Tue May 24, 2016 3:46 am
So, at least in Linux, which is file based instead of object based, one of the biggest problems I have encountered trying to manually export stems, even to the same computer after reinstalling my OS, is that if a file is in any other location at the time when you start your project, even if it is organized different in sub-folders inside of LMMS > Projects, it won't find it......That's ok, I still love using this app. 
I understand that fully exporting stems as a single file requires a little more coding work, but 1 thing that would make life a lot easier in the meantime would be if LMMS made a copy of whatever samples you load and stored it in its own location inside of the LMMS folders. That way if I need to keep samples in a different part of my computer for whatever reason, it will at least allow my stems to still work if a file gets moved.
I keep my music samples in sub-folders inside of the projects folder.....usually. I got better about this after I figured out that some of my earlier work didn't load properly. I can figure out what samples to load again if I really wanted to recreate these projects, but wow....it would be less time consuming to just make a new song.
Another approach, which could have a lot of amazing additional uses for artists......How about a script to export all loaded samples into a file or folder? This could either be done by exporting a copy of the original audo files to a single folder, or by processing the sounds 1 by 1 according to the filters and effects and tone stacking then exporting them into a folder. The limitation with this approach is that if you remove 1 tone stack....you can't. Also, if you add a tone layer, it would add a tone to the final result rather than the original file....But still, either approach would make it easier to export 'stems' by including the samples folder with the mmpz file.
If this is done in combination with making a copy of any loaded samples, then people would still have to download samples separately and move them to the right folder, but that is doable even if it is less seamless.
Making a copy of our imported samples and leaving it in a single folder by default (even if they are already in sub-folders inside of LMMS + a script to export that projects samples to a single folder......We now have a totally workable way to export stems.
Down the road maybe we could tackle the issue of entire stems not loading if we are lacking compatible plugins. There should be a way for it still to load, sans the missing filters and effects.....but for now, I think my idea could help.
Any input on this?.......or am I late in the game and you are already working on exporting stems?
I understand that fully exporting stems as a single file requires a little more coding work, but 1 thing that would make life a lot easier in the meantime would be if LMMS made a copy of whatever samples you load and stored it in its own location inside of the LMMS folders. That way if I need to keep samples in a different part of my computer for whatever reason, it will at least allow my stems to still work if a file gets moved.
I keep my music samples in sub-folders inside of the projects folder.....usually. I got better about this after I figured out that some of my earlier work didn't load properly. I can figure out what samples to load again if I really wanted to recreate these projects, but wow....it would be less time consuming to just make a new song.
Another approach, which could have a lot of amazing additional uses for artists......How about a script to export all loaded samples into a file or folder? This could either be done by exporting a copy of the original audo files to a single folder, or by processing the sounds 1 by 1 according to the filters and effects and tone stacking then exporting them into a folder. The limitation with this approach is that if you remove 1 tone stack....you can't. Also, if you add a tone layer, it would add a tone to the final result rather than the original file....But still, either approach would make it easier to export 'stems' by including the samples folder with the mmpz file.
If this is done in combination with making a copy of any loaded samples, then people would still have to download samples separately and move them to the right folder, but that is doable even if it is less seamless.
Making a copy of our imported samples and leaving it in a single folder by default (even if they are already in sub-folders inside of LMMS + a script to export that projects samples to a single folder......We now have a totally workable way to export stems.
Down the road maybe we could tackle the issue of entire stems not loading if we are lacking compatible plugins. There should be a way for it still to load, sans the missing filters and effects.....but for now, I think my idea could help.
Any input on this?.......or am I late in the game and you are already working on exporting stems?