Software Instrument location

Question

Level 1

125 points

Software Instrument location

I had to move Garageband to an external drive to make space on my hardrive and now that I've moved it back, I can't get the on screen keyboard to play, I don't have any software instruments and when I select "new track" and choose "software instrument" nothing happens - i.e. no new track is created. Where should the software instrument files be and what do they look like?

powerbook g4, Mac OS X (10.3.8)

Posted on Feb 26, 2007 7:40 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 27, 2007 2:15 AM in response to mklein

GB is touchy about where the instrments are and can get confused if you move them. They should be in (hard disk)>Library>Application Support>GarageBand where there should be three folders: Apple Loops, Apple Loops Index and Instrument Library, the last-named containing the Gb instruments - any additional instruments you may have added might be in (hard disk)>Library>Audio>SoundFonts or in the equivalent folder in your Home Folder.

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Answer 2

mklein Author

Level 1

125 points

Feb 27, 2007 8:50 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

By doing a spotlight search, it looks like I have 3 Apple loops folders - One is in the HD>Library>Audio folder, the second is in Home>Library>Audio folder and the third is in Home>Library>Application Support>Garageband folder.
I then have two "Apple loops for Garageband" folders, the first is in HD>Audio>Apple Loops>Apple and the other is in Home>Library>Application Support>Garageband>Apple Loops.
Then I have two "Apple Loops Index" folders. The first is in Home>Library>Audio and the other is in HD>Library>Audio.
I recently added the Boldt instruments and it created three folders:
HD>Application Support>Garageband>Instrument Library>Sampler>Sampler Files which holds .wav files and HD>Application Support>Garageband>Instrument Library>Sampler>Sampler Instruments which holds .exs files and HD>Application Support>Garageband>Instrument Library>Track Settings>Software which holds 8 other folders containing .cst files
So should I just put all my loops in HD>Library>Application Support>Garageband>Apple Loops and let the computer write over duplicates and then restart Garageband to see if it can find them? And then should I do a similar operation with the instruments I find? And should there be three parts (.exs, .cst and .wav) files for each instrument or does that happen to be a quirk of the Boldt set and not needed for the original Garageband set?

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Answer 3

Feb 28, 2007 1:09 AM in response to mklein

Loops: I quote from HangTimes invaluable FAQ:

"Search your entire hard drive (not just your 'Home' Folder) for "Apple Loops Index" and delete the contents of any folders that show up. Then drop your folder(s) of loops onto the loop browser so GB can re-index them. "

(Move any folders containing loops to the Desktop before proceeding.)

Instruments: GB's own instruments are in (Hard disk)>Library>Application support>GarageBand>Instrument Library>Sampler
This contains two folders: Sampler Instruments contains .exs files, and Sampler Files contains a folder for each instrument, which contains files in AIFF or other formats. The Instrument Library folder also contains track presets for the instruments.

If you are having problems and have the original install disks available you would probably do better to delete the Library>Application Support>GarageBand folder and the GB application and reinstall from scratch. Before you do this move the Boldt instrument files out to somewhere else and reinstate them after the reinstallation (or use the Boldt installer again).

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Answer 4

mklein Author

Level 1

125 points

Mar 3, 2007 11:44 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

I have solved the loop problem by doing as you recommended, but my software instruments still aren't playing. The only software instruments I can choose from are from a Boldt pack I downloaded the other day.
By studying the location of the Boldt files that do work, I thought I had the GB instruments in the right place, but I guess not. The Boldt Samples are in
HD/Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Instrument Library/Sampler/Sampler Files/Boldt Accordion.Samples And what I think are my GB files are in there too like this one: HD/Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Instrument Library/Sampler/Sampler Files/Dance Kit but the Dance kit doesn't show up in the GB instrument picker.Am I missing a companion file?
I also have some unknown types of files without any extension like this one:
YTASMLNOMA2X2 which is in the Alto Sax folder which is in the Sampler Files folder.
I put all of the .exs files I could find in the same Sampler Instruments Folder as the Boldt .exs files.
The Boldt files also have .pst and .cst files, but I can't find any of those for my GB instruments.

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Answer 5

Mar 4, 2007 12:06 AM in response to mklein

The Boldt Samples are in
HD/Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Instrument
Library/Sampler/Sampler Files/Boldt Accordion.Samples

That's just one of the Boldt instruments, each one should have its own folder containing .wav files.

And what I think are my GB files are in there too
like this one: HD/Library/Application
Support/GarageBand/Instrument Library/Sampler/Sampler
Files/Dance Kit

Correct.

but the Dance kit doesn't show up in
the GB instrument picker.Am I missing a companion
file?

Do you have the .exs files in the Sampler Instruments folder?

I also have some unknown types of files without any
extension like this one:
YTASMLNOMA2X2 which is in the Alto Sax folder which
is in the Sampler Files folder.

That is correct.

I put all of the .exs files I could find in the same
Sampler Instruments Folder as the Boldt .exs files.

You should have an .exs file for each instrument.

The Boldt files also have .pst and .cst files, but I
can't find any of those for my GB instruments.

These live in D/Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Instrument Library/Track settings/Software and then in a folder for each family.These are track presets and I'm not sure whether or not the instruments work without them.

You may need to reinstall GB from scratch to get all the files back in their right places.

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Answer 6

mklein Author

Level 1

125 points

Mar 4, 2007 1:04 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

I have all of the .exs files for all of the GB instruments and they are in the Sampler Instruments file along with the Boldt .exs files.

What I seem to be missing are the .cst files. What I do have and can't identify are the files that have a black box icon without any extensions. An example of these types of files is this one that is in the Clean Guitar folder: YTEGUITA1X02
Their icon looks like the black command line screen and have a green "exec" in the upper left hand corner of the box. What are these?

I have also found my iLife 06 install disc, but when I try to re-install GB, it prevents me from doing it by shading GB and telling me that a newer version already exists on my HD.

Should I trash the GB app currently on HD and then try and re-install? Obvioulsy, I would backup all me loops before I tried that.
And once I do that, are updates on the Apple site?

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Answer 7

Mar 5, 2007 2:48 AM in response to mklein

What I
do have and can't identify are the files that have a
black box icon without any extensions. An example of
these types of files is this one that is in the Clean
Guitar folder: YTEGUITA1X02
Their icon looks like the black command line screen
and have a green "exec" in the upper left hand corner
of the box. What are these?

This is normal: I have the same, though the icon is blank. I don't know exactly what kind of file they are but that doesn't really matter.

I have also found my iLife 06 install disc, but when
I try to re-install GB, it prevents me from doing it
by shading GB and telling me that a newer version
already exists on my HD.

Should I trash the GB app currently on HD and then
try and re-install? Obvioulsy, I would backup all me
loops before I tried that.
And once I do that, are updates on the Apple site?

The latest version of GB is 3.0.4 and the update is here:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/garageband304.html

Probably what has happened is that you have applied an update to GB so that it is a higher version than what is on the install disk. Remove the GB application (I suggest zipping it as a safety measure) and then doing the install. Then apply the update above if you want (though apparently it is to do with Aperture, which probably doesn't concern you anyway).

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Answer 8

mklein Author

Level 1

125 points

Mar 5, 2007 4:58 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Thank you for all of your help. I have learned a great deal in our discussions.

I hooked up an old external HD last night and found all of the files (I think!) I needed on a backed-up copy of my system. I copied all the files I was missing over and now GB is back up and running - hopefully at 100% - I guess time will tell.

The unknown files are the .exs files. For some reason, they had the extension displayed on the old back-up copy.

Thanks again for all of your help!

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