Indexing with ArtistSort

[bganthem]

I'm sorry to return on this, Simon, but I've encountered a problem with the way the Artist index displays artists whose names appear in multiple contexts. I'm not sure if it arises from the tags or from the folders after implementation of < mergeFolderAlbums: true >. All the files concerned are FLAC and the problem is occurring on both the Naim and Kinsky control points.

In essence the problem seems to be that whenever an artist has a folder and artist sort tags in his sole name, and also has folders and artist sort tags that are extended (either with \\second artist or with the name of a band) the Artist index does not follow the logic of tagValue: Artist.value.index.sort={Artist Sort} . The index shows Artist where the artist is alone and Artist Sort where the artist's name has some extension.

Two examples, in both of which AlbumArtist is blank:

(a) with joint artists:

Artist and Folder: Miles Davis; Artist Sort: Davis, Miles; Artist index display: Miles Davis (= Artist)
Artist and Folder: Miles Davis & John Coltrane; Artist Sort: Davis, Miles\\Coltrane, John; Artist index display: Davis, Miles (= Artist Sort)

(b) with extended artist name:

Artist and Folder: Larry Coryell; Artist Sort: Coryell, Larry; Artist Index display: Larry Coryell (= Artist)
Artist and Folder: Larry Coryell Offering Band; Artist Sort: Coryell, Larry; Artist Index display: Coryell, Larry (= Artist Sort)
Artist and Folder: Larry Coryell & Eleventh House; Artist Sort: Coryell, Larry & Eleventh House; Artist Index display: Coryell, Larry & Eleventh House (= Artist Sort).

In all cases the logic of the tagValue should give an index reading Artist Sort, and I don't understand how or why it opts to give these different results, and in particular to ignore the Artist Sort value where the artist is solitary.

I think this has occurred after setting mergeFolderAlbums to 'true'. As you noted in your last post, my folders are based on artist name: Miles Davis albums live in a different folder from those of 'Miles Davis & John Coltrane'. Likewise the Coryell example. Perhaps this is the root of the problem.

Current settings are:

indexTags: Artist, Date, Genre, All Artists, Composer, Rating, AlbumArtist,
itemTags: Artist Sort, Album, Band, Soloists, Orchestra, Conductor
mergeFolderAlbums: true
tagOptions: Album.sortTags={AlbumArtist, Artist Sort, +Date},
tagValue: Artist.value.index.sort={Artist Sort},
tagFormat: Album.displayFormat={$album^$date^ [^]},

Is there a structural solution to the apparent anomaly? Or would I be better advised to move joint artist albums to one of their respective artist folders, and extended name albums to the principal artist's folder? And if I were to do this, would it give rise to any other issues eg. reading an Artist tag from a folder with a different name? Thank you for any advice you can offer.

PS – for information: I have found that forward slash separators show joint artists in Artist Sort in the control point as well as in the mp3tag Artist Sort column. This is not the case for double backslash entries which show only the first named artist in both displays (but show both artists in the mp3tag Tag Panel ArtistSort field). However the problem discussed above was identified when backslashes were used, and modifying them to forwardslashes has not altered outcomes.