Best PC For Music Production Archives
Best PC For Music Production Archives
Cakewalk by Roland DAW, Keyboard Controller
SD Mobile Studio CanvasA self-contained Mobile Studio Canvas SD is now equipped with the Music Creator 5 music production software.
Designed to provide user with multiple capabilities including audio and MIDI interface and music player, the latest core sound engine of the SD realizes mobile music production without relying on PC-based software sound system.
It provides 1, sounds with voice polyphony including GM2 / GS solo tones as well as new Violin Trombone and Shakuhachi voices, 32 drum set voices, reverb and chorus effects and mastering effects.
Supporting 24bit/kHz professional audio quality, it provides one individual mic input with phantom power supply and Hi-Z-compatible guitar/mic input, audio and MIDI data file play back capability plugging with a USB memory key. The MIDI data accepts mute control for parts, and center cancel or key/tempo change when playing back audio file. The Play List Editor allows the user to manage song play sequence on PC display screen.
The MUSIC CREATOR 5 software offers easy music production using audio and MIDI files. The MIDI control function for the SD enables the user to control play back/cancel button and file transport from the software with the value dial.
The package contains more than 3, types of audio/MIDI loop to produce original songs in combination of them.
The SD runs on Windows 7/Vista/XP Home/XP Professional and Mac OX and over.
Music Creator 5
Music Creator 5 Audio Recording Pack
Music Creator 5 MIDI Recording PackThey are music production software specially designed for entry level user. Incorporating sound engine, effects, mixer, multi-track recorder, MIDI sequencer and other functions, original music is easily created simply by plugging with instrument or microphone.
They have recording/play back capabilities on 32 stereo tracks in 24bit/48kHz audio quality, and MIDI tracks. The audio and MIDI files can be seamlessly edited, and the MIDI files can be published.
Four software sound engines provide more than 1, high quality sounds. They include Cakewalk Sound Center which provides versatile voices, Studio Instruments Drum Kit voices, GM2-compatible TTS-1 multi-timbre voices and Virtual Sound Canvas DXi to play back GS-compatible MIDI data precisely.
Eleven types of plug-in effect, over 3, audio/MIDI loop sounds are also provided. They come with a complete instruction book for the first time user.
They run on Windows 7/Vista/XP Home/XP Professional.
The MUSIC CREATOR 5 Audio Recording Pack has a UA-1G audio interface to be capable of handling professional revel recording with rich inputs and outputs. It's best suited for music production using acoustic instruments or vocal sounds by plugging with microphone or guitar.
The MUSIC CREATOR 5 MIDI Recording Pack comes with a UM-1G MIDI interface which has one individual in and out ports. It effectively serves recording MIDI data real time by plugging with keyboard or digital piano.
APRO (key. photo top) APRO (key, photo center)
APRO (key, photo bottom)
They are keyboard controllers providing real keyboard feel and response in portable design.
The 45 assignable controls include 9 knobs, 9 mixing sliders, 8 velocity-sensitive Dynamic pads, transport buttons, hold and expression pedals. Assigned data can be shown on the backlit LCD screen.
They support ACT which optimizes SONAR and other Cakewalk software, and a control map for DAW software is also provided.
Individual packages contain A-PRO-exclusive editor and Cakewalk Production Plus Pack software to support music production.
AS
The key full-sized MIDI keyboard controller is designed with authentic keyboard feel.
It has 12 velocity curves and 4 fixed velocity modes in Light, Medium or Heavy key touch. Three types of power supply, AA batteries, USB-bus and AC adaptor(sold separately) are available.
It comes complete with the Cakewalk Production Plus Pack music production software.
Further information is available from:
www.spearpointsecuritygroup.com
List of file formats
This is a list of file formats used by computers, organized by type. Filename extensions are usually noted in parentheses if they differ from the file format name or abbreviation. Many operating systems do not limit filenames to one extension shorter than 4 characters, as was common with some operating systems that supported the File Allocation Table (FAT) file system. Examples of operating systems that do not impose this limit include Unix-like systems, and Microsoft WindowsNT, 95, 98, and ME which have no three character limit on extensions for bit or bit applications on file systems other than pre-Windows 95 and Windows NT versions of the FAT file system. Some filenames are given extensions longer than three characters. While MS-DOS and NT always see the final period in a filename as an extension, in UNIX-like systems, the final period doesn't necessarily mean the text no afterward is the extension.[1]
Some file formats, such as or , may be listed multiple times.
Archive and compressed[edit]
- .?Q? – files that are compressed, often by the SQ program.
- 7z – 7-Zip compressed file
- AAPKG – ArchestrA IDE
- AAC – Advanced Audio Coding
- ace – ACE compressed file
- ALZ – ALZip compressed file
- APK – Android package: Applications installable on Android; package format of the Alpine Linux distribution
- APPX – Microsoft Application Package (.appx)
- AT3 – Sony's UMD data compression
- .bke – www.spearpointsecuritygroup.com data compression
- ARC – pre-Zip data compression
- ARC - Nintendo U8 Archive (mostly Yaz0 compressed)
- ARJ – ARJ compressed file
- ASS (also SAS) – a subtitles file created by Aegisub, a video typesetting application (also a Halo game engine file)
- B – (B file) Similar to .a, but less compressed.
- BA – Scifer Archive (.ba), Scifer External Archive Type
- big – Special file compression format used by Electronic Arts to compress the data for many of EA's games
- BIN – compressed archive, can be read and used by CD-ROMs and Java, extractable by 7-zip and WINRAR
- bjsn – Used to store The Escapists saves on Android.
- BKF (.bkf) – Microsoft backup created by NTBackup.c
- bzip2 (.bz2) –
- bld – Skyscraper Simulator Building
- cab – A cabinet (.cab) file is a library of compressed files stored as one file. Cabinet files are used to organize installation files that are copied to the user's system.[2]
- c4 – JEDMICS image files, a DOD system
- cals – JEDMICS image files, a DOD system
- CLIPFLAIR (.clipflair, www.spearpointsecuritygroup.com) – ClipFlair Studio ClipFlair component saved state file (contains component options in XML, extra/attached files and nested components' state in child www.spearpointsecuritygroup.com files – activities are also components and can be nested at any depth)
- CPT, SEA – Compact Pro (Macintosh)
- DAA – Closed-format, Windows-only compressed disk image
- deb – Debian install package
- DMG – an Apple compressed/encrypted format
- DDZ – a file which can only be used by the "daydreamer engine" created by "fever-dreamer", a program similar to RAGS, it's mainly used to make somewhat short games.
- DN – Adobe Dimension CC file format
- DPE – Package of AVE documents made with Aquafadas digital publishing tools.
- .egg – Alzip Egg Edition compressed file
- EGT (.egt) – EGT Universal Document also used to create compressed cabinet files replaces .ecab
- ECAB (.ECAB, .ezip) – EGT Compressed Folder used in advanced systems to compress entire system folders, replaced by EGT Universal Document
- ESD – Electronic Software Distribution, a compressed and encrypted WIM File
- ESS (.ess) – EGT SmartSense File, detects files compressed using the EGT compression system.
- EXE (.exe) – Windows application
- Flipchart file (.flipchart) – Used in PrometheanActivInspire Flipchart Software.
- GBP – GBP File Extension – What is a .gbp file and how do I open it? 2 types of files: 1. An archive index file that is created by Genie Timeline [2]. It contains references to the files that the user has chosen to backup; the references can be to an archive file or a batch of files. This files can be opened using Genie-Soft Genie Timeline on Windows. 2. A data output file created by CAD Printed Circuit Board (PCB). This type of file can be opened on Windows using Autodesk EAGLE EAGLE | PCB Design Software | Autodesk, Altium Designer [3], Viewplot Welcome to www.spearpointsecuritygroup.com For PCB Related Software;Viewplot The Gerber Viewer & editor in onePCB Elegance a professional layout package for a affordable price, Gerbv gerbv – A Free/Open Source Gerber Viewer on Mac using Autodesk EAGLE, Gerbv, gEDA gplEDA Homepage and on Linux using Autodesk EAGLE, gEDA, Gerbv
- GHO (.gho, .ghs) – Norton Ghost
- GIF (.gif) – Graphics Interchange Format
- gzip (.gz) – Compressed file
- HTML (.html) HTML code file
- IPG (.ipg) – Format in which Apple Inc. packages their iPod games. can be extracted through Winrar
- jar – ZIP file with manifest for use with Java applications.
- LBR (.Lawrence) – Lawrence Compiler Type file
- LBR – Library file
- LQR – LBR Library file compressed by the SQ program.
- LHA (.lzh) – Lempel, Ziv, Huffman
- lzip (.lz) – Compressed file
- lzo
- lzma – Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm compressed file
- LZX
- MBW (.mbw) – MBRWizard archive
- MHTML – Mine HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) code file
- MPQ Archives (.mpq) – Used by Blizzard Entertainment
- BIN (.bin) – MacBinary
- NTH (.nth) – Nokia Theme Used by NokiaSeries 40 Cellphones
- OAR (.oar) – OAR archive
- OSK - Compressed osu! skin archive
- OSZ – Compressed osu! beatmap archive
- PAK – Enhanced type of .ARC archive
- PAR (.par, .par2) – Parchive
- PAF (.paf) – Portable Application File
- PEA (.pea) – PeaZip archive file
- PHP (.php) – PHP code file
- PYK (.pyk) – Compressed file
- PK3 (.pk3) – Quake 3 archive (See note on Doom³)
- PK4 (.pk4) – Doom³ archive (Opens similarly to a zip archive.)
- py / pyw – Python code file
- RAR (.rar) – Rar Archive, for multiple file archive (rar to .rr99 to s01 and so on)
- RAG, RAGS – Game file, a game playable in the RAGS game-engine, a free program which both allows people to create games, and play games, games created have the format "RAG game file"
- RaX – Archive file created by RaX
- RPM – Red Hat package/installer for Fedora, RHEL, and similar systems.
- sb – Scratch file
- sb2 – Scratch file
- sb3 - Scratch file
- SEN – Scifer Archive (.sen) – Scifer Internal Archive Type
- SIT (.sitx) – StuffIt (Macintosh)
- SIS/SISX – Symbian Application Package
- SKB – Google SketchUp backup File
- SQ (.sq) – Squish Compressed Archive
- SWM – Splitted WIM File, usually found on OEMRecovery Partition to store preinstalled Windows image, and to make Recovery backup (to USB Drive) easier (due to FAT32 limitations)
- SZS – Nintendo Yaz0 Compressed Archive
- TAR – group of files, packaged as one file
- TGZ (www.spearpointsecuritygroup.com) – gzipped tar file
- TB (.tb) – Tabbery Virtual Desktop Tab file
- TIB (.tib) – Acronis True Image backup
- UHA – Ultra High Archive Compression
- UUE (.uue) – unified utility engine – the generic and default format for all things UUe-related.
- VIV – Archive format used to compress data for several video games, including Need For Speed: High Stakes.
- VOL – video game data package.
- VSA – Altiris Virtual Software Archive
- WAX – Wavexpress – A ZIP alternative optimized for packages containing video, allowing multiple packaged files to be all-or-none delivered with near-instantaneous unpacking via NTFS file system manipulation.
- WIM – A compressed disk image for installing Windows Vista or higher, Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PC, or restoring a system image made from Backup and Restore (Windows Vista/7)
- XAP – Windows Phone Application Package
- xz – xz compressed files, based on LZMA/LZMA2 algorithm
- Z – Unixcompress file
- zoo – based on LZW
- zip – popular compression format
Physical recordable media archiving[edit]
- ISO – The generic format for most optical media, including CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD and UMD.
- NRG – The proprietary optical media archive format used by Nero applications.
- IMG – For archiving DOS formatted floppy disks, larger optical media, and hard disk drives.
- ADF – Amiga Disk Format, for archiving Amiga floppy disks
- ADZ – The GZip-compressed version of ADF.
- DMS – Disk Masher System, a disk-archiving system native to the Amiga.
- DSK – For archiving floppy disks from a number of other platforms, including the ZX&#;Spectrum and Amstrad CPC.
- D64 – An archive of a Commodore 64 floppy disk.
- SDI – System Deployment Image, used for archiving and providing "virtual disk" functionality.
- MDS – DAEMON tools native disc image format used for making images from optical CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc. It comes together with MDF file and can be mounted with DAEMON Tools.
- MDX – New DAEMON Tools format that allows getting one MDX disc image file instead of two (MDF and MDS).
- DMG – Macintosh disk image files
(MPEG-1 is found in a .DAT file on a video CD.)
- CDI – DiscJuggler image file
- CUE – CDRWrite CUE image file
- CIF – Easy CD Creator .cif format
- C2D – Roxio-WinOnCD .c2d format
- DAA – PowerISO .daa format
- B6T – BlindWrite 5/6 image file
Ceramics glaze recipes[edit]
File formats for software, databases, and websites used by potters and ceramic artists to manage glaze recipes, glaze chemistry, etc.
Computer-aided design[edit]
Computer-aided is a prefix for several categories of tools (e.g., design, manufacture, engineering) which assist professionals in their respective fields (e.g., machining, architecture, schematics).
Computer-aided design (CAD)[edit]
Computer-aided design (CAD) software assists engineers, architects and other design professionals in project design.
- 3DXML – Dassault Systemes graphic representation
- 3MF – Microsoft 3D Manufacturing Format[3]
- ACP – VA Software VA – Virtual Architecture CAD file
- AMF – Additive Manufacturing File Format
- AEC – DataCAD drawing format[4]
- AR – Ashlar-Vellum Argon – 3D Modeling
- ART – ArtCAM model
- ASC – BRL-CAD Geometry File (old ASCII format)
- ASM – Solidedge Assembly, Pro/ENGINEER Assembly
- BIN, BIM – Data Design System DDS-CAD
- BREP – Open CASCADE 3D model (shape)
- C3D – C3D Toolkit File Format
- CCC – CopyCAD Curves
- CCM – CopyCAD Model
- CCS – CopyCAD Session
- CAD – CadStd
- CATDrawing – CATIA V5 Drawing document
- CATPart – CATIA V5 Part document
- CATProduct – CATIA V5 Assembly document
- CATProcess – CATIA V5 Manufacturing document
- cgr – CATIA V5 graphic representation file
- ckd – KeyCreator CAD Modeling
- ckt – KeyCreator CAD Modeling
- CO – Ashlar-Vellum Cobalt – parametric drafting and 3D modeling
- DRW – Caddie Early version of Caddie drawing – Prior to Caddie changing to DWG
- DFT – Solidedge Draft
- DGN – MicroStation design file
- DGK – Delcam Geometry
- DMT – Delcam Machining Triangles
- DXF – ASCII Drawing Interchange file format, AutoCAD
- DWB – VariCAD drawing file
- DWF – Autodesk's Web Design Format; AutoCAD & Revit can publish to this format; similar in concept to PDF files; Autodesk Design Review is the reader
- DWG – Popular file format for Computer Aided Drafting applications, notably AutoCAD, Open Design Alliance applications, and Autodesk Inventor Drawing files
- EASM – SolidWorks eDrawings assembly file
- EDRW – eDrawings drawing file
- EMB – Wilcom ES Designer Embroidery CAD file
- EPRT – eDrawings part file
- EscPcb – "esCAD pcb" data file by Electro-System (Japan)
- EscSch – "esCAD sch" data file by Electro-System (Japan)
- ESW – AGTEK format
- EXCELLON – Excellon file
- EXP – Drawing Express format
- F3D – Autodesk Fusion archive file[5]
- FCStd – Native file format of FreeCADCAD/CAM package
- FM – FeatureCAM Part File
- FMZ – FormZ Project file
- G – BRL-CAD Geometry File
- GBR – Gerber file
- GLM – KernelCAD model
- GRB – T-FLEX CAD File
- GTC – GRAITEC Advance format
- IAM – Autodesk Inventor Assembly file
- ICD – IronCAD 2D CAD file
- IDW – Autodesk Inventor Drawing file
- IFC – buildingSMART for sharing AEC and FM data
- IGES – Initial Graphics Exchange Specification
- Intergraph Standard File Formats – Intergraph
- IPN – Autodesk Inventor Presentation file
- IPT – Autodesk Inventor Part file
- JT – Jupiter Tesselation
- MCD – Monu-CAD (Monument/Headstone Drawing file)
- MDG – Model of Digital Geometric Kernel
- model – CATIA V4 part document
- OCD – Orienteering Computer Aided Design (OCAD) file
- PAR – Solidedge Part
- PIPE – PIPE-FLO Professional Piping system design file
- PLN – ArchiCad project
- PRT – NX (recently known as Unigraphics), Pro/ENGINEER Part, CADKEY Part
- PSM – Solidedge Sheet
- PSMODEL – PowerSHAPE Model
- PWI – PowerINSPECT File
- PYT – Pythagoras File
- SKP – SketchUp Model
- RLF – ArtCAM Relief
- RVM – AVEVAPDMS 3D Review model
- RVT – Autodesk Revit project files
- RFA – Autodesk Revit family files
- S12 – Spirit file, by Softtech
- SCAD – OpenSCAD 3D part model
- SCDOC – SpaceClaim 3D Part/Assembly
- SLDASM – SolidWorks Assembly drawing
- SLDDRW – SolidWorks 2D drawing
- SLDPRT – SolidWorks 3D part model
- dotXSI – For Softimage
- STEP – Standard for the Exchange of Product model data
- STL – Stereo Lithographic data format used by various CAD systems and stereo lithographic printing machines.
- STD – Power Vision Plus – Electricity Meter Data (Circutor)
- TCT – TurboCAD drawing template
- TCW – TurboCAD for Windows 2D and 3D drawing
- UNV – I-DEAS I-DEAS (Integrated Design and Engineering Analysis Software)
- VC6 – Ashlar-Vellum Graphite – 2D and 3D drafting
- VLM – Ashlar-Vellum Vellum, Vellum 2D, Vellum Draft, Vellum 3D, DrawingBoard
- VS – Ashlar-Vellum Vellum Solids
- WRL – Similar to STL, but includes color. Used by various CAD systems and 3D printing rapid prototyping machines. Also used for VRML models on the web.
- X_B – Parasolids binary format
- X_T – Parasolids
- XE – Ashlar-Vellum Xenon – for associative 3D modeling
- ZOFZPROJ – ZofzPCB 3D PCB model, containing mesh, netlist and BOM
Electronic design automation (EDA)[edit]
Electronic design automation (EDA), or electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is specific to the field of electrical engineering.
- BRD – Board file for EAGLE Layout Editor, a commercial PCB design tool
- BSDL – Description language for testing through JTAG
- CDL – Transistor-level netlist format for IC design
- CPF – Power-domain specification in system-on-a-chip (SoC) implementation (see also UPF)
- DEF – Gate-level layout
- DSPF – Detailed Standard Parasitic Format, Analog-level parasitics of interconnections in IC design
- EDIF – Vendor neutral gate-level netlist format
- FSDB – Analogwaveform format (see also Waveform viewer)
- GDSII – Format for PCB and layout of integrated circuits
- HEX – ASCII-coded binary format for memory dumps
- LEF – Library Exchange Format, physical abstract of cells for IC design
- LIB – Library modeling (function, timing) format
- MS12 – NI Multisim file
- OASIS – Open Artwork System Interchange Standard
- OpenAccess – Design database format with APIs
- PSF – Cadence proprietary format to store simulation results/waveforms (2GB limit)
- PSFXL – Cadence proprietary format to store simulation results/waveforms
- SDC – Synopsys Design Constraints, format for synthesis constraints
- SDF – Standard for gate-level timings
- SPEF – Standard format for parasitics of interconnections in IC design
- SPI, CIR – SPICE Netlist, device-level netlist and commands for simulation
- SREC, S19 – S-record, ASCII-coded format for memory dumps
- SST2 – Cadence proprietary format to store mixed-signal simulation results/waveforms
- STIL – Standard Test Interface Language, IEEE standard for Test Patterns for IC
- SV – SystemVerilog source file
- S*P – Touchstone/EEsof Scattering parameter data file – multi-port blackbox performance, measurement or simulated
- TLF – Contains timing and logical information about a collection of cells (circuit elements)
- UPF – Standard for Power-domain specification in SoC implementation
- V – Verilog source file
- VCD – Standard format for digital simulation waveform
- VHD, VHDL – VHDL source file
- WGL – Waveform Generation Language, format for Test Patterns for IC
Test technology[edit]
Files output from Automatic Test Equipment or post-processed from such.
Database[edit]
- 4DB – 4D database Structure file
- 4DD – 4D database Data file
- 4DIndy – 4D database Structure Index file
- 4DIndx – 4D database Data Index file
- 4DR – 4D database Data resource file (in old 4D versions)
- ACCDB – Microsoft Database (Microsoft Office Access and later)
- ACCDE – Compiled Microsoft Database (Microsoft Office Access and later)
- ADT – Sybase Advantage Database Server (ADS)
- APR – Lotus Approach data entry & reports
- BOX – Lotus Notes Post Office mail routing database
- CHML – Krasbit Technologies Encrypted database file for 1 click integration between contact management software and the chameleon(tm) line of imaging workflow solutions
- DAF – Digital Anchor data file
- DAT – DOS Basic
- DAT – Intersystems Caché database file
- DB – Paradox
- DB – SQLite
- DBF – db/dbase II,III,IV and V, Clipper, Harbour/xHarbour, Fox/FoxPro, Oracle
- DTA – Sage Sterling database file
- EGT – EGT Universal Document, used to compress sql databases to smaller files, may contain original EGT database style.
- ESS – EGT SmartSense is a database of files and its compression style. Specific to EGT SmartSense
- EAP – Enterprise Architect Project
- FDB – Firebird Databases
- FDB – Navision database file
- FP, FP3, FP5, and FP7 – FileMaker Pro
- FRM – MySQL table definition
- GDB – Borland InterBase Databases
- GTABLE – Google DriveFusion Table
- KEXI – Kexi database file (SQLite-based)
- KEXIC – shortcut to a database connection for a Kexi databases on a server
- KEXIS – shortcut to a Kexi database
- LDB – Temporary database file, only existing when database is open
- LIRS - Layered IntagerStorage. Stores intageres with characters such as semicolons to create lists of data.
- MDA – Add-in file for Microsoft Access
- MDB – Microsoft Access database
- ADP – Microsoft Access project (used for accessing databases on a server)
- MDE – Compiled Microsoft Database (Access)
- MDF – Microsoft SQL Server Database
- MYD – MySQL MyISAM table data
- MYI – MySQL MyISAM table index
- NCF – Lotus Notes configuration file
- NSF – Lotus Notes database
- NTF – Lotus Notes database design template
- NV2 – QW Page NewViews object oriented accounting database
- ODB – LibreOffice Base or OpenOffice Base database
- ORA – Oracle tablespace files sometimes get this extension (also used for configuration files)
- PCONTACT – WinIM Contact file
- PDB – Palm OS Database
- PDI – Portable Database Image
- PDX – Corel Paradox database management
- PRC – Palm OS resource database
- SQL – bundled SQL queries
- REC – GNU recutils database
- REL – Sage Retrieve 4GL data file
- RIN – Sage Retrieve 4GL index file
- SDB – StarOffice's StarBase
- SDF – SQL Compact Database file
- sqlite – SQLite
- UDL – Universal Data Link
- waData – Wakanda (software) database Data file
- waIndx – Wakanda (software) database Index file
- waModel – Wakanda (software) database Model file
- waJournal – Wakanda (software) database Journal file
- WDB – Microsoft Works Database
- WMDB – Windows Media Database file – The file can contain file name, file properties, music, video, photo and playlist information.
Desktop publishing[edit]
Document[edit]
These files store formatted text and plain text.
Financial records[edit]
Financial data transfer formats[edit]
Font file[edit]
Geographic information system[edit]
Graphical information organizers[edit]
- 3DT – 3D Topicscape, the database in which the meta-data of a 3D Topicscape is held, it is a form of 3D concept map (like a 3D mind-map) used to organize ideas, information, and computer files
- ATY – 3D Topicscape file, produced when an association type is exported; used to permit round-trip (export Topicscape, change files and folders as desired, re-import to 3D Topicscape)
- CAG – Linear Reference System
- FES – 3D Topicscape file, produced when a fileless occurrence in 3D Topicscape is exported to Windows. Used to permit round-trip (export Topicscape, change files and folders as desired, re-import them to 3D Topicscape)
- MGMF – MindGenius Mind Mapping Software file format
- MM – FreeMind mind map file (XML)
- MMP – Mind Manager mind map file
- TPC – 3D Topicscape file, produced when an inter-Topicscape topic link file is exported to Windows; used to permit round-trip (export Topicscape, change files and folders as desired, re-import to 3D Topicscape)
Graphics[edit]
Color palettes[edit]
- ACT – Adobe Color Table. Contains a raw color palette and consists of bit RGB colour values.
- ASE – Adobe Swatch Exchange. Used by Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.[8]
- GPL – GIMP palette file. Uses a text representation of color names and RGB values. Various open source graphical editors can read this format,[9] including GIMP, Inkscape, Krita,[10]KolourPaint, Scribus, CinePaint, and MyPaint.[11]
- PAL – Microsoft RIFF palette file
Color management[edit]
- ICC/ICM – Color profile conforming the specification of the ICC.
Raster graphics[edit]
Raster or bitmap files store images as a group of pixels.
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Vector graphics[edit]
Vector graphics use geometric primitives such as points, lines, curves, and polygons to represent images.
- 3DV – 3-D wireframe graphics by Oscar Garcia
- AMF – Additive Manufacturing File Format
- AWG – Ability Draw
The Music Producer's Guide to Backing Up Data
Should you be backing up your data?
Yes! Whether you’re a newly minted musician, engineer, producer, digital artist, or a seasoned veteran of the loudness wars, we all face the same conundrum: what do you do with your digital session data at the end of the day? This is a challenge faced by everyone who creates any kind of content on a digital device.
How do you save your data? How do you know what to save? How do you keep track of all the stuff you generate?
Read on, friends. We’ll talk about some options and guidelines to help preserve your work.
Why should you back up your data?
Because you never know when you’re going to lose something or when a hard drive will fail
To keep everything organized so you know what you have
So you can monetize your creations
So that you will always have a copy, even if the record label folds.
You’ll be in good company. Recently, I conducted an informal Facebook survey of engineers, and % of them reported using some form of data backup. More about that in a moment.
Here’s an object lesson. Once upon a time I made radio station ID music. This was high volume production work, with many, many versions: vocals/no vocals, tag/no tag; versions ranging in length from 2–60 seconds; English, Spanish, and French versions; rock, country, orchestral, and hip hop versions. You get the idea. After working on this project for three days straight, I needed to go home for a quick shower and a clean shirt, and would return later to QC all of the mixes. The session was done. What could go wrong?
In my two hour absence, a studio mangler (sorry, manager) decided that he needed hard drive space on the drive I was using—and promptly deleted 3/4 of the session, including all of the mixes. Apparently there wasn’t time to back anything up.
Result: disaster? Lawsuit? Expensive retakes? Fortunately, I printed a DAT tape (remember those?) for client approval and was able to lift the mixes from the DAT. But most of the session multitracks were gone forever. I expressed my displeasure by nearly tearing the control room door off its hinges. In retrospect, I probably should have put crime scene tape around my workstation. Or hired a canine guard. Or, realistically, asked one of the second engineers to run a backup.
That lesson started me on my path to evangelize on behalf of good backup habits.
Data backup vs. archival: What’s the difference?
Let’s dispel any confusion about these terms.
Backup is what we do to copy our production data on a regular basis, and this copy is stored locally in order to quickly offload and restore files as needed.
Archival is the long-term, offsite storage of data that you don’t need to access on a regular basis.
Many of us practice a hybrid process, generating multiple copies of our data, at least one of which is in a secure location physically separate from the place where we work. For the purpose of this discussion, we’ll look primarily at backup and hybrid backup/archival solutions.
What should you back up?
Anything that you ever want to use again. You may not need to back up your applications folder daily, but any content that you generate as a part of the creative process needs to be backed up regularly. For music producers and engineers, this includes:
Session folders (containing all audio and session data)
Mixes (roughs and finals)
Any other files that you need to recreate a session
If you’re an artist, you may want to include lyrics, photos, demos, contracts, etc., even the voice memos on your mobile phone—anything that pertains to the creative IP (intellectual property) you want to preserve.
Backing up your computer’s drive is easy. Using an automated backup program like Apple’s Time Machine will handle all of your OS backups in the background while you’re working or having coffee. There are several software options for backing up your sessions, like Carbon Copy Cloner, Acronis, or Synchronize Pro X.
Backup formats
IT professionals will tell you that data isn’t really safe until it exists in at least three places. Here are some common options for backup:
Hard drives (the spinning disk variety), including NAS (Network Attached Storage), RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), and personal cloud storage devices
Flash drives (USB sticks)
Tape storage (digital data tape, not analog audio)
In the same Facebook poll, respondents reported using a combination of formats; I’ll include adoption percentage, but the total will be more than %. Let’s review some pros and cons for each format:
Hard drives
We all pretty much record audio to a hard drive, whether internal or external, right? Here’s a one-question quiz:
True or false: hard drives last forever and never lose data.
You don’t have to think too hard about this one; the answer is most decidedly false.
Even the hard drive manufacturers acknowledge that their products have a limited lifespan, and the longest warranty on the market is something like three years. Of course, their liability is limited to replacement of the media. In the event of a failure with no backup, data restoration services on a large hard drive can cost several thousand dollars, so you may not want to trust your mission-critical data to a hard drive alone.
That said, hard drives are logical choices for NAS or RAIDs because they are inexpensive and easy to find, and when one invariably fails, you can replace them easily and quickly. RAIDs are cool, because they have built-in redundancy in the event of single-drive failure, and, for easy access, you can use a RAID drive on your NAS system. Synology has several popular options for combo NAS/RAID/private cloud drive enclosures, enthusiastically endorsed by 16% of my Facebook poll respondents. (I will be migrating to a 12 Terabyte [TB] RAID 5 system this month.)
The drive manufacturer makes a big difference in how long these things last; I’ve recently had two 4TB Seagate hard drives fail in the same week, less than six months after I purchased them both.
One of the cloud backup providers, Backblaze, publishes a list of hard drive performance and failure specs by manufacturer. It’s worth perusing before you shop.
Remember, a “brand name” enclosure does not guarantee you a reliable hard drive. There are numerous companies selling their brand of external drives, but they don’t always tell you what’s inside the box. Be sure to do your homework.
One hundred percent of Facebook poll respondents reported using some combination of hard drive storage for backups.
| Hard Drive Pros | Hard Drive Cons |
| Cheap | Unreliable over time |
| Easy to find | Inconsistent performance specs |
| Portable | Sensitive to vibration, magnetic fields, being dropped |
| Versatile | Need to be mounted every three months or they may freeze up |
Solid-state (SSD) drives
You may already have one of these in your computer. Solid-state drives use no moving parts, so they are inherently more stable, and potentially have a long service life (we don’t know for sure yet). They are usually compact, and are really fast, but they are not cheap. This is a fairly new technology for consumers, so large capacity SSD drives (over 1TB) can be expensive. They will go down in price at some point, then we may have a reliable drive for backup and long term storage. (I use a 1TB SSD for my active session drive.)
Four percent of Facebook poll respondents reported using SSD drive storage for backups.
| SSD Pros | SSD Cons |
| Reliable | Expensive |
| Fast transfer speeds | Total capacity is limited |
| Small footprint | Unproven for long-term storage |
USB Flash drives
This includes the thumb drives we all use to move files around. These are cheap and convenient—I have a drawer full of the things. They’re like wire coat hangers, they multiply in the dark when no one is looking. Definitely not made for long-term storage.
Zero percent of my Facebook poll respondents reported using flash drive storage for backup (but I think everyone uses them for daily utility transfers).
| Flash Drive Pros | Flash Drive Cons |
| Handy! | Easy to lose |
| Cheap! | Limited capacity |
| Cute! | S L O W transfer speeds |
Cloud storage
Lots of options here, some of which will operate automatically in the background, most of which function as manual storage and transfer media for the user’s files. The obvious caveat is that you need internet access to move files to and from the cloud. Large files can take a long time to upload.
There are unlimited capacity options, but they tend to be fairly expensive when you need more than 1TB.
I use two such 1TB services; Backblaze to automatically back up my laptop in the background, and Dropbox to store session data, share sessions, and deliver mixes. I am currently looking into companies offering 5TB or more, but these tend to be enterprise-level services with commensurate pricing.
It should also be mentioned that some companies charge you extra to restore data from the cloud. Read the fine print!
If you don’t pay your subscription renewal fee, your data will be lost. Not to mention that if a cloud storage company goes out of business (as several have in the last year) your data is immediately lost.
Forty percent of Facebook poll respondents reported using cloud storage for backups. Cloud collaboration is even more prevalent.
| Cloud Pros | Cloud Cons |
| Convenient | Recurring cost |
| Secure | Internet access required |
| Scalable | If the cloud service folds, you lose your data |
Tape storage
Tape was a really popular storage medium for studios a few years back. Some high-end studios still do their own data tape backups. The common formats were LTO, AIT, DLT, and others. LTO is still in use; the current LTO 8 standard will support up to 12TB of uncompressed data storage on a single tape cartridge, and it takes about 10 hours to write or restore one tape. LTO 8 tape drives cost around $5k, and 12 TB tapes run just shy of $ each. This is one of the formats the US Library of Congress uses for their long-term storage.
DLT has a new format—SDLT—which has a capacity of GB.
AIT and DDS formats are no longer supported, though you can still buy tapes.
DAT is a data-only version of DAT audio tape. The drives and tapes are still available, but there will be no future update of the standard. Caveat emptor.
Eight percent of Facebook poll respondents reported using tape drives for backups.
| Tape Pros | Tape Cons |
| Huge capacity—up to 12TB now (LTO 8), more in the future | Expensive drives and media |
| A reliable long-term storage option | Slow data write speeds |
| Good support network | Subject to temperature and humidity fluctuations |
| Backward compatibility with earlier versions | No access to individual files, must restore in bulk |
Migration plan
Even when you have all of your data backed up to hard drives and other formats in other locations, you will at some point in the future need to copy all of your data onto whatever the new format of the day might be. Whether it’s SSD, LTO, or some other format, there is no such thing as a future-proof backup medium.
I used to back up sessions to SCSI drives, then DAT tape, then Exabyte tape, then CDR, then DVD-R, then BluRay, and now RAID drives and cloud storage. Each time a new format emerges, you have to store EVERYTHING all over again if you want to be current. Can you imagine what it would take to mount a 20 year-old SCSI drive? The chain of adapters and dongles would be mind-boggling. If you could even get the drives to spin up!
A note on security
Think about naming your drive something other than “Led Zeppelin 1,” especially if that’s what’s really on the drive. No need to invite curiosity, or even thievery, on the network.
It doesn’t hurt to put a password on your drives. You can encrypt them as well, but even using a simple password to open a drive may save you from having your data compromised or stolen. For example, I know engineers working on world-class, GRAMMY-winning projects who carry sessions around on small portable hard drives out of necessity. Sometimes they carry an entire album’s data on a single drive. Believe me when I tell you that these drives are password protected—and backed up daily. We’ve all heard the horror stories about drives being copied and samples being stolen, or worse—unfinished songs being leaked online.
Before you share a thumb drive with another engineer or artist, either use a new, blank drive, or wipe everything that you don’t want copied. I know folks who have mixes of everything they’ve ever recorded or demoed stored on a single thumb drive, which they blithely hand off to anyone with whom they want to share their favorite cat video file, without thinking about the security of the recorded legacy that lives on that little drive.
Prevent misuse of your IP by protecting your working drives with a password.
What about sharing sessions?
Cloud storage is a huge solution for sharing session data between like DAW users. Pro Tools users can now use AVID Cloud Collaboration for Pro Tools to seamlessly integrate session collaboration right inside your session. Of course, there is an additional subscription charge based on total number of sessions and quantity of storage needed.
Many, many engineers are using Dropbox, Amazon S3, Microsoft OneDrive, or CrashPlan. You will need to establish a naming convention for shared sessions, and use care not to overwrite previous file iterations, but once you get the mechanics down, these cloud solutions can speed up workflow and multiply your creative output. (Even using cloud storage, you still need a backup!)
In conclusion…
Back up your data. Today.
Remember, data isn’t data until it lives in three places. One of those places should be somewhere geographically separated from the first two.
When you’ve done these things, pat yourself on the back for joining your peers and preserving your legacy. Good work!
Additional resources
Andrew Scheps did a medium deep-dive on session backups and workflows, check out the video.
The Producers and Engineers wing of the Recording Academy has published a set of delivery recommendations for music projects, this document can be found here.
Mastering engineer Jessica Thompson has co-authored a guide entitled Save Your Stuff! Beginner’s Archiving for Musicians; for more information, check out her site.
What’s New in the Best PC For Music Production Archives?
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