Is there anyway to store symbols in a patch similar to the way that arrays store numbers, or do we have to assign a number label to the symbol and store it in an array?

For example, if I've selected certain drum sample names in my drum machine that I want to be recalled automatically next time I open this particular instance of the drum machine, how can I store the name of this drum?

Yes, you can ascii encode a series of chars as floats and use a few bytes of the array, say the first 8, to hold the name. When you read back the samples in the array start at byte 9 or the data will make a little click. I did this before and it worked...but it wasn't an obvious or pretty solution. I think [makefilename] came in handy. Also you need to concatenate the chars back together and cast it to a symbol. Maybe there's a better way. ?

i have always used [msgfile] from zexy.

you can save your msgfile as .txt, and then read it back on [loadbang]

Thanks Guys, I'll try this...

I have tried using [textfile]/[msgfile] for saving symbols, but the problem is i want to save several (64 total) discrete pairs of symbols into a single file to be read back later.

basically, I have 64 arrays set up, into which I am individually loading samples. each time I load a sample i want to record the fact that I have loaded that particular sample into that particular array. So the intention is to save the information as pairs of [sampledisklocation + arrayname] so that when i later open the file i can automatically load all those samples to the correct array.

I can see how this works when you have arrays of stored numbers, but with symbols I'm not sure how to go about it.

Brett

with msgfile, it should be pretty easy.

you just put the arrayname and sample location on the same line, and then use [goto n(
to read the nth line.

to get them on the same line. the easiest way i know is just to pack them together [pack s s] and then [add $1 $2(