SampleCat is available under the GNU General Public License and runs mainly on GNU/Linux systems. It is written in C and uses the GTK graphics library. MySql and Sqlite can be used for the database.
Currently, basic functionality is in place. A GTK 4 version is in progress.
news
2025-07-08: Version 0.3.4. Updated compiler and library support, bugfixes, small improvements to player and waveform display.
2022-12-22: Version 0.3.3. Support ffmpeg-5.
2022-02-10: Version 0.3.2. Minor updates. OpenGL moved from version 2 to 3.
2020-09-01: Version 0.3.1. Many minor fixes. Updates for changes to Pango API.
2019-09-20: Version 0.3.0. Added new tarball. Many many minor fixes.
features
- catalogues 'offline' (eg cdrom), as well as 'online' sample files.
- most audio filetypes are supported, subject to building with libsndfile and/or ffmpeg.
- metadata stored: filename, path, samplerate, channels, mimetype, peak level, id3.
- freeform tagging.
- filtering based on name, directory, category, and tag.
- spectrogram display.
- auditioning of samples is possible via JACK.
- samples can be renamed, moved and copied to other directories.
building
If you are not a developer it is recommended to use the stable tarball. Building should be entirely standard (untar, configure, make, make install).
If you are a developer you will want to use the git repository directly.
You should update the submodules following a git pull:
git submodule update
Dependencies: gtk+2, jack, libsndfile and/or ffmpeg, dbus.
Optional dependencies: mysqlclient, sqlite, ayyi_auditioner, fftw, libass.
usage
- import files or directories using drag and drop.
- if a file is currently mounted, an icon will be shown in the main table. Select Update on the context menu to refresh its status.
- set tags by 1) selecting Edit Tags on the context menu, 2) double clicking the tag area, 3) enter text in the Edit box at the top of the window and hit the "Set Category" button.
- to move a file in the filesystem, drag it from the main list to a directory in the directory tree on the left.
- to rename a file in the filesystem, select it, then click on the name.
- auditioning is started by clicking in the waveform view. Jack ports are not created until auditioning is started for the first time.
- import files into your audio editor using dragndrop.
- apply colour coding by dragging from the colour bar. Right click on the colour bar to change the colour palette.
limitations
- currently, auditioning is stereo only. Files with more than 2 channels cannot be auditioned.