Hello friends. Hope I’m posting in the right category.
So, here’s my question for you guys: Is there an efficient way to find the right type of MIDI instrument you are looking for? …for example, let’s say I want a bell. Nothing fancy with extravagant FX or dissonant overtones, just…a bell. I go to create an instrument track, and click “browse”. I then type “bell” in the search bar and get fifty-something results. I don’t know which ones are good possibilities, (and the fact that most of them are named something like ''elephant earwax" doesn’t help much) so I resort to just sampling different ones until I find (or never find) the one I an looking for. …or let’s say I’m looking in Groove Agent for a long sweeping cymbal to go on a verse to chorus transition. I can’t even type ‘‘cymbal’’ in the search bar. Just have to load random kits and hope for the best.
Am I missing something!??? I would appreciate any of y’alls input.
I’m pretty sure that if you want a “bell” sound you are going to have to search your sound library for the word “bell” then listen to what is available to meet your needs. I suppose after you listened to the “elephant earwax” bell sound that you could save it with a different name or preset to make it easier for you to find it again. Same with drums… you are going to have to sample the sounds to find what you want. Some specialized VSTs (like EZDrummer) have the sounds categorized (named?) better to assist you during the choosing process. But you still have to listen to the samples.
So, renaming or saving sounds as a preset might be the best way to make it a bit easier. 
Regards 
Hi Chris,
What I’d suggest is spending time with Media Bay. It will take a little time to sort it out, but, once you do, it really is a good way to locate sounds. There’s no magic I know of. This is a brute force kind of thing, imho. I’ve dedicated session time to just auditioning patches and samples.
Use the rating system for patches – give those you like four or five stars. I’ve found that helpful. All I can say is that over time I’ve come to know my patch and sample libraries pretty well. I still sometimes find patches and samples I didn’t even know I had – and I enjoy those “finds.”
For bell-like sounds in particular, try the chromatic percussion patches. I hope this helps a bit.
I mainly use battery 4 for my bread and butter sounds. I created lots of individual sounds. For example I searched “side stick” and then quickly prieview them and the ones I like I just drag in to a cell in battery. In a few minutes I have 64+ side sticks to choose from which feels a lot more manageable. Then I save the kit as Side Sticks and just pull up that kit next time. I have maybe 10-15 kits with various components and I find it works pretty fast for me.
Thanks for those tips, guys! A few of those I have tried already. Most of them I have never heard of before. Great ideas.