Sites to upload my own samples to?

[NF2K]

Hi guys,

What recommendations do yous have for sites/services that I can upload my own sound designs/samples to, so that I can freely share them with people?
I've already uploaded some to freesound.org, but it seems each upload has to go through a vetting process, and once they're up there the management interface isn't all that great.
Ideally it would be some service where I can just upload the entire directories as they are on my hard drive (since they're already sorted into categories), and people can preview them in browser without having to explicitly download the file. Bonus points if whole folders/packs can be downloaded by users as opposed to having to downloading files individually.

Google search has brought up looperman.com and sampleswap.org so I'll give those a go now and see if they fit the bill.

And in case anyone's interested in the few I've put up so far here's the link to my freesound profile. Those are all of a similar theme (noisy, metallic, formanted scatters of transients), but I've a whole slew of more interesting stuff I need to stick somewhere.

Cheers
 
Edit 9-Sept-17: Did some comparison testing on various sites, here are my notes in case they're useful for anyone else:

 

 

Audio file upload services:

 

Service Name: Freesound

Multi-upload: Yes

Formats Accepted:

• wav • aif • flac • mp3 • ogg

Maximum Upload: 1GB, no max quota as far as I know

Uploader licensing options: 

• CC0 (public domain)

• CC-BY (Attribution)

• CC-BY-NC (Attribution, Non-Commercial use only)

Upload restrictions: 

• Account required (free)

• Each file manually vetted by staff before being made available to users.

Sample management options: 

• Name • Description • Tagging • Grouping as packs

Play in site: Yes

Download requirements: Members only (free)

Notes: Whole grouped packs can be downloaded at a time.

---

Service Name: Looperman

Multi-upload: No

Formats Accepted: Wav 16bit 44.1kHz

Maximum Upload: 6MB per file, no max quota as far as I know

Uploader licensing options: Licenses set by service as follows:

• Loops: Free for C&NC use, not as-is.

• Acapellas: Implied free for Non-Commercial use, not as-is. Specific terms may be defined by owner.

Upload restrictions:

Account required (free). Uploader must first request ability to upload files via message to admin. Files then uploaded can be immediately auditioned/downloaded by users, but are later vetted by site admin and may be removed based on their quality.

- Note: service not intended for one-shots/single hits. Uploads should be seamless single-instrument loops, or acapellas.

- Note: Finished tracks can also be uploaded for critique.

Sample management options: Name, description, tag by key (can only specify base note), tempo

Play in site: Yes

Download requirements: Members only (free)

Notes: <none>

---

Service Name: SampleSwap

Multi-upload: Yes

Formats Accepted:

• Samples:

• wav • aif • mp3 • zip • rar

Music:

• 44.1kHz 16-bit wav • 16-bit aif

Maximum Upload: Not specified/unknown

Uploader licensing options:

• Samples: Released to public domain (anonymously)

• Music: User must specify a type of creative commons license <untested>

Upload restrictions:

• Samples: no account required, anonymously donated

• Music: account required (free) <untested>

Sample management options:

• Samples: None, they are vetted and organised by the site owner (about once a year)

Play in site: Yes

Download requirements:

• Samples: members only (free)

• Music: anonymous/public download

Notes: 

User can select up to 20MB of samples per download. Selection is compressed and an email is sent containing a link to a .zip file. Zip contents reflect directory structure on the site.

Can repeat this as desired i.e. number of zip downloads not restricted or capped.

---

I haven't yet tried Splice so can't comment on that. It's my understanding they serve 'professional' sample packs, but that you can upload (Ableton) Live sets, FLStudio projects, Garageband 10+, and Logic Pro X formats (which you could essentially load with samples and advertise as sample packs). These projects can be branched/copied by other users to collaborate and/or remix.

---

I haven't yet tried Bandcamp so similarly can't comment. I did find that multi-upload requires "Bandcamp Pro" otherwise I figure you have to upload a track at a time. This would be incredibly fidgety for lots of individual samples. If I was going to use this I would probably group and combine sets of similarly themed samples into longer audio files before uploading.

---

Soundsnap (as suggested by paranerd) seems to be for professional contribution only (email: hello [at] soundsnap.com). Sounds can be played in site, however to download you require a paid account which starts at $15/annum (up to $200/annum)

---

Non-specific file upload Services:

 

Service Name: Google Drive

Multi-upload:

• Yes, drag-and-drop, or

• automatic backup of arbitrary folders on PC

Formats Accepted: Any files

Maximum Upload: 5TB maximum per file (except office documents) however basic account is limited to 15GB quota

Uploader licensing options: Unspecified/none

Upload restrictions: None except the max upload size restrictions, as far as I know

Sample management options: Files can be reorganised (folders restructured) on-site

Play in site: Yes, for MP3, MPEG, WAV, and .ogg [link]

Download requirements:

• Publicly downloadable, or

• can be restricted to link only, or

• can be restricted to specific people only

Notes:

• Entire/individual folders can be downloaded as zips.

• If using the Google Backup and Sync app to upload, specific arbitrary folders can be set to sync.

---

Service Name: Dropbox

Multi-upload:

• Yes, drag-and-drop, or

• Sync with Dropbox folder on PC

Formats Accepted: Any files

Maximum Upload: 20GB per file, however the basic account has only a 2GB quota. 1TB, 2TB, and unlimited accounts available for £6.58/month, £10/user/month, and £15/user/month respectively

Uploader licensing options: Unspecified/none

Upload restrictions: If using the Dropbox App to sync, files to upload must be specifically placed in/copied to the Dropbox folder on your PC first.

Sample management options: <haven't tested>

Play in site: No

Download requirements: Downloaders require you to share a link to each file or folder

Notes: Specific selections of files (via checkboxes next to individual files) can be selected to be downloaded as a zip

---

Bunch of services that I haven't tried listed here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_hosting_services

 

Other notes on Google Drive and Dropbox:

 

These sites have a leaning to collaboration.

 

In Google Drive you can allow other users with Google accounts, or even anonymous users, to "organise, add [to], and edit" files you upload. I've tried to test public editing and adding files, but got unspecific failure errors when trying to rename a txt file, and was unable to even attempt to change the contents of a "Google Doc". This, and all sharing permissions, are done on a per-folder (or per-file) basis. although that feature is primarily intended for documents (also something I haven't tested myself). Files shared with, or available to, you can be branched/copied to your own Google Drive easily.

In Google Drive the sharing/privacy options for "who has access" are:

• Public on the web (not sure how these are found if not with the link though)

• Anyone with the link

• Specific people

By default these will be view only, but can be set to allow the aforementioned organising, adding, and editing.

 

Dropbox is less granular.

Files, or whole folders, can be shared via a link the uploader can generate at any time, or via sending an email to specified addresses (same as Google Drive). These links will only be view-only, and Dropbox will nag/pop-up users who don't have an account or aren't logged in to join when they go to download a shared file. The downloading user can just click continue however and doesn't have to be logged in or have an account.

People can upload to a specific "File requests" directory on your dropbox (not enabled by default). This is done via shareable link or via sending email to specified email addresses (like with downloads).

I've gone with Google Drive for uploading my one-shots and ambiences to as it seems to have the most granular control in terms of sharing permissions and file management. As standard it's limited to 15GB total storage but I'll be surprised if I ever fill that up with my own material.

Sticking to looperman for uploading musical loops to as they would fill up my Google Drive quota faster, and they are much more geared to the audience of looperman anyway.

Edited September 9, 2017 by NF2K

[Guest]

bandcamp might be an option if you also are thinking about asking for money in the future?

[Guest]

soundsnap.com might be another option. I haven't submitted to them so I don't know the ins and outs of that, but I use it fairly regularly when I'm looking for sounds I don't have in my library.

[NF2K]

Possibly for coinage in the future depending on how much interest I get. I'm familiar with bandcamp for music of course, does it have some way of dealing with groups of shorter sounds? I should perhaps have mentioned my sounds are all in nested folder structures like Effects\Game FX\Short\ for example. I was hoping to find somewhere where I can upload that will keep the directory structure for people to browse through. As far as I know bandcamp would mean me lumping them into their own albums? And I think you can only download the whole 'album' at a time?

[Guest]

You can upload a zip file with bandcamp releases, I know of samplesellers on bandcamp having a few demo tracks showcasing the sounds used in songs, folders with different samples lumped into a zip. If you have more sounds than the zip size limit allows to upload, you can also have additional dl links, dropbox etc in a text file.