If you’ve been producing for a while, your sample library is probably a mess. Projects scatter the same sounds across folders, and it’s hard to remember which kicks, snares, or loops you’ve actually used and which ones are just wasting disk space.
Sound Index solves that problem. It’s a lightweight macOS tool that scans your Ableton Live set files (.als) and builds a searchable database of every sample reference. Each audio file in Finder gets a comment showing how many projects it appears in and which ones. The original samples aren’t modified – just annotated with metadata you can use.
The result is a practical way to:
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Audit your sample usage
Instantly see which sounds are indispensable and which are never touched. -
Clean your library
Identify duplicates and unused files without breaking projects. -
Search efficiently
Run queries on a real database instead of digging through folders by hand.
Sound Index is a transparent solution built around open formats (Finder comments + SQLite) so you’re not locked in. If you’re tired of losing track of where your sounds live or which projects depend on them, this is a simple but powerful fix.
Read more about Sound Index on Github
