Cakewalk file names?

[Lomitus]

Hello Again Everyone!
Can someone please tell me how your supposed to be able to identify which tracks your using in Cakewalk with the actual .wav file that Cakewalk puts on the harddrive? When I look at the file name in the track window in Cakewalk, it says something to the effect of "Tool Copy 1 of 3" or something to that effect...same thing if I open the file into Sound Forge for editing, but when I look in the directory where I'm storing the wav files on the harddrive, the file names seem to make no sense...it's like some sort of "Top Secret Code" or something....aka it will look something like cWpX9c.wav or something. The file name just don't seem to relate to anything. I would like to "weed" thru some of the various misc takes without having to listen to "all" of them to see which is which (aka delete all the "opppsssss" and allot of start and stops...I'm sure ya'll know what I mean there). I know there's the "Clean Drive" took in Cakewalk, but again it's the same thing...you have to sit there and listen too all the freakin files (in this case 76 files that Cakewalk says it's not using). -And- is there anyway to change this? Aka have Cakewalk save the file to a name of my choosing instead of the random sensless names that it chooses (aka kind of like N-track does...when you save the project it saves all file names to the project name respectivly)?


As Always, I'm greatful for any info!
Jim

[dachay2tnr]

Sonar 1 or Sonar 2?

the Cakewalk Audio Finder Tool (CWAF) will tell you which wave files belong to which projects, but it doesn't tell you which wave files go to which tracks/clips.

[Randell Marks]

I don't know of anyway to manually remove unwanted wave files without listening to each one then deleting. The "Clean disk" option has served me well. Just be sure after you have backed up and deleted the .wrk and .bun files, you remove them from the trash bin. It seems the clean disk will keep the wave files on your audio drive if it finds the parent file.

BE SURE and backup files regularly. I got lazy and Proaudio had a brain-fart and blew away 6 months of work.

Waaa....

Good luck,

Randell

[Lomitus]

Sorry about that....using Calkwalk Pro Audio 9 and if it matters, using Sound Forge 5.0 as my editor.

[dachay2tnr]

For PA9, get ahold of the Cakewalk Audio Finder (CWAF). It should be a free download from the Cakewalk site.

When you run this, it will tell you which files go with which projects. That's about as close as you are going to get. I don't know of any way to tell which files go to specific tracks within a project.

Another thing you can do is save all your projects as bundle files (.bun). Once you have done this, you can back and delete all the wave files and all the project files (.wrk). Then when you reopen the bundle files, resave them as project files again. You should find that you will now have one big wave file for each project, which contains all the audio for that project.

Also, as Randell has suggested, the Clean Audio tool works fine for removing unused files. I've never had a problem with it.

[Lomitus]

Ok...I think I may try the bundle thing. I had actually been looking at that, but at am a stage with this particular project where I'm just terrified of changing anything because I don t want to mess anything up. After I get everything mixed down and burned, I may go back and try it. I had also looked at the clean audio tool as well...but it looked like you had to listen to each file there...thats why I hesitated, I will probably check it out when I have more time. As far as the files that go with which project, what I've been doing is just setting up different directories for each song/project and just change the reference to the wave files in the advanced audio properties. At least thats how I do it now...I still have 8 gigs to sort thru from my last recording project.

I guess not being able to identify which file goes with which track will just have to be added to my little list of Cakewalk's "annoying peculiarities" (like it occasionally will randomly add volume levels or pan while recording, but not on every track or that there's no option for volume level indicators on each track, only the master...may have to take a closer look at that "studioware console" option someday).

Anyways, thanks again for the suggestions...was just looking for an easier way to do things I guess.

Gentle Breezes,
Jim Walczak

[natpub]

yah, even with sonar the file names are a random jumble of info. the file manager can show which files go with which song, but thats about it.

to deal with this, i send all my audio files to unique folders on a separate drive from my main drive running sonar (designate project specific files option). then, i order and tag files within each folder as needed. it's a pain in the ass, but sadly, sonar is using a windows based operation to assign these random file names. there actually is a weird sort of logic to it (like, files of one project tend to have similar letters and number arrangements) but it tells you not much. another good way to see what is what, is to check the time and date stamps that windows gives each file. it may help you in figuring when you did what.

finally, as said above, you better back that shit up, or you will be sorry=) i save everything in like 4 different places, burn RW-CD's of the data, etc.

having lost months of work a few times, one learns=)

[mixsit]

Originally posted by dachay2tnr

Another thing you can do is save all your projects as bundle files (.bun). Once you have done this, you can back and delete all the wave files and all the project files (.wrk). Then when you reopen the bundle files, resave them as project files again. You should find that you will now have one big wave file for each project, which contains all the audio for that project.

Done in that order, wouldn't you be including all the unwanted files in the bundle? Seems like you would want to do a 'clean' then back it up.
Or if you'r a little overly cautious like I was when I first moved a bunch of work in progress to sonar; copied everything to the (3rd) backup drive, verify they open from there, do 'clean audio disk' on the originals, then bun them. Buns always go to a seperate drive.
Do you delete your original wave files on projects you'r still working on?
Wayne

[dachay2tnr]

Originally posted by mixsit


Done in that order, wouldn't you be including all the unwanted files in the bundle?

I don't believe so. Not if the files aren't associated with the project (which is the impression I had from the original post). And if they ARE associated with the project, Clean Audio won't get rid of them either.

Do you delete your original wave files on projects you're still working on?

Not sure if that was directed at me, but if so, I usually keep my active projects in the .cwp format, with an occasional backup to CD-RW in .cwb format (just in case). When the project is done, I archive a .cwb file on a CD-R. (So far I've only had one project exceed the capacity of a CD.)

I do run Clean Audio intermittently as well to clean out some of the wave files. Even while projects are still active. I haven't had it cause me a problem yet in 2+ years.

[Lomitus]

Ok...yea it makes sense that clean and such wouldn't delete the files in the project, however that raises another question...

Does this apply to all the project files in recent memory in Cakewalk? Say for example, you have 4 or 5 different songs your working on and all the wave files are kept in the same directory (each song would be considered a "project" yes?)...would clean take out only the files not assciated with all 4 or 5 songs, or would it remove all files assocciated with all the files except the songs/project that you have open at the time? (err...sorry...I'm not quite awake here so please bear with me...).

Lemme see if I can explain this better. If say, you have 4 songs, named "Project A", "Project B", "Project C", and so on and you only have "Project B" open in Cakewalk at the time, would Clean Audio remove the files asscociated with the other 3 songs...do you have to have all 4 songs open when you use clean audio? (or does Cakewalk keep track of recently opened projects as well?)


I hope that made sense. As always, I'm greatful for your collective wisdom(s). I'll be outta town this weekend, but look forward to seeing the responses when I get back on Tuesday...I had been wondering about this as I have about 8 gigs of stuff from my bands last demo's to go thru and get "archived", and I know there's allot of "junk" within that 8 gigs and I don't feel like going thru and listening to -all- of the files, as well as don't feel like waisting that many CD-R's when I back things up. I've almost been considering going back to N-track to do my recording in...at least it names all the wav files to the "project" name...Cakewalk could learn a thing or two. I started out using N-track...it has some very nice features, but it also has allot of "bugs" (had it write come corupt data to a couple of wav files during a mixdown), and the flaws in the program started to out-weigh the benifits. I'm also going to a Cakewalk seminar this next week at a local music store and will ask them if maybe they have some idea's on this as well (not to mention numerrous other questions)...if they come up with anything, I'll let ya'll know.

Time for that second cup of coffee :-)

Thanks Again,
Jim

[dachay2tnr]

You can't run Clean Audio while you have a project open.

To answer your question, it will look for files that relate to ANY project you have on your hard drive (including any in the recycle bin). If it finds that the file is related (associated) with a project, it does nothing to it. It will only list files that have no relationship to any project.

It will also LIST all the files before it deletes them, and you have the opportunity to audition them before confirming the delete.

As I said, I have found it to be pretty safe. But if you want to be extra careful, backup your projects to a bundle file first before running Clean Audio.

[mixsit]

I was assuming that 'clean audio disk' not only removes files from deleted or old projects, but also all the tracks and takes you overwrote, deleted or 'un-did' in your curent projects.
I keep all my 'songs/project's data in deicated folders. It looks like 'Clean audio' removes these unkept takes from active projects, so I assumed you could weed them out befor doing the bun or any backup.