HS2001 sees .wrk files as broken .wa~ files

Paul881

Paul881

Look Mom, I can play!
Please help!

I have been recording for some time now using various issues of CW and now use HS2001. My problem is that some earlier saved stuff is recognised by HS2001 as broken .wav files (.wa~) even though when I use "Explore" and select their profiles it tells me they are .WRK files. These are all files that previously played back on HS2001 okay. I've tried forcing their identity by "changing" their properties to be recognised by HS2001 but it still doesn't cure the problem. And here's another curious thing. Not all the archived files are treated this way, some of them load up and play okay.
I use a Pentium II 400meg, 760meg RAM, win98 and an SB Platignum Live! s/c.

Any suggestions?
 
I've renamed those .wa~ files to .wav and had them play fine.
Do that and then import them to HS2001..(getSonar!!!!!)
 
I should have been more accurate with my original post. When I explore for them, they are shown as .WRK files. When I try to load them into HS2002 it tells me that the files cannot be found and by default loads silence instead. Only Windows media player shows the files as .wa~ (broken .wav files). So I need HS2002 to open these files as .WRK - which is what they are. I am desperate for a solution to this problem.
 
Paul, I think you are confused a bit. The wrk files are the Cakewalk project files. When you open them in Home Studio, they have pointers to the audio that was part of them. The pointers point to the directory that was the designated audio files directory for whatever version of Cakewalk they were made under.

If this directory is different when you open them again, and those audio files have not been moved to the current audio files directory, you will get that message. Windows Media Player can't do a thing about Cakewalk project files, you might as well try to play a Word document...

Cakewalk saves its wav data for each project file in the wav directory, with a internally-generated filename. Older versions used the wa~ extension, though in fact they are actually valid wav files. (So you could presumably play these using Windows Media Player.)

Upgrades are supposed to help you out with this stuff, but if you made certain choices while doing so, you'd lose the association between the projects and their related audio data files. It might also be related if you swicth from Cakewalk Pro Audio 8 to Home Studio, for example, a "different" product. (it wouldn't surprise me if the programmers who made the installer never thought anyone with Pro Audio x would upgrade to Home Studio 2001, and so didn't line all the duck up right for that possibility.)

This is why the documentation suggests saving projects in bun format if you want to move them to another computer and keep the associated audio packaged together with the MIDI and project data.

There is a tool at the Cakewalk website that's called the Cakewalk Audio Finder Tool, it was designed to try to help out people in your situation.

http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/SONAR/patches.html

and click or right-click on "Cakewalk Audio Finder Tool"

Downmload it, install it, and see if you can thereby tie your audio data back up with your project data. Of course if the original audio data has been deleted, you're out of luck...
 
Thanks for that AlChuck. I have downloaded it and will try it later.
But for the record, this is what I did. I recorded some audio, saved it to my zip disk as a CW Project File (.wrk). When I try to load it now, it says that it (file name>.wa~) cannot be found and loads silence instead. Why does HS 2002 think it is a wav file? It always used to play it okay. So why now? When I "Explore" on the zip disk it shows it as a .wrk file. So why doesn't HS see it as a wrk file? They haven't been moved or anything, they are in the same zip disk they were recorded to. So whats changed? The only event is that I put in a new hard disk and re-loaded HS2002. But supporting what you say is that all my bun files play okay - there is a message there for the future! Let that be a warning to everyone (or maybe I'm the only idiot who didn't know).

I'll let you know if the Audio finder works. If not, a years work is up the shute. Ahhhhhhhhh........!
 
AlChuck was dead on... maybe this will help.

.wrk file is NOT the only part of your audio recording. There are MORE files.

Saving your project as .wrk only saves the POINTERS to the audio recording, not the audio itself.

So when you load the .wrk file later and it says "that it (file name>.wa~) cannot be found", that's because you only saved the pointer file (.wrk), but didn't also copy the .wav files that are used by the .wrk file.

Had you instead saved as a .bun file (short for "bundle"), it would've bundled all the necessary files into a single archive.

Is this making sense? This, among many other interesting things, is clearly explained in the documentation.
 
Paul881,

Yeah, if you saved the file as a Cakewalk Project File to the zip disk, you saved none of the audio. (Take a look at the file size of a project file that has audio tracks in it, and compare it to a bun file made from the same project -- you'll see an enormous difference. The project file will be almost as small as a pure MIDI file would be).

The message you get on opening is not trying to tell you that the file is not able to open itself, it is telling you that the audio data file it wants to load for the project is not there where the internal pointer says it is. It's like if you worked in your own kitchen and you had this great Henkels knife you loved to use... and then you go to your Mom's house to cook but didn't bring the knife with you. Well, when you reach to use it, it won't be there.

Did you try copying it off the zip disk and putting it back in the directory it was in originally? If you can do this and the relative path names are still the same as before, and the related audio files are still in the audio directory, you might be able to get things back in order without the Audio Finder Tool.
 
Al Chuck, Heinz and A1MixerMan (wassup A1mixerman, thought about you in October with your new win o/s and Sonar. How did it all go? I tried to email you but youv'e chosen not to accept emails from this forum in your pref's).

Now I understand what has happened. It all makes sense to me now. When I saved the wrk project files, I thought I was saving the actual recordings. Now thanks to you guys, I know it was only the pointers. So when I put in the new hard disk and didn't re-install the cakewalk project file, it (of course) tells me now it can't find them. Course not, cos they are in my back up disk that I made before I switched hard disks. So now I just point Audio finder (thanks for telling me about that AlChuck) at my back up disk and hey presto, they are all there (or should be).

Heinz, you are perfectly right, I should have referred to the Help stuff. But hey, what did you expect, I am a musician, only read that stuff as a very, very last resort! Anyway, it would take the pleasure away from communicating with all you guys. But everything you said in your post made sense so it is a hard lesson learnt. As A1MixerMan says, been there, done that, I'm not the first and I'm sure I won't be the last.

Anyway, I have got my favourite tracks back, Happy Christmas to all CW forum members.
 
Hey Paul very glad to hear you recovered your work... sucks to lose stuff when you put your heart & soul into it. Happy holidays man!
 
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