Folders vs a catalogue
A folder structure answers one question: where is it? A catalogue
answers the questions you actually ask — what did I make in 2023
that was in D minor? Which of these is the finished one? Do I have anything
around 100 BPM with a vocal? A catalogue is a list of your projects
with facts attached: tempo, key, length, mood, a description, a preview.
Libraries have had this for a century; producers mostly have
Untitled 37.
The need shows up at a size, not a skill level. Under fifty projects you remember them all. Past a few hundred, spread over three DAWs, two computers and an MPC, nobody does.
Building a music project catalogue by hand
- Start a spreadsheet. One row per project: name, DAW, folder path, year, BPM, key, status (idea / working / done), a one-line description, a link to a bounce.
- Bounce a preview for every project. Without a playable file per row, the spreadsheet is a list of names again.
- Fill in BPM and key as you go. Open each project once, write the numbers down. This is the part that takes weeks.
- Keep it current. Add a row every time you save a new project. This is the part nobody keeps up.
Producers who do this swear by it. Most start, get sixty rows in, and stop. The catalogue is only useful if it is complete, and completeness is the expensive part.
How MusicCat builds the catalogue for you
MusicCat is a music project catalogue that fills itself. The desktop client
(Windows, macOS, Linux) watches the folders you point it at and reads each
project file in its native format: .als
(Ableton Live),
.flp (FL Studio),
.logicx (Logic Pro),
.band (GarageBand),
.cpr (Cubase),
.rpp (Reaper),
.bwproject (Bitwig),
.dawproject, and .xpj
(Akai MPC, preserved automatically
when the card is plugged in). From each it extracts tempo, key, time
signature and track names.
Any mixdown is analysed — energy, brightness, danceability, dynamic range — and vocals are transcribed into searchable lyrics. An AI writes the one-line description you would have typed into the spreadsheet, from the project and the audio rather than the file name. Voice memos and phone recordings join as Song Seeds and Audio Notes with the same treatment.
The result is the catalogue: a card per project with BPM, key, duration, mood and genre tags, a preview player and a jump back into the DAW. Filter by DAW, key, BPM range, mood, status or lyric; sort by last worked on. It stays complete because the client keeps scanning — every new save becomes a row without you doing anything. Your files are never moved or renamed.
MusicCat is not a generative-AI music tool. It never makes music for you; it describes, organises and remembers the music you already made — and lets a collaborator you invite hear it and leave feedback at the exact second that matters.