It's time! Bringing the full library over

Legacy Products Engine PRIME
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Okay, we’ve got a new version of desktop software out, and manuals to help explain how to actually use it. The time is here – I’m going to convert my main library over and stop using the makeshift backup collection I’ve been using.

Everything I’ve been using to this point is on a USB. I have no real collection in EP on my computer. I’ve just dragged raw files directly onto the USB and set them up that way. I have been doing a little editing (cues, loops, etc) on the tracks directly from the players.

So here is my plan – and before I commit a large amount of time to this, I want to make sure it is actually all going to work the way I think it is.

  • Take all of my history playlists and copy them to a blank drive via EP. I figure this way I’ll have a record of every track I’ve actually played over the past eight months, including any editing I’ve done to them (lets call this my History drive). If I understand correctly, my history playlists should remain intact too. Hopefully this will not create duplicates of tracks that have been played at multiple shows.

  • Delete the database on my main computer and do a fresh install of EP (just to make sure I’m starting from a totally clean slate here).

  • Start adding my full library to EP. I haven’t decided yet if I want to keep this full library on an internal drive or an external drive (any thoughts or advice is appreciated).

  • Via EP, copy back all the tracks from the history drive to my main collection on my computer.

At this point, I should have everything I own in EP, and if I understand everything correctly, not have lost any editing I’ve done, and my history playlists should all be intact. From here I can just build new USBs for shows going forward, loading only what I need.

So, beyond finally converting my main library, my goals here are to keep my history playlists intact (I need to be able to look up what I’ve played at past shows), and I would like to keep any editing I’ve done intact (cues, loops, grid adjusts). Does this sound like it will all work the way I think it will? Any input @Gee_DenonDJ?

Thanks!

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How did all of that go? Obviously, we have a new version of Engine Prime now, but the basic workflow should be good.

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I’m a procrastinator, so it is still ongoing. hahaha

Only hiccup so far has been that it wasn’t quite as easy to move the history lists as I had hoped (I have another open thread addressing a couple of specific issues there). But overall, I’ve gotten used to the EP environment so it’s working pretty well.

The only thing that would make my life a little easier would be if I could designate which drive was my master library (instead of it just assuming the internal drive is the master and all externals are targets). I’d like to make an external the master. In the meantime - internal it is! lol

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Todd, you’re not the first one to ask for this and we’re working on improving this. In the meanwhile, since all crates do show up in the main collection as well, you could very well just store all your tracks on an external drive. The way the system is designed currently, you can simply choose to store files on this drive and then pack them to another external drive. Because there is no conversion process (the databases for internal and external libraries are the same format) all drives (besides the one screwed into your computer holding your OS) can be used either as internal or removable collections.

While this system is flexible, it can also be a bit confusing; hence our looking into making it more straight forward.

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Just chiming in.

My master is on an external for all DJ software. I like the flexibility it brings when it comes to switching computers.

I don’t see any real benefit to storing music on internal HD

Engine Prime sees the collection on the external and from that 4TB external I can export a few crates to a smaller external thumb drive for use with the players.

I also know one person that plugs his external 4TB master into the players. Basically having his whole collection at hand all the time.