I have such a large collection of floppies and SD Cards both professional and self-made I am thinking it would be great to have them sorted in styles i.e: Ballad, Country, Swing, etc. I have one or two ideas on how to go about this but as I usually end up doing things the "hard way" I was wondering whether anyone knows if this has already been done and if so, is the list available to the public or, perhaps you know of an easy/quick way of doing this.

At the moment, I favour using Word because I know from my Music Index, it can sort any amount of data very quickly, but as I say, you may know of something even better?

Thanks in advance.

Audrey

I have a SD is set up by category, BB, Waltz, Ballad and so on. You could do the same loading the floppies in your computer and use Fred's 7000 Explorer.

Fran in SC

Hi Fran,

Yes you are right! this is the first thing I thought of. I have quite a few SD cards all full with the exception of the one I'm using at the moment, about half are professional settings and the rest are my own. The KN SD Explorer Tool has already sorted each into alphabetical order and I was thinking the next step would be to copy these to a desktop file, save to Word, convert to a table so that I can also list details of the SD Cards in a separate column (for ease of use when looking for a particular style), then get Word to sort again using 'paragraph' field 1, and it should result in an Index of the whole lot showing me the name, number of the SD Card and where it is filed . However, this can be a bit time consuming and I was just wondering if anyone knew of an easier way.

Thanks for your reply. When I get around to doing it, I'll let you know the result.

Audrey

Audrey, after organizing the SD card, I print the contents of the SD card to a file using SD Explorer. Then I put that text file into Word and edit it so that I get ten folder names with their 20 song name contents on a single page. Then I print the results and refer to that list when I am looking for a new style or common type styles that I might mix in the Composer.

Hi Audrey – I have most of my music listed in Excel spreadsheet format. This, at the moment, consists of two columns, namely, 1st column name of song, 2nd column, in which music book/location of music. This method could easily be extended to 3 columns so that each line/music sheet showed type of music or style, e.g. Ballad, Swing, or four columns so that you can also indicate which SD card the Style/setting is on.

If your Word listing is in Table format then you can do the same with yours. IF not, but you have tabbed it into two columns then this can easily be converted into a Table format or into Excel and this will also work to extend another column(s) to include style whatever. Other players may have used database software to do this.

The beauty of putting this sort of list into Word table, spreadsheet or database format is that the same list can be sorted into any order you want by sorting, column 1 or 2 etc. I have not categorized my own listing into Ballads/Swing/Latin etc. otherwise I would let you have it.

Lets assume that you do this. Would you be thinking of putting your music folders into that type of order? I have tried various methods of storing, alphabetical, type of song etc. All have things to recommend them – at least if you have them in alphabetical order, you know which folder to look in. Of course, if you had a Music Pad Pro!!!. You have to input all the music sheets on it – no quick and easy task, then make yourself Playlists selecting the same song in very many different lists etc., Now that is another option.

The truth is – there is no quick method!!! From your question you are obviously thinking on the right lines.

Audrey – unless someone can pass over a similar list in Word to you that you can adapt to your system, then as you have obviously managed with your method so far - I would suggest you stick with what you are familiar with!!!

I can convert your Word Lists into Excel for you if it would help you – please let me know

Good Luck with whatever you do - Joan

Thankyou Bob and Joan for your input on this posting.

Joan, you may recall I had some of my music at the Cambs Convention. This was indexed in much the same way as you suggest but I use Word 'Table'. I started doing it this way many years ago before Excel was intro-duced so it has become "second nature" to me. A bonus using Word 'Table' is that you can ask the PC to find any Song Title, go to any Page, Sort any Songs and/or Pages in any order you like. I know Excel is a great programme and has a few more professional features to offer but basically, it operates in much the same way as the Word Table so, as you say it's probably best to stick with the system I am used to.

However, although I have all the SD Cards sorted and indexed (I used the KN SD Explorer Tool for this), these are listed under the number of the card and my chosen name. e.g. SDGB5 - Joan Banfield's Work (01)-20.06.2006. What I would like to do now is collate all the data (files & songs) as one large document, sort it in alphabetical order which will then put all the Ballads, Country, Folk etc., together making it easier when looking for a particular style for a specific song.

If you have any thoughts on this, I'd be glad to know of them.

Before closing, I heard you were feeling quite poorly a few weeks ago. I hope you are fully recovered now.

Thank you all again.

Audrey

All of this sorting, catagorizing, and labeling of titles and styles in computers sounds great! I have certainly thought about doing the same and am now inspired to follow your leads eventually.

This thread is now printed out for future reference like so many other great ideas that are available here at the SZ forum.

I've just received a Music Pad Pro Plus in which to load many 3 ring binders filled to overflowing with music all in Alpha order. The two CD's are loaded into my computer and some of the "Users Manual" is printed out. Planning ahead to doing what you have described herein seems rather far down the road right now. The MPP+ seems a long term and daunting task!

The Word and Excel programs you describe as useful are unknowns to me. I do know they are computer programs and I intend to look into their structures and go from there with the catagorizing of music as I am able.

I do not have Fred's program beyond the introductory download. That it might be beneficial as well seems likely, but I wonder if in view of the possibility of the Excel and Word programs, it too would be equally useful? Opinions?

JOAN... Some time ago along with an SD of your music you sent a hard copy listing of the music on the SD card. Is that list from Fred's program or possibly from the Excel or another program? It is very useful as I work with your music.

At this point I have nothing to contribute to this thread beyond my appreciation and thanks to all of you who have contributed.

Thank you so much.

ELIZABETH

Congrats on the MPP+ Elizabeth. It may not help you with organizing your SD cards, but I write the number, or whatever source system you have, on the MPP screen with the "annotation toolbar". That way you can bring up the music and immediately load your registration from SD
Bernie

I also write the SD card memory location on the music sheet that is displayed on my MPP's. Then I load the KN7000 by number. You will love the MPP, Elizabeth. . . But not until you go through all the work of transfering your files to MPP format. If you need help let us know.

BOB & BERNIE....

Thanks for the encouragement with the MPP+!
Most likely I will need lots of help! Probably by the time I get my music loaded to the machine my computer and I will be a lot more compatible!

Just about all of my music sheets have notations about which Panel Memory I will find the style/registration I want for each piece in either the KN6000 or the 7K PM...

Usually I use whatever SD card is most recently in use for my gig & at home play. I have reached the point where I need some way to know what is on each of several SD cards additionally.

Maybe if there is enough room in the MPP to store these types of records, that would be even more helpful than the computer files as I don't want to permanently leave my 7K and my computer connected...

One question that has been floating around in my head about the MPP.... Does it connect via USB to the 7K for power when in use or just to an AC outlet? I know it has 12volt source which most likely I will not use very often, maybe never.

When I feel the urge to change a registration and maybe tweak the style as well, I just go ahead and do it! Tomorrow I may not like it all that well and change it again. I have finally reached the "habit" of saving to a new folder on the SD card when making several changes in one sitting... usually the date and something silly to remind me what might be new in the programs.

What you are describing here seems appropriate for all these things we want to stay in touch with!

This is definitely Virgo type work! How many of you are good little Virgo people like me? You know, B'day between August 20 and Sept 20? Attention to detail and data gatherers and sorters as well as "Nit pickers"????

Astrology is a language very much like music, lots of data to sort and make into harmonious patterns! It is fun too!

ELIZABETH