CloudPacks Manager \ Marketplace

a new HTTP playback system has been developed and now includes many new features that are aimed
at making BaseHead more flexible and speeding up your workflow.

These features are designed to keep pace with the changing nature of sound design to offer the best of both your local media and
cloud based storage solutions either accessing your own content using cloud storage, or browsing an online catalogue of commercial sound effects for your production.

[Video] CloudPack Manager (CPM)

Features

• CPM is a separate application but integrated tightly with BaseHead and is designed to work in the background so as not to affect your workflow
• Browse and purchase commercial SFX packs without having to open a web browser or click through multiple pages
• Preview ALL SFX in a pack, view all metadata and hear each sound right in BaseHead before purchase
• Packs are instantly available after purchase and are streamed from the cloud, you don’t have to download a thing!
• No need to worry about backups or HDD space, use BaseHeads Google Cloud Servers to maintain your files
• Cloud files are automatically cached as you browse to speed up importing files to your DAW
• If you need to work offline, you can localize any purchased pack to your HDD and take it with you, BaseHead updates the database automatically.
• Easily move downloaded packs if you need to manage your local storage or simply “release” back to the cloud to revert back to cloud based storage
• Improve more than just your workflow and speed by saving a ton of time and get the sounds you need fast.

Requirements

• We recommend at least 40 Mbps download speeds, the faster the better but you can choose to ‘Localize’ your libraries at any time.
• CPM is designed to be a fully cloud based service so you will need to be using a decent internet connection to get the most out of it.
• You can purchase packs, download and stream for up to 3 months from purchase without a support plan no problem.
• An active support plan is required to use the unlimited streaming feature of CPM past three months after the purchase date (Free CloudPacks are not affected)
• NOTE: Other factors such as geographical location, network loads and other network activity can also affect performance.

Launching CPM

In BaseHead you will now see a new CloudPack menu node. If you do not see this check your Peak Tree Settings (gear at the top of the peak tree) and ensure the CloudPack item is set to display.

Press the CPM button to launch the CloudPack Manager
You can also press keyboard shortcut F12 to launch from the keyboard

When you launch CPM take note in the bottom right corner of the CPM window the BaseHead connection status. This should show as
“Connected” when both BaseHead and CPM are running or “Disconnected” if BaseHead is not detected as running.

CPM Options / First Run

CPM does not need much setup and requires only that you first set your Local Path / Server Location on first launch and enter your Account Login details. Other options are optional.

Local Path
This is the first important option you must set when first getting setup with CPM. The “Local Path” sets where your CloudPacks will be downloaded to when you choose to Localize them and also stores the cached data when you browse sound effects files from the cloud. This location should have sufficient space to allow localization of packs but once a pack has been downloaded you can then choose to Move it to another location easily to free up space if needed.

Server Location
Select a streaming server that is closest to your location. The current server locations are Americas (Texas), Europe (Amsterdam), Asia (Tokyo)

File Format
Sample files are streamed in FLAC format and can be set to download in either BWAV or FLAC format. Select the audio format you prefer CloudPack files to be downloaded as either FLAC or BWAV  

Accent Color
Sets the selection color used in the CPM browser

Keep Running in Background
This option will automatically launch CPM when BaseHead is launched and keep it running in the background to handle all your CPM requests silently. When you close BaseHead CPM will also be closed automatically too. This makes the integration even more seamless.

Refresh Images
Will trigger an image refresh and download any missing images that may not have been interrupted when first launching CPM. Images are downloaded automatically when you launch CPM but for whatever reason, if you happen to notice any missing artwork in the browser like below, you can trigger this to check and download any missing images.

Refresh CPM Database
This should occur automatically so not usually needeed to trigger a manual refresh but if you need to force the CPM master database to be refreshed to download the latest additions/changes simply click this button and wait about 5 minutes for the database to be fully updated.

Refresh CPM DB
This option is mainly for testing purposes and will trigger a refresh of the CPM store data. This is done automatically when CPM is launched but if you need to manually update the CPM database for whatever reason you can trigger this from here. There is no harm to press this but typically is not required.

CPM Sign In
In order to access the store and make purchases you will need to login to your BaseHead account using the Sign In Tab.

Enter your BaseHead account details and check the “Remember Me” option to be automatically signed in on next launch.
All your purchased libraries will appear under the Manager Tab when logged into your account

The CPM Sign In details are shared with your BaseHead sign in details too so if you login to your account in BaseHead
on the Start Tab this will also automatically sign you into your account in CPM for you and logging out in either BaseHead or CPM logs out of the other:

Once signed in you can browse the store and access your purchased CloudPacks in the Manager tab.

NOTE: It is possible to add multiple CloudPacks to BaseHead from different user accounts such as when working in a team environment but only the CloudPacks authorised for the currently logged in user will be able to be used, non authorised packs will appear as inactive/offline and will not display in any search results. Simply login to the correct account to have these automatically become enabled again.

CloudPack Store

The CloudPack Store is an ever growing resource of quality commercial sound packs available for immediate use in your productions.
Browsing and purchasing CloudPacks is very easy and takes just minutes to import and start using in your productions.

There are 3 main sections to the browser window:

Search Filters (left)
Use the search field to filter by any key words. Search for any words that would appear in the description or overview of any CloudPack
to narrow down your selections

A price selector allows you to set a max purchase price to fit your budget

Use the “Company” selector to browse libraries from a particular company

Library Browser (middle)
The middle section lists all the available libraries fitting the search criteria.
Each library item contains thumbnail artwork, a short description or key words for the library, the company name and any
special offers you can take advantage of. Clicking any item will display detailed info in the details panel on the right

Detail Panel (right)
When a library is selected the details will be displayed in the details panel on the right.

Library Description / Version
Each library has a detailed overview of the library contents and in some cases like this example, multiple library
versions are available which may contain slightly different collections of files depending on the requirements.
Selecting each version using the version selectors will display information about each version.

Library File Details
At the bottom of the description is the details about the company, library size, number of files and recording quality of the files

Extras Download
Some libraries will contain “Extras” which is a downloadable zip package that may contain some additional information and files related to the library.
This can be EULA information, detailed library information, metadata files (xml), artwork or anything that may be useful but not specifically required.
You can download this info if available for free to learn a bit more if you like.

Play Preview
This will play a high quality “trailer” style of preview that has been produced by the developer to showcase the library sounds. A quick overview of what kind of sounds you will get in the library. If you have BaseHead running this sound preview will be loaded into the BaseHead wave player where you can control the playback as you would any sound file. If BaseHead is not running the sound will open in your systems default sound player such as iTunes or Windows Media Player.

View In BaseHead
A real standout feature of CPM is the ability to preview ALL files in a CloudPack right within BaseHead. Just ensure you have BaseHead open and it shows as “Connected” in the bottom right of the CPM window and click this button to send the library to BaseHead for preview

Once CPM shows the library has been sent to BaseHead you can now select BaseHead and you will see the files listed in the browser:

All files can be selected, played and view the available metadata just as you are able to with any local library.
You can even use the playback controls to adjust the speed of the sound.

Sound files are played through a “Degrader” plugin to protect unpurchased use but you can choose the type of effect for the file depending on what kind of sound you are previewing

MODE A: BitCrusher with High Cut at 12Khz
MODE B: SampleRate reduction with High Cut at 12Khz
MODE C: High Cut only at 7Khz

Previewing a library allows playback using the Cloud Streaming service only and files cannot be downloaded, searched or added to a production (no DnD or Spot etc)

To preview another library simply select the “Send to BaseHead” button and the current library preview will be replaced

Purchase
If a library is available for purchase you will see the library price at the top. Note that if a library contains multiple versions, the cost may differ between versions. Just select a version to see the cost.

The purchase window will display the current library/version you have selected with the single user license cost. You can increase this license cost based on your facilities requirements.

If there are multiple versions available you can select the version you want or select the last version option which will contain all versions as a bundle.

Select your payment method that you have stored on your BaseHead account or select the “Add or Remove Card” option from the payment selector to open your BaseHead account in your web browser to manage your payment options.

Once ready, click the “Pay” button to complete the transaction and once authorised the CloudPack will now be added to your account and will appear in your Manager

CloudPack Manager

The Manager Tab is where all your purchased and free CloudPacks can be managed. All your purchased and free CloudPacks appear in your manager where you can choose if you want to add them to your BaseHead library.

You can choose to easily add/remove packs from your library at any time depending on the material you need so as to keep your workflow efficient Store all your CloudPacks in the cloud until you need them then just ADD them to BaseHead.

If you need to work with a CloudPack offline you can “Localize” it which will download the entire pack to your Default Directory. You can then Move this to a new location if needed or just “Release” back to your cloud account to remove the files from your drive and revert back to cloud streaming all operations are automated and seamless.

Filters
At the top of the browser list there are some filters you can select to show your purchased packs or the freely available packs. \
If you are new to the CloudPack manager you can check it out right now by adding a free CloudPack to your library and importing the sound files right into your project. You can filter libraries by entering a keyword in the filter search field.

If you like working with a lot of BaseHead databases and you have some favorite CloudPacks that you always want added to your newly created databases you can select the option Add to New Databases to have the CloudPack automatically added to any new database you create to save having to do this manually

Library items display the library artwork, name of the library along with the short description:

The purchase date when you bought the CloudPack will be displayed when your library exists in the cloud or the local path of the library is displayed if it has been “localized” and downloaded to your computer

Streaming Cloud Packs
Streaming is unlimited for users with an active support plan, you can stream files as much as you like. For users that do not have an active support plan 🙁 you can still purchase and use your CloudPacks and stream them for free for up to 3 months after purchase. After the 3 month period if you do not have an active support plan you will need to Localize the library to be able to use it.

Cached Stream Files
By default BaseHead will automatically cache streamed files as you select them. This will store a local version of the CloudPack files when you select them in BaseHead to save your bandwidth and to increase efficiency when importing files to your DAW, the cached versions will be copied to save downloading again. The cached files are cleared each time you start BaseHead so as to not take up your drive space too much but if for whatever reason you do not wish to have BaseHead cache these files you can check the Misc Option in BaseHead Disable CloudPack Caching to force files to only stream from the cloud.

Localize CloudPacks
The real convenience of CloudPacks is the fact you can integrate huge multi-gigabyte sound libraries into your workflow and straight into your production within seconds without having to leave BaseHead’s workflow or wait for files to be downloaded, unzipped and imported. Using the power of the Google Cloud servers is convenient and saves time but there are some cases where you may need to work offline or easily edit the files in an external editor. Whatever the reason, there is the ability to Localize a library which will download the entire library to your hard drive.

You have a total of 3 localization requests available for your CloudPacks which get consumed each time you download a CloudPack. However, when you Release a CloudPack back to your cloud account, your localization request is returned so you will always have 3 available as long as you release back to your account

When localising a library it is downloaded to the Default Path set in the CPM options but can be moved or released back to the cloud at any time. CPM will automatically adjust the files source paths in your BaseHead library when you localize or release packs so they will always “just work” and simply switch between local and cloud streaming.

When a CloudPack is available to be localized you will see a “Localize” button available. Note the metadata at the top of the details panel for how many files and how much space is required and ensure you have the space for the CloudPack to be downloaded.

Below the localize button are the download progress indicators and “threads” that are used to download the files. You can change the number of download threads to increase the bandwidth/speed of download to a Max of 6 threads
or decrease to slow the download rate and not consume too much of your available bandwidth.

If you happen to accidentally cancel a download or close CPM during a localization process you can simply retrigger the process again and the existing files will be checked and the download process will continue.

Once the process has completed to the CloudPack will now show the local path to the library along with a green tick symbol and one of your available 3 download counts will now be consumed:

Release CloudPack
In order to maintain your available localization count if you need to remove a CloudPack from your computer and return it to your Cloud Account you simply need to use the Release button which will delete the files from your computer and “Release” the CloudPack back to your cloud account. The library will continue to work in BaseHead but will now switch to streaming.

If you fail to use the CPM Release feature and just delete the files off your computer then you will lose one of your localisation requests so always make sure you release your CloudPack when you no longer need it on your computer.

Move CloudPack
When you localize a CloudPack it is downloaded to the Default Path directory you have set in CPM. If you need to relocate the CloudPack simply select the Move option and select the new location. The files will be moved and the paths will be updated automatically.

If you move the files manually without using the Move function you will see a broken library icon:

Select the Relink button and locate the folder where the library was moved to relink the files or select the Remove option which will remove the local reference to the library and return to Cloud streaming.

NOTE: If you choose to remove the broken library reference instead of resolving the files it will cause one of your download
requests to be lost.

ADD CloudPack to BaseHead
To Add a cloudpack to your BaseHead library click the ADD button. You must have BaseHead open and be connected to BaseHead (bottom right of CPM shows connection). The library will now appear in BaseHead peak tree under the “CloudPacks” section When a CloudPack has been added to BaseHead the Add button will show as dimmed.

CloudPacks in BaseHead

When you add CloudPacks to your database from CPM they will be added to the dedicated CloudPack peak tree menu in BaseHead and can be browsed just like any other library. Also note there is a CPM button to easily launch the CPM application if it is not running.

Hover the mouse over your CloudPacks to see extra info such as developer, purchase date, if the pack is able to be streamed and if the pack has been localized, the path on your computer where it is stored

CloudPack Icons

The Cloudpack items have a number of different icons / buttons that allow you to localize/release CloudPacks from BaseHead directly, hide libraries temporarily from searches and see any libraries that are missing files.

Left Icons:

A “cloud” icon indicates this is a CloudPack library in your collection.

Clicking the cloud icon will disable the library which will hide it from searches and set the icon to a Red X. Click to toggle this.

The green warning symbol indicates this library has been localized but the local files are missing and need to be relinked. Use the CPM software to relink the files.

Right Icons:

This will remove the library from your database and return it to the manager. It does not delete any localized files, just removes from the BaseHead database

 Indicates this CloudPack can be localized to your HDD. Click this to start the download. CloudPacks are downloaded to the path set in the CPM software options and require CPM to be running.

 When downloading a CloudPack a download progress icon is displayed. You can click this to cancel the download if needed. You can download a single CloudPack at a time.

 The download button will show as dimmed if localizing a CloudPack is not possible such as for Free CloudPacks

The green tick will display when a CloudPack has been successfully downloaded to your computer and indicates this CloudPack is streaming from your computer, not the cloud. Clicking this icon will release this CloudPack back to your CPM account, remove the files from your local drive and revert the library back to cloud streaming automatically.

Waveform Display / Caching
The wave editor will function in the same way for both cloud streaming files and localized files allowing you to see the sounds waveform, zoom, select regions and transfer/spot all or regions of the sound file to your DAW.

Cloud streaming files will show with a blue waveform and display a small cloud icon in the bottom right of the screen:

Cloud streaming files will be automatically cached for the session as you select them in the list which is then used when you want to transfer/spot the file to your DAW. This saves on constantly re downloading files and allows BaseHead to work with the local files once they have been cached.

The file cache is cleared whenever BaseHead is restarted so will not fill up your drive. If you prefer to not cache files at all as you work you can disable the cache function in BaseHead Options with the Misc Option Disable CloudPack Caching.

Localized CloudPacks will show the waveform in the typical green color:

Localized files have the option to be opened in an external wave editor for further editing and can also have markers and additional metadata saved to them if required.

Note that if you release these back to the cloud you will lose any extra metadata you have added so this is great for working on temp projects and adding some specific temporary details to the files

CPM Issues?
If you are having any CPM related issues check the CPM FAQ
You can also submit a support ticket? for further assistance