Basic Functions/Menus

BaseHead aims to offer a clean and uncluttered interface with minimal buttons to get in the way. Almost all operational functions have simple keyboard shortcuts* or can be found in the various menus in BaseHead

Command Bar

The command bar is found below the peak tree and offers some quick shortcuts to common functions which can be found in the actions menu along with many more functions.

Hover over a button to find out what each one is and what the keyboard shortcut is. From Left to Right:

• Add to Taglist (T)
• Spot to Track (S)
• Copy to Transfer Path (C)
• Open Containing Folder (O)
• Open in Wave Editor (W)
• Random Sound (?)

Read on for descriptions on each of these functions.

Actions Menu

On macOS all Main Menus are at the top like standard native Mac programs.

Now onto the Basic Functions…

Add to TagList (T)
Will add the selected sound to the Taglist Page.
Once a list has been created you can drag and drop it all by either showing the Taglist Page and holding down (Ctrl or Option) and drag from the list. You can also hold (Ctrl or Option) and grab the DnD Bar on bottom left of the main Results Page to drag the whole list without ever looking at it. You can also transfer all the current checked sounds on the Taglist to the target applications’ Pool/Bin using (ALT+X) from either the Taglist Page OR Results Page.

Tag Referenced (Ctrl/Cmd+T)
Will add the selected sounds to the Taglist Page the same as “T”, but the file will be referenced to the original path instead of Sample Rate converted and copied to the Transfer Path first. This can come in handy if you are working with long ambiance files and want to work fast and don’t care about the Sample Rate or if you have your DAW set to do the Sample Rate converting instead.

Open in Wave Editor (W)
This with toss the file into the set wave editor on the Options Page, which is usually something like Wavelab or Sound Forge.

Open in Wave Editor2 (Ctrl/Cmd+W)
If you have multiple wave editors you like to use you can set a second wave editor in the Options and wwhoose this option to send to your second wave editor.

Open Containing Folder (O)
Will show the selected record in Explorer/Finder.

Copy File to Transfer Path (C)
Will copy selected files to your currently set Transfer Path. Click the folder icon on the bottom Info Strip to set a Transfer Path manually.

Spot to Track (S)
If your one of the type of guys that prefers to lay a cursor/marker down in your DAW and toss files to it instead of Drag and Drop then this is the option for you. Select your Target Application on the Options page and hit (S) to toss files to a track in your DAW.
Support DAWS:
Nuendo/Cubase, REAPER, Pro Tools, Logic Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro.

X-fer to Pool/Bin in Target App (X)
Files are tossed to the Pool/Bin in Nuendo/Cubase or Pro Tools or other supported DAW’s

Spot ‘Taglist’ to Track (Shift+S)
Spot all ‘Checked’ items on your taglist to the target app

X-fer Taglist to Pool/Bin (Alt+X)
Current checked file on the Taglist page are tossed to the Pool/Bin in Nuendo Cubase or Pro Tools
(Note: Spotting features for non-hardwired DAW’s can only send one file at a time)

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Show Folder Contents (Alt+F)
Will show the folder contents of the selected record in the Results Page.

Force Show All Records (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+F)
This bypasses the ‘Max Records Returned’ set value on the Options Page and instead returns All records.

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Set Transfer Path (Ctrl/Cmd+Shit+T)
Lets you select the path all files are copied to or just click the blue folder on the bottom Info Strip to set.

Set Wave Editor (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+W)
Lets you select a wave editor for 2 track editing (usually SoundForge or Wavelab) Once set press ‘W’ to toss a file to it.

Set Wave Editor2 
Lets you select a second wave editor

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Rename Description (R) (non-lite versions)
Pops up a dialog box that lets you change the* [description]* field for WAV, BWAV and AIF files. Once you Inject a* [description]* it will be permanently burnt into the files BEXT and iXML chunks.

Other Misc Commands

Re-trigger Playback (` or ESC)
Triggers/retriggers playback of the currently selected file from the start of file. Use Space to pause/play file.

Play Random Sound (?)
Will randomly pick a sound from the current result list.
NOTE: the keyboard shortcut requires (SHIFT + / ) to be pressed which is “?”

Options Menu

Every item in this menu are Enable/Disable type items that relate to the Results List mainly. The options on the Options Page are more global program wide type options instead.

See the Options Menu / Page Section for more info

 Database Menu

Here’s where you do a lot of your DB management.

Import Files (Ctrl/Cmd+I)
Imports files and scans meta-data to be added in the DB.
FYI: Importing can also be initiated by dragging files to the Results page.

Open Database (Ctrl/Cmd+O)
Opens a new DB

Create New Database (Ctrl/Cmd+N)
Creates and selects a new DB

Rename Current Database
Renames the current loaded DB

Delete Current Database
Deletes the current loaded DB from your hard drive

Remove Current Database
Will remove this DB from the DB Hotswap box.

Clear All Records in Current Database
Clears all records from the current loaded DB so you can start fresh.

Upload Database to Server
only available when connected to a BaseHead server
Uploads the current database to the server (cubeSQL)

Refresh CatID Template Metadata (UCS Refresh)
If you have existing files in your database that contain UCS Category ID information in the filename and you would like to update your database to import this data you can choose this option. Only files that contain the required UCS CatID code at the front of the filename will be affected, all other files will not be read.

NOTE: This will import Category/Sub Category tag data using the [F4] Metadata Chunk Panel “CatID” priority option for all UCS formatted files. If the CatID priority option is set “Low”, only records that do not contain any Category/Sub Category information will be imported, filling in the gaps. If priority is set “High” the existing Category, Sub Category and ShortID will be overwritten with the detected UCS information. Be sure how you want data to be imported.

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Remove Duplicate Records
Will remove entries that are the oldest when two or more of the same are found in the DB with the same name at the same [folder] or [path].

Cleanup Missing Databases
Checks if databases in the bottom left DB Hotswap box still exist.
If not….they are removed from this drop down box.

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Create ‘Import’ from Database
Allows you to take a existing .db file and import it as a separate ‘Import’ into the current database giving your full control to search inside it and remove it at anytime in the future cleanly.

Remove Offline Media
Checks if files currently shown in the Results List are “Media Offline” and if so they are removed from the Database.

Show Offline Media
Shows all of the current Results List that is ‘Media Offline’

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Indexing Options >>
Allows you generate new indexes or rebuild the database indexing to keep your database running as efficiently as possible.

Rebuild Indexes
Force the database to rebuild the indexing which will optimize the indexing for peak performance. If you notice searches and browsing slowing down over time, try this option to clean your database. 

Note: you need to rebuild the indexes if you select/deselect any of the below database indexing options.

Reset to Defaults
Sets the indexing options back to the default options selected

FTS Virtual Table
This option is set ON by default and unless you have a specific and understood reason for disabling this, leave it enabled. FTS (Full Text Search) is a new feature as of BaseHead 2020.12.106 which generates a new database table used to store all the full words in your database to match a query to results super fast. It can improve some searches on huge databases by more than 30x and in almost every case will improve your searching and browsing experience. 

One side affect is it may increase your database size by a small amount BUT along with FTS are also some extra optimisations which will help clean and shrink the size of your database so in some cases it may not increase at all. 

You will be prompted the first time a database is selected that does not contain an FTS Table that one will be generated and a backup will be created for you just for added assurance. 

Deselecting this option will remove the FTS table when you rebuild the indexes if you need/ant to remove it for whatever reason. 

FTS Index Options
FTS Indexing is optimized specifically for single field searching and is most notable on complex searches using multiple words. If you also like to use combo searches using the combo search boxes you can choose to generate indexes for these types of searches too.

Simply select any combination of these index options based on your needs then press the “Rebuild Indexes” option to generate index tables for these search types. You can select as many combinations as you like just be aware that this will increase your database size a bit. 
 

View Menu

This menu allows access to open panels such as metadata viewer, metadata burn-in panel, import/export text file etc. as well as hide/show elements of the BaseHead workspace.

View Online Manual (F1)
Opens this online help manual

Quick Access Panel (F2)
Opens the Quick Access Panel (QAP) in the bottom left of the screen which is used to control your playback channels.

Metadata Viewer Panel (F3)
Opens the Metadata viewer panel that allows you to view the stored metadata within the selected sound file

Show Chunk Panel (F4)
Opens the Metadata Chunk panel which allows setting of what metadata chunks are imported/transferred

Burn In Metadata Panel (F6)
Opens the Metadata burn in panel which allows writing of edited details into the selected file/s

Import/Export Text File (F7)
Opens the text import/export panel that allows import/export of metadata for files from a CSV/TSV text file.

CloudPack Manager (F12)
Opens the new CloudPack Manager application which you can also open using the CPM button in the peak tree

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Clear All Search Boxes (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+C)
Clears all 4 of the search boxes at once

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Show Results Page (Alt+R)
Switches to the Results page

Show Taglist (Alt+T)
Switches to the Taglist page

Show Options Page (Alt+O)
Switches to the Options page

Show Browser Page (Alt+B)
Switches to the Browser page

Show Online Page (Alt+C)
Switches to the Start page

Hide/Show Peak Tree (E)
Hides/Shows the Peak Tree browser