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Switch on Smart sample search under Settings → Library → Smart Search. Gridshift downloads the models once and listens to every sample in the background.

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Browse by sound

Select a sample track and press ⌥S with nothing typed. The library is sorted by how close each sample sounds to the track’s current one, the closest match on top. Arrow down to hear them in place.

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Search by description

In the ⌥S picker, type what you are after, such as dusty vinyl snare. Samples whose name, tags or folders match come first; samples that only sound like the words follow after them.

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Good to know

  • Smart Search is off until you turn it on. The first-launch setup offers it ticked. The models download once, about 170 MB, and new imports join automatically.
  • No audio leaves your Mac. Listening runs at full pace in the background, half while you work. It pauses during playback, on a hot Mac and in Low Power Mode.
  • Progress shows at the bottom of the library window and in Settings, as samples listened to out of the total.
  • Tags from the sound name what a name does not. A sample like texture_04.wav gets a tag when the ten samples that sound most like it all but agree on one. They filter and search like any tag: Organize Samples.
  • It also powers Find Similar and Duplicates and the collection suggestions in Organize Samples.
  • An interrupted download resumes on the next launch. A failed one, for example offline, turns the switch back off, and the switch and the library’s status line say why. Switch it on again to retry.
  • An earlier Smart Search re-listens after an update. The improved model downloads on the next launch. Until it finishes, results cover only the samples already done.
  • Manage Tags… lists sound tags with Sound as their origin. A removed sound tag stays off, the same as a tag read from a file name. Sound tags reach the iPhone too.
  • Sound tags do not change stretching. Fitting a picked sample to the project tempo still follows names, folders and your own tags.
  • Turning Smart Search off returns the picker to name-based search, hides Duplicates and Find Similar, and removes the sound tags. Turned on again, it picks up where it left off, without a new download or a second listen.
  • Command Palette → Smart Sample Search On/Off flips the same switch.
Last modified on October 22, 2026