HOW TO: install packs (incl EIC) to other locations: 6 &

[longjohns]

EDIT: 1/30/08: There are new problems with trying this on Session Drums or EIC2 packs. (presumably Drum Machines and/or Orchestral packs as well?)

See this thread for two methods of working with those packs off an external drive (or any location outside of your main Library).

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 963#629963

Don't be put off by the length of this post. I have tried to explain in as much detail as possible, but if looking under the hood does not interest you, this is a painless process.

The short version: Change to a new Library location, install the packs, and return to your original Library location.







The long version, with more explanation: (using EIC as an example)

1. Open Live, go to Preferences -> File / Folder -> Library Path -> Browse

2. Navigate to or create the directory in which you want to install the pack(s).

For example, create a folder called \EIC. Select this as the Library location.

3. Close Live.

At this point, if you check the new Library location, you'll find that Live has created the following folders:

\EIC\Ableton Project Info
\EIC\Presets\Instruments\Instrument Rack
\EIC\Presets\Instruments\Sampler
\EIC\Samples


4. Insert the EIC DVD. Click on a pack to install.

Confirm the install. The pack copies to the \EIC\... folder structures.

Additional folder structure for the EIC packs, even the ones which you haven't installed yet, may get created even on the first pack's install. These may include:

\EIC\Presets\Instruments\Instrument Rack\Brass
...\Drums
...\Guitars & Plucked
...\Keys
...\Mallets
...\Performance
...\Strings
...\Voice
...\Woodwinds

Even more paths may be created, such as \Operator, \Simpler, etc. paths in the ...\Instruments folder. (In other words, Live is starting to flesh out it's Library structure in the new location.)

There will also be some folders created in \EIC\Samples, most notably ...\Waveforms\... This is where all the EIC sample files will be installed.

Presets will be created in .adg format in the \EIC\Presets\Instruments\Instrument Rack folder.

Presets may be created in the .adv format in \EIC\Samples\... folder which is appropriate to the pack which was installed.

5. Repeat as needed for other packs.

6. Re-open Live, and switch your Library location back to the original.

7. Create a bookmark.

Using a user browser icon in Live, navigate to your \EIC folder. Navigate down further to the \Instrument Rack presets folder there. Bookmark this. This is how you will access your EIC patches.

8. Tidying up.

If you wish, you may do quite a bit of cleaning up of the \EIC folder. You must keep the \Instrument Rack preset folders which pertain to the packs you have installed. But there may be extraneous folders which are safe for deletion - for example \EIC\Presets\Instruments\Instrument Rack\SoundFX and ...\Synth were created during a test installation of the Mallets pack, and I don't think they will have anything to do with an EIC patch.

You must keep the \EIC\Samples\Waveforms\... folder structure, as this is where all the EIC patches will be looking for their samples. Actually you could move all of this, but you'd have to repair the presets afterwards by using the File Manager.

Options / variations:

You now have the entire EIC installed to it's own directory. Some people have complained that after installing the EIC to their main Library, it's hard to tell exactly what it's components are. That's because everything gets thrown into the \Instrument Rack\... folders, which may have had quite a bit of content already.

You can copy your \EIC\... folder into the main Live Library, in which case it could be accessed via the Live Devices browser. Keep in mind that you may need to repair the presets if you move them. This is done via the file manager. You could move the samples into the Library as well, and not necessarily into the main Library's \Samples\Waveforms folder. You could create an \EIC Samples folder and move the entire \Waveforms folder from your EIC installation there. Then repair the presets.


The downside

The functionality which you're now missing is the ability to open the EIC patches via the Live Devices browser, which can only access the main Library. So you need to use one of the three user browsers. But with a bookmark saved, it's easy enough. The Live Devices browser is crammed with enough stuff as it is!

What's different in Live 7: The new Library location drop-down menu makes it slightly easier to install future packs to locations you have chosen as libraries. This also makes it easier to use different versions of the Library - for example a slimmed-down version on your laptop's internal drive, and a complete version on an external drive. That is of course perfectly do-able in Live 6 but would require navigating to each Library manually in the Preferences, instead of having the locations saved in the drop-down menu.

[conny]

Great, thanks for the effort!
// C

[tricil]

Alternately, you could have 2 libraries - one on the internal with say just the EIC Draft pack and your other samples and presets and one on the external with the full EIC

hot swap the draft presets with the full ones when you're referencing the external library and you'll be set

[shai]

i bump this thread for the sake of the update to 8, and to ask if anything changed in this regard. basically i want to install EIC and session drums on external HD. anyone knows of a preferred workflow?

[Mr Mowgli]

EDIT: 1/30/08: There are new problems with trying this on Session Drums or EIC2 packs. (presumably Drum Machines and/or Orchestral packs as well?)

See this thread for two methods of working with those packs off an external drive (or any location outside of your main Library).

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 963#629963

Don't be put off by the length of this post. I have tried to explain in as much detail as possible, but if looking under the hood does not interest you, this is a painless process.

The short version: Change to a new Library location, install the packs, and return to your original Library location.







The long version, with more explanation: (using EIC as an example)

1. Open Live, go to Preferences -> File / Folder -> Library Path -> Browse

2. Navigate to or create the directory in which you want to install the pack(s).

For example, create a folder called \EIC. Select this as the Library location.

3. Close Live.

At this point, if you check the new Library location, you'll find that Live has created the following folders:

\EIC\Ableton Project Info
\EIC\Presets\Instruments\Instrument Rack
\EIC\Presets\Instruments\Sampler
\EIC\Samples


4. Insert the EIC DVD. Click on a pack to install.

Confirm the install. The pack copies to the \EIC\... folder structures.

Additional folder structure for the EIC packs, even the ones which you haven't installed yet, may get created even on the first pack's install. These may include:

\EIC\Presets\Instruments\Instrument Rack\Brass
...\Drums
...\Guitars & Plucked
...\Keys
...\Mallets
...\Performance
...\Strings
...\Voice
...\Woodwinds

Even more paths may be created, such as \Operator, \Simpler, etc. paths in the ...\Instruments folder. (In other words, Live is starting to flesh out it's Library structure in the new location.)

There will also be some folders created in \EIC\Samples, most notably ...\Waveforms\... This is where all the EIC sample files will be installed.

Presets will be created in .adg format in the \EIC\Presets\Instruments\Instrument Rack folder.

Presets may be created in the .adv format in \EIC\Samples\... folder which is appropriate to the pack which was installed.

5. Repeat as needed for other packs.

6. Re-open Live, and switch your Library location back to the original.

7. Create a bookmark.

Using a user browser icon in Live, navigate to your \EIC folder. Navigate down further to the \Instrument Rack presets folder there. Bookmark this. This is how you will access your EIC patches.

8. Tidying up.

If you wish, you may do quite a bit of cleaning up of the \EIC folder. You must keep the \Instrument Rack preset folders which pertain to the packs you have installed. But there may be extraneous folders which are safe for deletion - for example \EIC\Presets\Instruments\Instrument Rack\SoundFX and ...\Synth were created during a test installation of the Mallets pack, and I don't think they will have anything to do with an EIC patch.

You must keep the \EIC\Samples\Waveforms\... folder structure, as this is where all the EIC patches will be looking for their samples. Actually you could move all of this, but you'd have to repair the presets afterwards by using the File Manager.

Options / variations:

You now have the entire EIC installed to it's own directory. Some people have complained that after installing the EIC to their main Library, it's hard to tell exactly what it's components are. That's because everything gets thrown into the \Instrument Rack\... folders, which may have had quite a bit of content already.

You can copy your \EIC\... folder into the main Live Library, in which case it could be accessed via the Live Devices browser. Keep in mind that you may need to repair the presets if you move them. This is done via the file manager. You could move the samples into the Library as well, and not necessarily into the main Library's \Samples\Waveforms folder. You could create an \EIC Samples folder and move the entire \Waveforms folder from your EIC installation there. Then repair the presets.


The downside

The functionality which you're now missing is the ability to open the EIC patches via the Live Devices browser, which can only access the main Library. So you need to use one of the three user browsers. But with a bookmark saved, it's easy enough. The Live Devices browser is crammed with enough stuff as it is!

What's different in Live 7: The new Library location drop-down menu makes it slightly easier to install future packs to locations you have chosen as libraries. This also makes it easier to use different versions of the Library - for example a slimmed-down version on your laptop's internal drive, and a complete version on an external drive. That is of course perfectly do-able in Live 6 but would require navigating to each Library manually in the Preferences, instead of having the locations saved in the drop-down menu.

and thats it in a nutshell