FCPX 10.3 Audio Sidebar for Sound Effects

Since they've moved the Music & Sound area from the lower right to the upper left and renamed it the Photos and Audio Sidebar, it seems like we've lost the ability to put a custom folder shortcut in this area.

I have a really large stock sound effects library that resides on my media drive. It has stuff from BBC, Sound Ideas, etc. Many gigabytes of stuff. In 10.2.3, I was able to pull the entire folder (with subfolders) into the Music & Sound browser as a shortcut and from there easily use the search bar to find random effects.

Now, it appears there's no way to reference media that's not catalogued in on of Apple's apps like Photos, Aperture, iTunes etc. They've put a small folder of their own sound effects there, but there's no way to add to that with my massive library.

In 10.2.3, it was easy to search and spot Sound Effects, now I'm not so sure.

Anybody got any ideas?

I noticed this as well, though I used a set folder for passing still images from Lightroom for easy access to FCP X ... made it nice, I could just drag the images to the timeline without going through the import process or visiting Finder to drag them in. Now it won't let me add the folder to the browser like we could before.

Works great using Publish services in Lightroom, I could quickly add, adjust or repurpose images as needed.

If Apple hadn't dropped support for Aperture this would be a moot subject ... and the Photos app still lacks a lot for a pro photography workflow.

I too would appreciate any insight on how to get this functionality back.

I think my work-around will have to be creating a custom iTunes library and accessing my sound effects through that. Not as easy or elegant as just browsing a folder, but do-able, if I grit and bear it.

The Sounds that show up in FCPx are located in >Library>Audio>Apple Loops>Apple>FinalCutProSoundEffects

If you want additional sounds to appear just drop them in there (you have to Authenticate and probably relaunch FCP)

You can also put Aliases in there if you store your sounds not on your system disk.

Happy editing
Carsten

@Carsten:

Something seems wrong about that. I do have a FinalCutProSoundEffects folder in that location, but there are many more effects there that do not appear in the 10.3's Sound Effects area. For example, I only see one "Can Open" in FCPX but there are 3 different ones in the FinalCutProSoundEffects folder. There's a Brushing Teethi in the folder but not in FCPX

Putting an alies in this folder does not work at all. Furthermore, Reveal in Finder is grayed out on any of the FCPX 10.3 Sound Effects, so I can't easily trace their source. I tried to poke around in the Application's Contents, but didn't see anything there, either. So I'm stumped...

I'm stumped too because It worked here first time?

I'm still on macOS 10.11.6 El Capitain. Does that make a difference?

And I can confirm that the 'reveal in finder' doesn't work in the sound effects browser.

It might be that they are indexing. When I first opened Sound Effects it looked like things were missing but as I left FCPX open for a while there is more there. No folders but the folder name shows up in the Genre column.

I have been wondering about this also and so far have not found any way to import sounds as was capable in previous versions of FCPX. I am speculating that perhaps Apple is encouraging either the use of iTunes to handle all music, which becomes readily available in FCPX, or to use a separate Library and events for additional music outside of iTunes. To this end, I have created a library for Licensed music (160 GB worth) and inside the library created separate events for each category. In the browser using filmstrip mode this is easy to locate tracks, and the search button in the browser can also be used. Maybe the thinking is associated with the fact that content can now be consolidated within the specific library for a given project, so music should be treated as any other content in that regard. Not sure I agree totally with that, but there is some logic to it. In all previous versions, music tracks were copied anyway to the project when you used them, so there is no difference with this method. My music library was imported with the option to "leave files in place" from it's long standing location on an external drive, and I set the roles to be specifically "MUSIC", not that this probably matters. Before creating a separate music library for my licensed tracks, I tried everything I could think of with roles and keywords to find a better way to do it, but for me it seems like the Library approach works pretty well, if not the most ideal way. You also then have the ability to scrub thru tracks and pick your in and out points prior to placing them into a project. This takes a bit of organizing in creating the specific events, but other than that it is a way to get your music into FCPX for whenever you need it. I will still send feedback to Apple for an easier approach.

I should point out that I am still using El Capitan rather than Sierra, so this change in functionality is strictly FCPX and not macOS.

There is a way to see folders, here is 2 Screen Shot.

There is a way to see folders, here is 2 Screen Shot.

I can see system folders for audio but how did you get your Digital Juice sounds to appear there? Did you copy those to the apple folders in the system or did you drag those somehow to the sound browser?

I copy to FinalCutProSoundEffects folder.

Very strange. I can put the alias of the my non Apple EFX in the Sounds folder but it can't seem to read stuff lower down in sub folders. If I put an alias on the root level, it reads the folder, but not nested folders...

Thank you, for someone else noticing this.

This has been driving me nuts as well. I can't add any audio to the Sound Effects. My drop down menu just says "Effects". I have tried suggestions here as well with no luck. I've created the FinalCutProSoundEffects folder in both root Library and user Library with no change.

Further, I am not sure what happened to the sound effects I used to have. I don't recall how I had that setup, I just had them in the window and they are gone from FCPX. I still have them on my drive, not a huge deal. Just would like to put them back.

I've also search my computer for all hidden folders and within packages that are called "Effects" and see no further clues to where this "Effects" folder even is.

Read this entire thread and you'll see two ways to get sounds organized for FCPX. Apparently it is not possible to simply drag a folder to the sound browser in 10.3 as it was in previous versions. The options I have found so far, both mentioned above, is 1. Create a library and place all your music and sounds in there; 2. Copy your sounds and music to HD/audio/Apple Loops/Apple/Final Cut Pro Sound Effects (note this is the path on El Capitan and may or may not be exactly the same for Sierra).
If you create a library, you can import using Finder tags and all your folders will be organized when viewing in filmstrip mode. Copying directly to the system folders will have the files displayed directly in the sound browser and available thru the drop down. The down side of copying to system folders is relevant for very large libraries since it is occupying your system drive space. The Library option allows you to keep the music and sounds on an external drive and even close the library if you don't need to use it.

dgwvideo wrote: Read this entire thread and you'll see two ways to get sounds organized for FCPX. Apparently it is not possible to simply drag a folder to the sound browser in 10.3 as it was in previous versions. The options I have found so far, both mentioned above, is 1. Create a library and place all your music and sounds in there; 2. Copy your sounds and music to HD/audio/Apple Loops/Apple/Final Cut Pro Sound Effects (note this is the path on El Capitan and may or may not be exactly the same for Sierra).
If you create a library, you can import using Finder tags and all your folders will be organized when viewing in filmstrip mode. Copying directly to the system folders will have the files displayed directly in the sound browser and available thru the drop down. The down side of copying to system folders is relevant for very large libraries since it is occupying your system drive space. The Library option allows you to keep the music and sounds on an external drive and even close the library if you don't need to use it.

Thanks for the reply, but as stated above i'm still having a hard time.

With your options i've had these results:
1) I _can_ get my audio into FCPX via iTunes and is a workaround i've been doing. This is far from ideal because I have thousands of effects in tons of different folders. I understand I can adjust metadata and all that in iTunes to help organize in FC.
2) I have tried placing files into those folders. Above it was mentioned as "FinalCutProSoundEffects". I just tried creating a folder as you mentioned called "Final Cut Pro Sound Effects" in the location you mentioned(as well as the local user Library), still no change. I wouldn't have a huge problem with this option at this point.

Maybe I am missing somethingand i'm sorry if i'm misunderstanding but I feel like my results are not the same results you've gotten...?

I did just realize that I can actually sort things by playlist from the drop down under the iTunes sidebar option. This is makes using iTunes as a workaround more tolerable, knowing I can actually change to a specific playlist instead of seeing them all in one list sorted by Album Name.

I think your issue is that you created the folder. You don't create the Final Cut folder, it already exists as an Apple system folder that is created when FCPX is installed - "Final Cut Pro Sound Effects". If you want to use that approach you simply navigate to it and place your music into it. It is in the main library of the system drive (not the users path).

I only created it because it did not exist...

That won't work...sounds like you are not in the right system library. Are you on Sierra or El Capitan? It seems as if FCPX did not install properly for you, otherwise you should see that folder in a drop down when you click the effects button that you have highlighted in your screenshot, and you should be able to navigate to it through the finder.