overview files.
Second, you can turn this function off in Options->Misc. Just set 'Create analysis file' to 'Off'! Though I don't know why you should turn of a main-feature while checking out an application.
Didn't know that.
BTW: Did you notice that in the Live-browser they do not show up? And I don't know why they should bother you at system level. There's so many needed files...
Because they show up in every other application. If I check out 1,000 files with Live, I now have 2,000 files to look through in another app.
To workaround having them fooling around your wav/aiff-folders it is a good idea (let alone because it would keep you from altering or deleting a file you're working on in Live) to save every set you create in Live 'selfcontained'. So the asd-files will only be present there - as long as you let them;)
But it would still create the files when I'm just previewing loops in the browser. It would be good if Live created a project folder per song and saved everything there.

SongCarver
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Post by SongCarver » Mon Sep 23, 2002 12:38 pm

i agree that the handles of files needs a little looking into.

As a musician using Live, I creat a LOT of new audio files, which all go into one 'generic' place, which i need to reset everytime.

Live could create a new folder for a new set, put audio into a sub folder and also have an option of deleting unused audio files from this session.


IMPORTANT:

What is required is a way to re-name the file, after it is recorded. I can't seem to find a way to do this, it renames the 'clip name', stored in the ASD file, but it doesn't rename the file itself (ad associated ASD file) This makes it hard to manage and choose clips quickly.

I relize that ableton probably wanted to not create complications in regards to changing names of existing clips and having them not load properly.



I'm sure Ableton has this running already somewhere deep in their lab underground.

blaknoize

Post by blaknoize » Tue Sep 24, 2002 12:08 am

atom_b wrote:
Second, you can turn this function off in Options->Misc. Just set 'Create analysis file' to 'Off'! Though I don't know why you should turn of a main-feature while checking out an application.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't turning off this option simply mean that Live has to redo the analysis everytime it accesses a particular sample?

monolake

.asd

Post by monolake » Fri Sep 27, 2002 2:19 pm

... we decided to use these .asd fieles because with this we do not want to alter the audio file itself. so if you use a specific file with any other application which writes overview data witihn the file itself you will not loose this information when using the same file in live. making the .asd invisible would not solve the problem that they are existing and could create even more confusion. putting them all in a single folder needs a tricky identification sceme....
we are aware of the fact that there should be a more convenient way to deal with .asd but there is no really easy solution for this. but i am sure we are able to provide a more satisfying solution for this at some point...

robert henke
ableton

Alex Reynolds
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Post by Alex Reynolds » Fri Sep 27, 2002 6:09 pm

...making the .asd invisible would not solve the problem that they are existing and could create even more confusion. putting them all in a single folder needs a tricky identification sceme...
Under Mac OS 9:

[Startup Volume] -> System Folder -> Preferences -> Live

Under Mac OS X:

[User home directory] -> Library -> Preferences -> Live

I'm sure there would be something similar for Windows. Are you sure there's no way to store them in one spot?

-Alex

atom_b
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Post by atom_b » Sat Sep 28, 2002 2:14 am

Are you sure there's no way to store them in one spot? -Alex
For shure there is a way to store them, if not in one spot, so in a way they are out of your sight, but still managable. If you'd use a database for this, theoretically, there'd be a big chance to find various smart solutions to handle .asd-files derrived from one single sample in several different instances. One could use different prefixes to database-tables to distinguish them for instance.

However, if you start including databases in your workflow, you have to become aware of a lot of possible problems BEFORE you start building the thing. It is no fun at all to get stuck later.

Some people started to use flat-file-systems again instead of relational db's because of this. monolake seems to have some idea, that, whatever they will do, it might be somehow tricky to be future-wise... I'd guess he's right.

BTW: I do consequently store every Live-set self-contained. I honestly can't tell, when I've been looking around what's in there using my system-folder. Since I have plenty of space, thre's no need. So if there's space enough - don't worry.

BUT!!! What I would think of as a smart solution in the meantime would be, to have a way to copy-paste a clip including its .asd-file from a diffferent set, than the one you are actually working in - without having to switch sets!
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blaknoize

Post by blaknoize » Sat Sep 28, 2002 9:20 pm

Still no answer to what effect turning off the option to create .asd files has on the program. I tried it and it didn't seem to make much difference.

kbadelt
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.asd

Post by kbadelt » Sun Sep 29, 2002 12:07 am

Alex Reynolds wrote:
...making the .asd invisible would not solve the problem that they are existing and could create even more confusion. putting them all in a single folder needs a tricky identification sceme...
Under Mac OS 9:

[Startup Volume] -> System Folder -> Preferences -> Live

Under Mac OS X:

[User home directory] -> Library -> Preferences -> Live

I'm sure there would be something similar for Windows. Are you sure there's no way to store them in one spot?

-Alex
maybe not such a good idea because:
- some peole like .asd files to travel with their .wav if you copy/move/change computers
- I would hate filling my startup drive with .asd's. My .wav library lives on external drives

Idea for discussion: in Options... the user decides
a) all .asd in one folder - pick one
b) create subfolders under your .wav folders
c) add a tag to the .wav file (destructive)
d) don't create anything (but why would you do that..?)

What do you guys think?

n voss

Re: .asd

Post by n voss » Mon Oct 28, 2002 9:50 pm

Idea for discussion: in Options... the user decides
a) all .asd in one folder - pick one
b) create subfolders under your .wav folders
c) add a tag to the .wav file (destructive)
d) don't create anything (but why would you do that..?)

What do you guys think?
Subfolders in the WAV's folder would work for me... something like '_asd' path. This way they don't get totally in the way, but are local so if I wanted to move a folder of assets it wouldn't screw up the one-place database.

Neil Voss ,, alinear.net

Guest

Re: .asd

Post by Guest » Thu Oct 31, 2002 12:08 am

[quote="monolake"]... we decided to use these .asd fieles because with this we do not want to alter the audio file itself. so if you use a specific file with any other application which writes overview data witihn the file itself you will not loose this information when using the same file in live.

Why can't the asd simply be an additional chunk in the wave or aiff file?

It's been a long time since I've seen any kind of audio editor that failed to preserve all chunks in loaded wave files, and failing to do so is really very poor RIFF programming.

Coincidentally, I've asked the same thing on the Acid boards about the .sfk files Sonic Foundry uses. I can't see why they'd think SFK chunks would be any less well preserved than the ACID chunks that are used to "Acidize" wave files.

The only issues I can see are:

1) if you supported additional audio file formats that did not use a chunk format you would need external .asd/.sfk's (this applies more to a multi-format editor like Sound Forge)

2) there would be a slight overhead to parse the wave/aiff file to find whether there was an asd/sfk chunk present or not. But with computers these days that overhead seems like it would be miniscule.

Maybe there is something else I am missing? :?:

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lonkaiser
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Re: ASD Files

Post by lonkaiser » Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:54 pm

Or AT LEAST... when you "Collect all and save" if LIVE would just... ERASE the ASD files that aren't needed anymore.

Ghost_Train
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Re: ASD Files

Post by Ghost_Train » Mon Dec 31, 2018 7:35 pm

I was about to create a new thread and find that it was being discussed in 2015. And still no solution?

Was going to ask if there was anyway to get Ableton to stop creating all of these files. It is quite annoying.

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