The Sample Crate
The Sample Crate is a link between homecrate and a companion machine — a Mac or PC running the homecrate companion app — that lets you pull individual audio files straight into the project you’re working on.
You keep a crate folder on your computer: loops, one-shots, field recordings, a bounce from another DAW, whatever you’ve collected. When you want one of them in your song, it lands on a track in seconds instead of going through a cloud service, an email to yourself, or a cable.
It moves one file at a time, into one project. Nothing is ever copied wholesale into an app-wide library, and your crate stays where it lives — on your computer.
[SCREENSHOT: Sample Crate section in Settings showing a connected companion]
How the Privacy Design Works
This feature talks to a machine on your network, so it’s built to be obviously safe rather than merely fine. Four rules, all enforced in the app:
1. Strictly opt-in. homecrate makes no network calls whatsoever to any companion until you explicitly tap Connect in Settings. Not a discovery broadcast, not a status ping, nothing. Before you connect, the feature is inert.
2. The authorization is bound to one endpoint. When you connect, homecrate remembers that specific companion address. On relaunch it quietly re-checks the same one so you don’t have to reconnect every session. But if the address changes — you re-paired, you moved to a different network, you’re on a different machine — the saved authorization no longer applies, and homecrate goes quiet until you reconnect in Settings. An approval for one machine on one network is never silently reused for another.
3. The app never asks for samples. Once connected, homecrate holds a channel open and waits. It doesn’t poll, it doesn’t scan your crate, it doesn’t request files. Sending is initiated on the companion, by you.
4. Every incoming sample needs your approval. Nothing lands on a track automatically. Each sample arrives as a preview — its name, its waveform, and the track it wants to go on — and waits for you to say yes.
You can revoke the whole thing at any time with Disconnect, which clears the saved authorization and stops all contact.
Setting Up the Connection
First, pair your device with the companion (the companion’s QR pairing takes care of this — on the same Mac it’s usually already zero-configuration). Then, in homecrate:
- Open the recorder and tap ⋯ (more menu) → Settings.
- Go to the General tab and scroll to Sample Crate (Companion).
- Tap Connect.
[SCREENSHOT: Settings → General → Sample Crate section with Connect and Disconnect]
homecrate handshakes with the companion, confirms it really is a homecrate companion, and saves the authorization.
Reading the status
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| 🟢 Connected | The companion is reachable and the channel is open |
| 🟡 Saved — not reachable now | You’ve authorized this companion, but it isn’t answering — it’s not running, or you’re on a different network. Tap Reconnect when it’s back |
| ⚪️ Not connected | No authorization saved. homecrate is making no network calls |
The address of the authorized companion is shown next to the status so you can always see exactly what you’ve approved.
If the connect attempt fails you’ll get: “Could not reach the companion. Make sure it is paired (QR) and running, then try again.” — usually the companion just isn’t running yet.
Receiving a Sample
With the connection live, send a file from the companion. In homecrate, an approval card appears:
[SCREENSHOT: FROM COMPANION approval card with waveform, filename, and target track]
The card shows you:
- FROM COMPANION — where it came from
- The file name
- Its waveform, drawn from the actual audio, so you can see whether it’s the loop you meant before you commit
- The target track it will land on, at the current playhead position
Then you choose:
| Button | What happens |
|---|---|
| Insert | The file is copied into this project and placed as a clip on the suggested track at the playhead |
| Cancel + Copy | The insert is refused, but the sample goes to homecrate’s shared clipboard — paste it onto a drum pad, or into a different spot on the timeline, whenever you like |
| Cancel | Nothing happens. The sample is discarded |
If several samples are sent, they queue up and you approve them one at a time.
Where the Audio Ends Up
Everything about the file’s journey is deliberately narrow:
- The file is fetched to a temporary scratch area — not your library, not your project — while you decide.
- Insert copies it into the current project’s own audio folder, exactly like any other imported clip, and the temporary copy is deleted.
- Cancel + Copy puts it on the shared clipboard so it can be pasted onto a drum pad or elsewhere on the timeline. See Homecrate Drum.
- Cancel deletes the temporary copy and that’s the end of it.
Nothing is ever added to an app-wide sample library, and the original file stays on your computer. A sample that’s in your project is in that project.
Tips
- Set the playhead first. Insert drops the clip at the current playhead on the suggested track — park it where you want the sample before you approve.
- Use the waveform. Two files with similar names sound nothing alike. The waveform tells you which one you actually grabbed.
- “Cancel + Copy” is the drum-pad route. If a one-shot belongs on a pad rather than the timeline, copy it and paste it onto the pad instead of inserting and deleting.
- Disconnect when you’re done. If you only use the crate occasionally, tapping Disconnect returns the app to making no network calls at all. Reconnecting takes one tap.
- A new network means reconnecting. That’s not a bug — it’s the authorization refusing to follow you onto a machine or network you didn’t approve.
- Keep your crate tidy on the computer side. Everything you send is chosen there, so a well-organised crate folder makes this feature feel instant.