Search and categories

Start a fresh search

Select a synth's library to search that synth, or All patches to search across active synths.
Click Clear filters.
Type a distinctive fragment in the text search box.
Choose category buttons to narrow the results, if useful.
Choose a sort order and browse the resulting pages.

Expected result: the grid contains patches matching the selected library scope and search conditions. Ordinary text search checks patch name, comment, author, and info. It is not an audio similarity search. Text beginning with ! enters a separate advanced query path, outside this beginner workflow.

Clear filters resets the search controls while keeping the sort choice. It does not own the navigation tree's list filter. To search outside a selected import, list, or bank, also select the synth library or All patches. The application keeps separate search state for individual synths and multi-synth browsing, so changing synth can restore a different set of filters.

Available sort choices are Sort by import, Sort by name, Sort by program #, and Sort by bank #. User lists and banks use their stored order in the current implementation. Patch display choices include Name and #, Name, Program #, Layers and #, and Name and author; layer information depends on the patch type.

Find favorites or recover hidden sounds

The status filters are Faves, Hidden, Regular, and Undecided. Undecided means no favorite, hidden, or regular flag. With no status filter active, the query shows non-hidden patches.

To find favorites, start from a fresh search and enable Faves. To find a hidden patch, start fresh, enable Hidden, and search for its name. If a patch has both favorite and hidden flags, enable both Faves and Hidden: an inactive status filter can exclude patches with that flag. This overlap matters when diagnosing a missing favorite.

Once you find the patch, select it and change Hide in Current Patch. Refresh or change the filter to see the resulting membership.

Duplicate Names finds database entries with repeated names. It does not prove their sound data is identical. Untagged finds patches with no categories and takes precedence over category selection in the query.

Filter by categories

Choose one or more category buttons in the search area. With All must match off, a patch can match any selected category. Turn it on to require all selected categories.

Category buttons in Current Patch edit a patch's classification; category buttons in search filter what you see. Keep these two tasks distinct.

Assign a category and add useful notes

Select the patch and open Current Patch.
Toggle its category buttons to describe the sound.
Add an Author, Info, or Comment, if useful.
Search for that category or a word from your comment to find the patch again.

Expected result: those metadata changes are written to the database. They do not automatically store the patch to a hardware program.

Create a category

Choose Categories → Edit categories.
Click Add new category.
Give the new row a useful name, enable Active, and adjust Order and Color if needed.
Click Save.
Assign the category to a patch and test a search for it.

Expected result: the category definition is saved in the open database and active category buttons refresh.

Reapply automatic classification

Automatic categorization uses naming rules and imported-category mappings. The menu exposes Show category naming rules file and Edit category import mapping to open or reveal those files. Editing their syntax is an advanced task; keep a copy of the original file before making changes.

After changing a rule or mapping:

Filter down to a small, known set of patches.
Choose Categories → Rerun auto categorize....
Check the affected count in the confirmation and proceed only if it is the set you intend.
Inspect example patches to see whether the change had the expected effect.

Expected result: categorization is recalculated for the current filter. The implementation preserves recorded manual category decisions, including categories manually removed. It does not classify by listening to audio.