Discogs Lookup Questions

[Gretschguy]

A newbie question regarding the Discogs lookup feature. When this feature returns a list of matching items in Discogs, how do I more quickly find the one that matches my recording?  For example, I'm getting CD versions, deluxe versions, various pressings, etc...  I'm often looking for the US LP pressing for example.

Some ideas/questions here:

Is there a way to see the description of the listing (CD, LP, etc) in the Vinyl Studio panel?
If not, is it possible to reverse search from the panel to see the listing within Discogs to identify the best match?

Relatedly, is there a way to copy the Discogs Release ID so it can be pasted back into Discogs to see info on that specific release? I had a hard time grabbing the release ID to copy it.

Finally, if I'm able to directly see the item on Discogs can I copy and past that Discogs Release ID into Vinyl Studio for it to lookup that exact listing?

Much Thanks

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

> Is there a way to see the description of the listing (CD, LP, etc) in the Vinyl Studio panel?

Not currently, but it might be possible to add it.  I'll take a look to see if we can get that information from Discogs.

> Is it possible to reverse search from the panel to see the listing within Discogs to identify the best match?

Sorry, no, but if you know what the track listing should be to match your particular disc then I'm not sure that is all that useful, especially if we can implement #1.

>  Is there a way to copy the Discogs Release ID so it can be pasted back into Discogs to see info on that specific release?

Again, not currently, but I don't see why we shouldn't add that capability.

>  If I'm able to directly see the item on Discogs can I copy and paste that Discogs Release ID into Vinyl Studio for it to lookup that exact listing?

Yes there is.  You can obviously copy from your browser, and VinylStudio can then search for it in one of two ways:

• when initially creating the album (you'll see an option for it there)
• when looking up a track listing subsequently (assuming you have the popup help enabled, just mouse over the artist field and VinylStudio should tell you how)

[Gretschguy]

Thanks Paul

I am now copying and pasting the Discogs ID into Vinyl Studio and that works great.

That said, it would be still be helpful if you could add those extra features above to save some steps by starting the lookup from VS instead of Discogs (which is how I'm doing it now).

Especially displaying the Discogs info if possible and/or some way to link back to the exact release easily to match it up.

Sometimes the CD version and LP version of new releases will have different song lengths even if they have the same song sequence, presumably to fit the layout of the LP if the music was originally released on CD (90s for example) or is modern.

I guess practically speaking the breaks have to be adjusted anyway so maybe that's not such a big deal to have the more correct song lengths loaded.

But to be able to more easily find the version would still help especially for multi disc LPs with tons of songs and different sequences between CD and LP versions.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

OK, we'll look into what can be done.

It might be worth noting that VinylStudio 13 has an 'Adjust Track Breaks' feature which (attempts to!) adjust the track breaks to fit the gaps in the music.  It doesn't always get it right, but if they're already close then it usually does.

[Gretschguy]

Thanks Paul, yes, I've been using that feature.

BTW I love the feature to move the breaks together (alt key) —- outstanding!

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Hi,

I'm now looking at this in a bit more detail, and I find I have a question.  This leaves my slightly confused as to what it is you're looking for:

> Especially displaying the Discogs info if possible and/or some way to link back to the exact release easily to match it up.

What I'm thinking of doing is adding an 'Open Release at Discogs' option to VinylStudio.  You would access this by right-clicking on an entry in the list, and it would open the relevant Discogs entry in your browser.

Is that the kind of thing you had in mind?  Thx.

[Gretschguy]

Paul, that would be helpful. 

I settled into a workflow in which I currently start with Discogs before I record and then from within Discogs I find the album first, which is generally not too difficult.  Then I copy the link into VinylStudio. In general this has solved my problem.

That said, the feature that you are suggesting would allow me to start in VinylStudio instead of Discogs (which I would prefer), I could then search in VS and open the one that looks like the closest match in Discogs to confirm additional details or change to a different release (copying the ID).

So, yes, I would welcome that feature.

Thanks

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

OK, we'll see what we can do

[Indy33]

Paul,

Would it be possible to have VS access my Discogs Collection, so I could pick my exact album?

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

VinylStudio can import a Discogs collection and create albums directly from that.  Is that the kind of thing you wanted to do?  If so, I will provide details on how to do it.

[Indy33]

Yes, I think that is exactly what I want to do. Use my collection to identify the tracks on the current album I'm working on.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

OK, well, Discogs has a mechanism to export your collection as a ZIP file and VinylStudio can import such a file.

I forget exactly how you tell Discogs to do that but could research it if you need me to.  In VinylStudio, the relevant option is in the File menu.  If memory serves, this is a 'Pro' feature:

https://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/VinylStudio_pro.aspx

[Indy33]

To download your Discogs collection go to your account. The Export button is shown below. I also found in VS where to import the CSV file that is downloaded from Discogs.


You cannot view this attachment.

What happens after that, if I have not recorded an album and I select a Discogs album to import???

Or maybe I only import a Discogs album when the VS album is loaded???

Shown below is the File/Import Discogs Collection menu in VS.
You cannot view this attachment.
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[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Just select the ones you want to import and then click 'Import'.  Those albums will then be added to your collection.