Old 01-24-2020, 07:49 AM   #1
Musicianaire
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Default Ongoing file path issues

Okay, I posted about this earlier in the week, and thought it was resolved, but I'm still not having any luck with it so I'm starting a new thread to avoid confusion in the old one. The following is a detailed description of what I did, and the results....

It begins with a 1GB .wav file that was created from a cassette transfer of old recordings. The file resides in C:\Original Songs\Cassette 1.wav

So in Reaper I opened a new project, dragged that file into Reaper, located the one song I wanted to work on, and trimmed everything else away, leaving the one song as a standalone song (Song1.wav)
Then I saved it as a project in a folder on my microSD card (F:\ drive), and worked on the song until it was the way I liked it. Then I saved it, keeping the entire project in F:\Song1. That folder contains the following:

Folders
Audio/Song1.wav
Audio/Peaks/Song1.wav.reapeaks

Files
Song1.rpp
Song1-[datestamp].rpp-bak (there are a bunch of these)

Sometime later I did some folder renaming and moving around on C:\ drive.

Much later after that I went to open the Song1 project on F:\ drive, and got an error that a file couldn't be found. It was looking for C:\Original Songs\Cassette 1.wav, but as far as I can tell there should be no connection to that file anymore. Everything I need for the project is in F:\Song1.

So why is Reaper looking for C:\Original Songs\Cassette 1.wav ??
Somehow I've lost my mind, lol.
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Old 01-24-2020, 10:33 AM   #2
Stella645
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It will look for any audio that has been used in the project....doesn't matter that it's not in the timeline.

You can completely remove any link to files in Edit/Project Bay (Ctrl B)

Highlight the file which will have an unavailable status and click remove. then resave the project.
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Old 01-24-2020, 10:48 AM   #3
serr
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Here's how to 'go with the wind' on this:

First, keep your entire project (all project files and audio files) in a single folder specifically for that project. Do a 'save as' as the first thing you do and make a new folder for a new project. You want each individual project in its own folder.

The default in Reaper is to record audio into that project folder.
If folders are renamed or moved during production, Reaper will look in the current project folder first for any audio it can't find without prompting.

Don't fuss over unused audio bits as you go. If you make a lot of extraneous audio files along the way that are to be deleted... At the end of the project, do a 'save as' to a new folder and tick the box to make a copy of all the audio files used. Only the files in use will be copied. The new folder will contain only the current audio files in the project. Verify and then delete the old folder.


The Protools style of separate common directories for project (session) files vs audio files will be just a PITA here. If you move or rename things...
The search/browse dialog window you get when Reaper asks for something you've moved works as I described here: https://forum.cockos.com/showpost.ph...56&postcount=6

Oh, and as for best practices for file system use:
The free space on your main SSD with your OS and apps is your high performance workspace. Put current projects there. Move them to a data drive when you are finished. Use the SD cards for convenient file transfers from devices like cameras that use them but don't trust them and don't work off them! They're typically slow and definitely fragile. It could lead to a bottleneck that affects performance for no reason.

Last edited by serr; 01-24-2020 at 10:55 AM.
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Old 01-25-2020, 07:28 AM   #4
Musicianaire
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stella645 View Post
It will look for any audio that has been used in the project....doesn't matter that it's not in the timeline.

You can completely remove any link to files in Edit/Project Bay (Ctrl B)

Highlight the file which will have an unavailable status and click remove. then resave the project.
Cool, I wasn't aware of that feature. Very handy! Might be not fully understanding how it can work for me in this situation, though.

After deleting the link to the wrong file and re-saving the project, there are no files (items) there when I re-open it. The tracks are there, but nothing to work with. It should look like this:

Code:
Track 1 (FX/plugins) | item
---Track 2           | item
---Track 3           | item
But I'm getting this:

Code:
Track 1 (FX/plugins) | 
---Track 2           | 
---Track 3           |
I found the 'Replace' button in Project Bay, so I replaced the wrong file with the correct one, but then I lose some of the work I've done.
For example: the song is no longer trimmed to the exact start of the song (there's a few seconds of hissy tape noise that I had trimmed previously). Also, the volume of the song is way down again, where I had boosted it previously.

It seems like Reaper insists on using or referencing that original file for some reason. Or could this be something to do with the reapeaks file? (just occurred to me...)

Quote:
Originally Posted by serr View Post
Here's how to 'go with the wind' on this: <snip>
Awesome, serr. Thanks for that info. I knew I shouldn't be using the SD card like I am, but haven't gotten around to changing it, but will do so for sure.
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Old 01-25-2020, 09:12 AM   #5
Coachz
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stella645 View Post
It will look for any audio that has been used in the project....doesn't matter that it's not in the timeline.

You can completely remove any link to files in Edit/Project Bay (Ctrl B)

Highlight the file which will have an unavailable status and click remove. then resave the project.
Would clean project do that too?
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Old 01-25-2020, 09:15 AM   #6
Stella645
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If you haven't actually rendered a new file in place then reference to the original will persist and this is why they are missing when reopening.

You can use glue items to make the trimmed versions of the wavs after editing and then you shouldn't lose anything by deleting or moving the original wav.
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Old 01-25-2020, 09:25 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coachz View Post
Would clean project do that too?
Yes, but with added danger!!

It doesn't care what audio is in that folder...if it's not in the project you have open it will be deleted.
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Old 01-25-2020, 09:48 AM   #8
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I tried that with clean project and it worked with no issues.

Last edited by sneazzy95; 12-17-2020 at 07:10 AM.
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Old 01-26-2020, 03:07 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stella645 View Post
Yes, but with added danger!!

It doesn't care what audio is in that folder...if it's not in the project you have open it will be deleted.
Thats fine here. Thanks
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