MP3Tag does exactly what the name implies, it tags MP3 files. I am referring mainly to lossless formats such as WAV or AIFF. Or better the Broadcast Wave format, as the standard WAV format does not permit tagging. MP3Tag cannot auto-populate root-key or tempo, neither through auto-sensing nor through referencing the filename. You would have to manually type those fields, although you can do it (manually) in bulk, which I can also do in Media Bay. What I’m referring to, is a true automatic tagging process for Broadcast Wave and Aiff files in a way that will be compatible to Media Bay’s database.
The only software that I’m aware of, which has a half way decent algorithm for auto-sensing tempo and root key from the actual content of a file (and not just by referencing text in file name) is a software called “Mixed in Key”. But it has one catch, it can only write tags to MP3 files, not Broadcast WAV, which makes it useless for professional or studio use. Hence, the software is mainly used by DJs who mainly use MP3s.
There is a work-around though, but it is not ideal at all, as it takes time and necessitates multiple steps: “Mixed in Key” can also write root key and tempo information directly into the file name. Which I have done, but then you then need to 1.) rescan and 2.) still manually tag the files in Media Bay, looking at the samples’ file name. Changing files names can have legal implications for some licensed libraries, which I do not want to go into know.
Anyway, the actually tagging would still need to be done manually. Then I have exactly the issue that I described above, as you CANNOT use underscore in search strings in media bay. Searching for something like A or B (and so on) will in fact look for any letter A or B. This makes it useless for narrowing down your search results and subsequently for (manually) bulk tagging multiple files. Media Bay ignores underscore in search strings. But that’s how “Mixed in Key” alters the filename. So when you are attempting to transfer a key from file name to tags in media bay, you can only do it if you re-arrange the actual file name again. That is exactly the issue here.
So to answer your question, there is no 3rd party option that solves this problem right now.
Only option is to use “Mixed in Key”, change the filename and then employ complicated RegEx phrases in a software called “Bulk Rename Utility” to alter the filename AGAIN, eg from A to [A] so Media Bay will allow a search. For some reason Media Bay include square brackets in the search but does not include underscore. The whole process of filename change is a little more complicated in real live and you need to employ Regular Expressions Syntax to get the job done (since filenames will have multiple underscores, as well as multiple infos that need to be transferred, such as tempo, key, categories aso. The list of my RegEx expressions that I have developed over the years for bulk renaming audio libraries hast 35 pages.
“Mixed in Key” also lacks as it can only write tempo AND root key into the file name. Only tempo does not work. So when you are analyzing rhythmic content, such as percussion and drums, “Mixed in Key” will also try to auto-sense the root key, which of course is nonsense. It then either writes nothing into the filename (as it cannot recognize the root key, it will also drop the tempo) or it writes the wrong root keys. You are then left with files names that are total garbage.
Changing file names and tags of 500.000 and more samples is very hard and time consuming work and currently employs multiple steps. It would be a lot easier and a huge time saver, if we had auto-sensing in Media Bay for professional formats such as Broadcast Wave and AIFF. Any organization that has to process large libraries of audio files (e.g. library of congress, national libraries, the broad-castings industry, sound archives and many more) will have this problem. Media Bay is 90% perfect for the job, but it lacks those essential remaining 10% to get it done quickly.
BTW, I have used MP3Tag before, but only MP3 files. But again, it’s not suitable for the kind of work I am doing. Thank you for your comment…