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Logic can't find sound library anymore

Heeey everybody


I just installed Logic Pro X a few days ago. I used the function "relocate sound library" to install the whole library on my external drive. Everything worked fine, I already used Logic with the full library during the last few days.


Today I started my MacBook and the Drive was disconnected, so Logic asked me to connect it. So I connected it and hit the retry button 2-3 times (probably while the drive was still starting up). Had I known that Logic completely forgets where the Library is when I do this, I would have been more patient.


Now logic seems to assume that I have no library at all and wants to install the Essentials again. I can't find a way to tell Logic that the sound library is on my external drive.


Interestingly in the "relocate sound library" window, it calculated the size of the library on my external drive. (see picture)

And that's how my library looks like:


Closing logic and restarting it didn't work either.


The thought that I have to reinstall the whole library (67 GB) just that logic knows where the library is, seems too ridiculous to me to be true... in a professional Application.

Maybe I just don't see the obvious.


Does anybody know how I can tell Logic that my library is on my external drive.


Would really really appreciate it!


Thank you everybody for the help!


Josh



Posted on Feb 6, 2019 8:25 AM

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Posted on Feb 7, 2019 7:53 PM

Hey Josh, looks like yet another glitch with the sound library. What Pancenter is suggesting above would work only in case you have reinstalled or restored macOS while still having the library on external drive as a result of manual relocation. I call this technique "Receipt transplant". However, if I understand the situation correctly, your system should still have all the receipt files intact, so that's not a solution in my opinion.


I'd suggest the following to deal with your dilemma: rename the current "Library" folder on external drive to something else like "Temp_Library" (Logic won't grey out the drive after that). After that close Logic app and disconnect the external drive. Relaunch Logic and let it download and install Essential Sound library to system drive. This will wipe symbolic links created during previous library relocation. When Essential Sounds library is installed, connect the external drive and perform the relocation (just Essential Sounds will be relocated, which is needed to restore the symbolic links). Now, delete the library folder containing just the Essential Sounds and rename the folder containing full library from "Temp_Library" back to "Library".

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Question marked as Best reply

Feb 7, 2019 7:53 PM in response to JoshBadert

Hey Josh, looks like yet another glitch with the sound library. What Pancenter is suggesting above would work only in case you have reinstalled or restored macOS while still having the library on external drive as a result of manual relocation. I call this technique "Receipt transplant". However, if I understand the situation correctly, your system should still have all the receipt files intact, so that's not a solution in my opinion.


I'd suggest the following to deal with your dilemma: rename the current "Library" folder on external drive to something else like "Temp_Library" (Logic won't grey out the drive after that). After that close Logic app and disconnect the external drive. Relaunch Logic and let it download and install Essential Sound library to system drive. This will wipe symbolic links created during previous library relocation. When Essential Sounds library is installed, connect the external drive and perform the relocation (just Essential Sounds will be relocated, which is needed to restore the symbolic links). Now, delete the library folder containing just the Essential Sounds and rename the folder containing full library from "Temp_Library" back to "Library".

Feb 8, 2019 12:39 AM in response to Radarhus

Yeees! That's it! A very clean solution, to this unnecessary problem!



For anybody having the same problem, don't forget to restart your Mac after you followed the steps, only then logic will recognise the library again.


Thank you! both of you, for your effort!


Even tough we found a solution now, I really hope that in a future update, the user will have more control over this in a simple way. Just like I'm used to in Adobe applications. Just a little warning sign or a simple right-click, then "relink", show logic the path to the folder and done.


Thanks again


Have a great day!


Josh

Feb 6, 2019 12:47 PM in response to JoshBadert

You can try deleting preferences... this might give you the option of Logic asking you to choose the location.

Make sure the external drive is mounted before starting Logic.


  1. Go to the Upper left Logic Pro X menu, select Preferences, scroll down to "Reset All Preferences Except Key Commands."
  2. Close Logic, reboot the computer or better yet shut it down for a minute
  3. Restart, let it settle, make sure the external drive is mounted start Logic.


You will possibly need to reset some preferences


Option two.

In your graphic above... select the My Book drive as the location where the library is to be installed... Logic my recognize the instruments are there and just re-catalog them. Try the preferences fix first.

Feb 7, 2019 10:21 AM in response to Pancenter

Thank you very much for putting your time into this.


So there's no instruments in Alchemy or EXS:


And when I select one of the greyed out instruments in the logic browser, nothing happens. It just jumps back to the main page of the library/browser and doesn't put the instrument into the channel strip. Which is again a combination I guess of logic thinking that the library is still available and logic not finding the library.

There are some instruments available in the browser, but these are just the ones that logic automatically downloaded before I stopped the download.


Feb 7, 2019 12:15 PM in response to JoshBadert

Well, I found something similar. Here's the instructions found online, it worked for an install on the main drive, however it may work for you since the system already knows where your instruments are located. The dropbox link is to the full set of receipts from a fully downloaded library. I'm going to null the dropbox link after you download. That is if you wish to even try this. Create folder with any name and put the Receipt Zip file in the folder, then decompress withing that folder, there's over 1000 small files. Want you can do is follow the instructions in the graphic and try a few files then see if they show up in the library.

P.S. Have you unplugged the external drive, then start Logic then plug the external drive in?


https://www.dropbox.com/s/y1nf41degy7kzkm/Receipts.zip?dl=0



Feb 6, 2019 1:42 PM in response to Pancenter

Hey Pancenter



Thank you very much for the quick help.


I have tried both options in the order you suggested and unfortunatley neither of them has worked me.



In option one, nothing changed, it's still trying to install the Essentials without asking me.


In option two, I can't select my external drive, cause it's greyed out. I think because it still somehow sees that the library is saved on there and it considers my external hard drive as the location it would be relocated FROM. And my internal drive is greyed out because there's not enough space.



So I'm kind of stuck now. Even if I chose to reinstall the whole library. Cause I can't download it on my internal drive, neither can I select to download it on my external drive (cause it's greyed out).

Maybe if I delete the library on my external drive it would work. But this would suck, cause I already added quite some samples to the library. And it still wouldn't be guaranteed to work.


So I would basically have to buy a new hard drive, which is kind of silly... I mean having hard drives never hurts, but really...?!



Or do you have another solution?



Sorry if I sound a bit upset, it's just a bit frustrating. But I'm very thankful for the help you give me! Thank You!


Feb 10, 2019 5:21 AM in response to JoshBadert

My pleasure Josh, I have been dealing with this BS library behaviour in LPX for quite some time. Other DAWs and production suites allow users to just point the application to a location on external drive and everything works. Why Logic users have to jump through all these hoops is beyond me. I just hope that my feedback rant submitted on this topic some time ago to Apple reaches its target audience and the situation is improved.


@Pancenter: Always glad to help. Library eff ups are my specialty here ;)

Logic can't find sound library anymore

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