Default per-project audio folder

Edit/Preferences/File/Folder Locations - set the location you want, click on Apply and OK and that should do it.  If it doesn't, I would try reinstalling Sonar.

Thanks for the replies, and you understand what I am saying, but the fixes you both described are exactly how I initially tried to set it up.  I used to simply use a global folder on D:, (specifically D:\X2 wav data) and it worked well.  Since I still have X3 projects (and X1, X2, 8.5, 8 etc...) saved using that global folder I went ahead and set up the global audio folder as that.

What I am wanting to do is now go to per-project for future new projects and set it up so the "new project" default is C:Cakewalk projects (since that is where I have 10 years worth of projects already stored) but the audio path is D:\x2 Wave Data\new project name. (since that is where I have the existing 10 years worth of .wav data stored.) 

I really want to use per-project if I can as I am starting to collaborate on projects recently but am also set up to backup the entire D:drive to a secondary storage drive anytime I get to a critical point in a project so still would like that redundancy and of course I do want to keep the audio drive separate from the C: operating sys. drive as well.

I can change the "New project file" audio path to something else on project start, for example D:\X2 Wav Data\New Project, but it creates no new folder in the D:\X2 wav data folder, in fact, I do not see that it creates one even in the default C:\cakewalk projects\audio, just dumped one bounce file to it without a child folder being created.

My ultimate goal is to have the "New Project File" dialogue box to reflect Location:C:\Cakewalk Projects and Audio Path:D:\X2 Wav Data.  Nothing I have done seems to do that permanantly or even on a per instance basis if I take the time to change it before I create the new project.

Very perplexing.  Feels like a bug.

Thanks for the time to reply but I am not sure I understand what you are saying here.

"However I would never use this myself. The per-project audio folder uses a relative path when stored under the project file but uses an absolute path when stored elsewhere. The absolute path presents a problem when moving projects around at the OS level. If a project is created and not saved SONAR removes the project folder but will not remove the remote audio folder. Aside from a history of separating projects from audio, there is no performance advantage to the practice."

By relative path are you saying it saves a backup to the C:\Cakewalk Projects\Per-project name\audio folder but writes and reads to the default :\Wav Data folder during actual operation?  I get what you are saying if this is the case, it basically creates a form of mobile bundle file on C: that easily transports but still writes and reads to and from a global audio drive when the file is open.  Am I understanding this correctly?

Otherwise the performance implications are real.   You do take a sometimes significant hit when reading/writing audio to the OS drive so unless it is at least temporarily storing the read-write data somewhere else (on another drive) during recording and playback I do not see how you can say that it offers no performance benefit.  It is established best practice to keep program/os drive and data drive separate.

SimpleM
Thanks for the replies, and you understand what I am saying, but the fixes you both described are exactly how I initially tried to set it up.  I used to simply use a global folder on D:, (specifically D:\X2 wav data) and it worked well.  Since I still have X3 projects (and X1, X2, 8.5, 8 etc...) saved using that global folder I went ahead and set up the global audio folder as that.

What I am wanting to do is now go to per-project for future new projects and set it up so the "new project" default is C:Cakewalk projects (since that is where I have 10 years worth of projects already stored) but the audio path is D:\x2 Wave Data\new project name. (since that is where I have the existing 10 years worth of .wav data stored.) 

I really want to use per-project if I can as I am starting to collaborate on projects recently but am also set up to backup the entire D:drive to a secondary storage drive anytime I get to a critical point in a project so still would like that redundancy and of course I do want to keep the audio drive separate from the C: operating sys. drive as well.

I can change the "New project file" audio path to something else on project start, for example D:\X2 Wav Data\New Project, but it creates no new folder in the D:\X2 wav data folder, in fact, I do not see that it creates one even in the default C:\cakewalk projects\audio, just dumped one bounce file to it without a child folder being created.

My ultimate goal is to have the "New Project File" dialogue box to reflect Location:C:\Cakewalk Projects and Audio Path:D:\X2 Wav Data.  Nothing I have done seems to do that permanantly or even on a per instance basis if I take the time to change it before I create the new project.

Very perplexing.  Feels like a bug.

I am hoping scook will also weigh in on this notion - would it work for you to TEST out something?
 
What I am thinking is that for the projects that had been set up and saved PRIOR to you starting to use Per-Project Audio, if you used the Save As functionality, I think it might get you a fairly easy way to reorganize projects so their audio was all moved into per-project Audio sub-folders.
 
Sooo, as a TEST, perhaps you could:
 
1.  Decide which older project you want to use as a test of this consolidation effort, and copy its project folder off to somewhere else, so that you can restore it later, if needed.
2.  Go into that project's folder, and rename the project file (the CWP file), to some other name - it will be short-lived so the new name doesn't need much thought.
3.  Now, open that project (using the new name), and let it load
4.  Do a Save As, to the same folder it is currently in, giving it the original name (the one that matches the Project Folder - the project file's original name), making sure to also check the box that tells Sonar to 'Copy All Audio With Project'.  This SHOULD (I think), end up with a project file that again matches the name of the project folder, AND I think it will populate the project folder's Audio sub-folder with all referenced audio for the project, thus setting it up as if it had always used Per-Project Audio.
5.  At this point, I would close the project, then load it using the File>Open, rather than the quick list (because the quick open list would still have the temporary name you gave it, which is NOT what you want).
6.  IF the project opens up properly, and you examine the audio clips, you should hopefully find that they are all now pointing to clips that reside in that project folder's Audio sub-folder.
 
IF all of the above work as I have theorized, then at this point you should be able to delete the temporary CWP project file you created, since you will have created a new version of the project with the original project name.
 
If all worked properly, the steps could then be applied to your other legacy projects, and that would when finished leave you properly and completely set to use Per-Project Audio for ALL projects, both new and old. 
 
You could at some later time go back and clean out the audio clips from the global audio folder, taking great care in that process, so that you didn't get rid of anything you needed, such as exported audio, which by default also goes into the global audio folder.
 
Sooo, I URGE some other members to review my above thoughts and weigh in on whether or not you think they would work for getting all the legacy folder audio clip structure in line with the per-project audio approach.
 
Bob Bone
 

SONAR project layout works for me. I created a directory junction
mklink /j "C:\Cakewalk Projects" "E:\Cakewalk Projects"
and left the folder locations at their default values in SONAR. I did move the picture cache to a different drive. Now every version of SONAR uses the E: drive for projects and per-project audio folders without any extra effort on my part. Most project start off with a name YYYYMMDD-SequenceNumber. They may get renamed at a later date. Additional numbers may get added for different mixes.
 
No need to worry about the Global audio folder, it is normally empty. So it can point to the projects folder. It should be on the same drive as the per-project audio data anyway.
 
As to remediation of historical projects, I don't see a reason to rename or make backup copies, nothing is going to change in the old projects. Open the existing projects and perform a "Save As" to a new location on a second drive. It really does not matter what the top level of the new project directory is because it can be renamed after everything is converted. Or don't bother with converting this historical stuff just start using per-project folders on the second drive and allow the audio folders to nest in the project folders.

scook
SONAR project layout works for me. I created a directory junction
mklink /j "C:\Cakewalk Projects" "E:\Cakewalk Projects"
 
No need to worry about the Global audio folder, it is normally empty. So it can point to the projects folder. It should be on the same drive as the per-project audio data anyway.
 

So if there is no need for a global audio folder, we return full circle to my original question.  How do I get my projects to create with the audio read write to not default to C:\cakewalk projects\audio.  Do I simply have to re-type a path, or if like scook suggests, that is a fine place for it, what tells it to read/write somewhere besides that?

I guess my hicup in understanding is if it is not the "Global Audio Folder" where the read/write happens, then where?

The only time when you need the Global Audio folder is if you start a new project by using the Control + N command.
 
Otherwise Sonar doesn't have a clue about where to store any audio you subsequently record.

Bristol_Jonesey

SimpleM
Wait, I think I get it...  You are saying to move the projects to the data drive so that all plays nice.

Still install the program on OS drive, and even keep your project files there, but have them mirrored on the data drive along with the data itself...

Am I getting what you are saying now?

No, the projects aren't "mirrored" anywhere.

In the scenario scook presents it does appear it would mirror.

SONAR project layout works for me. I created a directory junction
mklink /j "C:\Cakewalk Projects" "E:\Cakewalk Projects"

That is what I spoke of when mentioning mirroring.

I still would love for the "new project" dialogues to default to D:\xxx instead of C:\xxx simply because I am absent minded enough to forget to re-direct the path at times.  Caught myself doing it the other night and was having dropouts once I got several VI's going.

Yeah, no mirroring going on, simple directory redirection just like setting the paths in preferences except I don't have to remember to set preferences. FWIW, I usually do set the preferences but forgot in Platinum and everything still worked because the directory junction was in place. Either way, let the New Project dialog set the path to the project and the audio on the second drive. Don't get fancy, the default per-project audio folder setup works fine.
 
SONAR will not run without a Global Audio folder. If SONAR cannot resolve the path to the Global Audio folder, it will create a new one at the location specified in preferences, failing that the program will create "C:\Cakewalk Projects\Audio" and reset the preference, failing that the program will abort with an error. I believe the Global Audio folder is still used as a temp directory. This is why the Global folder should be on the same drive as the per-project audio folders, so the temp files can be moved without having to copy data. Using per-project audio folders, all the audio is read from the per-project audio folder.